Canadian billionaire businessman Frank Stronach was in town last night to help launch the Keystone Awards for Job Creation recognizing dozens of private company employers selected from around Ottawa and the region.
The inaugural event, presented by The Sutherland Investment Group at CIBC Wood Gundy, was held at the Canadian Tire Centre, attracting more than 250 attendees.
Stronach, who lives north of Toronto, is an inspiring rags-to-riches business story. He was born in Austria during the Great Depression. Growing up, he faced the notorious Nazi rule, followed by the Soviet Occupation. He came to Canada in 1954 with nothing more than a suitcase and a few hundred bucks. A tool and die maker by trade, he founded Magna in 1957, building it into one of the world’s largest auto-parts companies, with close to 180,000 workers.
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“I have been very blessed with good health, a good mind,” the billionaire businessman said at the podium, where he spoke for more than 20 minutes without the use of notes. On the topic of his age, he declared himself “91 years young”.
Stronach called Canada “a great country” while also expressing concern over its mounting debt, bureaucratic hurdles and excessive red tape. It would be awfully hard to build another Magna International in present times, said the Automotive Hall of Fame inductee and Order of Canada recipient.
He compared the national debt to “a freight train without brakes.” Worse still, he positioned his analogy right next to a cliff. “We’ve got to get Canada back on sound economic footing … We owe it to Canada, we owe it to the younger generation, we owe it to your kids and your grandchildren,” he said while encouraging the business community to participate in a “constructive and civilized” manner. “You can’t solve things by pointing fingers, [asking] whose fault is it? It doesn’t work.”
Stronach expressed his view that employees should be given more of a stake in their company’s financial success. He’s an advocate for an Economic Charter of Rights. He wants to see more high school-aged youth learn various technical or skilled trades. “We got to get back to where we can make things,” he said of the country’s manufacturing industry.
While the business titan is known for his love of thoroughbred race horses, he also has a passion for organic farming. It’s his belief no child should have to attend school hungry, and should be provided breakfast and lunch meals — made with organic ingredients, no less.
The Keystone Awards was founded by Dean French, who runs his own Toronto-based wealth strategy company, advising leading business families. He’s been a proud entrepreneur his whole working life, with the exception of the one year he stepped away from the private sector to serve as Premier Doug Ford’s chief of staff. Another claim to fame: using his savvy negotiation skills to get the truck convoy to end its month-long occupation of downtown Ottawa, back in 2022.
French described Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the keystone to the economy.
“We’re a nation of entrepreneurs, we’re a nation of immigrants, we’re a nation of opportunity, and we have to bring that narrative back to who we are as a people. It’s okay to talk about prosperity, opportunity and job creation.”
More than 70 businesses were recognized at the Keystone Awards for the number of people they employ. “Imagine that, a new award in our country for job creation,” said French, who called SMEs the “hometown heroes” in each and every community. “We have to remind ourselves that when businesses fail, a country fails. When small, medium business fails, job creation fails; we have less of a tax base. The math doesn’t work. We can’t afford public education, health or CPP for retired Canadians.”
The winners were grouped into regional categories: Ottawa West-Nepean; Kanata-Carleton; Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands; Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Prescott; Ottawa Valley, Lanark, Frontenac; and Ottawa Centre-South.
The awards presentation was emceed by investment advisor and portfolio manager Fraser Sutherland. He was joined by such fellow sponsors as GGFL LLP, HUB International, MBM Intellectual Property Law, KPMG and Brazeau Seller Law.
Sutherland spoke in his opening remarks about the respect he has for entrepreneurs. “Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created by the people in this room.”
During the awards presentation, Sutherland made special mention of the Burnbrae Farms co-founder Joe Hudson, who passed away last week at age 94. The agribusiness was one of the recipients. He also requested an extra round of applause as Ottawa Senators CEO Cyril Leeder accepted a plaque on behalf of the hockey club, reminding everyone of Leeder’s role in helping to bring the franchise to Ottawa, back in the 1990s.
Special guests included Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who recognized the contributions made by Stronach to Canada and of the businesses in the region that are continuing to fuel the economy through their job creation.
“We think of ourself sometimes, perhaps too often, as a government town, but Ottawa’s success has been driven by private sector leadership, by entrepreneurs, by business owners in our community who have created jobs over decades, and there are so many represented here tonight,” said the mayor. “I want to salute you and congratulate you and thank you for what you do for our city.”
caroline@obj.ca
