Rob Mag Jun 2023

CANADA’S
BEST
MANAGED
COMPANIES
INCLUDING
TORONTO-
BASED AUTO
PARTS MAKER
MEVOTECH
JUNE 2023
Contents
2 EDITOR’S NOTE
25
4 LETTERS
CANADA’S BEST MANAGED COMPANIES

7 NEW RULES
Canada’s 16 largest family-
run businesses have nearly
$250 billion in revenue.
Here’s some advice on how 26 THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED
to avoid Roy-style infighting Lee Valley Tools and its quirky roster of products have helped
when it comes to succession the family-run retailer build a devoted following. But it almost
didn’t survive the pandemic. /By Susan Krashinsky Robertson
8 THE EXCHANGE 32 WELCOME TO THE PARTY
It’s a hard time to be a The latest crop of companies to join the Best Managed list
grocery-chain CEO. But
does everything from sell frozen pizzas to recycle scrap metal.
Empire Co.’s outspoken
boss, Michael Medline,
And their leaders have lots of advice on how to succeed
dishes on supply chain woes, against the odds. /By Liza Agrba, John Daly and Jaime Weinman
allegations of price gouging 43 STILL THE BEST
and why he’ll miss his chief The list of 456 returning companies, from two-year honourees
rival, Galen Weston Jr. to the seven-years-plus Platinum Club.
54
12 BIG IDEA
COVER PHOTOGRAPH SHOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR ROB MAGAZINE BY LIAM MOGAN, PROP STYLING BY NICOLE BILLARK/PLUTINO; (RIGHT) ALEXA MAZARELLO
The feds are betting on tax

credits, subsidies and other
infusions of cash to grow THEY’RE BAAAAAACK
the clean energy economy. The frothy markets of
Is that the right approach?
the past few years left
activist investors on the
16 WHAT YOU CAN LEARN
Soccer superstar Christine sidelines. Now, they’re
Sinclair is one of Canada’s busier than ever—and
all-time greatest athletes— they’re coming for your
and she’s just as inspiring company. /By Tim Kiladze
off the field as she is on it
18 DECODER
India has surpassed China
as the world’s most populous
nation—and it has huge
63
THE INAUGURAL ROB
NANOS CEO SURVEY
implications for the global We teamed up with
balance of economic power
Nanos Research to poll
20 FOR YOUR
an elite group of
CONSIDERATION leaders on their outlook
Why Martinrea is looking for the economy
pretty shiny next to its much (bleak), their own
larger auto parts rivals. companies’ financial
Plus, how to play the global health (stellar) and
market for luxury goods Canada’s reputation
as a destination for
22 SMART MONEY investment (abysmal).
Dan Dupont has boundless The good news: They
patience, and it pays off: have plenty of advice
His Fidelity large-cap fund
on how to fix it.
has never lost money in
a calendar year
72 TURNING POINT Second-gen CEO

Keziah Myers’s mission is to Robin Lee helps
help Black music-business keep things wacky
professionals get their voices at Lee Valley Tools
heard. So far, she’s rocking it Page 26
JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 1

Editor’s Note
June 2023, Volume 39, No. 7
Editorial
Editor DAWN CALLEJA
Senior Editor JOHN DALY
Editors-at-Large JOE CASTALDO,
JASON KIRBY, TAMAR SATOV
Copy Editor SUSAN NERBERG
Research CATHERINE DOWLING,
MASHAL BUTT, ALLAN TONG
Art
Art Director DOMENIC MACRI
Associate Art Director
BRENNAN HIGGINBOTHAM
Director of Photography
around (read more of them online at tgam. CLARE VANDER MEERSCH
ca/ceosurvey). Check out the results start- Contributors
ing on page 63—and if you’re a CEO and LIZA AGRBA, TREVOR COLE, FIONA
we come calling a few months from now COLLIE, ROSEMARY COUNTER, TIM
KILADZE, JOHN LORINC, ALEX MLYNEK,
to conduct the second instalment of this LIAM MOGAN, KYLE SCOTT, JAIME
twice-yearly survey, please pick up. WEINMAN, SHIRLEY WON
Thankfully, not all the CEOs in this Advertising
month’s issue are anonymous. Michael Chief Revenue Officer
ANDREW SAUNDERS
Medline sat down with Trevor Cole for a Managing Director, Creative Studios
remarkably candid interview about his and Ad Innovation
tenure at Empire Co. After a three-year TRACY DAY
Senior Manager, Special Products
run as CEO of Canadian Tire that ended… ANDREA D’ANDRADE
badly, Medline assumed control of Empire Product Manager
in 2017 to revive its ailing roster of grocery RYAN HYSTEAD
brands, including Sobeys and Safeway. Production
Vice President, Print Operations
Midway through the turnaround, the pan- SALLY PIRRI
demic hit, sowing chaos. Then inflation Production Co-ordinator
went wild and grocery prices soared, leav- ISABELLE CABRAL
ing shoppers in a constant state of sticker Publisher
shock. Add in the fact that Empire posted PHILLIP CRAWLEY
Editor-in-Chief, The Globe and Mail
Poll position a profit of $746 million in fiscal 2022, and

most CEOs would keep their heads down
and their lips zipped. Not Medline. He’s
DAVID WALMSLEY
Managing Director, Business
and Financial Products
GARTH THOMAS
always been a guy who speaks his mind, Editor, Report on Business
When economics reporter and editor-at- and he has plenty to say about the root GARY SALEWICZ
large Jason Kirby pitched the idea of team- causes of those high prices, plus the depar- Report on Business magazine is
ing up with Nanos Research to launch a ture of his chief rival, Galen Weston Jr., and published 7 times a year by The Globe
first-of-its-kind survey of Canada’s top more (“Food for thought,” page 8). and Mail Inc., 351 King Street E., Toronto
M5A 0N1. Telephone 416-585-5000.
CEOs, we knew it would be a bit of a logis- This issue also marks the second time Letters to the Editor:
tical nightmare getting access en masse to we’ve teamed up with Deloitte to pres- robmagletters@globeandmail.com.
executives whose endless workdays are ent Canada’s Best Managed Companies, Copyright 2023, The Globe and Mail.
Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index.
scheduled down to the last minute. But a program that has spread to 46 countries
Advertising Offices
taking the barometer of CEO sentiment in since being launched here in Canada 40 Head Office, The Globe and Mail,
this country is a worthy endeavour—and years ago. The program celebrates excel- 351 King Street E., Toronto M5A 0N1
the results of the inaugural ROB Nanos lence among privately owned enterprises Telephone 416-585-5111 or toll-free
1-866-999-9237
CEO Survey prove that Canada’s top lead- and welcomes 30 newcomers to a run- Branch Offices
ers believe so, too. ning list of more than 450 veterans. These Montreal 514-982-3050
Our anonymous poll targeted an elite CEOs know a lot about leadership, so it Vancouver 604-685-0308
Calgary 403-245-4987
group of chief executives with revenues made sense to ask them to share one piece Email: advertising@globeandmail.com
totalling $225 billion, from industries as of advice they live by. We went a little United States and countries outside of
varied as banking, retail, oil production deeper with Robin Lee, who leads Lee Val- North America: AJR Media Group,
and mining. The results paint a somewhat ley Tools, the retailer his father founded in 212-426-5932, ajrmediagroup@
globeandmail.com
gloomy picture both of what’s to come for 1978. If you’ve ever set foot inside one of
Publications mail registration No. 7418.
PHOTOGRAPH STEPH MARTYNIUK
the Canadian economy and of our reputa- its stores or curled up with its catalogue, The publisher accepts no responsibility
tion as a destination for investment. Fear you’ll understand when Susan Krashinsky for unsolicited manuscripts,
not, though—there’s a bit of optimism Robertson writes, “On paper, this should transparencies or other material.
Printed in Canada by Transcontinental
among this crop of leaders, too, 90% of not work.” And yet, somehow, it does. We Printing Inc.
whom preside over companies with more hope you’ll be as inspired by the secrets to Report on Business magazine is electronically
available through subscription to Factiva.com
than $1 billion in annual revenue. And we his success as we were. /Dawn Calleja from Factiva, at factiva.com/factiva
got plenty of constructive answers on how Send feedback to
or 416-306-2003.
the federal government can turn things robmagletters@globeandmail.com tgam.ca/r
2 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS
What happens
when you combine
sustainability and
product innovation?
A green approach where
nothing goes to waste.
That's Research with Purpose.
Read the full story
Devashish Pujari
Professor, Marketing
Have feedback? Email us at
robmagletters@globeandmail.com
or tweet us @robmagca
Feedback
Nothing but net zero energy, drive everywhere, etc. Without

changing our lifestyles, net zero by
Our May cover package featured an essay by Jeffrey Jones 2050 is unachievable. —doug906
and takes from 13 academics, entrepreneurs, activists and
politicians on how to reach net zero. Reaction was polarized. Meanwhile in Ottawa, we have
politicians setting targets with little
Thirteen experts but only two realistic Canada could disappear and it would indication they have any idea of how
solutions with any hope of short-term make no difference in terms of CO2 to achieve them. The current situation
implementation. “Let go of growth” emissions. The elites seem to want looks like the old project management
and “Look in the mirror” offer non- us to go broke switching to extremely saying, “Failing to plan is planning
technology solutions. If civilization expensive cars and energy sources— to fail.” —George O.
is really concerned about saving this for what reason? Despite the many
planet, then our lifestyles and values billions already spent, Canada has It is impossible to argue the fact that
must change, and quickly. Yes, it will only managed to lower its emissions China and the U.S. are by far the largest
be painful—not just for some but for by 60 megatonnes since 2005. During contributors of CO2 and Canada is way
everybody. And it will be risky, too. that same period, China has increased down the list. However...we are near
Investing in changing attitudes will theirs by 5,595. And China has set a the top of contributors on a per capita
deliver results faster than investing in record this quarter for approving new basis. To argue this does not require
electric cars, which is not much more coal-fired power. Let your editors effort on our part reeks of climate
than a glamorous placebo. A decent lecture them, not us. —Goober elitism. We’re not contributors of any
rail network—electric, of course— importance, so let’s keep doing what
would radically change transportation, I don’t think the majority see climate we’re doing. Okay, got it. —kevino
eliminating a major source of CO2. change as something they need to do
We’ve done it before to create this anything about. We happily buy pickup BURN OF THE MONTH
nation. Let’s do it again to save it from trucks, build homes that perform “Jeffrey Jones is a smug ivory-tower
self-destruction. —Len W. Ashby poorly, make no effort to use less energy masochist” —ChuckT
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Congratulations
Great article. A few excellent quotes: totheserecent
appointees
“Coal is 40% to 45% of the problem.”
“Certainly electric cars aren’t going
to be the solution, because it’s going to
lead to different types of environmental
problems.”
“Oil sands production must phase out Phillip Crawley, Publisher & CEO
under a managed transition within one
single decade...”
of The Globe and Mail, extends best
I agree with the first two, and I think wishes to the following individuals
the third is childish idealism. —Callahan who were recently featured in the
Home run
Report on Business Section of
John Lorinc’s Big Idea on why anti- The Globe and Mail newspaper.
speculation measure won’t solve our Congratulations on your new
housing woes got readers fired up.
appointments.
This article does not address the
crucial issue of affordable housing
in major urban areas. It is not just a
matter of supply and demand, or a tax
on speculation. No affordable rental
housing has been built for over 30
years. “Average” wages are somewhere
around $50,000 and, in Toronto, the
rents are simply too costly, resulting
in evictions and poverty. —Bender111
That’s a lot of words without ever once

addressing this crucial contradiction:
When residential real estate is thought
of as an asset class first and as housing H. Deep Saini, Phd John Montalbano Carrie Russell Vanessa Koldingnes
last, there will be many interest groups to Principal and to Board of to Board of to Vice-President
attempting to distort the market to Vice-Chancellor Directors Directors (External)
their own advantage, regardless of McGill University Nicola Wealth Nicola Wealth University of
Manitoba
the damage to public well-being—
and many of their opinions are given
prominent voice. Governments need
to get back into the game of providing
public housing, either outright or by
creating favourable conditions for the
construction of purpose-built rental. No other media company provides the prestige of The Globe and Mail. For decades, our
Leaving it to the market alone has Appointment Notices have been vital to introduce key personnel to Canada’s business
clearly failed, miserably. —Anna Claydon leaders and decision makers. Our integrated Appointment Notices package includes high
profile features in Canada’s #1 National newspaper, #1 business magazine and across our
Vancouver’s vacant-home tax added Digital platforms. Connect with Canada’s business community and showcase the
9,000 units to the rental supply, and outstanding talent that contributes to your organization’s success.
the revenue from it will build public
housing to increase the supply even Your appointment notice will be reaching 668,000 average weekday print readers, over 1.7
more. That sounds like a win, million average weekend print readers, 830,000 Report on Business Magazine readers and
even if it is a small one. —Mike_Q will appear online for 30 days. As an added bonus a complimentary plaque will be sent to the
new appointees.
It is very simple to target speculators.
Institute a very high tax on anyone
with a second property and this would
cause people to invest elsewhere,
thereby bring more properties on the JUNE 2023
market. Mandate a minimum down
payment of 25% and you would get rid To make arrangements for an Appointment Notice, please call
of speculators overnight. —Tom111 1-800-387-9012 or email advertising@globeandmail.com
“Creation”
Wildlife Photographer
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A Fifty Fathoms is for eternity.

Launched in 1953, the Fifty Fathoms is the first
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chosen by pioneers, it played a vital role in the
development of scuba diving. It is the catalyst
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066/23
NEW RU LES
Family matters
Canada’s business landscape is dominated by pow-
erful clans—names like Desmarais, Weston, Rogers,
Billes, Sobey and so on. And we’ve definitely seen
our fair share of scions destroying the family for-
tune (Edgar Bronfman Jr. being the most painful ex-
ample of the Curse of the Third Generation). Here’s
how not to let your clan go all Roy.
Do be like Frank Hassenfratz and

ensure your chosen succe essor understands
every facet of the businesss, preferably
on a firsthand basis. His daughter, Linda,
started her career at Linam
in 1990 as a machine
mar
$10 9TRILLION
$10.9 Total revenue generated by the 500 largest family
businesses in the world (as per EY and University
of St. Gallen Family Business Index)
24.5
2
operator and worked her
way up to the chief
executive role in 2002.
Don’t be like Ted Rogers and allow

outdated ideas blind you to a child who o
might want to take on more responsibility.
This will only allow sibling rivalry to fesster,
potentially leading to a messy and
(SIMONS) FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL; (BRONFMAN) SHAUN BEST/REUTERS; (WESTON) SPENCER COLBY/CP; (KA-SHING) KIN CHEUNG/AP
very public family split like the one thatt

pitted “chosen one” Edward Rogers
MILLION
M
PHOTOGRAPHS (HASENFRATZ) FRED LUM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL; (MARTHA) CHRIS YOUNG/THE GLOBE AND MAIL; (TED) COLE BURSTON;
against his sister Martha.
Do be like Peter Simons and hire an outside number of employees at those companies
Total n
2x
manager if you’re not sure the current generation
g
is ready to lead. Simons handed the CEOOship of
La Maison Simons to a non-family mem mber for the
first time since 1840 because his childre
en, nieces
and nephews are still too young.
Don’t be like Harrison and Wallace

McCain, who allowed a disagreement
Pace of growth for those
over succession to blow into a bitter
500 businesses compared
family feud. Wallace and his son
to the global economy
16
Michael were eventually pushed out
of McCain Foods, and they bought
Maple Leaf in 1995. Michael started
a successful 24-year run as CEO four
years after the takeover.
Do set out some parameters for the business’s future endeavours be efore
handing over the controls, lest your scion end up destroying generations of
work à la Edgar Bronfman Jr., who wrenched Seagram away from booze
and into entertainment, ultimately losing the company altogether.
ARE CANADIAN
In April, Galen Weston Jr.—chair and CEO of his family’s
company, George Weston Ltd., and president $57 BILLION
IN REVENUE
of Loblaw—received a $1.2-million raise for 2022.
TOTAL REVENUE
Shortly after, it was announced he was being
replaced at Loblaw by Danish exec Per Bank.
Oldest company still run by y $331.5 BILLION
340x
a founding family member
$11.8
MILLION
CK Hutchison Holdings
(Hong Kong), founded in
1828, involved in ports, retail, TOTAL EMPLOYEES
Weston’s 2022 compensation

the pay of a frontline
grocery worker
telecom, finance and more
674,400
06/23
THE EXC H A N G E Ukraine has an incredible

impact on the input into grocery.
Food for thought

Grocery came a bit later than
most inflation, and it stuck
around a bit later, and now we’re
Michael Medline has never been one to hold his tongue, seeing it ebbing and abating.
and right now especially, he has a lot to say—about supply chains, We’ll see grocery come down to
inflation, price fixing and his soon-to-be-former rival-in-chief the levels of the rest of inflation,
and maybe even lower, in the
BY TREVOR COLE next number of months. But
the underlying issues are just
completely different.
When he grabbed the controls of Empire Co. at the beginning of 2017, During a parliamentary committee
Michael Medline knew he had a challenge ahead. He was a hard- and soft- hearing on food inflation, (2) NDP
goods retailer from Canadian Tire with no experience as a grocer, and the leader Jagmeet Singh asked this
company he found himself piloting needed to be pulled out of a scary tail- of Galen Weston Jr., so I’ll ask you:
spin, and fast. What he couldn’t have known is that saving Empire would be How much is too much profit
only the first of his troubles. Storms and controversies—from a price-fixing for a grocer?
scandal to a pandemic to a toxic relationship with suppliers—have battered A company’s purpose, let me be
Canada’s grocery industry throughout his six-and-a-half-year tenure. And clear, is to make money and stay
Medline’s penchant for saying what he really thinks has helped stir things up even more. strong. But always within the law
Now he’s arguing for an industry code of conduct, dealing with the aftermath of a cyber and with values. Our teammates,
attack, and fighting accusations that Canada’s Big Three grocers are profiting from infla- our stores, the communities we
tion. It’s a lot. We spoke to him at Empire’s Mississauga office in late April. serve and our country need us to
be strong. And Empire Co., when
How does it feel to be one of the What’s your understanding of 1. In late 2017, you look at all the empirical data,
leaders of a reviled industry? what happened? Loblaw Cos. Ltd. has definitely not profited from
publicly admitted
I love my job, and sometimes Around seven years ago, our it was part of
inflation, and a return on capital
jobs are a little tougher than largest competitor went to the what it called an is certainly not out of line. I took
normal. I think that it’s an authorities and said they had industry-wide over a company, six and a half
industry, I’ll agree, that has lost found that they’d been involved scheme to fix years ago, that was in desperate
bread prices
some trust. And part of that, in bread price fixing. Two years for 14 years, straits. A company that wasn’t
I really understand. Prices are later, that became public. And then offered strong, could not invest in
up the most in 40 years. So I at the same time, the largest customers stores, in our teammates, in our
don’t expect people to be happy competitor threw pretty well $25 gift cards communities, in our country.
to atone.
about that. At the same time, everybody else under the Then we strengthened the
I think there’s a false narrative bus. We ferociously defended 2. On March 8, company. On every metric
out there being propagated, that ourselves. I’ve not seen one iota Medline, Galen over the past five years, we
Weston Jr. of
grocers or retailers are taking of evidence, in all these years, Loblaw and Metro
strengthened that. Not because
advantage of the situation, that we did anything wrong. Inc.’s Eric La of inflation. Despite it.
which is completely untrue. But that kind of narrative gets Flèche appeared At another parliamentary
Do you think the bread price– out there, and it influences trust before the House committee hearing in 2020, you
PHOTOGRAPHS STEPH MARYNIUK
of Commons
fixing scandal, which was before in the industry. Standing felt compelled to say, “Dividends
your time, contributed to the Do you have a simple answer for Committee are not a bad thing.” Do you find
lack of trust? why food inflation, at 9.7%, is on Agriculture that politicians lack understanding
Yes, would be my short answer. higher than headline inflation? and Agri-Food. about the realities of business?
The long answer is that our Yeah, ’cause it’s predicated on Six and a half years ago, we
company, Empire Co., had different things, and it’s not couldn’t raise our dividends very
nothing to do with bread price affected as much by interest much. Well, a lot of people, and
fixing. (1) rates. First of all, the war in a lot of pension funds, a lot of

EMPIRE VS. LOBLAW: NET INCOME BY YEAR
people who work really hard, $387.3 MILLION EMPIRE CO. more out of it.
2019
depend on Empire Co. paying $1.1 BILLION LOBLAW When you were let go from
the dividends and being a strong Canadian Tire, it was said the
company. And we weren’t doing $583.5 MILLION board was unhappy with the slow
2020
that. And now, not because of $1.1 BILLION pace of the online effort. What did
inflation, but because of our you learn that you’ve applied to
people and the efforts they put $701.5 MILLION Empire’s online effort, Voilà?
2021
in, we’re able to do that. So, to $1.9 BILLION I think we were absolutely on the
talk about dividends as a bad right track at Canadian Tire. So,
$745.8 MILLION
thing, when they’re so helpful to 2022 what was written was completely
so many Canadians, I really don’t $1.9 BILLION false. I’ll, first of all, straighten
have time—I don’t love political that out.
theatre. And so when things But that was the perception,
aren’t fact-based, they bother 3. In October three-year projects—Project correct?
me. And then sometimes it boils 2020, on Sunrise, Project Horizon—to Well, yeah. There’s a difference
relations between
up and I say something. (3) suppliers and
really grow our sales and be between perception and
You told the committee that retailers: “This more efficient. And it worked. (5) reality, Trevor, as you know.
Empire’s profit margin was 2.5%. is the worst What was the hardest thing to And I’ve always been, I think,
Galen Weston said Loblaw’s profit relationship change, internally? at the forefront of digital and
I’ve seen in my
was $1 out of every $25 spent, couple of decades The hardest thing was when e-commerce innovation. And
so 4%. Why is your margin so in retail.” In you’re losing, you lose your that is absolutely key, not just
much lower? September 2022, confidence. You make terrible because you can make more
Part of why our margin could be on accusations decisions. And it was to instil money, but because customers
of gouging:
lower is just a different business “I am tired of confidence in the team, even are looking for that from
mix. (4) And part of it is that we these armchair before confidence was deserved, companies now. It puts a halo
don’t make as much money at quarterbacks... I suppose. That we were effect on all your business. And
pontificating
this point. We just finished a about how
winners. The first speech I gave if you don’t do it, you’re dead.
six-year turnaround, and we’re Canadian here, I said we were diamonds. What I did take from Canadian
not as profitable. companies We just needed some polishing Tire was the importance of
You mentioned that when you are reaping and then we’d shine. And I had digital. And I found in grocery,
unreasonable
joined in 2017, Empire was in profits on the to portray what the future would it’s actually—even though you
desperate straits. What was it back of inflation.” look like before people could have ambient and chilled and
getting wrong? actually experience it. Like, what frozen—it’s actually easier,
Look, the people were great. 4. At the hearing, it would feel like. And there’s because of the size of the SKU.
Weston argued
We have a great culture. It’s over much of Loblaw’s a ton of business decisions we Almost all our SKUs in grocery
a hundred years old. It always profit came from had to make, so very quickly. fit into a bag. And I’ve been a
comes down to leadership and its pharmacy But most of it was just giving proponent for a long time that
division, including
decision making. The fact was Shoppers Drug
the confidence to our people. picking from stores is certainly
that we had made some poor Mart. Medline That kind of winning attitude. not the future for e-commerce.
decisions and let down our admitted You mentioned the poor Someone at this company put me
teammates. pharmacy integration of Safeway. What onto a company called Ocado,
made a minor
Can you give me an example contribution to was different about the way (7) which was the world leader
or two? Empire’s profits. you incorporated Longo’s and in e-commerce technology. My
We made a great acquisition Farm Boy? (6) chairman and I went over and
of Safeway, which is a fantastic 5. Project Sunrise, When you’re buying or visited them. We were blown
launched in mid-
brand, and we did a really 2017, cut $550 partnering with another away by the technology and
poor job integrating it. We had million in costs organization, you have to what it could be in Canada.
lost track of what it means to and restructured really respect why they were Very quickly we made sure that
operations.
compete and to price right and Starting in July
successful. You have to learn we had the exclusive rights to
to have the right products in 2020, Project their history, you have to let the Ocado technology. Ocado’s
the stores. We had lost track of Horizon saw them do things their way, and if exclusive to one large grocer in
how to be an efficient company. Empire invest $2.1 they want some help from the each region of the world. And
billion to renovate
When a company loses its way, and build mothership, that’s their business we were fortunate to make that
it really loses its way, and we stores, expand to ask for it. I had learned a partnership.
didn’t have any compass. We e-commerce, and lot at Canadian Tire when I One of your other big moves was
have 130,000 teammates, many convert up to 35 led the Mark’s and Sport Chek to end your relationship with Air
stores to FreshCo.
of whom are the same today as The goal: a acquisitions. What you’re buying Miles and partner with Scene+.
they were back then. We just had $500-million is a culture. The customers Why make that change?
to give them the tools to be able increase in yearly already should love that brand, We felt we had to have more
EBITDA.
to compete. And so we did two and do not disturb it. You get control and ownership over

whatever we went into. But you have to be able to do what
we also didn’t want to go it you said you were gonna do,
alone. So we’re part of a very within reason. But also, I like
good group, but we are able to sports, right? So, you may be a
control the fate of that entity, (8) great individual contributor,
and we’re able to use data and but if you’re not good on a team,
personalization, increasingly, you can’t work here. We need
to serve our customers. We had everyone pulling together. That
so many entreaties from other doesn’t mean everyone gets
parties to join, because we’re along. But it can’t be about you.
a grocer. Everyone wants a It’s got to be about the team.
grocer in a loyalty program. And when I think it’s about you,
And we’re national. it’s probably time that you go
You suffered a cyber attack do something else.
recently that cost you $32 million What’s your end goal for Empire?
dollars. What did those losses What does “job done” look like?
include? Our goal is to be the greatest
And that’s post-insurance. That retailer in Canada. Not just the
included everything from the greatest grocer. We’re not there
fact that our pharmacies weren’t yet, but we have everything in
open for a few days, to some time, in the quantities we want. 6. Empire place where we could be there,
losses in our supply chain, to But to retroactively bill people acquired Farm with the right decisions and the
Boy for $800
some lost sales, and other things. for your capital, for things like million in 2018.
right people in place. And when
It’s all over the business. It also e-commerce, to just, anytime In early 2021, it I leave, I hope we’ve put them in
entailed replacing some of our you need some money, go to the announced a deal place to be able to do that. We’ve
hardware. And it’s not only the piggy bank and try to get it out to buy 51% of got great young people here,
Longo’s, including
financial losses. It’s also, for a of the CPG [consumer packaged its e-commerce great leaders. We attract and
number of months that’s all you goods] companies, it just wasn’t service, Grocery retain now, like never before. So,
worked on. And it takes you off the best way to do business. Gateway, for I’m very confident in this place.
$357 million.
whatever else you were working I think there should be some A few days before this interview,
on. As I said on our conference rules and ethics. And so we’re 7. Ocado it was announced that Galen
call, it’s a nasty piece of business. developing the code. In May, Solutions, part Weston Jr. was leaving Loblaw.
Let’s go back to a big issue that we’ll be sending out a draft for of U.K.-based He’s somebody you’ve battled
Ocado Group,
came up during the committee public comment. (9) partners with
fiercely. Do you have any parting
hearing: the relationship between You’ve said you’d support leading grocery words for Galen?
grocery suppliers and retailers, government regulation if needed. retailers— I had a surprising reaction to
and the need for a code of conduct. Who’s with you on that idea? including Kroger that. I was very disappointed to
in the U.S., Coles
You said that when you started From the retailers, I don’t think in Australia, learn Galen was retiring.
with Empire, you were “shocked” anyone’s with me on that. From AEON in Japan I enjoyed competing with him,
at the relationship between those the CPG companies, I think and Morrisons in and we certainly did have some
two entities. What exactly was almost all would agree with the U.K.—in the major differences of opinion.
use of its “Ocado
going on? that. I’m leery of government Smart Platform.” But his company performed well
Too much time was spent regulation. It’s better to do it during his tenure. And when
arguing, each side trying to alone. But what I don’t want is 8. In June you think about it, and step back,
2022, Empire
gore the other. It wasn’t enough a code where a couple of us are teamed up with
the Weston family’s done right
about the customer, how to following it, and the rest of the Scotiabank and by Canada. Gave more people
make it more efficient, to lower industry does whatever it wants. Cineplex, trading jobs than anyone in the history
prices. I’d known it was a bad How have you changed, as a leader, access to its of Canada, other than probably
customer base
relationship; I hadn’t realized over the last number of years? for a one-third the government. And that’s
how poor it was. It took a I still like velocity. I still like stake in Scene+. something to respect. So, at the
couple of people, who came to making decisions quickly. But end of the day I’m sorry, on a
me separately. I didn’t know I’ve become more patient and 9. On May 3, an day-to-day basis, we won’t be
industry steering
anything about a code in other think about things a lot harder. committee competing.
countries, and they began to And I talk to more people. I like released its This interview has been edited
educate me. And I realized that to ask questions and try to learn. proposed final and condensed.
draft of the
there were better ways to do You’ve said that you’ve gotten
grocery code of
business. That doesn’t mean more demanding. What do you conduct. Industry Trevor Cole is the author of five
you have to be weak. It doesn’t demand more of now? members have books, including the novel
mean you don’t negotiate. We I’m a loyal person, but you have until May 30 to
Practical Jean, which won the
offer input.
still expect people to deliver on to be able to get results. And Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

7-WORD BOOK REVIEW
06/23
Rez Rules: My indictment of Canada’s and America’s Systemic
Racism Against Indigenous Peoples by Chief Clarence Louie
Business-savvy Osoyoos chief’s blueprint for economic reconciliation
and Chinese expansionism. “We’re in a

new world now,” says Alexandra Mallett,
an associate professor at Carleton Univer-
sity’s School of Public Policy who studies
renewable energy technology.
The question is, does the Liberal gov-
ernment’s headlong sprint into the clean
energy economy represent something
new, or is it merely a revamp of old-
school interventionist measures that were
known, back in the day, as “industrial
policy?” And, if the latter, are we setting
ourselves up for a reprise of the explod-
ing-cigar outcome of those efforts, like the
time the feds poured hundreds of millions
into Bombardier, only to see the company
offshore its production?
There’s no doubt the numbers are large:
The feds have endowed the NZA with up
to $8 billion and the SIF with another $18
billion. New clean energy tax credits will
refund 15% to 40% of the capital invested
in clean electricity, clean hydrogen, clean
BI G I D EA manufacturing, and carbon capture and
storage. All in, these subsidies are worth
Money for nothing?

more than $70 billion.
The feds make no bones about the fact
that these funds are a response to the
The feds are betting on tax credits, subsidies and other enormous gravitational pull of President
infusions of public cash to grow the clean energy economy. Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which
Some fear it’ll be a washout includes US$369 billion for clean security
and climate change investments.
On a per capita basis, observes John Les-
Earlier this spring, on the steppes of southwestern Ontario, ter, a former Department of Finance tax
federal and provincial pols gathered to announce that Volk- policy official who’s now an executive fel-
swagen would soon begin constructing a mammoth electric low at the University of Calgary’s School
vehicle battery plant there. More to the point, it was a dec- of Public Policy, “we’re probably doing
laration that the venture would be powered by an equally more than the Americans.” He adds that
mammoth subsidy from the federal government—$13 billion these outlays represent “a huge increase”
in production-linked funds—in the name of turbo-charging over previous levels of federal largesse,
Canada’s transition to a clean energy economy. among them marquee programs such as
This big federal bet is merely one part of a huge new infu- the Scientific Research and Experimental
sion of public funds, including tax credits for clean electric- Development (SR&ED) tax credit, which
ity investments, grants from the Strategic Innovation Fund doles out about $3 billion a year to some
(SIF) and the Net Zero Accelerator (NZA) initiative, more 20,000 firms in an effort to spur R&D.
capital from something called the Canada Growth Fund, and Globerman notes that Canada’s poor
financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. and sliding performance when it comes to
In an earlier era, such scale-tipping subsidies and tax R&D and innovation shows that industrial
breaks might have attracted the opprobrium of free-market subsidies don’t really deliver the goods.
economists, not to mention trade officials in the U.S. and at “What the government has been doing
the World Trade Organization. Their concern? That when hasn’t worked,” he says. “The recent bud-
governments lumber into the realm of private-sector invest- get is doubling down on the old history
ment, policymakers should always consider the opportunity of the government picking sectors and
costs and market distortions. “Those resources,” cautions companies to receive these subsidies and
ILLUSTRATION NADA HAYEK
Steven Globerman, an economist and senior fellow at the Fra- essentially making the bets that, I believe,
ser Institute, “could be used in other places in the economy,” private investors and venture capitalists
Yet, the tidy formulations of 20th-century economics should be making.” (Other analysis, such
no longer map neatly onto a three-dimensional geopoliti- as a 2016 study by the U.S. National Bureau
cal chess board populated by destiny-altering 21st-century of Economic Research on R&D tax credits
forces such as climate change, Russia’s war against Ukraine in the U.K., has found them to be effective

06/23
at spurring innovation.) also succeeded in seeding the ground for the development of
Other pundits argue that Ottawa’s 21st- the auto parts industry and ensured the continued viability
century rendition of industrial policy is of Canada’s auto sector.
more intentional when it comes to meet- He recalls how former Liberal cabinet minister Ed Lum-
ing the moment. “To the government’s ley, who held a regional economic development portfolio in
credit, they’re taking a more comprehen- Pierre Trudeau’s government, lured large assembly plants to
sive approach to sustainability, energy Ontario using tax credits to reward investment, trade agree-
transition and decarbonization,” says ments and the threat of restricted access to Canadian markets
Mallett. “They’ve identified the strategic for foreign firms to discourage hedging. “There would be no
sectors [clean electricity and energy], and industry in Canada and, frankly, in a lot of places around the
this all sends businesses signals.” world, if it wasn’t for industrial policy,” he says, “But since
The drift away from the conventions of Lumley’s tenure, the world has changed substantively.”
free trade and liberal economics, which is Fast forward through countless free trade agreements, the
very much in evidence south of the border, 2008 credit crisis, the emergence of China’s “belt and road”
is actually part of a bigger story about the initiative and Donald Trump’s love of tariff wars, and we all
ways in which different regions and politi- find ourselves in a world where the word “subsidy” no longer
cal cultures practise capitalism. has the sting it once did.
Brendan Sweeney, managing director Lester, for his part, feels there’s a policy case to be made for
of the Trillium Network for Advanced using subsidies to drive electrification, investment in clean
generation and even as a means of attracting job-creating
GROSS DOMESTIC SPENDING ON R&D (latest available)
investment, provided the government also pulls back costly
% of GDP (top five, plus Canada) but underperforming tax credit programs, like the SR&ED.
Mordue, however, questions whether the government will
ISRAEL 5.6 be able to squeeze the maximum benefit from the $13-bil-
SOUTH KOREA 4.9 lion Volkswagen subsidy, given that all we’re getting is a
TAIWAN 3.8 piece of the supply chain, plus the jobs and local economic
development multipliers, but none of the high-value-added
U.S. 3.5
functions, like R&D, design, engineering, and all the other
SWEDEN 3.3 spinoffs that automotive head offices and research hubs gen-
OECD TOTAL 2.7 erate on their home turf.
CANADA 1.6 Mallett finds herself thinking about whether the govern-
ment’s appetite for the blockbuster deal—not just VW, but
also last year’s $5-billion Stellantis-LG Energy joint ven-
Manufacturing at Western University, ture, or a $220-million investment announced earlier in the
says the neoliberal version of capitalism, spring by the Canada Infrastructure Bank in EV charging
which aims to reduce government influ- stations—will obscure the need for driving investment into
ence in the economy, existed primarily in smaller-scale (i.e. less newsworthy) clean energy and clean
English-speaking countries. Much more electricity startups. Ottawa’s rich new programs are “a very
pragmatic or state-supported permuta- convenient way for the government to think big and to think
tions exist in places like Germany, South about jobs and so on,” she says. “But if we don’t allow for
Korea and Mexico. Not to mention China, alternative forms of innovation to be a part of the process,
where state-owned enterprises with deep then it really is a missed opportunity.”
pockets bid against privately owned firms Sweeney, however, says the federal Liberals are simply
on international assets like mines. “Capi- practising economic realpolitik—as is done in so many other
talism is different everywhere you go,” he places these days—when they place very big bets on Volk-
says. “But we’re all competing with each swagen and whatever else that follows. “If you want to be
other for market share, for investment part of this global economic order, you have to figure out how
and, increasingly, for talent.” to compete with what’s happening outside the border,” he
Traditional industrial policies in other says. “If we want this, we have to be emphatic in our policy
regions are built around favoured sectors response. Neoliberalism is done.” /John Lorinc
(e.g., Germany’s advanced manufactur-
ing), generous subsidies and protection-
ism, which have been historically highly Big Idea is produced with the support of our advisory panel
successful in countries like Taiwan, Japan
and South Korea. Greig Mordue, associ-
ate professor in the W. Booth School of
Engineering Practice and Technology at Dr. Elkafi Hassini
SOURCE OECD
McMaster University, adds that a previous Associate Dean, DeGroote School of Business
era of made-in-Canada industrial policies, Kellie Rabak
which came with both carrots and sticks, Acting Director, Marketing and Community Engagement

SPONSOR CONTENT
ADVERTISING PRODUCED BY THE GLOBE CONTENT STUDIO. THE GLOBE’S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT WAS NOT INVOLVED IN ITS CREATION.
An entrepreneurial spirit
powers success at Energy “Whether you’re helping a successful company solve a
problem or simply working with them when their volumes are
Transportation Group higher, it’s very satisfying.”

Energy Transportation Group started as a brokerage and
logistics company and continues to provide these services. As
demand grew, the company expanded to incorporate fleets
of its own trucks and trailers. Today, its operations include dry
van trailers, produce and refrigerated transport, as well as
cross-border shipping in the U.S. and Mexico. The company’s
branches in Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn., also allow it to
significantly expand its operations with intra-U.S. shipping.
“The company’s major growth came from targeting
domestic U.S. business and cross-border freight from Canada,
United States and Mexico,” says Mr. Girard.
Through the evolution and growth of the business, the co-
founders have maintained their business partnership, which is
built on communication and respect.
“Even after all this time, the communication level is there,
which allows us to work closely together because not all days
are easy in transportation,” Mr. Girard explains.“As long as
there is trust and honesty, the growth will come. That resonates
throughout the company. Our employees and our clients see
the relationship we have, and I think we’re well respected
because of it.”
Mr. Girard says he and his team have always had a
“customer-centric” mentality and that Energy Transportation
Group is mindful about partnerships and making sure those
collaborations are mutually beneficial for everyone.
“Our team is dedicated, and we have a way of servicing our
clients at a high level,” he says.“While we make sure we’re not
handpicking customers, I think we do a good job partnering
I n 2007, childhood friends Shawn Girard and Michael
Cinquino founded Energy Transportation Group, a North
Left, Michael Cinquino,
president;
with clients that share our values. I think clients feel that
synergy from the outset, and it helps build longer-lasting and
America-wide goods delivery and logistics fleet based in Right, Shawn Girard, more productive relationships.”
CCO.
Montreal, with Mr. Girard in the role of chief commercial officer In terms of what’s next for the company, Mr. Girard says the
(CCO) and Mr. Cinquino serving as president. goal is to fill even more roles in the supply chain and be a one-
“When we were kids riding our bikes to the local store to stop-shop for customers.
get Freezies, we just knew we would be in business together,” “We’re looking into securing even more warehousing
recalls Mr. Girard.“We didn’t know what we wanted to do, but locations,” he explains.“There’s a bigger need today in
we’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. And as we grew up, e-commerce and warehousing to keep goods close to the
we understood if you do something well, you reap the benefits consumers, so we’re investing a lot of money in real estate,
– not only financially, but professionally.” warehouse management systems, and transportation
Maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit and nimbleness of management systems.”
the company has always been at its core. That approach has An upgrade to the company’s digital system is also in the
paid off, as Energy Transportation Group will hit approximately works to ensure that Energy Transportation Group can maintain
$250- million in sales this year and boasts an impressive its stellar reputation of reliability and efficiency.
clientele of Fortune 500 companies that rely on the company “We’re undergoing a digital transformation that we believe
for its high level of service and dependability. will take our company technologically to the next level, and
“It’s rewarding to deal with Fortune 500s that look to us hopefully, allow us to be a technology leader in transportation,”
to help them with challenges they face,” says Mr. Girard. says Mr. Girard.
4*$% /%2-#(*%/2+*- (%*61)'% #'%6101-&

2,, *3 "*%/! 5.'%102
US$150 MILLION+
06/23
US$440 MILLION
Total prize money for this summer’s Women’s World Cup—three Total prize money men received
times higher than it was in 2019 and 10 times higher than in 2015 for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
WHAT YOU CA N L E A RN FROM . . .
Christine Sinclair
The pride of Burnaby, B.C.—and one of our all-time greatest athletes—will once
again lead Canada’s national team to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New
Zealand in July. She’s proven as adept at negotiating as she is on the field, taking her
battle for equal pay to Parliament Hill and winning on behalf of women who play
international soccer (much better than men) for Canada. /Dawn Calleja
AS K AN EXPERT
Play KEEP YOUR EGO OFF THE PITCH
the Sinclair knows a little something about being a boss— “I totally lost my cool
long
she’s captain of both Portland Thorns FC, the top-ranked in front of my staff.
team in the U.S. National Women’s Soccer League, and
How can I recover?”
game of Canada’s national squad. That doesn’t mean she’s bossy.
“I’m a quieter type of leader,” she has said. “I’ll do anything
Sinclair scored for my team, and I’ll speak up when needed, but I tend to lead Act fast, because you’re in crisis-
her first more by example.” Just because you have power doesn’t mean management mode. “The longer
international you need to throw it around.
goal at the Algarve Cup in you let it fester, the more people
2000, when she was just think you’re okay with what
16. Since then, she’s only you did,” says Nicole Smith, a
gotten better. She’s now up TEAMWORK MAKES conflict management practitioner
to 190-plus goals, making
her the highest scoring
THE DREAM WORK in Fredericton. Your rage-fit
international player in the Sinclair tries to foster the idea is, of course, not okay, not least
world, man or woman. She that on the field, everyone’s a because it’s technically workplace
has three Olympic medals, leader. “In their own unique harassment, but also because
including a gold from Tokyo way, everyone has a kind of influence
with a different group in the you no doubt feel like a total jerk.
2020, and this summer a heartfelt apology is the only
will mark her sixth World team. It’s about giving people
Cup. The point: Don’t panic the confidence to express medicine here, as it so often is. “As
if you’re not nailing it right themselves,” she told a soon as possible, call an in-person
away; you have lots of time reporter back in 2016. meeting so everyone can see
to hit your stride. Empowering your people
and letting them inspire your sincerity,” says Smith.
others is the hallmark “Acknowledge your behaviour,
of savvy leadership. take responsibility, clearly state
Fight that you know you shouldn’t
for have done it and that you don’t
what’s right Give a anticipate ever behaving like that

again.” Even if there’s one thing or
As captain of Team Canada, hand person that set you off, resist the
urge to deflect blame. That said,
to the
Sinclair led a strike over pay
equity—players on Canada’s depending on your workplace,
you could explain further if it feels
PHOTOGRAPH VAUGHN RIDLEY/GETTY; ILLUSTRATION JOE M C KENDRY
53rd-ranked men’s squad

earned five times what the
women did in 2021, the
next appropriate. “If it’s something
in your personal life—like a new
year they won Olympic
gold—and budget cuts by generation baby keeping you up all night—
you could share that,” says Smith.
Canada Soccer that would Sincy, as she’s affectionately
leave the team ill prepared called, isn’t known There could also be support
to compete at the World for being particularly available so you don’t blow your
Cup. Sinclair and three loquacious, but by top again. In the meantime,
teammates also delivered all accounts she’s a don’t miss this moment for
scathing testimony before fantastic listener and
a parliamentary committee mentor to her younger self-reflection. “We’re all human
in Ottawa—a brave move teammates. And she and allowed to lose our cool at
considering what typically doesn’t just dispense work—once,” says Smith. Twice is
happens to athletes who advice; she solicits a pattern and probably a terrible
speak out against the it, too—helping build better reputation in the works, so look
powers that be. But it leaders in the process. As one of
worked: The women signed her Portland teammates puts it: deeper. “You need to figure out
a better deal with Canada “She’ll ask us our opinions...and why you did this so you don’t
Soccer soon after. actually take it to heart.” do it again.” /Rosemary Counter

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by generation
India’s population advantage over China
AGES 0 TO 24 AGES 25 TO 54 AGES 55+ CHINA INDIA

600 Millions of people by age group Total people in billions 1.5
500
2023-24: India
passes China
400 as world’s most 1
populous country
More people in India than China
300
1995: India’s 0-to-24 age

200 group overtakes China’s 5
for the first time
100
0 0
More people in China than India
China will have vastly

-100 more older people than
India well beyond 2050
-200
-300
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2050
2025
2030
2035
2040
2045
D ECO D ER
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Sometime around the end of April, give or take a The numbers tell the tale: The median age in India,
few weeks—not to mention a few million people— at 28, is more than 10 years lower than China’s, a gap
India surpassed China to become the world’s largest that will only widen in the coming years. This chart
country by population, a numerical feat that gen- divides the populations of both countries into three
erated headlines around the world. As population categories—young, prime working age and older—
horse races goes, they don’t get bigger than this. and shows the demographic advantage that awaits
By year’s end, the United Nations estimates India’s India. It already has hundreds of millions more
population will reach 1.429 billion, edging out China young and prime working age people than China.
by roughly one Toronto’s worth of people. China, on the other hand, has an excess of grey.
Bragging rights aside, India’s population growth Companies like Apple are already being drawn
has garnered so much attention for what it means away from China to India’s more youthful work-
to the balance of economic power in the world. force as that country seeks to become the world’s
China’s spectacular growth, particularly from the new factory floor and as geopolitical tensions make
1970s through to the early 2000s, was supercharged China less appealing.
by a working-age population that doubled in size. Still, whether India can match China’s economic
As investment flowed in, drawn by low wages and performance depends on what it does with its natu-
SOURCE UNITED NATIONS
massive government spending on infrastructure, a ral advantage. Literacy and education levels remain
thriving middle class evolved, and GDP per capita— poor by comparison. That said, India is undergoing
a measure of prosperity per person—grew five-fold an infrastructure revolution, its populace is mas-
since the late 1990s. However, China’s working-age sively plugged into the internet, and digitization
population is now shrinking, creating demographic initiatives are bringing business and government
headwinds India does not face. services to even its poorest citizens. /Jason Kirby

06/23
been driven by co-founder renamed itself in 2002). “It was the best
and executive chairman advertising we ever could have had,”
Rob Wildeboer. Now 63, Wildeboer recalls. Yet, he and Jaekel
Wildeboer says he and (who died in 2014) still admired much
CEO Pat D’Eramo “do some about Magna, including the emphasis
leadership from behind, like on treating employees well. Martinrea
Nelson Mandela.” Imagine has 10 guiding principles, and the first
that said by a friendly guy is its “Golden rule: Treat everyone with
who sounds like you met him dignity and respect.” It also strives to
at Tim Hortons, and you have stay entrepreneurial and lean.
an idea what an intriguing Growth over the past two decades
mix Wildeboer is. has been impressive, with revenue
In the early 1990s, Wildeboer rising from about $40 million in 2001 to
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION was a crusading young Bay Street $1.7 billion in 2010, and then more than
securities lawyer who also helped a doubling again. Martinrea now has 58
MARTINREA INTERNATIONAL INC. lot of entrepreneurial companies raise plants in 10 countries, although about
VAUGHAN, ONT. money, including a small metal-forming 75% of its business is in Canada, the
REVENUE (2022) $4.8 BILLION company named Royal Laser Tech. United States and Mexico. But there
After Frank Stronach fired Fred Jaekel, have been setbacks, some external (the
PROFIT (2022) $132.8 MILLION a protégé, in 2001, Wildeboer and 2008-09 financial crisis and COVID-19)
THREE-YEAR SHARE PRICE GAIN 82% Jaekel decided to go into the auto parts and some internal (a shareholder proxy
business together, with Jaekel as CEO. battle in 2014).
P/E RATIO (TRAILING) 8.6 Lawsuits quickly flew between These days, many investors are
Magna and Martinrea (as the company still rattled by the impact of the
Among Canada’s Big Three auto parts pandemic on the auto sector. Share-
makers, Magna and Linamar get a lot of MARTINREA INTERNATIONAL INC. price multiples are depressed for all
attention, but third-ranked Martinrea? SHARE PRICE ON TSX parts makers. There’s also uncertainty
Not so much. Part of that is due to $14 over the shift to electric vehicles.
the lustre of the Magna and Linamar But Wildeboer says 80% of the parts
founding families, the Stronachs and Martinrea produces are “completely
12
the Hasenfratzes (and some very agnostic”—they could work in
public bickering among the former). gasoline-powered cars or EVs. Many
But over the past year, Martinrea’s 10 are frame components that lighten the
share price has left its rivals in the dust, weight of either.
rising more than 80% as the company He’s planning to stick to
8
posted record revenue for 2022. Yet, fundamentals. “If you keep earning
Martinrea is still trading at lower share more, pay down debt and buy back
price multiples than the other two. 6 stock, your share price is going to
Much of the company’s success has APRIL 2022 APRIL 2023 go up.” /John Daly
FOMO INVESTING
5 things we learned from Rogerio Fujimori

Bernard Arnault, founder and chair of French luxury goods super-conglomerate LVMH (the letters stand for Louis Vuitton Moët
Hennessy), recently widened his lead as the world’s richest person. Yet many North American investors are still mystified by the sector.
London-based luxury goods analyst Rogerio Fujimori has spent two decades covering it, and he offers some perspective. /JD
3. Is the sector getting 4. U.S. consumers were 5. Stifel sells Fujimori’s

PHOTOGRAPH TIJANA MARTIN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
1. After working at Morgan 2. Since 2012, the MSCI

Stanley, Credit Suisse Luxury Goods index has too frothy? “This is one the leading buyers in 2022, advice to institutional
and RBC Capital Markets, clobbered the MSCI of the key debates,” at around 33% of the clients, so he doesn’t give
Fujimori joined U.S.-based Europe index, rising 342% says Fujimori. Looking at luxury market. The country me specific stock or fund
Stifel Financial in 2020. versus 75%. The sector price-to-earnings ratios, has some large publicly picks. But he says in recent
Yes, European companies rebounded strongly after the sector now trades traded domestic players, years there has been a
are still the luxury goods the pandemic. Domestic more than one standard including Tapestry (Coach significant “bifurcation
leaders: LVMH with a consumption in North deviation above its and Kate Spade) and of performance” among
market cap of US$488 America, Europe and China historical premium to the Capri Holdings (Michael sector brands. Compare
billion, Hermès at US$232 grew strongly “despite broader stock market. Kors and Jimmy Choo). Canada Goose and Milan’s
billion, Richemont (owner all the disruption,” says That “suggests that a lot But Fujimori says many Moncler in the outerwear
of Cartier) at US$98 billion Fujimori. “The part that is of positives are already cater to the “aspirational” category—Goose shares
and Kering (owner of missing is Chinese tourist priced in by the market,” segment (think handbags down 48% over the past
Gucci) at US$78 billion are purchases in key travel he says. under US$1,000), versus five years versus Moncler
the top four. destinations.” “ultra-luxury” European up 92%. He expects some
brands (US$5,000 and up). bifurcation to continue.

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With a focus on innovation,

Hatch helps solve global challenges
“This fosters an environment of ideas and thinking and
being leading-edge,” Mr. Schatz adds. “We look at some of our
challenges in the world today and ask, ‘How do we do better at
solving these?’”
That spirit of innovation has led Hatch to work with clients to
develop cutting-edge technologies that help manage climate
change, from fusion reactors and a green hydrogen-based
steelmaking technology that reduces the carbon footprint
of the process, to managing the lifecycle of batteries, he
explains.
To link Hatch’s approximately 10,000 employees in offices
on every major continent and with experience in more than
150 countries across the globe, the company has a manifesto
that outlines its vision, mission, values and personality.
“These are essential,” Mr. Schatz stresses. “They’re not
just nice slogans to put on the wall; you have to live these.
They’re connected, and so together they’re the manifesto,
starting with our vision of being ‘passionately committed to
the pursuit of a better world through positive change.’ We use
the manifesto as a guide and a framework in our own internal
conversations.”
That guide also helps bridge the differences in language
and culture between employees, he adds.
“We’re in different countries and cultures and business
lines, but what holds us together is this manifesto. That’s how
we can work together because we subscribe to these values
and this approach.”
Michael Schatz, global
E ngineering, project management and professional
services firm Hatch describes its employees as
managing director,
Being employee-owned also means the company’s
employees have a stake in the outcome of the business and
infrastructure at Hatch
“entrepreneurs with a technical soul.” They take a knowledge- (far right) and members “we’re not beholden to other forces,” he says.
and data-driven approach to solving complex challenges around of the infrastructure “It creates a higher client focus and a view on the long-term
the world, whether that’s building better mines, electrifying team at the site of outcome.”
the Pattullo Bridge
transportation, helping businesses be more sustainable, replacement project
Hatch and its employees love to give back to the
improving cities, or transitioning to renewable energy. in B.C. communities they work in, and the company supports
“Innovation is part of our soul,” says Michael Schatz, the programs for Indigenous groups in areas where it operates,
company’s global managing director, infrastructure. including Canada and Australia. One such program is the
“We celebrate innovation, right through to our senior University of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous Student Co-
management,” he adds. Senior managers are “all still involved op Program, which connects engineering students with
in our projects and ideas; our executive management is not opportunities in industry. It also has an active university
decoupled from being at the front line of doing this work.” scholarship program, providing more than $2-million in
The employee-owned company’s management structure scholarships and bursaries to universities across the globe
is flat, which encourages collaboration and connection across each year.
teams from around the world so that every project can tap “We’re from our communities, and we’re making
into the best expertise. Mr. Schatz is an example of how an substantial changes to our communities with what we do in
employee can advance with the company, as he began working the business,” Mr. Schatz says.“So, we think it’s essential
at Hatch when he graduated university and now heads up its that communities are involved in our work, as well as being
infrastructure team. supported and benefiting from our outreach.”
06/23
SM ART M O N E Y
DANIEL DUPONT
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CANADA ULC
Dan Dupont is a fund manager who aims to win by not and off for more than a decade because of their
losing. Protection of capital is key. He buys higher-quality defensive nature. They’re in a stable industry that
is not very cyclical. People tend to buy their prod-
companies, waits patiently until they become bargains
ucts despite a recession. Less harmful alternative
and avoids most economically sensitive names. His products, such as e-cigarettes, and price increases
$7.3-billion Fidelity Canadian Large Cap Fund also tends on traditional cigarettes can keep the companies
to shine during market turbulence. When North American profitable despite the rapid drop in tobacco sales. If
you pay an attractive price for these stocks, you can
stock markets sank into the red last year, his Canadian-
have not spectacular, but very good returns.
focused equity fund (F series) gained 14.9%. The fund, Why do you own energy plays like Suncor
which can own foreign stocks, has outpaced the S&P/TSX and Canadian Natural Resources?
Composite Total Return Index since he took over in 2011. It’s an unorthodox position for me, but energy was
my largest sector in 2020 when the oil price went
And he hasn’t lost money in any calendar year. We asked
negative. My patient process tells me to wait for
Dupont, 45, why he owns Canada’s three grocery giants the market to come my way and then deploy capital
and finds tobacco stocks attractive. quickly. I didn’t need to be smart to know that the
oil price would go back up. Energy stocks are a bit
What is your outlook for North American markets? too cyclical for my taste, but the supply situation is
I’m more defensively positioned than the average intriguing. Supply has been constrained partly by
fund manager, but I’m more cautious than usual. An ESG restrictions on lending to energy companies.
inverted yield curve for bonds (where short-term It’s tight in North America while OPEC+ controls
interest rates are higher than long-term rates) has most of the rest of the production. I don’t know if oil
predicted the eight recessions of the past 50 years. will go up a lot, but supply is very attractive relative
We’ve already had a steepening yield curve, which to history, so I am more bullish.
doesn’t mean the economic environment will be How does gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines fit
tougher in the next few quarters, but the odds of a with your strategy?
recession are very high. We bought it when gold prices were lower and
You own Canada’s three grocery giants. Agnico Eagle was cheaper. Gold stocks have a low
Do their profits benefit from inflation? correlation to the general market, so they’re a good
Consumer-staples stocks tend to be very defensive. diversifier. They can also be a hedge against central
If you can find an oligopolistic market like Cana- banks doing crazy things. As problems arose in the
dian grocers, it’s good to put a lot of money there. banking industry recently, they were quick to reliq-
I bought the three grocery stocks when they got uefy banks to make sure the system was functioning.
cheap. Metro has an excellent management team, That is prone to creating more inflation. I believe
and I have owned its stock since 2009. I bought the U.S. Federal Reserve Board will loosen mone-
Loblaw a few years ago. Empire, which owns chains tary policy over the next three to four years, and that
like Sobeys and IGA, is a smaller position. Empire should eventually be good for gold. /Shirley Won
has been going through a difficult time in the cur-
rent economic slowdown because it doesn’t have
FIDELITY CANADIAN LARGE CAP FUND (SERIES F)
discount banners of size. This business is more ANNUALIZED % TOTAL RETURN *
complex than it seems. Grocers went through diffi-
1-YEAR 11.6
cult operational times during the pandemic and are
now trying to navigate an environment where their 5-YEAR 12.9
products have significant cost inflation. It’s still a UNDER DUPONT 11.7
(SINCE MARCH 2011)
very competitive, low-margin industry.
Your fund owns Imperial Brands, Altria Group and
PHOTOGRAPH TESS ROBY
British American Tobacco. Why are tobacco names S&P/TSX COMPOSITE TOTAL RETURN INDEX
attractive when cigarette smoking is declining -5.2 1-YEAR
and their stocks are shunned by environmental, 5-YEAR 8.8
social and governance (ESG) investors? SINCE MARCH 2011 6.2
Tobacco companies are admittedly controversial
*RETURNS TO MAR. 31, 2023; SOURCE: MORNINGSTAR DIRECT
from an ESG perspective. But I’ve owned them on

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Canada’s Best Managed Companies
PROUDLY CERTIFIED
Built on 20 years of excellence
www.lslinc.com
PHOTOGRAPH LIAM MOGAN, PROP STYLING NICOLE BILLARK/PLUTINO
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, celebrat-
ing excellence among private Canadian-owned enterprises with revenue of $50 mil-
lion or more. We profile 30 newcomers in a wide array of industries, from seafood
processing and bookselling to data centres and scrap metal recycling—plus one quirky
family-run retailer that makes zero sense on paper but has a die-hard fan base that just
keeps growing. These companies join 456 repeat winners that must requalify each year
to stay on the list. To read more about the methodology, see page 41.
THE
SHARPEST
TOOL in the
SHED
ON PAPER, LEE VALLEY TOOLS MAKES NO SENSE.
BUT THE QUIRKY RETAILER, RUN BY FAMILY
SCION ROBIN LEE, HAS A DEVOTED FAN BASE.
CAN IT LURE IN A NEW BATCH OF DIY ENTHUSIASTS?
BY SUSAN KRASHINSKY ROBERTSON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEXA MAZARELLO

customers who may find the array of tools
more intimidating than inspiring.
ROBINLEE
“We are an editor for the customer,” Lee
says, referring both to how the company
selects products and the tone it uses to rec-
ommend them to the right users. He refer-
ences the friendly neighbour on the ’90s
sitcom Home Improvement, who dispensed
advice and a bit of philosophy to Tim “The
Tool Man” Taylor over the fence. “We’re
knows what Wilson.”
YOU’RE L
ee Valley sells roughly 24,000
products—and many of them
have to pass muster with Robin
Lee himself, whether they come
THINKING
as he plucks an item from the shelf of his family-owned store in subur-
from the company’s own tool-
making operation or from other manufac-
turers. The retailer adds new items every
couple of weeks, which the product team
ban Ottawa: This product seems a bit, well, stupid. pitches to Lee in a process the company’s
The CEO of Lee Valley Tools goes one step further: “Stupidest thing president and chief operating officer, Jason
ever” is how he describes his first impression of the Wingman, a plastic Tasse, compares to Dragons’ Den.
dragonfly on a wire that’s designed to be clipped to your hat, wobbling Lee, 60, has spent most of his life refining
absurdly overhead and purportedly repelling deer flies and horseflies. his understanding of what works for Lee
It seems fishy; it looks ridiculous. Valley. In 1976, his parents, Leonard and
But Lee Valley will sell it to you (for $13.90 plus tax) because it’s one Lorraine, decided to try selling cast-iron
of several oddball gadgets whose unexpected utility the retailer swears stove kits out of their home in Ottawa’s
by. Its catalogue—highly anticipated by many customers for its articu- Westboro neighbourhood. For Leonard,
late copy and surprising array of products—describes the Wingman as a civil servant looking to strike out on his
“a simple, effective alternative to the arm-flailing method of shooing own, it was a test run to gauge the viabil-
away” the pests, assuring readers it was “tested in Ontario cottage coun- ity of a mail-order business. Robin, then
try.” Lee is the unnamed tester; his is the cottage. still a teenager, would grind the castings to
The Wingman is a perfect example of how Lee Valley has evolved remove excess bits of metal and then pack
over its 45 years, branching out from its origins as a mail-order pur- the stoves for shipping.
veyor of woodworking tools. The company still sells thousands of those Lee Valley was launched in 1978 as a cata-
tools, many of which it manufactures through its Veritas brand, a cor- logue selling woodworking tools. Leonard
nerstone of the business. But as time has passed, the product assort- got his start by partnering with Garrett
ment has expanded—into other work-with-your-hands categories such Wade, a New York–based purveyor of simi-
as gardening and cooking, but also in some surprising ways. If you’re in lar catalogues. Owner Garry Chinn shared
the market for a box-maker’s plow plane or a mortise chisel, Lee Valley artwork for print and wrote to his product
has it. Also, there’s a doohickey for squeezing toothpaste out of its tube. suppliers guaranteeing the fledgeling com-
On paper, this should not work. pany’s invoices. (Mr. Chinn still owns a
“If you walked in cold off the street, you’d go, ‘What the heck are these small percentage of Lee Valley and sits on
people about?’” Lee acknowledges. the advisory board.)
Lee Valley is part serious tool shop—catering to the kind of folks But from the start, the operation was a
who appreciate having the choice of more than two dozen varieties of family affair. Whenever someone called
sharpening stone—part high-end cooking and gardening store, and part the company number, a phone in the Lee
random potpourri of SkyMall-ish merchandise. In many of its product kitchen rang. After the 1981 postal strike
categories, it’s not the biggest, the fastest or the cheapest option. And just about put them out of business, demon-
it’s positively dwarfed by competitors like Home Depot, Canadian Tire strating the necessity of brick-and-mortar
and Amazon. stores, Robin built the very first showroom.
But Lee Valley has built itself a niche, with 18 stores across the coun- (It was his summer job.) “The showroom
try, an e-commerce operation that accounts for roughly 50% of its sales, model kind of mirrored the catalogue,” says
and more than $100 million in annual revenue from the retail operations Tasse, a 25-year veteran of the company
alone, not counting its manufacturing business. who started out working in the warehouse.
Significant challenges still lie ahead, however. Lee Valley’s leadership It remains the same today: Stores mostly
is evaluating the future of its store network, which has gaps—including display product samples, which customers
in Canada’s largest city, where skyrocketing rents forced the closure can purchase by filling out an order—either
of two of its three locations in the past couple of years. The company on paper, by mobile phone or at a computer
must make sizable investments to modernize its manufacturing opera- station. A staffer then fetches their items
tions. And it’s grappling with how to remain relevant, not just as peo- from the back.
ple’s shopping habits change, but as it seeks to appeal to newer, greener As Lee Valley grew, Leonard Lee wanted

T
to be more involved in the design of its tools here’s a story behind the rasp. Of course there is—for a catalogue
and to incorporate customers’ feedback. company like Lee Valley that prides itself on good copy, there’s
The company launched a manufacturing always a story to be told. The microplane that does a real num-
arm, now called Veritas, in 1985, which oper- ber on your lemon zest and your parmesan cheese, wouldn’t you know
ates in a facility just down the road from its it, started off as a surgical tool for shaving bone (appetizing!) and for
Ottawa store and makes about 1,200 tools, woodworking. After Robin Lee found it at a trade show in Chicago in the
hardware and gardening products both for 1980s, his mother picked it up, figuring it might do the trick for zesting
Lee Valley stores and for export to more oranges. It became a kitchen favourite. The catalogue told the story—
than 90 countries. About one-quarter of the with Lorraine making an appearance as “a Lee Valley woodworker’s
products the stores sell are manufactured wife”—and soon the manufacturer called to ask what the heck was
in-house. Veritas launches new items all going on: Lee Valley was selling tens of thousands of the things.
the time; Robin Lee estimates there are cur- The tone of the Lee Valley catalogue began with Leonard Lee, whose
rently more than 200 products in the queue salesmanship included a tongue-in-cheek blurb casting the user of a
waiting to be introduced, including a new long-handled trowel as the “lord of the manor.” Robin is particular about
set of bench rules, a hacking knife, a dowel- carrying on that legacy and still edits every bit of copy before it hits the
ling jig and a saw for cutting the fret slots on page. “I ban words,” he says. (Recent outcasts that were hammered into
a guitar neck. “It’s a very tight connection semantic saturation with overuse: “exceptional” and “essential.”)
between the retail arm and the manufactur- The voice Lee Valley has cultivated over more than four decades is
ing,” he says. “Let’s say you buy an electric deliberate: knowledgeable, not know-it-all. “Conservative but modest
drill from Home Depot, and you go back advice,” Tasse says.
and say, ‘Here’s what’s wrong with it.’ The “But also to be literate and not talk down to people,” Lee says.
drill manufacturer never hears it. There’s The people Lee Valley speaks to are changing. The company’s core
no effective feedback loop…Whether they customers like working with their hands. Management has even given
outsource or they do it internally, I think them personas: Earl, an old shop teacher, and Heather, a middle-aged
that’s a good strategy for many retailers— gardener. But its newer customers fit a different profile. “We’ve got to
to have not just a house brand, to not just
put your name on somebody else’s product,
but to do the design work.”
When it comes to products sourced from
outside the company—whether it’s a new
garden pail or a quirky gift item—staff must
convince Lee that the product solves a
problem, represents good value and quality,
and is something shoppers can’t find every-
where. (The Wingman is an exception to
the latter rule: Amazon, Canadian Tire and
a number of outdoor-supply stores will also
sell you this backcountry fascinator.)
Still, it’s a delicate balance between solv-
ing problems and needing a tool for abso-
lutely everything. While the serendipity of
the product selection can be entertaining,
it also begs the question: Does one really
need tongs specifically for fishing toast out
of the toaster? Or a paper plane launcher?
Or a reflective sheet to warm your rear end
while sitting around a campfire?
“We want you using this stuff,” Lee says.
“These are tools that are going to be good.
They have a utility and a value, which we
will make clear to you. And you decide
whether it applies to you or not.”
NO FLIES ON HIM:
Robin Lee personally tested the Wingman
for its pest-shooing powers

be more about teaching gateway skills to different customers—not the core salaries rather than pay out bonuses
50-year-old woodworker, but somebody who never took shop class in tagged to profits, which left staff not know-
high school or grade school, as most people don’t,” Lee says. “Now, a ing how much they could rely on. (Lee says
beginner isn’t 16 years old. A beginner is 35 or 40.” there were some lean years when he fudged
Lee Valley has responded by focusing more on inspiring beginners, the number to make it look better.)
including with an ad campaign that emphasized failure as part of the “We’re now tracking progress to a living
learning process. It has also introduced “Make it Yourself ” boxes wage,” Tasse says, adding the company pays
inspired by meal kits, giving customers all the tools and materials to a premium over minimum wage. It used
try out carving a wooden spoon, for example, or building a bird feeder. to be about 30%, but that has narrowed
There are other ways Lee Valley is seeking to modernize. A few years slightly as provinces have raised their mini-
ago, it began overhauling its digital operations, including making a mum wage levels. Still, Lee adds, “We don’t
major investment in its website. E-commerce became a lifeline when want it to be a little bit above minimum; we
the pandemic hit and digital sales became everything. But Lee Valley want it to be significantly above.” These
still took a major blow, with store closures eliminating half its sales at efforts have helped the company build a
the worst possible time. It had just placed all its Christmas orders in workforce filled with long-timers. “I hand
January and February, and found itself in a cash crunch, forced to lay out 25-year certificates and awards every
off 7% of its workforce across the retail and manufacturing operations. week,” he says.
“We just had the rug pulled out from under us. And when you go to the With the turbulence of the pandemic
bank, they say, ‘Retail—that’s going to be a big problem. We don’t want behind it, Lee Valley is evaluating what its
to invest in you,’ ” Lee says. “It’s as if the previous 40 years didn’t count.” future should look like. A big part of that is
The company was able to recover by leaning on digital sales and ben- its store network. “When they started back
efitted greatly when locked-down Canadians began spending money on in the ’70s, the market was not as urban-
home improvement projects and hobbies to stay busy. Having always ized,” says Wendy Evans, a retail expert
done store pickups for online orders—and with staff already fully and president of Evans & Co. Consultants.
trained in retrieving product from the back—Lee Valley was able to “As the market has evolved, they’ll have to
pivot quickly to curbside service, staying closed out of caution (or open- rethink their location strategy.”
ing by appointment only) for some time even after hardware stores were Many of Lee Valley’s stores are in sub-
categorized as essential retail. urban, and in some cases industrial, areas.
Those online sales, and customers’ loyalty, “saved our bacon,” Lee The assumption was the customer would
says. For a time, though, he feared the second generation running Lee drive to them, so they went where the rent
Valley might be its last. “We were closer than anybody knows to closing was cheap. Now, Lee says, the customer
the doors permanently,” he says. is changing, and the retailer is analyzing
where there are gaps. One of them is in
L
Toronto, where management is looking
ee Valley doesn’t work like other companies. Leonard Lee hard for new locations after shuttering two
used to tout the fact that over the decades, the business had stores. (The last one left is in the suburb
never had layoffs. Because of the pandemic, that’s no longer of Vaughan—a great stopping point for
true. “It was tough,” Robin Lee says. “But there was some people on their way to cottage country, but
learning in there, too.” hardly a lure for downtowners.)
For example, management realized that its resistance to layoffs wasn’t As they look to more central locations,
always a good thing. While employees appreciate loyalty, Tasse says, stores will likely become smaller, with a
some were frustrated by the retailer’s tendency to hold on even to non- more selective number of items. But if cus-
performers. With staffing levels now back up to pre-pandemic norms— tomers want endless choice, they’re prob-
about 1,000 employees—Lee and his team are working on managing ably picking up their phones rather than
their people differently. That means shedding the less formal approach driving to Lee Valley anyway—Lee himself
of the past and introducing more career development discussions; skip- says he turned to Amazon recently when he
level meetings where staff have the chance to meet with managers above needed a specific size of bolt. It took a few
their direct supervisor; and better succession planning across roles, to clicks, the price was good, and he had it the
ensure they’re identifying talent to take over when others leave. That next day.
also means better record keeping so that long-time staff don’t take all “The trick is, why do people want to
their institutional knowledge with them into retirement. come to our store?” he says. It might be to
Some of the old ideas still apply, however. The founder always had a take a woodworking class, to get that neigh-
policy that the highest-paid employee at Lee Valley would never earn bourly Wilson advice, or to get a kick from
more than 10 times the wage of the lowest-paid person on staff, a rule browsing through bug catchers, an old-
that remains in place today. To put that in context, the 100 highest-paid timey mariner’s weather glass or etched-
CEOs in Canada took home 243 times the pay of the average Canadian steel plates for measuring butter. One thing
worker in 2021, according to research by the Canadian Centre for Policy is clear: “It’s not going to be for the bolt.”
Alternatives—a gap that has widened considerably in recent years.
Other core tenets have changed. Lee Valley used to distribute one-
quarter of its pre-tax profit among the staff. During his time as a ware-
house worker, Tasse remembers that if a worker dropped something,
the joke was to call out, “profit share”—as in, the cost of that broken item
is coming out of our pockets. As the business got bigger, though, that
message got lost, the executives say. They made the decision to increase

TOOLS
of the
TRADE
Breakdown of Lee Valley’s 20,000-plus SKUs
TOOLS 50%
HARDWARE 39%
GARDEN/HOME 10%
GIFT 1%
I
t’s not just the stores Lee Valley is trying
to modernize. Next door to its Ottawa
headquarters, in the Veritas machine
shop, a senior manufacturing employee
named Rob is standing next to a bright-yel-
low robot arm, training it to pick up tenon
cutters and put them into a lathe. “I’ve
worked on equipment like this since 1993,
but this is the first time I’m using it with a
robot,” Rob says, adding the training pro-
cess can be a bit of a challenge. “This guy
has a bit of an attitude. He will only do one
thing—or she will only do... Anyway, they “Dad was not an internet guy”—and Leonard decided he wanted to
do their job very well.” focus more on the medical instruments company he launched in 1998,
Investing in this kind of efficiency is a he decided to hand over the reins. Leonard remained involved in design-
priority for Veritas. Those tenon cutters ing new tools, and he also ran a hardware store in the town of Almonte,
are frequently on back order, Lee says, Ont., as vascular dementia reduced the work he could take on. He died
and this is exactly the kind of unskilled, in 2016. (Lorraine still lives on their 75-acre spread, cutting the grass
repetitive job he wants to automate, free- and driving the tractors at the age of 84. Do-it-yourselfing clearly runs
ing up humans for tasks that require judg- in the family.)
ment and flexibility. “Continuing to make Lee stepped into the CEO role with a vast array of experience across
more products in Canada, and continuing the company, and he has a background in product design and tool devel-
to employ more people, not fewer—that’s opment his children don’t have. “But they will be skilled at other things,”
critical,” he says. he says. The Lees are very much a presence at Lee Valley: Robin’s wife,
Lee Valley is also saddled with machin- Lucie Robitaille, is chief customer officer. Daughter Annick Robitaille-
ery that’s now 25 or 30 years old and on its Lee is divisional merchandising manager in charge of gardening, and
last legs—and running at half the speed son Philippe Robitaille-Lee is marketing content manager. (Tasse, 49,
of new models. The company has poured also worked closely with the senior Mr. Lee and has been around so long
$12 million into the machine shop in the that Robin sometimes jokingly calls him “one more Lee.”)
past three years and recently converted a What Lee Valley faces in the coming years is something many Cana-
building next door into a second machine dian companies are grappling with: Six out of 10 businesses will change
shop to accommodate newer equipment hands in the next decade as boomers retire, and keeping family busi-
and growing operations. “Our big, auda- nesses in the family is getting increasingly difficult. Lee Valley recently
cious goal is over 100 years of sustainable acquired two U.S. tool manufacturers when the second generation
growth,” Lee says. didn’t want to take over.
But to get to a century, Lee will have to Robin Lee says he’s committed to passing the family business on to the
ensure the business successfully changes third generation. “We could sell it a million times over, but I wouldn’t
hands from one generation to the next. want to watch what it became,” he says, adding that he receives offers
The company has already done it once. regularly. “I could see XYZ accounting firm coming in here and saying,
Robin Lee took over as CEO in 2002, after ‘Cut this and this, and change this,’ and kill the golden goose.”
more than two decades in a variety of roles And he’s not stepping away any time soon—Lee jokes that his retire-
(interrupted only by his time at the Univer- ment plan is Freedom 85. “It’s not about money; it’s about your life and
sity of Waterloo, where he earned a degree what you enjoy doing,” he says. “Also, when your name is on the build-
in systems design engineering and worked ing, it matters what happens under your name.”
as a co-op student at IBM). As technology He smiles.
became a bigger part of the business— “There’s a little bit of a trap there.”

WELCOME to the
PARTY
THE LEADERS OF THE NEWEST CROP OF CANADA’S
BEST MANAGED COMPANIES SHARE THE MANAGEMENT
LESSONS THAT HAVE HELPED THEM SUCCEED
BY LIZA AGRBA
Anchor your business in social purpose Establish a formal succession plan

ABC Recycling Beaudoin Canada
(Burnaby, B.C.) (Gatineau, Que.)
220 employees 66 employees
10 locations 90% revenue growth from 2020–23
Western Canada’s largest scrap metal Louis-Joseph Beaudoin, CEO of the

recycling firm has a well-defined mis- eponymous project management and
sion statement when it comes to social construction firm, used to think his sons
impact: “We exist to preserve the world’s would take over when he eventually hung
resources, building thriving communities up his hat. But when it became clear they
by accelerating metal recycling.” That, weren’t interested, he quickly established
along with its focus on Tzedakah—the a formal succession plan. “With around
Jewish value of charity—is the 111-year- 80 employees directly linked to the
old company’s North Star. Besides divert- company, it’s important for me to make
ing up to 20,000 tonnes of scrap waste decisions for good continuity,” he says.
from landfills every month, ABC has a The problem was that his chosen suc-
laundry list of charitable and environ- cessors didn’t have the financial capac-
mental endeavours: It’s a long-time sup- ity to become shareholders, so Beaudoin
porter of United Way (having donated established a profit-sharing formula that
more than $400,000 in the past decade); it would eventually allow them to do so.
volunteers time and equipment to support Today, the CEO has mostly stepped back
cleanup efforts in forests and waterways; from day-to-day operations to allow his
it donates scrap cars for local firefighters three successors to run the show.
to practise auto extrication procedures;
and it has entrenched partnerships with Get specific about your shortcomings
Indigenous communities in its regions
of operation. In challenging times, like Birch Mountain Enterprises
2015’s recycling industry downturn, the (Fort McKay, Alta.)
fourth-generation business leaned on 389 employees
goodwill built over decades of fortifying 100% First Nations owned
community relationships. Poised to triple
its size by 2030, ABC’s strategy seems to Founded in 2005, Birch Mountain Enter-
be working. prises generally showed strong growth.

Champlain Seafood
(Dieppe, N.B.)
1,700 employees (at summer peak)
8 companies and 17 facilities in Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and Massachusetts
It’s a wry premise Hollywood could

use: Corporate finance types from the
city buy long-established lobster and
crab processing facilities in outports,
and they and the locals learn valuable
lessons from one another.
Champlain is backed by two
Montreal private equity firms,
Champlain Financial and Claridge
Inc., that are assembling a seafood
platform out of familiar brands that
have been family-owned and run for
generations. Among them are Captain
Dan’s, Boston Wholesale Lobsters
and Downeast Cape Bald Packers.
They sell to wholesalers, and to big
restaurant and supermarket chains.
Champlain Seafood is a primary
processor of crab and lobster—
basically packing it into 30-pound
boxes and shipping it out. Although
it also earns some revenue from live
lobster. Daily processing capacity
is impressive: 700,000 pounds of
processed lobster and crab, and up
to 2.2 million pounds of live lobster.
Some facilities operate year-round,
but business is concentrated in the
summer, from April to September.
In the middle is David Saucy,
Champlain Seafood’s chief financial
and operating officer, who joined
in 2021. He’s a CPA and MBA with
decades of experience. “It got to
the point where they needed a little
more horsepower,” he says. The
Montreal firms had been buying
processors since 2015. The idea, Saucy
says, is to maintain each business’s
entrepeneurial spirit by standardizing
“things that don’t impact the
operations and the customers, but
make it more efficient”—functions
like HR, IT and arranging insurance.
As in the movies, there have been
rough spots. “Private equity comes
in and says, ‘We’re buying your
company.’ You probably don’t get a
warm and fuzzy feeling about that,”
says Saucy. But last year he sent
PHOTOGRAPH ALY AMBLER
video crews out to every facility

to interview groups of employees.
Out of it came the company’s new
slogan: Stronger Together. Or, as
one employee puts it, “Everybody
depends on everybody.” /John Daly

46
Number of
of expansion. Caravan’s trucks have col-
lectively travelled one and a half times
the distance from Earth to the sun—not
bad for a company that was supposedly
Groupe
Renaud-Bray
(Montreal)
2,115 employees
countries that destined to fail.
62 Renaud-Bray and Archambault stores
now have Establish a clear vision
their own A decade ago, the conventional
Dilawri wisdom in the book trade was
Best Managed (Toronto) that e-books would soon replace
Companies 3,600 employees physical ones. “But that was
$4 billion+ in revenue
program— never really our vision,” says
Blaise Renaud, CEO of North
though it was For Kap Dilawri—co-founder of his name-
America’s largest French-
sake automotive dealership group—a
born in Canada clear vision at the outset was the scaffold-
language bookseller, Groupe
ing for every strategic decision he made Renaud-Bray, and son of the
down the road. That vision was sustain- company’s founder, Pierre
able growth based on two pillars: brand Renaud. “We didn’t jump the
and geographic diversification. Dilawri’s gun on moving too far, too fast
brand partnerships range from Mazda and to e-books.” That proved to be a
Honda to Ferrari and Maserati, allowing smart move: It turned out most
The problem: It wasn’t clear where that the company to adapt to market trends. of the retailer’s customers still
growth stemmed from. Between its mul- Meanwhile, spreading out limits its expo- prefer paper, and to this day,
tifaceted business streams—waste dis- sure to market risk, helping it take advan- e-books constitute a marginal
posal, hydrovac services, remote wash- tage of Canada’s varied provincial econo- portion of the nearly 60-year-old
room facilities, fuel hauling and more—no mies—a low in one province may be offset company’s sales.
one was keeping track of the profit- by a high in another. This core vision gives The company’s habit of
and-loss particulars for every division. Dilawri an edge when it comes to acquir-
doing things its own way also
But a few years ago, BME hired its first ing dealerships (he owns 80): The com-
served it well when the COVID-
dedicated CFO. It was transformational, pany assesses the business case for each
giving the management team a detailed deal based on how it fits into its larger
19 pandemic hit in 2020. As
breakdown of what was generating the portfolio, not local market conditions. part of its existing business
most profit—and where they should “Our strengths have allowed us to step for- model, Renaud-Bray already
divest resources. BME ended up winding ward and invest when others have chosen placed an emphasis on speedy
down its front-load waste management not to,” he says. “This has been a central delivery, and maintained its
PHOTOGRAPHS LIAM MOGAN, PROP STYLING NICOLE BILLARK/PLUTINO

and doubling down on fluid hauling, to contributor to our successful growth.” own dedicated warehouse and
name one significant change. As owner elevated inventories. “Without
and president Chris Wilson puts it, “We Treat clients like partners that warehouse we set up in
went from a vague understanding that we 2009,” says Renaud, “I’m not
were winning to a detailed understanding Energy Transportation Group sure we would have been able to
of where and why.” (LaSalle, Que.) ship the same amount of goods
153 employees to customers. And we were
Resilience will get you everywhere 97% on-time delivery rate lucky, because we had plenty of
inventory on hand and could sell
Caravan Group of Cos. Energy Logistics was a brokerage-only
it to customers online.”
(Oakville, Ont.) shipping operation when it launched back
500 employees in 2007. Three years later, the company
Renaud-Bray has, of course,
80,000 unique delivery locations served approached an important potential client changed its approach over the
that said it would only deal with an asset- years. Like other booksellers, it
When John Iwaniura and his partners based carrier—that is, a company that has introduced a wider variety
started logistics and warehousing firm owns its own equipment and employs of non-book items into its stores,
Caravan Group 25-plus years ago, every- its own drivers, as opposed to contract- and the pandemic has changed
one said they’d fail both as partners and ing it out. It was a significant shift for a where some of its customers
business owners. “We took that as moti- new firm, but CEO Shawn Girard saw an
vation for our company’s success,” says opportunity to level up, correctly surmis-
Iwaniura. “As humble immigrants, I’m ing that the client’s suggestion would
proud that my partners and I turned this open important new doors—including
once far-fetched idea from a ‘Canadian eventually adding Fortune 500 compa- Lean on company culture
Dream’ into a reality.” For Iwaniura— nies to its client roster. “We asked that
along with co-founders Bob Workun, client if they would support us on the eStruxture Data Centers
now VP of operations, and safety and trucking side if we purchased the equip- (Montreal)
compliance officer Paul Merena—resil- ment, and they said yes,” he says. “We 135 employees
ience and tenacity were key takeaways in saw them as partners, and that approach 130 megawatts of combined power
the early days. These traits not only got to relationships became a central pillar of
the trio past the aforementioned discour- our business. We extend the attitude to With more than 1,200 customers and
aging remarks, but through challenging vendors and suppliers. It’s about making 15 locations in Toronto, Montreal, Cal-
economic cycles and the typical hurdles everyone feel valued.” gary and Vancouver—each of which

Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Gincor Werx
(Mattawa, Ont.)
315 employees
12,000+ commercial vehicles
operating in Ontario
When Luc Stang started Gincor Werx

in 2002, he knew the business model
wasn’t perfect—there were several areas,
he says, that lacked the systems and
processes that would allow the custom
vocational-vehicle manufacturer to run
smoothly. “Along with gaps in leadership,
these would normally keep others from
moving toward growth,” says Stang, “but
I had a vision and was able to keep build-
ing the business. If I’d waited till every-
thing was perfect, we wouldn’t have
achieved 20 times growth in 20 years.”
Stang learned it’s far better to course-
correct as you go than to let a time-sen-
sitive opportunity slide. Now, Gincor
has one of the broadest product suites
in the industry and is the country’s No.
1 producer of dump trucks. Undaunted
by obstacles—including some internal
opposition—Stang applied the same atti-
tude to its overseas expansion. Its prod-
ucts are now used across four continents.
The takeaway: Don’t let perfection get in
the way of greatness.
Empower your employees

Groupe Morneau
(Saint-Arsène, Que.)
1,468 employees
23 terminals in 3 provinces
Freight transportation and logistics

company Groupe Morneau doesn’t refer
to its employees as such. Instead, the
fourth-generation family-owned com-
work and shop. But change also will be on the north shore,” Renaud
pany calls them collaborators, and the
brings opportunity. Now that more says. “We need to make sure our attitude extends well beyond nomen-
people are working remotely outside stores are where our customers are.” clature. With a flat organizational struc-
the major urban centres, there will He’s not content to cater only to ture, employees (or collaborators) are
be more stores where they can buy regulars, however. “We have about assigned a specific role instead of a list
French-language books: “This year, 50% market share in Quebec,” he of tasks. The idea is that if everyone
we opened one store on the south says. That is a lot, but it still leaves knows where the ship is going—and has
shore of Montreal, and the next one 50% to grow.” /Jaime Weinman the autonomy to make their own calls—
they’ll carve out the right tasks to match
their assigned role. Nixing a bloated
middle-management structure also
houses computing resources that store down to technical chops, but founder means company leaders are relatively
and transfer digital information— and CEO Todd Coleman believes the accessible to everyone, which translates
eStruxture is the single largest Cana- company’s inclusive culture allowed it to more synergies. “Our corporate cul-
dian-owned data centre. Given it only to rise to the top within five years—54% ture is based on trust and offering the
launched in 2017 and experienced much of its employees are BIPOC. “When I conditions to empower our employees,”
of its growth during the pandemic, that’s founded eStruxture, I knew that while says executive VP and general manager
no small feat. Even as supply chain we were building a tech business, we Catherine Morneau. “We must remain
issues made it difficult to deliver data were ultimately building a people and agile and attentive to our environment,
centre capacity, eStruxture expanded its relationship business,” he says. “And as because the world is changing faster and
footprint and brought additional capac- our company grew, that core has never faster. We have to adapt to remain useful
ity online. Sure, you can put some of that changed.” for an evolving society.”

Mevotech
(Toronto)
600+ employees
15,000+ products
It’s not every day that an American

market leader puts a Canadian
business at the top of its list. But
that’s what happened to Mevotech
in January, when the Toronto-based
automotive engineering company was
named supplier of the year by O’Reilly
Auto Parts, a leading automotive
retailer in the U.S. “To be recognized
as the top vendor really speaks to how
innovative and progressive we are,”
says Mevotech’s CEO, Ezer Mevorach,
who co-founded the company in 1982.
Indeed, Mevotech is known as a
leader in design and engineering,
and for being first to market with its
products. “That really makes us stand
out,” says Mevorach. The insistence
on being first also led to the profitable
decision, years ago, to focus on chassis
parts, which management identified
as an underserved market before other
suppliers did.
Asked about the company’s ability
to make these decisions, Mevorach
points to an agile team culture.
“Where a quick decision is required,
our senior team and I will meet,
debate and take action without
much red tape,” he says. When
the COVID-19 pandemic caused a
sudden fall in demand, for example,
they immediately decided on a plan
to keep their supply chain going
uninterrupted, which served them
well when demand rebounded.
Today, in addition to maintaining
that ability to pivot, Mevotech is
focused on being a great place to work
in an era when office work is changing
rapidly: “Employee morale and
work-life balance are very important,”
says Mevorach, adding, “We have
a great culture, a compassionate
culture.” /Jaime Weinman

the world does not stand still,” she says.
Give in to transformation “There has never been a greater opportu-
nity for our team to support today’s eco-
ITI nomic and environmental imperatives.”
(Quebec City)
450 employees Lead by example
5 offices in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto,
Ottawa and Kingston Light Speed Logistics
(Rocky View County, Alta.)
Five years ago, Quebec-based digital ser- 500+ employees
vices and consulting firm ITI underwent 1,000+ refrigerated trailers, 330 tractors
a major shareholder transition—and
with it, a rebrand and thorough reassess- Today, food transportation firm Light
ment of its offerings. The company went Speed Logistics (which operates 24-7, 365
from reselling IT equipment to providing days a year) has one of the largest fleets in
strategic consulting services that cover Western Canada, but it started as a one-
everything on your IT bingo card, includ- truck operation back in 2000. Director
ing cloud computing and data analytics. of operations Ashish Gill has worn many
The transition led to a 105% increase in hats along the way, including dispatcher,
revenue (and counting). For a company HR manager, safety manager and accoun-
that heavily promotes digital transforma- tant, to name a few. (The only thing he
tion for its clients, it makes sense that it hasn’t done is drive a delivery truck.)
would embrace change as a norm. But Gill’s jack-of-all-trades mentality was ini-
the key, says president Jonathan Legault, tially a practical necessity, but it became
is a basic understanding that even a tech a management edge. “I’m engaged with
company’s stakeholders are people, not every aspect of the business on a day-to-
machines. “I believe the secret to our suc- day basis,” he says. “I have been every-
cess is our ability to listen—to trends, our where my employees are, so I don’t
clients, our partners and our employees,” believe in managing through memos. I
he says. “Thanks to these insights, trans- want to lead by example, and I think our
formation is the core of our business.” staff sees the value in that.”
Love what you do Prepare for the unprecedented

Lee Valley Tools Metro Supply Chain
(Ottawa) (Montreal)
1,000 employees 6,000+ employees
5,000 different products 14 million square feet in 6 countries
To read about how Lee Valley Tools and If you get a new wave of pandemic fatigue
its second-generation CEO bounced back each time you hear “supply chain issues,”
after the pandemic, read “The sharpest rest assured specialists are working to
tool in the shed” on page 26. stay ahead of whatever unprecedented
event befalls us next. “Macro events such
Trust your instincts as digital transformation, climate change
and world conflict continue to impact
Logistec supply chains everywhere, and each of
(Montreal) the industries we support carries its own
3,700 employees challenges and opportunities,” says Metro
Operates in 60 ports and 90 terminals Supply Chain CEO Chris Fenton. “It’s our
across North America job to anticipate what may affect our
customers and their markets so we can
Soon after CEO Madeleine Paquin took provide the strategic support they need
over Logistec from her father, a cousin to meet their goals.” In 2021, the company
approached her with a radical idea: invested $100 million to automate several
expand marine cargo handling services of its fulfillment facilities—which handle
and create a new environmental division more than 20 billion items annually—to
focused on decontaminating industrial bolster its resilience amid future peaks
sites. He needed a $750,000 investment, and valleys in consumer demand.
and the CFO at the time advised Paquin
against the deal. She went with her gut Give back to get back
and today, 40% of Logistec’s business is in
environmental services, from site reme- Roy
diation to soil and materials management. (Anjou, Que.)
If Paquin hadn’t made that leap, Logistec 2,800 employees
would have missed out on all 6,500-plus of 3 acquisitions since 2018
the projects the company has completed
to date. “Put simply, we innovate because Quebec-based janitorial services company

Roy regularly participates in its clients’
fundraising events. Its custodial employ-
ees clean and perform other support
duties while Roy absorbs all the associ-
ated labour and supply costs. Besides
being a concrete way to support local
29
Years both
causes, CEO Julie Roy (part of the third
generation to run the company) sees it as
Boston Pizza
an opportunity to network and advertise and Fountain
the quality of her company’s customer
service, making it a win-win for Roy and
Tire have been
its clients. She also regularly participates on the list,
in industry panels and juries, volunteers
for organizations like United Way, and making them the
encourages her management staff to do
the same—even if it means volunteer-
longest-standing
ing during business hours. It’s a genuine recipients of the
effort to give back to the community, but
also no small boon for the business. Best Managed
designation
Look beyond the numbers
in Canada
Rustica Foods
(Anjou, Que.)
400 employees
40 million pizzas made annually
Rustica Foods started as a 600-square- Since then, it has further diversified into
foot family pizzeria in Montreal North. more sustainable commodities and by
Over time, the brand grew to commercial- providing niche rail-terminal services.
ize its pizzas, keeping quality at the fore- “Diversification makes us more resilient
front of its operations. But in 2016, when and sustainable through improved equip-
Rustica decided to start offering frozen ment utility and the creation of more
pies, something got lost on the produc- opportunities for our people,” says presi-
tion line. “We were making pizzas at very dent and COO Mark Shannon. Part of that
high speeds, and our P&Ls looked great, strategy is acquisitions-based—Seabord
but we noticed—through customer feed- has bought more than 30 companies,
back and internal taste tests—that qual- including its 2021 purchase of Armour
ity was suffering,” says founder and CEO Transportation. The latter made it a lead-
Richard Morgante. Rather than hoping ing provider of total logistics services—
customers would adjust, Morgante ulti- quite a journey for what was once a two-
mately opted to slow down the produc- vehicle operation.
tion process (which includes a kilometre-
long production line), sacrificing some Adapt or get left behind
speed to stay in line with the brand’s orig-
inal purpose: to offer artisanal-quality Sinobec
goods on a commercial scale. “You can be (Saint-Laurent, Que.)
blinded by profitability,” he says. “Look- 300+ employees
ing beyond that was a big lesson for me.” 8 storage/distribution centres globally
Diversify strategically The aluminum wholesaling business may

not immediately come to mind when
Seaboard Transport Group
(Dartmouth, N.S.)
you think about innovation, but for Sino-
bec president John Lee, enthusiastically
Blendtek
(Cambridge, Ont.)
1,500+ employees and contractors embracing change is his modus operandi. 55 employees
15 terminals across Canada and the U.S. The company’s roots are in raw ore trad- Creates ingredients for food,
ing, but since pivoting to aluminum, Lee’s pharmaceuticals, packaging and more
Seabord Transport started as a petroleum willingness to get a handle on a variety
transportation business that delivered of distinct sectors has been a major boon.
When you see a fast-growing
to rural service stations on Cape Breton Sinobec supplies aluminum solar-panel
startup that develops plant-based
Island. To be precise, it owned exactly one frames for clean energy providers; high-
truck and one trailer. Looking to increase grade aluminum for the aerospace indus- proteins and other innovative
its geographic footprint, the company’s try; specialized plates and coils for the ingredients, you might assume
leaders knew diversification was next on truck and oil-tank business; and metals dietary zealots launched it.
the docket. Seaboard moved into chemi- for the IT and electronics world, includ- Actually, Blendtek co-founder and
cal and other liquid and dry bulk trans- ing to subcontractors for Apple and Fox- VP Rob Bianchin says he came
portation, which fuelled growth across conn. When the pandemic hit, Lee even from “a pretty meat-and-potatoes
the country and into the U.S. market. branched into personal protective equip- family.” What he and president

ment, establishing a full-fledged medi-
cal supply operation; the stable revenue
stream allowed Sinobec to minimize
COVID-19 layoffs. “As company leaders,”
he says, “we have to be ready to adapt to
market trends.”
Don’t spread out your R&D

StackAdapt
(Toronto)
1,000 employees
Operates in 15 countries
The machine learning–based advertis-

ing software firm StackAdapt—whose
programmatic platform makes 108 billion
decisions each second—started expand-
ing south of the border in 2020. Before
that, the 175-strong team was concentrated
in Toronto. The first step was migrating
some sales and marketing employees,
after which CEO Ildar Shar had to decide
what to do with its core: the engineers who
make the product run. He decided to keep
StackAdapt’s entire engineering force in
Toronto, figuring in-person collabora-
tion was especially important for R&D.
Now, the company operates in 15 coun-
tries, and all employees work remotely
but with unlimited access to co-working
space. Turns out Shar’s early call was right
on the money—of all its employees, the
engineers use the co-working facilities
the most, regularly meeting in person to
flesh out ideas. And Shar suspects that’s
the secret sauce to StackAdapt’s success
Embrace new-school work culture

Synergie Canada Inc.
(Boisbriand, Que.)
105 employees
50,000 annual imports/exports
For many businesses with deep roots,

the old ways of doing things can have a
stranglehold on corporate culture. Not
so with Synergie, a logistics and interna-
tional transport company that covers 187
countries. Five or so years ago, president
Marc-André Guindon and VP Sebastien
Steve Zinger started with in 2014 was bakeries and other food processors. Suicco decided to see if a new, fun-cen-
a distribution centre left orphaned To do all that, Blendtek works tered approach could help distinguish the
after Zinger’s family sold its salt with large and small suppliers and business from its competitors. Besides
business, and a focused plan. customers. Big deals in the past year installing arcade games in the office and
Bianchin, 35, graduated from include partnerships with global instituting a casual-dress policy, they
Wilfrid Laurier University with a giant Bunge Ltd. (to distribute its started letting employees self-schedule
and reduced the number of days they were
business degree and spent five years proteins in North America) and
expected to work in-office. In the past four
in Silicon Valley before returning Cargill Inc. (to distribute oils,
years, sales have tripled, the headcount
home. Blendtek has been built on sweeteners, cocoa and more). has more than doubled, and the company
three pillars: a team of experts help “When I came into this industry, I has fixed a nagging employee retention
clients develop new foods, beverages learned there were fads, trends and issue, which in turn increased the average
or supplements; a selection and mainstays,” says Bianchin. With a seniority of its staff and improved cus-
distribution arm helps manufacturers compound annual growth rate that tomer experience. “We learned that creat-
procure ingredients; and a custom consistently averages 20%, Blendtek ing a fun and enjoyable work environment
operation combines inputs for has found its sweet spot. /John Daly is a necessity, not a luxury,” says Guindon.

and cat trees to rawhide food—a huge investment “Turnover Troop” to
Ren’s Pets treats, food dishes and that paid off. “Now, we have help increase employee
(Oakville, Ont.) calming hemp oil—plus a them in 90% of our stores, retention.
700 employees bevy of awards celebrating and we are by far the leader Ren’s Pets also just
6 stores opening in 2023 its retail prowess. in Canada in that frozen completed its first
Much of that success category,” he says. employee engagement
Scott Arsenault has been comes from shrewd The company (now survey, with a completion
with Ren’s Pets so long that management, including the owned by Quebec’s Legault rate of nearly 65%—high
he still remembers when company’s decision in 2021 Group) is anything but for retail and a very good
it was a small business. to partner with DoorDash to icy, however. “We’re sign, as far as Arsenault’s
“I’ve been here since store deliver pet food. “We were becoming more caring concerned. “If you have
No. 3,” says the company’s the only retailer doing that, and socially responsible, low engagement, people
CEO. Today, it’s a chain of so that’s why we won—we and we’re listening don’t care about giving
50 shops with a devoted could get it to people within more to our teams,” says feedback,” he says. “This
following of fur moms hours,” says Arsenault. Arsenault. Intitiatives shows they believe we’re
and dads—who can buy Another innovation was include investing more in going to take the feedback
everything from puppy to invest early in walk-in sustainability and forming and make the company
strollers, canine cologne freezers for perishable a committee called the better.” /Jaime Weinman

In 2019, Michael Menzies, CEO of the traf-
Don’t neglect the human element fic control company Universal Group, sat
down with his leadership team to create
Transit a mission statement and list of core val- CANADA’S BEST MANAGED COMPANIES
(Lévis, Que.)
135 employees
ues. Universal had grown quickly since
its 2016 founding, and its other leaders
METHODOLOGY
99.8% order accuracy thought the company’s culture needed Established in 1993, Canada’s Best
Managed Companies recognizes
stronger scaffolding. Menzies was ini-
excellence in private Canadian-owned
It should come as no surprise that an auto- tially reluctant. “Aside from the challenge
companies. The Globe and Mail is
motive parts manufacturer and distribu- of staying awake in these types of ses- a media sponsor of the program in
tor like Transit, with $65 million in annual sions, you usually come out with a convo- partnership with Deloitte.
revenue, invests heavily in technology to luted mission statement and a five-year To be eligible for the Best Managed
stay competitive. From automating parts plan you never look at again,” he says. program, companies must be privately
of its shipping process to developing an But thanks in part to a skilled facilitator, owned, headquartered in Canada and
intuitive online ordering system, Transit this time was different. The purpose that have revenues of $50 million or more.
owes much of its growth to an enthusiastic emerged was to “provide peace of mind In terms of ownership, a company must
embrace of technological innovation. But to both our clients and team members,” be privately owned, including private
what distinguishes this company from its with the core values of being “passionate, equity portfolio companies. They can
competition is an unwavering focus on authentic and driven.” It sounds simple, also be Canadian-owned co-operatives
or foreign-owned with Canadian-based
people. Transit models its office ameni- but it’s actionable, and that’s the point.
headquarters; a private company where
ties on Silicon Valley, runs a heavily dis- Now, no matter the decision or at what
the management team resides in
counted auto repair shop for employees level it’s being made, Menzies asks his Canada; or a Canadian-owned closely
and operates on a flexible-hours policy. staff to act according to the company’s held public company with fewer than
Even warehouse employees have flexible purpose. Since 2019, Universal (which 50% of its shares or units traded.
schedules—there’s no bell-ringing for has more than $200 million in annual rev- Each applicant undergoes a multistep
breaks. It’s been a boost for culture and enue) has completed nine acquisitions; evaluation of management abilities and
employee retention, and clients—mostly having a common focus has made all the practices across four pillars: strategy;
auto parts retailers—benefit from a hap- difference to successful integration. culture and commitment; capabilities
pier, more engaged workforce. and innovation; and governance and
financials.
Make friends with criticism In terms of strategy, Best Managed
Know the lay of the land companies must have a formal
Verve Senior Living
methodology for strategy development,
Tulloch Engineering (Toronto) ensure the strategy reflects all
(Huntsville, Ont.) 2,450 employees stakeholders, have the right capabilities
400 employees 32 residences serving 5,000 seniors and metrics in place to execute, and
Employees travel 4 million km each year clearly and consistently communicate
When Verve Senior Living (known for- the strategy to all levels of the
Tulloch Engineering operates in a roughly mally as Diversicare) sets out to build organization.
2,000-kilometre stretch between Ottawa a new residence, it first engages con- Best Managed companies must also
and the Manitoba border. According to struction and operations managers in a prove their culture and commitment by
CEO Mark Tulloch, running a multifac- “lessons learned” exercise. Employee building a strong corporate culture and
eted engineering business that covers a and resident feedback from past proj- legacy, actively developing their people
huge swath of northern Ontario means ects feeds into the new design, too. “We and leadership team, providing a holistic
compensation system, and addressing
this isn’t cubicle engineering—Tulloch apply a continuous-improvement loop
continuity issues within the company.
employees travel long distances between to our designs, resident programs and To show their capabilities and
projects and are sometimes the only engi- team-member engagement,” says CEO innovation, Best Managed Companies
neer for a significant distance. “Besides David Bird. “We recognize that construc- develop valuable capabilities and
being willing to travel, you have to be a tive criticism makes us better at what we resources, are highly execution-oriented,
jack-of-all-trades in the north,” says Tull- do.” Said criticism is gathered via regular are focused on productivity and
och. “You can’t be a specialist. People will surveys, implemented wherever possible, innovation, and are thoughtful about
rely on you to do all sorts of things that and reviewed in follow-up meetings with hiring the right people to execute their
might otherwise fall to multiple people.” staff and resident councils. For instance, business model and strategy.
That’s the reasoning behind one of Tull- in an effort to support residents’ health, For the fourth pillar, Best Managed
och’s core values: giving freedom and the company used to offer exclusively Companies are expected to install
responsibility to every team member. healthy meals on certain days—think strong governance structures, use KPIs
to manage progress, maintain a strong
Being a generalist, Tulloch knows, means salmon and sweet potato fries instead
balance sheet, and apply the financial
operating with considerable autonomy. of battered fish and chips. But after resi- discipline required to drive revenue
This is a company that thoroughly under- dents complained about lack of choice, growth, improve operating margin and
stands its geographic situation and lever- comfort-food classics now appear along- increase asset efficiency.
ages its workforce accordingly. side lighter fare. For Bird, change is about For 2023, there are 30 new Best
humility and maintaining a growth mind- Managed Companies on the total list of
Let your purpose drive decisions set. When you make peace with the fact 486. The remaining 456 companies are
that you’ll make mistakes, correcting divided into three groups based on the
Universal Group course comes easier. number of years they have been included
(Langley, B.C.) in the program. Best Managed winners:
2,500 employees One additional newcomer to the Best two to three years; Gold Standard
winners: four to six years; Platinum Club
900+ traffic support vehicles Managed Companies list: Therrien Engi-
members: seven-plus years.
neering (Nicolet, Que.)

Thank you
for making
Mastronardi Produce
one of Canada’s
Best Managed
Companies for
SUNSETGROWN.COM
®/™ are trademarks of Mastronardi Produce Limited. © 2023 Mastronardi Produce Limited. All rights reserved.
STILL
COMPANY/HEADQUARTERS LEADER SECTOR
21 Groupe Beaucage Daniel Beaucage Automotive

Sherbrooke, Que.
22 Groupe Boucher Sports Martin Boucher Retail

Quebec City
23 Groupe Ouellet Canada Inc. Martin Beaulieu Manufacturing

L’Islet, Que.
24 Groupe Park Avenue Inc. Norman Hébert Automotive

Brossard, Que.
the 25 Groupe Tornatech Inc. Dominic Bergeron Manufacturing

Laval, Que.
BEST
26 Gusto 54 Restaurant Group Janet Zuccarini Restaurants
Toronto
27 H.H. Angus & Associates Ltd. Harry Angus Consulting

Toronto
28 HGrégoire John Hairabedian Automotive

Saint-Eustache, Que.
29 Inflector Environmental Services Jeffrey W. Clarke Industrial services

WELCOME BACK TO THESE Ottawa
Ironclad Developments Inc.
456 BEST MANAGED COMPANIES 30
Springfield, Man.
Ryan Van Damme Financial Services
31 L. Fournier et fils inc. Jérémi Fournier Mining

Val-d’Or, Que.
LCI Education Government and
COMPANY/HEADQUARTERS LEADER SECTOR 32 Claude Marchand public services
Montreal
33 lg2 Claude Auchu Advertising

Montreal
BEST MANAGED 2 TO 3 YEARS ON THE LIST Logistik Unicorp Inc Chris Dixon Consumer
34
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
AAG Tailored Cutting Solutions Luke Hansen-MacDonald Manufacturing 35 Magna IV Engineering Inc. Kelly Butz Engineering
1 Edmonton
Burlington, Ont.
Adfast Canada Inc. Cindy Dandurand Manufacturing 36 Mastermind Toys Sarah Jordan Retail
2 Scarborough, Ont.
Saint-Laurent, Que.
Almita Piling Medicom Life sciences
3 Jeff Lloyd Industrial products 37 Guillaume Laverdure and health care
Edmonton Pointe-Claire, Que.
Aquifer Group of Cos. MedSpa Partners Inc. Life sciences
4 Glenn Wig Consumer 38 Dominic Mazzone and health care
Saskatoon Toronto
Auto Export Corp. Mikisew Group of Cos. Government and
5 Andrew Pilsworth Automotive 39 Dan Gallagher public services
St. Catharines, Ont. Enoch, Alta.
Automobile en direct.com inc. Sébastien Bisaillon Automotive 40 Miralis inc. Daniel Drapeau Manufacturing
6 Saint-Anaclet-de-Lessard, Que.
Saint-Constant, Que.
Averna Testing and MOBIA Rob Lane Telecommunications
7 François Rainville quality control 41
Montreal Dartmouth, N.S.
BE Power Equipment Curtis Braber Manufacturing 42 MP Lundy Construction Inc. Sean Lundy Construction
8 Ottawa
Abbotsford, B.C.
BioScript Solutions Life sciences Muraflex Fernando Petreccia Manufacturing
9 Heather Tulk and health care 43
Moncton, N.B. Montreal
Bondi Produce & Specialty Foods Wholesale and Neighbourly Pharmacy Life sciences
10 Gus Bondi 44 Chris Gardner and health care
Toronto distribution Toronto
Book Depot Inc. Wilf Wikkerink Wholesale and 45 New Look Vision Group Antoine Amiel Retail
11 distribution Saint-Laurent, Que.
Thorold, Ont.
Brookdale Treeland Nurseries Ltd. Jeff Olsen Wholesale and 46 Norbec Jan Lembregts Manufacturing
12 distribution Boucherville, Que.
Schomberg, Ont.
Carrington Group of Cos. Dan Slaven Construction 47 Norda Stelo Inc. Alex Brisson Construction
13 Quebec City
Edmonton
Centra Windows Garett Wall Manufacturing 48 ORAM Mécanique du bâtiment Marie-Claude Allaire Industrial products
14 Mirabel, Que.
Langley, B.C.
CMP Advanced Mechanical Steve Zimmermann Manufacturing 49 Osmow’s Ben Osmow Restaurants
15 Mississauga
Solutions Châteauguay, Que.
Comptoir Agricole Ste-Anne Inc. P3 Veterinary Partners Inc. Life sciences
16 Sébastien Fréchette Agriculture 50 Bruce Campbell and health care
Repentigny, Que. Oakville, Ont.
Crawford Packaging Clarence Covey Industrial products 51 Peavey Industries LP Doug Anderson Retail
17 Red Deer, Alta.
London, Ont.
De La Fontaine Gabriel de La Fontaine Manufacturing 52 Policaro Group Francesco Policaro Automotive
18 Brampton, Ont.
Sherbrooke, Que.
Duvaltex Alain Duval Retail 53 Polykar Amir Karim Manufacturing
19 Saint-Laurent, Que.
Quebec City
GrainsConnect Canada Warren Stow Agriculture 54 Préval AG inc. Fabien Fontaine Agriculture
20 Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.
Calgary

COMPANY/HEADQUARTERS LEADER SECTOR COMPANY/HEADQUARTERS LEADER SECTOR
Previan Martin Theriault Technology 91 Caron Transportation Systems Bruno Muller Transportation
55 Quebec City Sherwood Park, Alta.
Priestly Demolition Inc. Environtmental
56 Ryan Priestly Demolition 92 CEDA Kevin Fleury services
King, Ont. Calgary
57 Rockwood Custom Homes Allison Grafton Construction 93 Chambers Transportation Group Ltd. David Chambers Transportation
Calgary Vernon, B.C.
58 Samuel, Son & Co. Colin Osborne Industrial products 94 Champion Petfoods Blaine McPeak Retail
Oakville, Ont. Edmonton
Seafair Capital Government and
59 Anne Whelan public services 95 ClearTech Industries Inc. Randy Bracewell Industrial products
St. John’s Saskatoon
Seasons Retirement Communities Life sciences
60 Mike Lavallee and health care 96 Clio Jack Newton Technology
Oakville, Ont. Burnaby, B.C.
61 Showcase Samir Kulkarni Retail 97 CMiC Gord Rawlins Technology

Brampton, Ont. Toronto
Six Nations of the Grand River Government and Information
62 Matt Jamieson public services 98 Cofomo Régis Desjardins Technology
Development Corp. Ohsweken, Ont. Montreal
63 Sollio Groupe Coopératif Pascal Houle Agriculture 99 Conestoga Meats Arnold Drung Meat processing
Montreal Breslau, Ont.
Spectrum Health Care Life sciences Cosmetics
64 Sandra Ketchen and health care 100 Crystal Group Roger Hwang manufacturing
Toronto Toronto
65 State Window Corp. Christopher Liberta Engineering 101 Delnor Construction Ltd. Glenn Cyrankiewicz Construction
Vaughan, Ont. Edmonton
66 The PUR Company Inc. Jay Klein Consumer 102 Donna Cona Inc. John Bernard Consulting
Toronto Ottawa
Tri-Mach Group Inc. Wholesale and
67 Krystal Darling Manufacturing 103 Eddy Group Ltd. Keith Assaff distribution
Elmira, Ont. Bathurst, N.B.
Trudell Medical Ltd. Life sciences Wholesale and
68 Gerald Slemko and health care 104 Electrozad Supply Co. Ltd. William Smith distribution
London, Ont. Windsor, Ont.
Turf Care Products Canada Wholesale and
69 Paul McLean distribution 105 Element Technical Services Jason Nikish Oil and gas
Newmarket, Ont. Calgary
Urban Life Solutions Landscaping
70 John Bogert and maintence 106 Elite Integrity Services Shawn Kirwan Industrial products
Calgary Calgary
71 Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Shaun Hauser Financial Services 107 emergiTEL Inc. Aneela Zaib Business services
Winnipeg, Man. Richmond Hill, Ont.
72 Westech Industrial Ltd. Jason Lapp Technology 108 Energera Inc. J. Todd Van Vliet Business services
Calgary Acheson, Alta.
109 Fourgons Transit Truck Bodies Louis Leclair Manufacturing

Laval, Que.
GOLD STANDARD 4 TO 6 YEARS ON THE LIST
110 Franchise Management Inc. Greg Walton Restaurants
Woodstock, N.B.
Acadian Construction Wholesale and
73 David Savoie Construction 111 Fruit d’Or Inc. Carl Blouin distribution
Dieppe, N.B. Villeroy, Que.
AG Hair Life sciences
74 Graham Fraser Manufacturing 112 FYidoctors Al Ulsifer and health care
Coquitlam, B.C. Calgary
AIL Group of Coss Energy, Resources
75 Micheal Wilson & Industrials 113 Geotab Neil Cawse Technology
Sackville, N.B. Oakville, Ont.
76 AirSprint Inc. James Elian Aviation 114 Go Auto Jason Smith Automotive
Calgary Edmonton
Airstart Inc. Wholesale and
77 Robert Wills Aerospace 115 Groupe Intersand Stéphane Chevigny distribution
Mississauga Boucherville, Que.
Amisco Wholesale and
78 Réjean Poitras Manufacturing 116 Harnois Énergies Serge Harnois distribution
L’Islet, Que. Saint-Thomas, Que.
Anatolia Tile + Stone Wholesale and
79 Berrin Elmaagcli distribution 117 Henry’s Gillian Stein Retail
Vaughan, Ont. Toronto
80 Arbor Memorial David Scanlan Death care 118 Index Exchange Andrew Casale Advertising
Toronto Toronto
81 Artitalia Group Inc. Antonio Vardaro Manufacturing 119 JNE Welding Adam Logue Industrial products
Montreal Saskatoon
82 Barkman Alan Barkman Manufacturing 120 Kohltech Windows and Entrance Kevin Pelley Manufacturing
Steinbach, Man. Systems Debert, N.S.
83 Bee-Clean Building Maintenance Brian Gingras Janitorial 121 Kruger Products Inc. Dino Bianco Manufacturing
Edmonton Mississauga
84 Behaviour Interactive Rémi Racine Video Games 122 Lamour Group Martin Lieberman Retail
Montreal Montreal
BMI Canada Inc. Wholesale and
85 Marc Bouthillette distribution 123 Les Toitures Hogue Jocelyn Hogue Construction
Boisbriand, Que. Blainville, Que.
86 Bond Brand Loyalty Robert Macdonald Business services 124 Location Brossard Inc. Guy Brossard Transportation
Toronto Dorval, Que.
87 Bradford Greenhouses Ltd. Len Ferragine Agriculture 125 M.I. Integration Francine Guay Automotive
Springwater, Ont. Sherbrooke, Que.
88 BrettYoung Calvin Sonntag Agriculture 126 Marco Group Ltd. Christopher Hickman Construction
Winnipeg St. John’s
89 Bryton Marine Group Byron Bolton Manufacturing 127 Maritime Paper Products LP Sheldon Gouthro Manufacturing
Vernon, B.C. Dartmouth, N.S.
90 Campbell Bros. Movers Ltd. Adam Campbell Transportation 128 Mary Brown’s Gregory Roberts Restaurants
London, Ont. Markham, Ont.

SPONSOR CONTENT
Listening, adapting and provide technology services and solutions for businesses
staying relevant are keys and public sector organizations across the country. Along
with the transformation, ITI moved from an entrepreneurial
to success at ITI management style to a structured management framework,

and evolved its family-oriented workplace culture into one that
is more structured and measurable.
With the repositioning of ITI – and a growing roster of more
than 1,700 clients – the company has seen its revenue take off,
more than doubling from $132-million to $270-million in the
last five years. Its workforce has also grown almost 30 per cent
in that time, with more than 500 employees across Canada.
“We’ve grown alongside our clients in recent years, following
our new vision to become a market leader and focus on
sustained and manageable growth,” says Mr. Legault.“In the
last five years, with new shareholders, a new business and
brand strategy, and our new ITI name and positioning – IT
Intelligence, Human Intelligence – we have become a team of
visionaries and passionate people recognized as a Canadian
leader in technological transformation.”
To keep up with demand, ITI has increased both its
acquisitions and its offerings to clients, which include
five technological pillars: networking and security;
modern workplace; data centre and infrastructure; cloud
transformation; and business intelligence and analytics.
ITI is particular about who it teams up with, as the company
wants to keep its culture and focus strong, even as growth
accelerates.“The main criteria when we find companies [to
partner with or acquire] is they have a similar cultural fit,” says
Mr. Legault.“They have to value our entrepreneurial principles,
T he secret to success at ITI is not just listening to
customers and employees, but acting on what the
Jonathan Legault,
president, ITI.
such as our focus on being agile and listening to our employees
– because that’s our secret ingredient.”
company hears. For Mr. Legault, it’s paramount to foster a culture where
“We’re attentive to our clients’ needs, but we also pay close employees are (and feel) valued for their creativity and
attention to our partners’ vision and to market innovations and contributions.“The best part about us, and what makes us
trends,” says ITI president Jonathan Legault.“We listen to our unique, is our people,” he says.
employees, to their ideas and ambitions. And we implement The company regularly checks in with employees, asking
tools, processes and analytics to gather as much data as how the company can improve to ensure their satisfaction in
possible to make informed decisions, whether they concern the workplace.“Once a month, we ask our employees why they
our service offering or our management priorities.” like working with us, and the No. 1 thing we hear is that people
Thanks to these insights, Mr. Legault says the company has appreciate the culture,” Mr. Legault explains.
been able to evolve and adapt when required – something it While truly listening to its employees is a key differentiator,
has been doing for more than 30 years. Mr. Legault stresses those voices must come from different
“As a team, we’ve decided that evolution should be the backgrounds and experiences to make the most impact. That’s
norm,” he says.“As we grow, we make sure to maintain why ITI has increased its diversity efforts, with women now
agility in our planning, our offer, our business model, and making up 26 per cent of its employees, a 10-per-cent increase
our management style. To promote IT and operational in the last five years.
transformation as key to improve our clients’ competitiveness, “I don’t want to hire people who are exactly like me, who
we need to walk the talk ourselves, and put transformation at think like me, because to be collaborative and creative
the core of our business.” together, you need people with different backgrounds and
Founded in 1991, ITI (formerly known as ProContact) has experiences,” says Mr. Legault.“It’s another one of our
evolved from being IT resellers to strategic consultants who differentiators in the market – our collective intelligence.”
Mattamy Homes Brad Carr Real estate

129 Toronto
McKeil Marine PLATINUM CLUB 7 OR MORE YEARS ON THE LIST

130 Burlington, Ont. Scott Bravener Transportation
Membertou Development Corp. Government and A&W Food Services of Canada Inc.
131 Membertou, N.S. Terrance Paul public services 167 North Vancouver Susan Senecal Restaurants
mform Construction Group Consruction Acadian Seaplants Ltd. Jean-Paul Deveau

132 David Allen 168 Dartmouth, N.S. Agriculture
Toronto
Mint Pharmaceuticals Inc. Life science Adastra Corp. Information
133 Mississauga Jaiveer Singh and health care 169 Toronto Darren Edery technology
Modern Beauty Supplies Wholesale AFD Petroleum Ltd.
134 Calgary Mike Jomaa and distribution 170 Edmonton Parker McLean Oil and gas
Mondou (Groupe Legault) Retail Agilus Work Solutions Craig Brown

135 Montreal Pierre Leblanc 171 Edmonton Business services
Mulvey & Banani Engineering Agri-Marché Inc. Patrice Brochu

136 Domenic Bonavota 172 Saint-Isidore, Que. Agriculture
Toronto
MyHealth Centre Life sciences Agrocrop Exports Ltd.
137 Toronto Suresh Madan and health care 173 Bolton, Ont. Yash Karia Agriculture
Nanometrics Inc. Technology All Weather Windows Richard Scott

138 Ian Talbot 174 Edmonton Manufacturing
Kanata, Ont.
Nautel Telecommunications Alliance Energy Ltd. Bryan Leverick
139 Kevin Rodgers 175 Regina Energy
Hacketts Cove, N.S
Naylor Building Partnerships Inc. Engineering Almag Aluminum Bob Peacock
140 Oakville, Ont. Tom Hitchman 176 Brampton, Ont. Mining
Nightingale Manufacturing Altis Recruitment & excelHR Kathryn Tremblay

141 Mississauga Ed Breen 177 Ottawa Business services
OSL Retail Services Aplin Jeff Aplin

142 Brett Farren Business services 178 Calgary Business services
Mississauga
Payment Source Inc. Apollo Health and Beauty Care Richard Wachsberg
143 Ottawa Robert Hyde Technology 179 Toronto Manufacturing
Point S Canada Arconas Dan Nussbaum

144 Boucherville, Que. Jean Novak Automotive 180 Mississauga Indusrial products
priMED Medical Products Life sciences Armco Group of Cos. George Armoyan
145 David Welsh and health care 181 Halifax Real estate
Edmonton
QSL Armour Transportation Systems Mark Shannon
146 Robert Bellisle Transportation 182 Moncton Transportation
Quebec City
Quinlan Brothers Ltd. Armstrong Fluid Technology Todd Rief
147 St. John’s Robin Quinlan Fisheries 183 Toronto Manufacturing
Regional Group Arpi’s Industries Ltd. Julie Berdin

148 Sender Gordon Real estate 184 Calgary Industrial products
Ottawa
Romet Ltd. Artopex Inc. Daniel Pelletier
149 Brent Collver Utilities 185 Granby, Que. Industrial products
Mississauga
SFM Wholesale and ASL Distribution Services Ltd. Cole Dolny
150 Montreal Randal Tucker distribution 186 Oakville, Ont. Transportation
Sharethrough ASL Paving Ltd. Drew Mitchell

151 Montreal Jean-Francois Cote Technology 187 Saskatoon Construction
Spinrite Associated Engineering Martin Jobke

152 Ryan Newell Retail 188 Edmonton Consulting
Listowel, Ont.
StemCell Technologies Atlantic Coated Papers David Granovsky
153 Vancouver Allen Eaves Technology 189 Whitby, Ont. Forestry and paper
Targray ATS Traffic Ltd. Bobby Cantera

154 Kirkland, Que. Andrew Richardson Resources 190 Edmonton Consumer
Techo-Bloc Inc. AV Gauge & Fixture Inc. Tim Campeau

155 St.Hubert, Que. Charles Ciccarelo Retail 191 Oldcastle, Ont. Manufacturing
The Deveraux Group of Cos. Avison Young Mark Rose

156 Denis Jones Real estate 192 Toronto Real estate
Regina
The Inland Group of Cos. Bäckerhaus Veit Ltd. Adam Carr
157 Truro, N.S. Roger Langille Transportation 193 Mississauga Food manufacturing
Trotman Auto Group Bayshore HealthCare Stuart Cottrelle Life science

158 Mike Trotman Automotive 194 Mississauga
Surrey, B.C. and health care
Viva Naturals BBA Jérôme Pelletier Energy, resources
159 Toronto Husayn Remtulla Food manufacturing 195 Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que. and industrials
VMAC BCF SENCRL LLP Jocelyn Poirier
160 Nanaimo, B.C. Jim Hogan Automotive 196 Montreal Business services
Wesgroup Equipment BEST For a Cleaner World Bruce Taylor

161 Surrey, B.C. Dhar Dhaliwal Heavy machinery 197 Coquitlam, B.C. Business services
Whitewater West Industries Ltd. Bill Gosling Outsourcing

162 Geoff Chutter Manufacturing 198 Newmarket, Ont. David Rae Business services
Richmond, B.C.
Wills Transfer Ltd. Biron Groupe Santé Life sciences
163 Smiths Falls, Ont. Terry Wills Transportation 199 Brossard, Que. Caroline Biron and health care
Winters Instruments Ltd. Bison Transport
164 Toronto Jeffrey Smith Industrial products 200 Winnipeg Rob Penner Transportation
WZMH Architects Black Cat Wear Parts

165 Toronto Zenon Radewych Architecture 201 Edmonton James Buxton Manufacturing
Zulu Alpha Kilo Blue Water Group Wholesale

166 Mike Sutton Advertising 202 Dartmouth, N.S. Patrick Wilson
Toronto and distribution

JUST 15%
OF FORTUNE
500 CEOs
ARE WOMEN.
WE HAVE A PLAN TO CHANGE THAT.
bss.on.ca/ourplan
Boire & Frères inc. Pierre Rivard Agriculture Deca Cables Darrell Edgett Manufacturing
203 Wickham, Que. 241 Trenton, Ont.
Borger Group of Cos. William Borger Industrial products Diamond Schmitt Donald Schmitt Architecture
204 Rocky View County, Alta. 242 Toronto
Boston Pizza International Inc. Jordan Holm Restaurants Dilawri’s Crown Auto Group Ashok Dilawri Automotive
205 Richmond, B.C. 243 Winnipeg
Boulangerie St-Méthode inc. Benoit Faucher Food manufacturing Dillon Consulting Sean Hanlon Business services
206 Adstock, Que. 244 Toronto
Brandt Group of Cos. Shaun Semple Industrial products DPI Construction Management Elvio DiSimone Construction
207 Regina 245 Toronto
BroadGrain Commodities Zaid Qadoumi Agriculture Driving Change Automotive Group Trevor Boquist Automotive
208 Toronto 246 Regina
Brock Solutions Vivienne Ojala Industrial products Durabuilt Windows & Doors Inc. Joe Sunner Manufacturing
209 Kitchener, Ont. 247 Edmonton
Burnbrae Farms Ltd. DynaLIFEDx Life sciences
210 Lyn, Ont. Margaret Hudson Food manufacturing 248 Edmonton Jason Pincock and health care
Cactus Restaurants Ltd. E.B. Horsman & Son Ltd. Wholesale
211 Vancouver Richard Jaffray Restaurants 249 Surrey, B.C. Tim Horsman and distribution
Campus Living Centres Government and E.C.S. Electrical Cable Supply Ltd. Wholesale
212 Ray Stanton public services 250 Richmond, B.C. Mohammad Mohseni and distribution
Toronto
CANA Group of Cos. Luke Simpson Construction Eastlink Jeff Gillham Telecommunications
213 Calgary 251 Halifax
Canad Inns Dan Lussier Hospitality EBC Inc. Marie-Claude Houle Construction
214 Winnipeg 252 L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que.
Canadian Tire Corp. Greg Hicks Retail Emmerson Packaging Stephen Emmerson Manufacturing
215 Toronto 253 Amherst, N.S.
Canarm Ltd. Wholesale and Engineered Air
216 Brockville, Ont. David Beatty distribution 254 Calgary Donald Taylor Industrial products
Cando Rail & Terminals Equipment Sales & Service Ltd. Wholesale
217 Brandon, Man. Brian Cornick Transportation 255 Toronto Morgan Cronin and distribution
Capital Paving Inc. Geoffrey Stephens Construction Esri Canada Alex Miller Technology
218 Guelph, Ont. 256 Toronto
C.A.T. Holding Daniel Goyette Transportation Evertz Technologies Ltd. Romolo Magarelli Technology
219 Coteau-du-Lac, Que. 257 Burlington, Ont.
CBCL John Flewelling Consulting Farrow Grant Robinson Customs agent
220 Halifax 258 Windsor
CBI Health Life science Fengate Asset Management
221 Jon Hantho and health care 259 Toronto Lou Serafini Jr. Financial Services
Toronto
CCI Inc. Brent Goerz Consulting Fenplast Portes & Fenêtres Jean Marchand Manufacturing
222 Cochrane, Alta. 260 Candiac, Que.
CenterLine (Windsor) Ltd. Michael Beneteau Automotive Fillmore Construction Management Brent Fillmore Construction
223 Windsor, Ont. 261 Edmonton
Challenger Motor Freight Daniel Einwechter Transportation First Industries Corp. David Leeworthy Transportation
224 Cambridge, Ont. 262 Edmonton
Chandos Construction Fisherman’s Market Wholesale
225 Edmonton Tim Coldwell Construction 263 Halifax Monte Snow and distribution
Charger Logistics Andy Khera Transportation Flanagan Foodservice Dan Lafrance Wholesale
226 Brampton, Ont. 264 Kitchener, Ont. and distribution
Charm Diamond Centres Richard Calder Retail FLOFORM Countertops Edward Sherritt Retail
227 Dartmouth, N.S. 265 Winnipeg
Cherubini Group of Cos. Darren Czech Manufacturing Forest Group of Cos, Domenic Gurreri Construction
228 Dartmouth, N.S. 266 Vaughan, Ont.
Coast Capital Savings Credit Union Calvin MacInnis Financial Services Fountain Tire Jason Herle Automotive
229 Surrey, B.C. 267 Edmonton
Coleman’s Food Centres Fresh Direct Produce Wholesale
230 Corner Brook, N.L. Frank Coleman Grocery 268 Vancouver Davis Yung and distribution
Conestoga Cold Storage Ltd. Greg Laurin Storage Friesens Corp. Chad Friesen Manufacturing
231 Mississauga 269 Altona, Man.
connectFirst Credit Union Wellington Holbrook Financial Services FWS Group of Cos. Brent Clegg Business services
232 Calgary 270 Winnipeg
Contrôles Laurentide Steve Dustin Industrial products G Adventures Bruce Poon Tip Travel
233 Kirkland, Que. 271 Toronto
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. Glenn Cooke Food manufacturing G&L Group Pat Lamanna Industrial products
234 Blacks Harbour, N.B. 272 Concord, Ont.
Cowan Insurance Group Janet Peddigrew Financial Services Genesis Hospitality Inc. Kevin Swark Hospitality
235 Cambridge, Ont. 273 Brandon, Man.
Cowater International David Baron Business services Gentec International Joel Seigel Wholesale
236 Ottawa 274 Markham, Ont. and distribution
Crosbie Mark Collett Oil and gas Genumark Mark Freed Retail
237 St. John’s 275 Toronto
D2L Corp. John Baker Education Gerrie Electric Wholesale Ltd. Heather Gerrie Wholesale
238 Kitchener, Ont. 276 Burlington, Ont. and distribution
Dancor/Coreydale Energy, resources GHY International Richard Riess
239 London, Ont. Danny Sanita and industrials 277 Winnipeg Customs agent
Day & Ross Bill Doherty Giampaolo Group Joe Caruso Manufacturing
240 Hartland, N.B. Transportation 278 Brampton, Ont.

SPONSOR CONTENT
How Rustica Foods

embraces innovation in Over the years, Rustica Foods has grown from its humble
beginnings producing fresh, Italian-style tomato pizza in a
the pizza category 600-square-foot restaurant to now occupying more than

100,000 square feet across three manufacturing facilities in
Montreal. One of these sites is a state-of-art production facility
with exclusive Canadian rights to manufacture real mozzarella-
stuffed crust pizzas using proprietary technology.
“Stuffed crust has been our claim to fame with the Delissio
brand and now retailers have agreed to list our products
considering our proprietary know-how and our innovation
capabilities,” says Vincent Giove, co-owner, vice-president and
chief strategy officer at Rustica Foods.
Every few years, Rustica executives meet with their
equipment suppliers to talk about the next big innovation in
food production capabilities.“A lot of these new technology
developments happen by us working together with our vendors
because we’re always looking to take that next step,” says Mr.
Giove.“Using superior technology and continuous innovation,
we’ve been able to deliver that hand-crafted pizza taste in a
frozen format.”
One of Rustica’s new pizza lines, which simulates the look
and taste of a wood-fired pizza (right down to the charred
crust), is a key example of pizza innovation at work.
Another advantage for Rustica as it launches its new
brand is the strong loyalty Canadians have to locally based
manufacturers, says Mr. Giove.
“Our Rustica fresh tomato pizza line has done very well in
Quebec and Ontario and now we see an opportunity with our
frozen pizza line launching across Canada,” he says.“In this
case, it pays to be local.”
A key turning point in the company’s growth came with the
R ustica Foods may not be a household name in
frozen pizza just yet, but that’s expected to change
Vincent Giove,
co-owner,
acquisition of Montreal-based crust manufacturer Mia Foods in
2014. This move more than doubled revenues and expanded
by the end of 2023. vice-president and the company’s reach outside of Quebec to the North American
chief strategy officer
The Quebec-based manufacturer of fresh tomato pizzas, at Rustica Foods (left)
market.
focaccias, par-baked crusts and frozen pizzas will lose its and Richard Morgante, The co-manufacturing agreement with Nestle, which
key client early this summer when Nestle will wind down president, CEO and commenced in 2017, solidified Rustica’s ability to deliver
production of its Delissio brand in Canada. founder (right). high-volume, quality product to produce what became the
But the company quickly regrouped to fill a sudden gap in No. 2 frozen pizza brand in Canada. Rustica also continues
the market by developing its very own Rustica frozen pizza to manufacture private label products for some of the largest
brand. In July, it will begin launching 19 products across four multinationals in the U.S.
frozen pizza lines in major grocery chains coast to coast. Mr. Morgante says further expansion is imminent with the
The fact that the company’s 400 employees rallied to recent purchase of an 87,000-square-foot manufacturing
develop and market the new product lines in mere months is facility in the Montreal area and plans to add more products
testament to their commitment to the business, says Richard under the Rustica label.
Morgante, president, CEO and founder of Rustica Foods. “We’ll absolutely be getting into frozen premium snacking
“As a family-run operation founded in 2000, we treat our food products in the next couple of years along with our pizzas,”
staff like part of our extended family and they’ve demonstrated he says.“Using technology, we’ve become experts at being
their dedication time and time again,” he says.“It gives me a lot able to scale artisanal products and we’re excited to share our
of hope for our future growth.” Rustica brand with the world.”
Giftcraft Ltd. Wholesale Johnston Group Inc.

279 Brampton, Ont. Todd Vore and distribution 317 Winnipeg David Johnston Financial services
Global Relay Warren Roy Technology Johnvince Foods Joe Pulla Food manufacturing
280 Vancouver 318 Toronto
GoodLife Fitness Fitness and JV Driver Group
281 David Patchell-Evans wellness 319 Edmonton Chuck Sanders Other
London, Ont.
Govan Brown Colin Gray Construction Kaizen Auto Group Nate Clarke Automotive
282 Toronto 320 Calgary
Graham Andy Trewick Construction Klick Health Lori Grant Advertising
283 Calgary 321 Toronto
Grascan Construction Ltd. Angelo Grassa Construction Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd. Len Murray Consulting
284 Toronto 322 Vancouver
Great Little Box Co. Robert Meggy Manufacturing Kriska Transportation Group Ltd. Mark Seymour Transportation
285 Richmond, B.C. 323 Prescott, Ont.
Greenfield Global Inc. Howard Field Manufacturing Lakeside Process Controls Greg Houston Consulting
286 Toronto 324 Mississauga
Gregg Distributors LP Wholesale Lanctot Ltée Wholesale
287 Edmonton Gary Gregg and distribution 325 Saint-Laurent, Que. Diane Lanctot and distribution
Groupe Atwill-Morin Inc. Matthew Atwill-Morin Restoration Layfield Tom Rose Industrial products
288 Montreal 326 Richmond, B.C.
Groupe Deschenes Wholesale Le Groupe Dissan Wholesale
289 Montreal Francois Deschenes and distribution 327 Montreal Mario Lamarche and distribution
Groupe Germain Inc. Christiane Germain Hospitality Lemay Louis T. Lemay Architecture
290 Quebec 328 Montreal
Groupe Master Wholesale Les Emballages Carrousel Inc. Wholesale
291 Louis St-Laurent and distribution 329 Boucherville, Que. Michel Bourassa and distribution
Boucherville, Que.
Groupe Montoni (1995) Division Real estate Levitt-Safety Wholesale
292 Construction Inc. Laval, Que. Dario Montoni 330 Oakville, Ont. Bruce Levitt and distribution
Groupe Novatech Inc. Harold Savard Manufacturing Lindsay Construction Cory Bell Construction
293 Sainte-Julie, Que. 331 Dartmouth, N.S.
Groupe Raymond Alain Raymond Construction LMS Reinforcing Steel Group Ron McNeil Indusrial products
294 Gatineau, Que. 332 Surrey, B.C.
Groupe Robert Inc. Michel Robert Transportation Location d’outils Simplex s.e.c. Euclid Véronneau Industrial products
295 Rougemont, Que. 333 Montreal
Groupe Savoie - Les Résidences Nathalie Savoie Long-term care Logel Homes Tim Logel Real estate
296 Soleil Boucherville, Que. 334 Calgary
Groupe Trans-West Réal Gagnon Transportation Long View Brent Allison Technology
297 Lachine, Que. 335 Calgary
GSoft Martin Gourdeau Technology Lorneville Styve Dumouchel Construction
298 Montreal 336 Saint John
Harbour Air Seaplanes Greg McDougall Transportation Losani Homes Fred Losani Real estate
299 Richmond, B.C. 337 Stoney Creek, Ont.
Harry Rosen Inc. Retail M. Sullivan & Son Ltd. Energy, resources
300 Laurance Rosen 338 Arnprior, Ont. Robert Ball and industrials
Toronto
Hatch John Bianchini Consulting Magasins Trévi Inc. Benoît Hudon Retail
301 Mississauga 339 Mirabel, Que.
Home Hardware Stores Ltd. Kevin Macnab Retail Maisons Laprise Inc. Daniel Laprise Construction
302 St. Jacobs, Ont. 340 Montmagny, Que.
Hopewell Group of Cos. Sanders Lee Financial Services Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. Michael Burrows Food manufacturing
303 Calgary 341 Brampton, Ont.
Houle Electric Keith Parsonage Energy Maple Reinders Harold Reinders Construction
304 Burnaby, B.C. 342 Mississauga
HTS Derek Gordon Industrial products Maritime Travel Rob Dexter Travel
305 Toronto 343 Halifax
Hunter Amenities International Ltd. John Hunter Manufacturing Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines Ltd. Doug Munro Transportation
306 Burlington, Ont. 344 Brampton, Ont.
HyLife Ltd. Grant Lazaruk Agriculture MasterBUILT Hotels Ltd. David Donaldson Hospitality
307 La Broquerie, Man. 345 Calgary
I.M.P. Group International Inc. Kirk Rowe Aerospace Mastronardi Produce (Sunset) Paul Mastronardi Agriculture
308 Halifax 346 Kingsville, Ont.
Imperial Manufacturing Group Normand Caissie Manufacturing McCain Foods (Canada) Max Koeune Food manufacturing
309 Richibucto, N.B. 347 Toronto
Integral Energy Services Ltd. Derek Polsfut Business services McDougall Energy Darren McDougall Oil and gas
310 Airdrie, Alta. 348 Sault Ste. Marie
Island West Coast Developments Greg Constable Construction McElhanney Allan Russell Engineering
311 Nanaimo, B.C. 349 Vancouver
ITC Construction Group Doug MacFarlane Construction McIntosh Perry Gus Sarrouh Consulting
312 Vancouver 350 Woodbridge, Ont.
J Sonic Services Inc. Wholesale MDS Aero Support Corp. Aerospace
313 Jean Aucoin and distribution 351 Ottawa John Jastremski
Saint-Laurent Que.
J.L. Richards & Associates Ltd. Business services Medcan Life science
314 Saverio Parrotta 352 Toronto Shaun Francis and health care
Ottawa
Jayman BUILT Group of Cos. Jay Westman Real estate Mega Group Inc. Chris West Business services
315 Calgary 353 Saskatoon
Jefo Jean Fontaine Agriculture MHS Inc. Hazel Wheldon Business services
316 Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. 354 Toronto

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Miller Waste Systems Inc. Blair McArthur Utilities Rex Power Magnetics Ara Hasserjian Utilities
355 Markham, Ont. 393 Concord, Ont.
Mircom Group of Companies Mark Falbo Manufacturing RGO Group of Cos. Cathy Orr Business services
356 Vaughan, Ont. 394 Calgary
mobileLIVE Jahan Ali Technology Richardson International Ltd. Curt Vossen Agriculture
357 Richmond Hill, Ont. 395 Winnipeg
Modern Niagara Group Inc. Bradley J. McAninch Construction Robinson Wholesale
358 396 Winnipeg Shea Robinson and distribution
Ottawa
Molinaro’s Fine Italian Foods Ltd. Guerino Molinaro Food manufacturing Rocky Mountaineer David McKenna Transportation
359 Mississauga 397 Vancouver
Momentum Technologies Inc. Mohamed Guetat Technology RWDI Group of Cos. Michael J. Soligo Consulting
360 Quebec City 398 Guelph, Ont.
Morrison Homes Dave Gladney Real estate Sargent Farms Kevin Thompson Food manufacturing
361 Calgary 399 Milton, Ont.
Mr. Lube Canada Stuart Suls Automotive Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals Rodney McCann Mining
362 Richmond, B.C. 400 Chaplin, Sask.
Murray Auto Group Doug Murray Automotive Scandinavian Building Services Ltd. Russell Hay Janitorial
363 Winnipeg 401 Edmonton
Napoleon Group of Cos. Stephen and Servus Credit Union
364 Chris Schroeter Manufacturing 402 Edmonton Ian Burns Warner Financial services
Barrie, Ont.p
Nicola Wealth Financial services Shah Canada Group of Cos. Sujay Shah Food manufacturing
365 Vancouver John Nicola 403 Woodbridge, Ont.
Novexco Inc. Wholesale Sifton Properties Ltd. Richard Sifton Real estate
366 Laval, Que. Denis Mathieu and distribution 404 London, Ont.
NRT Technology Corp. Technology Simpson Seeds Inc. Greg Simpson Agriculture
367 Toronto John Dominelli 405 Moose Jaw
Oceanex Inc. Transportation SiriusXM Canada Mark Redmond Media
368 St. John’s Captain Sid Hynes 406 Toronto
Odlum Brown Ltd. Financial services Skyline Group of Cos. Jason Castellan Real estate
369 Vancouver Debra Doucette 407 Guelph, Ont.
Omicron Canada Inc. Solutions 2 GO Wholesale
370 Vancouver William Tucker Construction 408 Brampton, Ont. Oliver Bock and distribution
OpenRoad Auto Group Ltd. Automotive Source Atlantic Wholesale
371 Christian Chia 409 Saint John Steve Drummond and distribution
Richmond, B.C.
O’Regan’s Automotive South Country Equipment Ltd. Drew Watson Agriculture
372 Dartmouth, N.S. Patrick O’Regan 410 Emerald Park, Sask.
Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd. Food manufacturing South Shore Furniture Jean Laflamme Retail
373 Oxford, N.S. John Bragg 411 Sainte-Croix, Que.
Paladin Security Group Security Southmedic Inc. Life science
374 Ashley Cooper 412 Barrie, Ont. Lisette (Lee) McDonald and health care
Burnaby, B.C.
Palliser Furniture Ltd. Manufacturing Southwest Properties Gordon Laing Real estate
375 Winnipeg Peter Tielmann 413 Halifax
Paterson GlobalFoods Inc. Agriculture Spin Master Ltd. Anton Rabie Entertainment
376 Winnipeg Andrew B. Paterson 414 Toronto
Payworks Technology St. Joseph Communications Tony Gagliano Media
377 Winnipeg JP Perron 415 Toronto
PCL Construction Group of Cos. Construction Standard Products Inc. David Nathaniel Manufacturing
378 Edmonton David Filipchuk 416 Saint-Laurent, Que.
PD Group of Cos. Inc. Construction StarTech.com Paul Seed Technology
379 Edmonton Brian Tiessen 417 London, Ont.
Pelican International Manufacturing Steam Whistle Brewing Greg Taylor Food manufacturing
380 Laval, Que. Danick Lavoie 418 Toronto
Pennecon Industrial products Steele Auto Group Rob Steele Automotive
381 St. John’s David Mitchell 419 Dartmouth, N.S.
peopleCare Communities Long-term care Stelpro Yves Chabot Industrial products
382 Waterloo, Ont. Brent Gingerich 420 Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que.
PointClickCare Technology Strike Group LP Stephen Smith Oil and gas
383 Mississauga Dave Wessinger 421 Calgary
Polycorp Ltd. Manufacturing Summer Fresh Salads Inc. Susan Niczowski Food manufacturing
384 Elora, Ont. Peter Snucins 422 Woodbridge, Ont.
Pomerleau Inc. Construction Superior Glove Tony Geng Industrial products
385 Saint-Georges, Que. Pierre Pomerleau 423 Acton, Ont.
PrairieCoast Equipment Agriculture Tap & Barrel Group Daniel Frankel Restaurants
386 Grand Prairie, Alta. JD Frame 424 Vancouver
Procom Business services Techmation Electric & Controls Ltd. Derek Polsfut Industrial products
387 Toronto Frank McCrea 425 Airdrie, Alta.
PTI Transformers Manufacturing Tenaquip Ltd. Wholesale
388 George Partyka Jr. 426 Senneville, Que. Glenn Watt and distribution
Regina
Quadra Chemicals Ltd. Wholesale Terrapro Inc. Colin Schmidt Industrial products
389 Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que. Philip Infilise and distribution 427 Sherwood Park, Alta.
Questrade Inc. Financial services The Bodtker Group Howie Kroon Industrial products
390 Toronto Edward Kholodenko 428 Calgary
R.V. Anderson Associates Ltd. Architecture The Cahill Group Fred Cahill Construction
391 Toronto Shawn Scott 429 St. John’s
Red Sun Farms Agriculture The Central Group Richard Eastwood Marketing
392 Kingsville, Ont. Carlos Visconti 430 Mississauga

The Dufresne Group Inc. Mark Dufresne Retail Vector Construction Bob Spriggs Construction
431 Winnipeg 444 Winnipeg
The International Group Inc. Vision Group Canada Life sciences
432 John Reucassel Oil and gas 445 Montreal Mark Cohen and health care
Toronto
The K-Line Group of Cos. Mark Kellett Energy Waiward Industrial LP Andy Brooks Industrial products
433 Stouffville 446 Edmonton
The Oppenheimer Group Wakefield Canada Inc. Wholesale
434 Coquitlam John Anderson Agriculture 447 Toronto David Fifield and distribution
The Shaw Group Ltd. Dean Robertson Manufacturing Walters Group Inc. Peter Kranendonk Industrial products
435 Halifax 448 Hamilton
Transport Bourassa Jean Bourassa Transportation Westcorp Inc. Philip Milroy Real estate
436 Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. 449 Edmonton
Trico Homes Wayne Chiu Real estate Western Sales Ltd. Grant McGrath Agriculture
437 Calgary 450 Rosetown, Sask.
triOS College Business Technology Weston Forest Wholesale
438 Frank Gerencser Education 451 Mississauga Steve Rhone and distribution
Healthcare Mississauga
Trotter & Morton Group of Cos. David Ryan Construction Weston Wood Solutions Inc. Alan Lechem Wholesale
439 Calgary 452 Brampton, Ont. and distribution
TuGo Kathy Starko Financial services WGI Westman Group Inc. Paul Cunningham Manufacturing
440 Richmond, B.C. 453 Sunnyside, Man.
Turkstra Lumber Co. Ltd. Peter Turkstra Forestry and paper White Spot Ltd. Warren Erhart Restaurants
441 Hamilton 454 Vancouver
UCS Forest Group Warren Spitz Forestry and paper Wildstone Construction Group James Morrison Construction
442 Mississauga 455 Penticton, B.C.
United Van Lines (Canada) Ltd. Dan Lawrence Transportation Woodbridge Kai Jacobsen Manufacturing
443 Mississauga 456 Mississauga
457
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AA
THEY’RE
’ R E BAAAAAC
B AC K
AA
ACTIVIST INVESTORS HAD NO CHOICE
BUT TO HUNKER DOWN DURING
THE PANDEMIC-WROUGHT MARKET CHAOS.
BUT NOW THEY’RE BUSIER THAN EVER—
AND THEIR TACTICS HAVE CHANGED, TOO
BY TIM KILADZE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY RYAN GARCIA
A
A

AAA A
But now? Now the activists have
every right to say, “We told you so.”
Elliott and all its peers are back, and
they’re fiercer than ever. Activists typi-
cally launch their board battles dur-
ing the first half of the calendar year,
because they like to propose new direc-
A
tors just a few months before a target
company’s annual general meeting.
(AGMs are where directors are elected
each spring.) The first quarter of 2023
was the busiest three months ever for
new activist campaigns, according to
research from investment bank Bar-
clays, and the first quarter topped the
previous record set in the same period
just last year.
These are merely the campaigns we
know about. Roughly two-thirds of
activist battles take place behind the
scenes, says Ian Robertson, CEO of
Toronto’s Kingsdale Advisors, which
A
specializes in guiding boards and activ-
ists through these battles and advised
Ackman on his shakeup of CP Rail.
Lots of settlements are reached behind
closed doors, with the public none the
ny CEO or board under siege can’t say they wiser. It’s usually only when the rabble-
weren’t warned. In January 2021, at the height of the meme- rousers feel like they’re getting the cold
stock frenzy that sent shares of companies like GameStop shoulder from a board that they go pub-
soaring, the world’s largest activist investor cautioned that
nothing was making sense—and there would be conse-
quences. Businesses that had never made money were sud-
denly some of the most valuable, and borrowers were feasting
on extremely cheap debt manufactured by major central-
bank intervention.
No one would listen, of course. Maybe it was the boredom
of being trapped at home during COVID-19 lockdowns, or
maybe everyone was just a little bit drunk on the stimulus
punch sloshing through markets. So, the best activist giant
Elliott Investment Management could do was warn of trouble
ahead. “We continue to press on for the day when we can say,
‘We told you so,’” the firm wrote in a letter to investors.
Activists like Elliott made their names by muscling in on
struggling companies and then threatening to throw out board
directors—and sometimes even CEOs. They’d notched some
famous victories, like Bill Ackman’s overhaul of Canadian
Pacific Railway in 2012. But by 2019, their tactics were getting a
little tired, and a lot of copycats piled in, often looking to make
a quick buck. The S&P 500 was also performing so well that
investors could put their money in simple exchange-traded
funds and earn just as much, if not more, than investing in a
fund run by an activist investor, with way less hassle.
Then the pandemic hit and, after some early turbulence,
the day traders and the meme stocks took over. Activists were
completely neutered. Which is why Florida-based Elliott was
shouting into the wind.
56 JUNE 2023/ REPORT ON BUSINESS

lic. Kingsdale has been around for two real estate to utilities to energy infrastructure.
decades, says Robertson, and the firm Boards of directors might think they know how to handle
has never been this busy. “The last 14 activists because the activist playbook used to be pretty stan-
months have been non-stop.” dard: Release a public letter to the board, propose a few new
Last year’s stock market correction directors with relevant industry experience (maybe retired
is the primary driver. The S&P 500 fell CEOs or executives) and call for some sort of strategy shift—
19%, and the Nasdaq Composite, the sell off a division, say, or demand share buybacks. The kind of
frothiest of them all, lost one-third of thing Kendall Roy might pull on his dad in Succession or, to
its value. But the bubble mentality has use a real-world example, exactly what went down at Cana-
popped, particularly for technology dian agricultural gem Agrium in 2013.
companies, and activists finally have an But there are more plays to call now, and some are disguised
opening to outperform the market. Sag- by activists wrapping themselves in the environmental, social
ging share prices have also given inves- and governance (ESG) cloak. Elliott’s battle with Suncor, for
tors reason to hear the activists out instance, was fuelled in part by safety issues—the oil pro-
again. Hardly anyone cares about gov- ducer had 13 employees die on the job in nine years. Activists
ernance issues or executive pay when are also more likely to “swarm” these days. Once one of them
stocks are rising—everyone’s making has called out a vulnerable company, two or three or four will
too much money to bother. pile on and demand changes, and each of them might have
Canada has already seen some major different requests.
campaigns, with TCI, a London-based It’s all made for a mismatch. Boards and CEOs are still
money manager, forcing a CEO change “unprepared and unrealistic about the threat activism poses,”
at Canadian National Railway last year says Robertson, echoing the advice bankers and lawyers rou-
and installing Tracy Robinson, a former tinely offer. “They believe the activist is going to go away.”
executive at rival CP and TransCanada They’re wrong. And this is just the beginning of a new wave.
Pipelines, as the new leader. Elliott “It is unlikely that today’s elevated level of activism will be
did the same more recently at Suncor, curbed by legislation, regulation or market forces in the near
bringing former Imperial Oil CEO Rich term,” lawyers from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP
Kruger out of retirement in February to warned clients in April.
run the energy giant. But the battles are What follows is a guide on who and what should be keeping
everywhere now—from commercial directors and executives up at night.
THE EVERGREEN ELEPHANT

For years, Ackman, a Harvard grad who launched his own
hedge fund, personified shareholder activism—particularly
in Canada, because of his success at CP Rail. CP had been
lagging for years, falling farther behind its Canadian rival
CN, but CP’s board kept giving its management team more
time. Ackman fronted the activist fight and won, installing
former CN CEO Hunter Harrison as CP’s new leader. In 2012,
this magazine named Ackman CEO of the Year for being the
“boardroom barbarian who toppled four-star corporate gen-
erals at one of the country’s most historic companies.”
Lately, though, Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Hold-
ings, has been preaching quieter, more co-operative fights,
having endured some bruising campaigns since CP, including
his disastrous short-selling campaign at nutritional-supple-
ments company Herbalife and his unusual support for Vale-
ant Pharmaceuticals, which saw its share price crater.
In Ackman’s absence, Elliott has claimed the title of most
feared activist. In 2022 alone, it launched 13 campaigns.
That’s roughly twice the number of its large rivals, includ-
ing veteran corporate raider Carl Icahn, according to global
financial services firm Lazard.
Some of that fear factor stems from Elliott’s size. With
US$55 billion in assets under management, it’s large enough
to go after big fish (Pershing has US$15 billion). The aver-

ACTIVIST CAMPAIGNS LAUNCHED ACTIVIST BOARD SEAT DEMANDS
PROXY
SETTLEMENT VOTE CONTESTS
697
71 91 23 17
2020 286
149
667
6 4 3
52
2021 235
160
9 42 18
882
64 8 55 27
2022 200
218
U.S. CANADA EUROPE ASIA
ESG ACTIVIST TARGETS GOVERNANCE

SOCIAL energy group SSE, asking manage-
ENVIRONMENTAL
ment to spin out the company’s renew-
393
2021 84 118 able energy group. SSE’s top investors
shot down Elliott’s requests, then bad-
2022 135 148 mouthed the fund to The Sunday Times,
417
arguing that its financial analysis was,
actually, rather elementary.
age market value of its targets is US$24 billion, according to
Insightia, which tracks activist campaigns, and in the past
Elliott has hit giants like AT&T and GlaxoSmithKline. Last THE USUAL SUSPECTS
year, the fund bought a 3.4% stake in Suncor. Every year, there’s a steady cast of activ-
Elliott also has a reputation for being ruthless. The money ist funds that make headlines. Carl Icahn
manager has multiple divisions, and its hedge fund arm that has been at it for decades, dating back
invests in stocks and other securities once bought Argentin- to the 1980s, when he rode the wave of
ian bonds, leading to a showdown with Argentina’s govern- corporate raiders and made his name by
ment. Elliott would not accept the terms of the country’s debt taking Trans World Airlines private. He
restructuring deals, and the standoff got so ugly that Elliott struck it rich; only the airline suffered
took Argentina to court in the U.S., then convinced a court in under the debt load. (Funny enough,
Ghana to detain a 348-foot Argentine navy vessel docked in Icahn is now being targeted by an activ-
its port. The fund argued it had a right to take the ship. The ist short seller that argues his holding
boat was eventually released, but Elliott later won a settle- company has inflated the value of some
ment that delivered a nearly 400% return on its investment. assets. Icahn’s company says it stands
Elliott has also been accused of flashing a six-inch-thick by its public disclosures.)
dossier during a meeting with directors of one company that Other reliable actors include Jana
purportedly contained dirt on them and their families, as well Partners, ValueAct Capital Partners and
as unearthing the old divorce records of a CEO it was hoping Starboard Value. In the past year, their
to get fired and allegedly leaking them to the media. Elliott campaigns have targeted popular com-
has denied these allegations. panies such as music streaming service
Even if such tactics are a thing of the past, Elliott remains Spotify, demanding cost cuts following
cutthroat. Many activists now try to engage boards of direc- an unprofitable expansion into pod-
tors in private, hoping to reach quiet settlements. Yet, when casts, and New York Times Co., ask-
Elliott went after Suncor, it didn’t even give the board a polite ing management to push subscribers
heads-up. Instead, it went public from the jump with a letter into higher-priced bundles that include
addressed to the board that laid out details of its plan to elect apps such as NYT Cooking.
five new directors and potentially replace CEO Mark Little Even though these actors may seem
(who took over in 2019), as well as explore a sale of Suncor’s like the usual perennial players, their
retail chain of Petro-Canada gas stations. tactics are evolving, and that means
Still, the fund doesn’t always get what it wants. Although the old defensive tactics won’t always
SOURCE INSIGHTIA
there’s been a CEO change at Suncor—Elliott appointed three apply anymore. Activists used to make
directors in July 2022, and Little was gone the same month— pretty straightforward demands: sell off
the board declined to sell off Petro-Canada. assets to generate cash and pay down
In another fight two years ago, the fund went after Scottish debt, for instance, or issue a special

SPONSOR CONTENT
How Hopewell builds

growth for its business But as an economist not native to Canada, Mr. Lee knew
he had to find the right people with expertise in the Calgary
and people real estate market to help implement the vision he had for the
company. “We got very lucky every step of the way,” he says,
finding the right people with the right skills and “being very
fortunate to have opportunity at the right place and at the
right time to build the company.”
Part of Hopewell’s “people philosophy” emphasizes that
every employee must be empowered in their work, enjoy
their work, know they work for a progressive organization,
be recognized for their contributions, and be compensated
properly.
“We like to say we make happy money,” he explains, which
means the people working in the business should be happy
along the way. That also means giving back to the community.
The company and its staff support a wide range of
charities and community groups, including the Hotchkiss
Brain Institute with a $10-million philanthropic commitment
through the Hopewell M.I.N.D. (Maximizing Innovation in
Neuroscience Discovery) Prize.
Hopewell and its divisions are involved in residential and
commercial development, property management, strategic
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mile delivery company, Ziing Final Mile, and a property
technology venture capital arm, GroundBreak Ventures. The
organization aims to establish each of its seven companies as
a platform that has a broad range of services within its field.
Across the organization, there are currently more than
300 employees in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Brampton,
Toronto and Arizona – all with varied backgrounds and
expertise in a wide range of areas.
Hopewell is a relatively flat organization, says Mr. Lee,
and the company encourages all employees to come up
with ideas to improve it. “We’re relying on people who are
At Hopewell,
T he success of multi-faceted real estate and logistics
company Hopewell is rooted in its people, teamwork and
employees are
specialists near the front line to be able to come back and
give us feedback,” he says.
encouraged to give
unwavering focus on the future, says founder and executive feedback on how to Mr. Lee calls himself an “optimist” who likes to look for
chairman Sanders Lee. continuously improve new opportunities to do business better. “We’re constantly
“The people are the cornerstone and teamwork is the ever-growing looking for ways to improve ourselves,” he explains. “The
organization.
everything,” says Mr. Lee, who was born in Hong Kong and philosophy is, if we are building, we are trying to build a best-
came to Canada in 1991 after studying economics in Germany. in-class company in a specific field and service the largest
Hopewell, a Platinum Best Managed Company, began after number of people as possible.”
his parents’ business venture went sideways and left them The organization and its employees are also looking
with a vacant piece of land in Calgary. Mr. Lee took over and ahead to the future and the kinds of disruptions that may
created a team that built about 500 homes on the property and be possible in the real estate sector, and what opportunities
the journey of Hopewell – a name his mother chose – began in they might bring. That’s why Hopewell has its venture capital
earnest. business, GroundBreak Ventures, along with Ziing Final Mile,
Alberta in the early 1990s was booming and real estate was which “give us a lens as to what might be coming in terms of
a good choice.“In those days, the Alberta advantage was true,” disruption or changes,” he says. “So that, I think, is a little bit
Mr. Lee explains. unique in our approach.”
INSIGHTIA’S
ACTIVIST
TOP 10
IN 2022
COMPANIES
PUBLICLY
SUBJECTED TO
DEMANDS
dividend. Lately, though, they’ve tested out new arguments. tion may not jibe with the internal cul-
AVERAGE MARKET
When Icahn took a run at McDonald’s last year, he sounded CAP OF TARGETS ture of a traditional fund, particularly
more like an ESG advocate than a barbarian at the gate (a (US$) large, established ones that have hold-
term for raiders of the 1980s), calling the corporation’s treat- ings in many leading companies and
ment of pregnant pigs an “obscene cruelty.” But shareholders form long-term relationships with the
rejected his board nominees. management teams that run them.
Activists have also taken to swarming. There have long been Conflicts of interest are also a com-
ELLIOTT
“wolf packs”—groups of activists that work in concert—but MANAGEMENT
mon hurdle. Royal Bank of Canada’s
recent behaviour is different. Funds in a wolf pack used to talk asset management arm, for instance, is
to each other in advance and launch a co-ordinated attack. $24.3B one of the largest institutional investors
When activists swarm, the funds often act independently and d in the country and therefore a top share-
sometimes demand wildly different things from managemen nt. hoolder at many large Canadian compa-
Enterprise software giant Salesforce faced such an attaack CARL ICAHN niees. But these same companies may be
in the past year, battling five different activists at the saame clieents of RBC’s investment banking
time, including Elliott, Starboard Value and ValueAct. In $39.7B armm, which gets hired to defend against
March, Salesforce promised it would focus on profit rather ctivist funds. RBC can’t fight RBC.
ac
than growth, doubled its share buybacks and created a new w To skirt these issues, an institutional
division that will work on “business transformation.” SABA CAPITAL investor who’s fed up with management
Canadian utility Algonquin Power is also dealing with mul- MANAGEMENT can put out an RFA—a request for activ-
tiple activists, with Starboard and Corvex joining Ancora in ism—and bring on a smaller fund as a
its call for quick asset sales to help pay down debt. Algon- $284.4M hired gun. When they do, it can throw
quin’s shares are down roughly 40% over the past year. A little all norms out the window. It used to be
more than one-third of all campaigns launched in the first that if a small fund owned only a tiny
quarter of 2023 were swarming scenarios, Lazard reports, and ANCORA ADVISORS percentage of a company’s stock, the
that figure is expected to grow. fund might be laughed at for trying to
$4.2B
make changes—especially if it had only
recently bought the shares. These cam-
HEDGE FUNDS THAT COSPLAY AS ACTIVISTS NIPPON ACTIVE paigns were seen as attempts to make
It’s a dizzying time for directors and CEOs. After the signa- VALUE FUND the share price pop, and then the funds
ture CP campaign, they were all counselled on what to do if would sell shortly afterward.
Pershing Square or another prominent activist came knock- But these days, it’s entirely possible
$335M
ing. But now it’s not just the usual suspects. Small hedge that a small fund is a front for major
funds, like San Francisco–based Engine No. 1, which has only shareholders—not unlike a new-age
US$300 million in assets under management (less than 1% of CRYSTAL AMBER Trojan horse.
Elliott’s), can have just as much impact. In 2021, investment
giants BlackRock, Vanguard Group and State Street all voted $139.5M
against the leadership of oil giant Exxon Mobil, in line with SO, WHAT’S A BOARD CHAIR TO DO?
Engine No. 1. To start: Never, ever underestimate
Veteran activists have trained scores of portfolio manag g- VALUEACT CAPITAL anyone
a who knocks on the door. If an
ers on the tricks of the trade, and some of them have left the PARTNERS activist’s
a demands are ludicrous—and
bigger funds to replicate these strategies at smaller shopss. they
t sometimes are—shareholders will
When Engine No. 1 made global headlines by prompting thatt $29B eventually see through them. But don’t
shakeup of Exxon’s board, the battle was framed in the media be dismissive from the get-go.
as David versus Goliath. What got lost in that narrative is that Second, prepare now, even if there
Engine No. 1 had hired Charlie Penner, a former managing JANA PARTNERS weren’t any skirmishes during the
director at Jana Partners, to run the campaign. current proxy season. Activists have
$4.8B
In Canada, two hedge funds have taken on established real learned they’re more likely to win sup-
estate investment trusts already this year: K2 at H&R REIT port from other investors if they can
and Ewing Morris at First Capital REIT. Both fights were show they’ve tried to engage manage-
pretty benign in the end, with settlements that saw a total of ENGINE CAPITAL ment and directors for months. Boards
five new trustees named to the boards of the REITs, none of that skated through this year will want
which came from the slates of trustees proposed by the hedge $2.6B to relax, but there won’t be much of a
funds. But these attacks can be quite challenging because no lull. Private discussions often start in the
one ever knows if a small fund has a much bigger fish behind it. fall, and disgruntled shareholders like to
To be an activist, an investor needs to be a bit brash. It’s the STARBOARD VALUE pounce when boards least suspect it.
best way to grab the attention of other shareholders, because The bottom line: The activists are
it’s tough to take a stand against management. But confronta- $14.5B coming, and they can’t be ignored.

WINSYOUNG & HUNGRY WINSYOUNG & HUNGR
NGRY WINSYOUNG & HUNGRY WINSYOUNG & H
WIN UN
UNGR
NGR THE GLOBE AND MAIL PRESENTS
G &H
WIN CANADA’S 2023 CANNES YOUNG LIONS N
NGR
NGR G &H
Each year, the Canadian Cannes Young Lions Competition bring out the best young talent in the advertising
WIN N
NGR
and marketing industry. This year, 680 competitors across five competition categories, tackled a challenging brief
under extreme time pressure for their chance to qualify and compete in the Global Young Lions Competitions in
NGR G &H
Cannes, France. The competition is fierce. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GOLD WINNING TEAMS!
WIN N
NGR
NGR G &H
WIN DIGITA L
Andronicus Wu,
N
NGR FILM
Cory Hansen,
PR INT
Jaclyn McConnell,
NGR Art Director, The Garden

Jon Dawe,
Senior Copywriter, The Garden
G &H Senior Writer, Milestone Integrated Marketing
Anthony Curran, Motion Designer,
Milestone Integrated Marketing
Art Director, Rethink
Shawn Weidman,
Copywriter, Rethink
WIN N
NGR
NGR G &H
WIN MEDI A N
NGR MA RK ET ER S
NGR Thierry Lessard,

G &H
Head of data and technology, Cartier
Mike Miura,
Manager, Commercial Marketing Strategy, MLSE
WIN N
NGR
Olivier Houle, Ryan Grippo, Associate, Strategy, MLSE
Media Strategy Supervisor, Cartier
NGR YOUNG LIONS JURIES

G &H Thank you to our judges and jury chairs:
WIN N
NGR
Each year, submissions for the Young Lions Competitions PRINT/DIGITAL/FILM
are judged by an esteemed panel of industry experts. Mary Maddever, Jury Chair
NGR G &H
Juries of experienced advertising and marketing executives EVP, Canadian Media Brands & Editorial Director,
Brunico Communications
review, debate and determine the top winning teams.
WIN N
NGR MARKETERS
Susan Irving, Jury Chair
Chief Marketing Officer, Kruger Products Inc.
MEDIA
Cathy Collier, Jury Chair
Chief Executive Officer, OMD Canada
See the winning work at For a full list of judges, please visit
GLOBEANDMAILYOUNGLIONS.CA globeandmailyounglions.ca/jury
The Globe and Mail is proud to be the official Festival representative in

Canada for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
#JJ'4':? JKüú'õ:? þK"þKüK9ú:ú'õK 4:9:1':9

"þ#Iþ :< ":þú9Kþü
Learn more about our commitment to

supporting marketing creativity and innovation
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SPONSOR CONTENT
Entrepreneurship, innovation, and an

unwavering commitment to people define
the UCS Forest Group of Companies
For example, the company ceased all buying of Russian
products after the invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022 and
developed alternative products for its customers. It also made
significant donations to Ukrainian humanitarian aid.
UCS Forest Group is committed to responsible forestry, hav-
ing earned its FSC Chain of Custody Certification in 2003. Since
then, its supplier base has grown to include more than 140 FSC
Certified suppliers.
“Our values fuel our mission, which is to ‘Deliver the
Difference. What you need. When you need it. By people that
know and care.’ We take the caring part very seriously,” says
Mr. Spitz.
The company is a distributor of hardwood lumber, specialty
softwoods, panel products, laminates, and exterior products.
Through its distribution centres and company-owned and
operated fleet of trucks and trailers, UCS services thousands of
manufacturers of furniture, kitchen cabinets, doors, architec-
tural millwork, and an array of wood-related products.
UCS attributes its success to a belief that “our people are
the foundation of the company – their knowledge, experience
and passion are what drive us forward,” says Nancee Gelineau,
chief human resource & administration officer.
The family-owned company has a strong culture of com-
munity engagement, through both local and company-wide
giving. A key initiative is the Spitz Fellows Program, a financial
fellowship for Indigenous women at the University of British
Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, where Mr. Spitz serves
as chair of the Faculty Advisory Board.
L ong before founding his first company, Upper Canada
Forest Products, CEO Warren Spitz watched his father
Warren Spitz, CEO and
founder, UCS Forest
Both organic growth and strategic acquisitions have driven
the trajectory of the company. Many of the locations developed
run his own logging operations in British Columbia.“I got from Group. under the leadership of a key teammate who built the location
my dad his love of people and his spirit of hard work and deter- from the ground up with the support of the corporate team.
mination,” says Mr. Spitz. One example is group president Bryan Hoyt, who joined the
Mr. Spitz started Upper Canada in Mississauga, Ont., in company in 2007 in Seattle and established the company as a
1986 with one truck, an 8,600-square-foot warehouse and two leading distributor in the Pacific Northwest.
other employees – his wife Maureen, and Andrea Moore, who is “The intrapreneurial spirit in our company is backed by
now group corporate treasurer. They expanded into the U.S. in trust-based leadership,” Mr. Hoyt explains,“where the com-
1988 as Sierra Forest Products, and the UCS Forest Group has pany gives teammates the right to pursue great ideas with the
grown to 18 locations throughout North America with over 500 right support.”
employees. This structure of trust and support is what Mr. Spitz feels
Kelsey Spitz-Dietrich, the company’s chief commercial of- contributes to the company’s membership in the Platinum
ficer and Mr. Spitz’s daughter, says the company’s values guide Club of Best Managed Companies.“We trust each other, our
everything they do.“Our goal is to live our values of profes- employees, our customers, and our suppliers, and when you
sionalism, commitment, integrity, innovation and sustainability can create that sort of trust ecosystem, great things happen,”
each day.” says Mr. Spitz.
ROB/
NANOS//
CEO
SURVEY
Report on Business teamed up with Nanos Research to conduct a first-of-its-
kind survey of an elite group of Canadian leaders—with revenues totalling
$224 billion—gauging their views on Canada’s trade and investment policy,
their outlook for the Canadian economy and their own companies’ short-term
health, plus the biggest threats and opportunities

ROB/
NANOS//
CEO
SURVEY
/
If you had to sum up the mood of with combined revenues of roughly $224 bil- 3. What policy changes
Canada’s most powerful CEOs, it lion and employ tens of thousands of Cana- could help make Canada’s
would be grim. As chief execs tell dians in industries as diverse as banking, economy stronger?
it, this country has earned a reputa- energy, manufacturing and retail.
tion as an inhospitable place to do business. What’s on the minds of Canada’s CEOs? Reduce restrictions for
bringing in labour and/or
The economy will probably tip into recession There’s clearly no shortage of uncertain- investments
in the coming months. Oh, and the nation’s ties—interest rates, labour shortages, cyber 30.8%
road infrastructure? Don’t get them started. attacks and climate change—but among
Those are just a few of the insights Report these challenges, CEOs also see opportunity. Lower or better taxation
on Business magazine got when it teamed up And as concerned as the leaders of Canada’s 26.9%
with Nanos Research for an exclusive survey largest companies are about the economy, Create a clearer path to net zero,
of Canada’s top CEOs. The group of respon- most of them intend to continue to ramp up or better policies to support
dents to the anonymous poll (which we’ll hiring over the next six months. natural resources and
conduct twice yearly) represent companies For more, visit tgam.ca/ceosurvey. energy sectors on this path
23.1%
1
Create policies that
stimulate growth and
TRADE + INVESTMENT POLICY productivity
23.1%
Is Canada on the right track when it 2. What’s holding Canada Lower or freeze interest rates
comes to trade and investment policy? back from being a desirable 11.5%
place for businesses to
invest? (top responses) Invest in technology
and innovation
62%
WRONG TRACK
Taxes and costs are high
22%
11.5%
Federal budgetary control

Poor leadership, regulators, red 11.5%
tape or lack of clarity
22% Improve or optimize
government approval
24%
RIGHT TRACK
Incentives for business are
weaker, creating an unappealing
investment environment
processes
11.5%
17% Support investments

in infrastructure
Bad policies are impeding the 11.5%
14%
country’s competitiveness
17%
UNSURE
4. Rate Canada as a place to invest five years ago,

today and five years from now.
THE BIG PICTURE
Business investment in Canada and the U.S. FIVE YEARS AGO
CANADA U.S. 45% 55%
15
PHOTOGRAPHS THE VOORHES/TRUNK ARCHIVE
TODAY
12 33% 53% 13%
FIVE YEARS FROM NOW
50% 27% 23%

9
Q4 2010 Q4 2022 GOOD PLACE TO INVEST BAD PLACE TO INVEST

AVERAGE PLACE TO INVEST

STRAIGHT
FROM
THE CEOS
INVESTING IN CANADA
“Provincial regulators
are too short-term and
knee-jerk according
to overt political
direction. There’s a
slow flow-through
of infrastructure
spending, and taxes
are higher than
other countries also
attracting capital.”
“We have a stable

financial system, rule
For more coverage and
of law, immigration
comments straight policy and acceptance.
from participating
chief executives, visit But we need to work
tgam.ca/ceosurvey on infrastructure like
roads, hospitals and
public transportation
5. What are 89.7% to absorb our
the top priority immigration.”
regions to
focus Canada’s
57.1%
trade efforts?
11.5%
3.6%
30.8%
ASIA PACIFIC
42.3%
10.7%
3.4% 25%
NORTH AMERICA EUROPE
CHINA
3.6%
3.4% 3.8%
AFRICA SOUTH EAST ASIA
FIRST PRIORITY
SECOND PRIORITY
THIRD PRIORITY
11.5%
ANY EMERGING MARKET WITH UNSURE
3.4%
MINERAL ENDOWMENTS

ROB/
NANOS//
CEO
SURVEY

6
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Do you think the economy 9. What steps are you

will be stronger or weaker taking to prepare your
in the next six months? company for a possible STRAIGHT
recession? FROM
THE CEOS
Managing costs INTEREST RATES
WEAKER 43.8% & INFLATION
57%
Fortifying the balance sheet
31.3% “The cause of higher
Managing production rates or interest rates, inflation,
inventory is more of a concern
25.0% as it drives up the
NO CHANGE Focusing on growth opportunities costs of everything,
27% 18.8% exacerbating issues
Restructuring business
with disposable income
STRONGER areas or redefining our value and fears of recession.”
13% proposition
UNSURE 12.5% “When interest rates
3% Investing in digital technology skyrocket, they create
6.3% a major economic
None
downturn in which
7. What’s the likelihood of 6.3%
strong companies
a recession in the second can take advantage.”
half of 2023?
SOMEWHAT UNLIKELY
UNLIKELY 3% 10. Where will interest rates be one year from now?
14%
LOWER
43%
ON PAR
50%
HIGHER
7%
LIKELY SOMEWHAT LIKELY THE BIG PICTURE

21% 62% Bank of Canada Policy Interest Rate
5%
8. If you believe a 4.5
recession is likely or 4
somewhat likely, how 3.5
severe will it be? 3
2.5
Not severe
2
25%
1.5
Somewhat not severe 1
54% 0.5
0
Severe
4% 2013 2024
BANK OF CANADA AVERAGE FORECAST OF
Somewhat severe
POLICY RATE THE BIG FIVE BANKS
17%

ROB/
12
NANOS//
CEO
SURVEY
BUSINESS OUTLOOK
Over the next six months, do you

expect employee numbers to increase,
decrease or stay the same?
57%
INCREASE
30%
STAY THE SAME
13%
DECREASE
13. What’s the expected

demand for your goods
and services in the next six
months?
43% 43%
INCREASE STAY THE SAME
STRAIGHT
FROM
11. Rate the financial strength of your company compared THE CEOS
to one year ago. RECESSION
“A recession will impact

the timing of certain
investments, but we
60%
BETTER
23%
WORSE
17%
SAME
see a recession as an
13%
opportunity to attract
DECREASE key talent from other
THE BIG PICTURE organizations.”
Private-sector employment is back above the
pre-pandemic trend (in thousands)
14. How confident are you “Our demand will
15,000 that you’ll be able to find hold through a mild
workers with the right skills recession, so there are
to fill job openings?
PRIVATE SECTOR PRE-PANDEMIC TREND no inventory concerns.
EMPLOYMENT
Confident We’re remaining
20% cautious on operational
12,000
Somewhat confident costs but not pulling
57% back—other than with
Somewhat not confident
labour costs, which
17%
will increase.”
9,000
JAN 2010 JAN 2023

Not confident “Our business does well
7%
in recessions.”
15
THR EATS + O PP O RT U NI T IE S
Do the following issues represent threats or opportunities for your company?

67% 23% 3% 7%
CYBER
SECURITY
21% 38% 10% 10% 14% 7%
INTEREST
RATES
10% 23% 23% 20% 17% 7%
CLIMATE
CHANGE
3% 20% 40% 17% 13% 7%
INFLATION
REDUCTION
ACT
MAJOR THREAT MINOR THREAT NEUTRAL MINOR OPPORTUNITY MAJOR OPPORTUNITY UNSURE

ROB/
NANOS//
CEO
SURVEY
17. What impact does
cybersecurity have on your
company?
Poses many threats, or

consistently evolving and more
sophisticated threats
36.8%
We have a lot of sensitive data to

protect
21.1%
We have already experienced a

cyber attack or know a company
that’s experienced one
10.5%
Severe reputational risks

10.5%
We specialize in cybersecurity, so
it’s a major opportunity
5.3%
It increases business costs to

protect against these threats
5.3%
It represents both a threat and an

opportunity
5.3%
Our business doesn’t heavily rely

on online systems
5.3%
18. What does climate

change mean for your
company?
It will drive demand

for our products or services
27.8%
It’s a major threat, and we must

16. How confident are you determine how our products or
that you’ll be prepared for services can integrate with an
THE BIG PICTURE environmentally friendly transition
Quarterly change in Canada’s real GDP growth climate change?
22.2%
3% 7%
NOT CONFIDENT UNSURE It could be a major opportunity to
1.5% differentiate from competitors
16.7%
1 It’s a threat to everyone, but the

severity will depend on the sector
16.7%
0.5
Short-term threat, long-term
opportunity
5.6%
0
Climate change is not real
5.6%
-0.5 40% 50%
CONFIDENT SOMEWHAT No impact on businesses with a
CONFIDENT good strategy
MARCH 2021 DEC 2022
5.6%

STRAIGHT
FROM
THE CEOS
THREATS AND
OPPORTUNITIES
“We have seen our

peers and suppliers
affected by cyber
attacks. We believe it is
a matter of when, not if.”
“We were impacted by

a major cybersecurity
event, and we “WE NEED
know that with the
increasing prevalence POLICIES
of cyber attacks and THAT PROVIDE
rapidly improving
sophistication of threat
CERTAINTY THAT
actors, it will continue
STRAIGHT
FROM PROJECTS CAN
to be a threat to our
business and to most
THE CEOS
HOW TO FIX BE APPROVED
Canadian businesses
CANADA
AND EXECUTED,
over the coming years.” “Implement a strong grocery
supply code of conduct that
AND REDUCE THE
“Our government’s will ensure fair practices for all
participants in our food supply
FRICTIONS TO
singular focus on chain. Reduce congestion at RAISING CAPITAL
climate change is Canadian ports and simplify the
destroying our country.” flow of goods. And do everything AND INVESTING
possible to strengthen the
Canadian dollar.” IN CANADA.”
“Climate change is a
threat to the planet, of “Create clarity on Canada’s net zero future via disclosure, taxonomy and
course. There’s also other foundations seen in other leading jurisdictions. Enable project
an opportunity for us approvals to be done more efficiently. Enable the immigration we need
to show leadership in to support growth. Overall, it seems like health care is in crisis, including
innovation to combat mental health supports. Changes are needed. And support a strong
climate change.” education system in areas of future growth, such as STEM skills.”
“Climate change is a “The road conditions “Against a backdrop of

systemic risk and thus in key cities are quite serious global crises, from
has impacts across frankly embarrassing climate change to geopolitical
almost all sectors. realities, outcomes-focused
As a global investor,
Nanos conducted an
online survey of 30 compared to other collaboration between the
working through
CEOs in Canada from
a list provided by The G7+ nations. But public-sector and private
how to transition Globe and Mail between
March 16 and April 12,
taxes are high. These companies will drive a more
productive, competitive and
your portfolio is a key 2023. For more details
on the methodology,
two things don’t go innovative Canada.”
strategic imperative.” visit nanos.co/robceo/ together.”
Turning Point
who was speaking for these Black artists and profes-

sionals? It was highlighted by the murder of George
Floyd, when the entire world said, “Oh, wow, inhu-
mane things are happening to Black people, and
to Black men especially.” Advance is the Canadian
music industry’s friendly accountability partner.
We’re coming at the work from a variety of angles.
We focus on advocacy to address systemic change,
Busting barriers
working with organizations in the music ecosys-
tem, along with federal, provincial and municipal
governments, to remove barriers for Black music
Keziah Myers, the executive director of Advance, professionals. One big success is in Bill C-11, the
Canada’s Black music business collective, on Online Streaming Act—we were the initiators and
opening doors for those coming up behind her major proponents of indicating Black as a unique
group within the legislation. We’re also looking at
building the pipeline to ensure students have path-
It was lonely at times in the music industry, because
I was the only Black woman I saw, other than 894
Number of Black
ways to success through education with no finan-
cial barriers. And we’ve continued to work with
Advance co-founder Vivian Barclay, and she pre- professionals the industry to ensure they’re paying for intern-
dates me by a few years. Were there times when who are members ships, because that’s definitely more of a barrier
derogatory statements were thrown at me? Yes. of Advance for underrepresented communities. And we’re
Were there times when I was presumed to be a sec- addressing it through knowledge sharing, best prac-
retary or administrative assistant? Absolutely. Was 151
Number of people
tices and capacity building, so those who are cur-
I mistaken for other Black people? Yes. But did that rently in the industry have the tools they need to
Advance has helped
tarnish my experience? No. land internships further succeed.
Taking opportunities when they’re presented to or positions Have we seen changes since Advance was cre-
you is really important, because there are barriers in the industry ated three years ago? Yes. Are there more changes
in everybody’s path. And if we become consumed to come? Absolutely. Leading Advance is about
by those barriers, or if we don’t find ways to navi- ensuring there’s sustainable growth. I’d rather
gate them or open our mouths and say, “Hey, there’s have a slow burn into something that’s going to be
a problem here,” then we not only potentially sell positive and ongoing than a knee-jerk reaction that
ourselves short and, through no fault of our own, falls off of your plate as soon as it’s not trendy. And
fail to get to the next level, but we also leave those the big success is that Advance is here, and it’s sup-
barriers in place for somebody else. ported by so many other organizations, because
ILLUSTRATION KYLE SCOTT
Advance was created to address the lack of diver- that allows us to look at sustainable growth and
sity in the industry, especially at the decision-mak- goal setting, rather than a black square that’s in it
ing level. Black professionals were the only ones in for the moment. We have to continue to have the
the room in many, many spaces. And the popular- conversation and remember to think not just about
ity of Black music was bringing in large amounts who we’re seeing at the table, but to empower
of revenue that hadn’t been seen here before—but them, as well. /Interview by Alex Mlynek

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Here’s to Canada’s
Best Managed Companies,
who are working towards
building a better future.
As a proud long-term supporter of Canada’s Best
Managed Companies, we congratulate the program on
30 years of highlighting business excellence in Canada.
Congratulations to the 2023 winners!

Rob Mag Jun 2023

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CANADA’S

CANADA’S BEST MANAGED COMPANIES

The feds are betting on tax

72 TURNING POINT Second-gen CEO

JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 1

Poll position a profit of $746 million in fiscal 2022, and

Read the full story

Nothing but net zero energy, drive everywhere, etc. Without

FOR 200,000 PEOPLE

We havve a plan. We neeed

That’s a lot of words without ever once

A Fifty Fathoms is for eternity.

Do be like Frank Hassenfratz and

Don’t be like Ted Rogers and allow

very public family split like the one thatt

against his sister Martha.

Don’t be like Harrison and Wallace

Weston’s 2022 compensation

THE EXC H A N G E Ukraine has an incredible

Food for thought

8 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

10 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 11

and Chinese expansionism. “We’re in a

Money for nothing?

12 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

14 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

Transportation Group higher, it’s very satisfying.”

4*$% /%2-#(*%/2+*- (%*61)'% #'%6101-&

WHAT YOU CA N L E A RN FROM . . .

for have done it and that you don’t

what’s right Give a anticipate ever behaving like that

53rd-ranked men’s squad

16 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

COMPLIMENTARY HOTEL STAY

You can extend your stay

Terms and conditions apply, visit turkishairlines.com

India’s population advantage over China

AGES 0 TO 24 AGES 25 TO 54 AGES 55+ CHINA INDIA

1995: India’s 0-to-24 age

China will have vastly

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

18 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

5 things we learned from Rogerio Fujimori

3. Is the sector getting 4. U.S. consumers were 5. Stifel sells Fujimori’s

1. After working at Morgan 2. Since 2012, the MSCI

20 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

With a focus on innovation,

JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 23

Take a load off your back.

Proud to inaugurally be named one of

Built on 20 years of excellence

BY SUSAN KRASHINSKY ROBERTSON

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEXA MAZARELLO

26 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

knows what Wilson.”

28 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 29

30 JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS

JUNE 2023 / REPORT ON BUSINESS 31

4$% /%2-#(%/2+- (%61)'% #'%6101-&