Israel Harold “Izzy” Asper was the founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive of CanWest Global Communications, Canada’s private sector broadcaster. Born in Minnedosa, Manitoba in 1932, Izzy was the son of musicians who had emigrated from Ukraine. Receiving his Bachelor of law from the University of Manitoba in 1957, he founded Asper, Freedman & Co. in 1959.

In addition to being a prominent tax lawyer, Asper was also a recognized journalist and author. During his five-year political career, he served twice as the leader of the Manitoba Liberal party. Izzy’s entrepreneurial drive flourished as a founding partner of Manitoba-based financial conglomerate, CanWest Capital Corporation. CanWest’s billion dollar holdings included the 1974 acquisition of KNCD, an American television outlet. KNCD was relocated to an abandoned supermarket in Winnipeg, becoming CKND-TV. It was Izzy’s first foray into Canadian television.

Under Asper’s guidance, CanWest flourished beyond all reasonable expectations to consist of the Global Television Network, the National Post daily newspaper, and over 60 other Canadian newspapers. When CanWest board members voted to liquidate in 1983, Izzy persuaded his partners to keep the broadcast assets. Izzy managed the outlets into revenue producers and expanded into the Maritimes and Saskatchewan, becoming Canada’s most successful private broadcaster.

For several years he concentrated on the broadcast assets, until 1983 when CanWest board members voted to liquidate. Izzy, the one dissenting vote, persuaded his partners to keep the broadcast assets which included 45 percent of Ontario’s Global System and a financial interest in Vancouver’s CKVU. Izzy managed the outlets into revenue producers and expanded into the Maritimes and Saskatchewan, becoming Canada’s most successful private broadcaster.

Izzy emerged as the sole owner of the company in 1989, when CanWest Global Communications was formed. The consistent growth that forged CanWest into an international empire is due largely to the unique and determined entrepreneurial spirit of Izzy Asper. In recognition of this feat, Asper became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. He was inducted into the Order of Manitoba in 2000.

Izzy passed away in 2003 at the age of 71. In addition to his career success, he is remembered as a strong supporter of Israel as well as a respected philanthropist, donating generously to education and the arts. Izzy used to say, “You have to matter; you have to count for something; you can’t just take up space.” It was a philosophy he lived by.

Laurent Beaudoin was born in Laurier Station, Quebec in 1938. He graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke with a Master of Commerce, where he met his future wife, Claire, daughter of Joseph-Armand Bombardier. Beaudoin joined his father-in-law in the family snowmobile business in 1963, and became President at the age of 27 upon Bombardier’s death.

After just five years of Laurent’s unique leadership, Bombardier annual revenues increased from 8 million to 74 million dollars. Beaudoin eventually became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier Inc. For three decades, his diversification strategy developed a rural Quebec snowmobiling company into an international business empire. Employing 40,000 people worldwide, Bombardier became a leader in mass transit, aerospace, and motorized consumer products.

Beaudoin’s vision of diversification resulted from a period of hard times experienced by the company. The turnaround came in 1970, with the acquisition of the Austrian Tramway company and its railway expertise. After building Montreal’s subway cars, Bombardier entered the world market with its billion dollar contract to supply New York City with revolutionary graffiti-proof subway cars, the monorail cars for Disney World, and the railcars for the Chunnel, the tunnel that runs under the English Channel.

Beaudoin personally steered Bombardier into aviation through the acquisition of financially ailing companies such as Canadair, Short Brothers PLC of Belfast, Learjet, and de Havilland Aircraft. This expansion established the Bombardier aerospace division as a global leader, and within a decade sales grew from 350 million to 4 billion dollars.

Laurent Beaudoin was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1973, and was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 1989. He was also declared an officier de l’Ordre du Québec in 1990.

A disciplined entrepreneur and strategist, Beaudoin is known for his motto: “Never be stagnant – if you stop to think about the plateau you’ve reached, someone will move ahead of you.”

Peter Munk is the founder, chairman and CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation, a leading North American gold producing company. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1927, Munk’s family escaped death when Hungary was invaded by Nazi Germany in March 1944. Munk went on to graduate from the University of Toronto in 1952 with a degree in electric engineering.

Munk entered mining in 1983 when he purchased a stake in an Alaskan placer mine and half the Renabie mine in Ontario. He purchased several smaller mines before the acquisition of the Goldstrike Mine in Nevada – a property most experts believed had limited potential. However, Munk’s gamble paid off and today Goldstrike is the largest producing pit mine in the world, producing over two million ounces of gold a year.

In less than two decades, Munk had developed one of the world’s largest and most respected mining companies. He also implemented an innovative hedging program, and its success surprised skeptics: Barrick’s Premium Gold Sales Program generated almost US$2 billion in additional revenue over a 13-year period.

Munk also founded Horsham Corporation in 1987, and became Chairman and CEO of TrizecHahn when Horsham and Trizec Corporation merged in 1996. Today, TrizecHahn is one of the largest real estate companies in North America.

Munk is also a philanthropist; the Peter Munk Charitable Foundation was created in 1992, and has since donated over $50 million to a variety of organizations dedicated to improving the health, learning and international reputation of Canadians. Munk also donated $6 million to the Toronto General Hospital in 1997, which went toward creating the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

Peter Munk has been called “Canada’s Goldfinger” as well as “the most influential mining executive in the world.” He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993, has received many honorary degrees, and is in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. Barrick Gold’s continued success is due in large part to the astute, pioneering and highly focused business strategies of its founder.

Alfred Powis. As Chairman and CEO of Noranda Inc., his leadership and vision transformed the company into one of the world’s premier diversified natural resources companies.

Born in Montreal in 1930, Alfred obtained his Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in 1951, and after graduation he went to work as an investment analyst at Sun Life Assurance.

He joined Noranda, a 700 million dollar Canadian mining leader, in 1955, and during his four decades with the company, his extraordinary character and perseverance would steer its growth through acquisitions and diversification into aluminum, forest products, and oil and gas.

He explained his strategy this way: “In the mining business, it’s difficult to make rational, coherent, long-range plans. Your direction shifts depending on what’s found.”

Powis was able to establish Noranda as one of the world’s leading natural resources companies, employing more than 32,000 people, and with a worth in excess of 11 billion dollars.

His energy was similarly applied to community activities. A co-founder of the Business Council on National Issues, Powis became a tireless fundraiser for, and served on the boards of, a number of community-based organizations.

Powis had a vision that led Noranda to the forefront of its industry, as he recognized the need to pioneer, to re-invest, and to diversify.

Alfred Powis was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1984, and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 1996.

Edson Loy Pease, a pioneer banker, was vigorous in modernizing and moving Canadian banking out of its 19^th century roots.

Edson Pease was a merchant’s son from Coteau Landing, Quebec. At age 14 he began working as a telegraph operator, where he learned the value of fast and timely information. From this early perspective came his lifelong instinct for seizing national business opportunities.

In the early 1880’s he turned to banking, mastered its pen and ledger rudiments, and then aggressively pursued the possibilities of modern national banking. By age 27, he was working as the accountant at the Merchants’ Bank of Halifax. Four years later, Merchants’ opened its first branch in Montreal with Pease as Manager.

A visionary who guided Merchants’ out if its regional cocoon, Pease oversaw expansion at home and mergers abroad. In 1901 he was instrumental in the move that renamed Merchants’ Bank to The Royal Bank of Canada.  By the 1920’s, Royal Bank had become Canada’s largest bank at home and abroad.

Pease rose from bank clerk to Managing Director in a career that paralleled Canada’s emergence as a financial power. While President of the Canadian Bankers Association during WWI, he became the first champion for a central bank for Canada.

His discipline and knowledge of banking set Royal Bank, and all Canadian banking, on the road to exceptional success.

Frank Stronach, Chairman, Magna International Inc., a worldwide automotive parts manufacturer.

In postwar Austria, Frank left school at 14 to work as a tool and die maker. With savings of two hundred dollars, he immigrated to Canada in 1954. Three years later he opened a one-man tool shop in a rented garage. Following an initial order to supply parts to General Motors, the small firm expanded into the production of automotive components and began growing rapidly.

By the 1990’s, Magna had become one of the largest automotive parts suppliers in the world with revenue in the billions. A generous financial contributor to the community, Frank established The Magna For Canada Scholarship Fund, a national forum where students can express their beliefs and ideas for a more prosperous and united Canada.

One of Canada’s best known executives, Frank believes employees should share in their company’s profits and ownership. His Fair Enterprise philosophy of profit and equity participation is contained in a unique Corporate Constitution and has played a major role in Magna’s success. With close to 100 plants employing some 24,000 people in 10 countries, Magna supplies parts and systems to the leading automakers of North America, Europe and Japan.

On success, Frank Stronach believes, “people want quality service and products. If you can provide that, the opportunity for success exists.”

J.A. (Jimmy) Pattison, founder of The Jim Pattison Group, a multinational firm and one of Canada’s largest privately owned companies.

Born in Saskatchewan in 1928, Jimmy moved to British Columbia where at age 7, he began his sales career selling seeds door to door. Later, he focused his attention on selling pots, newspapers and used cars. Jimmy learned early on how to turn a money loser into a profit and with this in mind he borrowed $40,000 to open a small General Motors franchise in 1961.

An energetic but tough negotiator, Jimmy climbed above modest roots and several business misfortunes into the global arena. Known as the “Canadian take over artist,” Jimmy constantly added to his growing empire. His privately owned business portfolio ranges from food outlets to manufacturing, car dealerships to outdoor signs and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museums.

Describing himself as a “glorified used car salesman,” Jimmy has amassed, at a phenomenal pace, more than 50 companies with sales in the billions and with over 17,000 employees. Driven by a remarkable enthusiasm for business, his no-salary management of B.C.’s Expo ’86 was an international success.

A regular, somewhat private man, Jimmy enjoys weekly visits to his favourite fast food restaurant, and wears three watches to monitor global time zones. Pattison credits his success to his parents’ example and his early sales experience, stating, “sales is great training because it teaches you to deal with disappointment and mistakes.”

Dr. Charles A. Allard was a man of many talents: a surgeon, broadcaster, property developer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, he had astonishingly diversified business interests. Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1919, Charles graduated with a medical degree from the University of Alberta in 1943. His medical career was a prestigious one; Dr. Allard received Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons (Canada) in 1948, and became a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery in 1950.

When he first set out to establish his medical practice in Edmonton in the mid-40s, a shortage of office space had prompted “The Doctor,” as he was called, to enter the property development business. With a partner, Charles formed Paris Investments and the company became a prominent holder and developer of property throughout Western Canada. His medical career also continued, and he was eventually appointed Chief of Staff at the Edmonton General Hospital.

Dr. Allard was founder, Chairman of the Board, and Director of International Jet Air Ltd. He also became founder, Chairman of the Board, and Director of Alberta Gas Chemical Ltd. in 1972. Playing a critical role in the founding of the Bank of Alberta, Charles also established the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA).

Having been a correspondent for the Edmonton Journal when in high school, Charles later founded the Edmonton Free Press. He returned to communications media in 1965 when he started the Edmonton radio station CHQT. Within three years, Paris Investments went public and was renamed Allarco Developments, becoming one of the largest real-estate companies in Canada. Allard gave up his medical practice in 1973 when Allarco received a broadcasting license for its outlet CITV, Western Canada’s first independent TV station.

Next for Allard was Allarcom Ltd., a company that co-founded The Family Channel, founded Super-Channel and built Edmonton’s Allarcom Sound Stage, home to a number of movie and television productions. Allarcom’s hit comedy series, SCTV, became the first Canadian series to run in the Unites States.

Charles Allard also established Allard Foundation Ltd. through which he directed his various charitable contributions. Today the Allard Foundation continues to nourish both young minds, through donations to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and young bodies, through its support of the Breakfast for Learning initiative.

At the age of 71, Charles sold Allarcom to WIC (Western International Communications), passing away shortly after in 1991. A private man, he lived by his basic philosophy: be fair, live by your word, and treat people with respect.

Edwin Mirvish, storekeeper, restaurateur, international patron of the arts, is known to the world as “Honest Ed.”

Nine year old Ed began working as a stock boy in his father’s grocery store. After his father’s death Ed struggled to keep the fledgling store open. When it eventually folded Ed went to work in a supermarket.

In 1941 Mirvish and his wife Anne opened a tiny sportswear shop. They rapidly expanding lines of merchandise soon occupied an entire block. Ed’s philosophy of low prices, warehouse-style merchandising and cash only created the unique shopping emporium – Honest Ed’s.

Ed’s next investment was to convert nearby row housing into a collection of studios, specialty shops and restaurants known as Mirvish Village.

In 1962 Ed purchased and refurbished Toronto’s “Royal Alex” Theatre. Next door he opened Ed’s Warehouse – the first of six theme restaurants built for the convenience of theatre patrons. The Mirvish name became known internationally when in 1982 Ed and his son David purchased England’s Old Vic Theatre. Their privately funded Princess of Wales Theatre opened in Toronto in 1993.

Of his multi million dollar empire Edwin Mirvish, remarkably genuine and generous, wrote “Looking back, it has taken me just seventy years to become an overnight success.”

Ronald Southern is the co-founder and Chairman of ATCO Ltd. His vision transformed a two dollar a day rental business into a billion dollar global success story. Today, ATCO Group is an Alberta-based worldwide organization of companies with assets in the billions, and has three main business divisions: Power Generation, Utilities (natural gas and electricity transmission and distribution) and Global Enterprises (industrials, technology, logistics and energy services).

In 1947 R.D. Southern and his father, S.D. Southern created the business Alberta Trailer Hire with the purchase of 15 utility trailers. This unique, custom-built trailer met housing needs of oil industry workers. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta in 1953, Mr. Southern set aside plans to begin a medical career and chose instead to continue with Alberta Trailer Hire, which later became ATCO.

For more than sixty years, Southern has remained committed to quality control and customer satisfaction. An inspiring leader, he once said, “Plan carefully, surround yourself with people that can get the job done, then delegate.” This philosophy has made ATCO one of the largest suppliers of workforce housing in Canada and brought a significant share of international markets.

Mr. Southern is unwavering in his support of the community. Together with his wife Margaret, the Southerns built a world class show jumping facility, Spruce Meadows, where they continue to provide strong leadership in fostering excellence in competitive and amateur competition. Both Mr. and Mrs. Southern were inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

In 2006, Mr. Southern was appointed Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The Canadian Manufacturing Hall of Fame inducted Mr. Southern in 2007 and the next year the Modular Building Institute welcomed him and his father to their Hall of Fame for their vision and dedication in pioneering the workforce housing industry. Mr. Southern has also received many honorary degrees and has served as director of several corporations including Canadian Pacific, Canadian Airlines, and Chrysler Corporation of Canada.

As of 2008, Ronald Southern remains Chairman and majority shareholder of ATCO. His daughter, Nancy Southern, succeeded him as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2003. Mr. Southern was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 1986, promoted to an Officer in 2003, and eventually elevated to a Companion in 2007.

William Southam, an early giant in the Canadian newspaper publishing business, and founder of Southam Press, was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1843.

William began his career in the print business at the age of 12, delivering papers for the London Free Press in London, Ontario. In 1877, after completing his printers’ apprenticeship, and learning all he could about the editorial side of the business, he became an investor in the Free Press.

At age 34, he and William Carey bought the money-losing Hamilton Spectator. Through diligence and hard work, the paper flourished, and in 1881 Carey and Southam purchased a Toronto printing business. The partners invested the profits into acquisitions of major Canadian newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Windsor Star, and Montreal Gazette.

Throughout the 1920’s William, now joined by his two sons, merged all of his national holdings into William Southam & Sons Limited.

The Southam Publishing Co. Ltd., formed in 1927, continued to operate as Southam Inc. for decades to come. The century-old legacy made a tremendous contribution to Canadian business through its diverse holdings, including newspapers, printing businesses, book retailing, trade shows, and electronic information services.

William, a man with a strong sense of public service, said of life: “People usually receive from life what they put into it; give your best, and the best will come back to you.”