Lord Thomson of Fleet

Roy Herbert Thomson once said, “Everyone wants to make money but not enough people want it badly enough to work for it.” His gospel was hard work. He purchased the Timmins press in 1934, acquired four more Ontario newspapers by 1944 and ultimately became a publisher on the world scene with newspaper purchases in the United States, Britain, Canada and elsewhere. Service to its community was a principal requirement of his publications.

By 1970, the complex Thomson organization also included an airline, travel, books and magazines, investment and insurance organizations. He formed a consortium in 1972 which discovered two major North Sea oil fields.

Lord Thomson’s appropriate motto on his coat of arms is, “Never a backward step.”

Co-founder, Desjardins Group

Alphonse Desjardins was impressed by a debate concerning legislation designed to protect people from excessive interest charges. He conceived a new form of co-operative savings and credit institution where people would become both the owners and the clients.

The first Caisse Populaire was organized in 1900 in Levis, Quebec, his place of birth. The initial deposit was 10 cents, and deposits for the first day totaled $26.40. But the seed had been planted, and the harvest was to come in abundance. Caisses Populaires and credit unions were subsequently established throughout North America. More than 9 million Canadians and 44 million Americans are now involved in their own savings and credit co-operatives.

Frank M. McMahon was a hard driving entrepreneur from the Kootenay district of British Columbia. After a number of disappointments as a prospector his optimism paid off in 1938 when he brought in three successful oil wells in Alberta’s Turner Valley.

McMahon developed the vast gas reserves of Peace River and embarked on an ambitious multi-million dollar project – a 650 mile pipe line. It was completed in 1957 by West Coast Transmission Company which he founded. McMahon’s involvements encompassed such areas as steel, manufacturing, lumber, chemicals, distilling and banking. But first and always he was an oil and gas man.

H.R. MacMillan brought scientific logging to British Columbia, originated the province’s forest management policy and created one of the world’s foremost forest industries. The company he founded was the first in British Columbia to introduce a practical reforestation program.

Born in Newmarket, Ontario, MacMillan was a forester, international merchandiser, industrialist, shipbuilder, scholar and philanthropist. He expanded into production and processing, acquiring timber and milling facilities. The successful result was a diversified company integrating the extraction and transportation of the raw product and the production of a myriad of finished forest products.

Sir Herbert Holt was a rugged individualist whose pioneering was in overcoming geographic barriers and in creating vast wealth-producing enterprises. Initially a railroad engineer, he built most of the C.P.R. links through the Rockies.

From his start as a young Irish immigrant in 1875, he went on to rank with the shrewdest and wealthiest of our financiers and industrial builders. Experience gained in spartan construction camps helped him develop an industrial empire. His entrepreneurial holdings spanned 300 companies over four continents which largely controlled $3 billion in corporate assets.

Sir Herbert was President of the Royal Bank of Canada for three decades.

Sir Joseph Flavelle is the acknowledged patriarch of the Canadian meat packing industry. Before he was 20, he had purchased a small flour and feed mill near Peterborough, the place of his birth.

Flavelle took over the management of William Davies Meat Company, the forerunner of Canada Packers, introducing new production and marketing techniques. Working conditions and safety standards were second to none and the company pioneered in the concepts of profit sharing and pensions.

Sir Joseph extended his activities into other ventures. He became the principal owner of the Robert Simpson Company, President of National Trust and Chairman of the Bank of Commerce.

He firmly believed that capitalism and conscience are not exclusive of each other.

Frederick Mannix started in a pioneering era when rugged self-sufficient men survived in the early days of construction in an extremely harsh environment. He devised pipe laying techniques to beat severe Canadian winters, and his innovations spread to improve construction of all travel modes including rail, urban rapid transit, and seaway.

Construction enterprises and methods emanating from F.C. Mannix’s initiatives have been involved in major building projects across Canada and in many parts of the world. He stated: “If you have C for concept, O for opportunity, P for people and E for enterprise – you will cope with challenges presented to you.”

Hart Massey took a back seat to no one when he aspired to become the biggest and best farm equipment manufacturer in what was then the British Empire. His first great success was a combined reaper-mower which became essential equipment to the great wheat farms of the west when the Canadian prairies began to realize their vast potential.

Massey arranged a merger with his principal competitor, and the new company – Massey Harris – did indeed become the largest manufacturer of farm machinery in the Empire.

Hart Massey is a fine example of the kind of man who looks carefully at his profession and figures out what is needed to improve it.

Kenneth Colin Irving was born in 1899 in Buctouche, New Brunswick. Sometimes heralded as New Brunswick’s first modern entrepreneurial industrialist, K.C. Irving founded the Irving group of companies. His empire includes not only pulp, paper, and oil refining, but also publishing and broadcasting.

As a teenager Irving became an expert auto mechanic and was known for his strong work ethic. However, this passion did not always translate to his studies and Irving left Acadia University before graduation to travel across the country. He then enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as a fighter pilot, although the war ended before he saw action.

When the post-WWI years brought a boom in car sales, K.C. recognized a business opportunity and acted swiftly. Building a gas station and acquiring a Ford dealership, K.C. also offered his mechanical expertise to customers and even managed his father’s oil franchise for a period of time. In 1924, a dispute with Imperial Oil inspired him to establish the Irving Oil Company. The modestly small network of rural gas stations eventually transformed into a primary petroleum retailer with several thousand gas stations and convenience stores. The company’s success allowed K.C. to finance his future business ventures.

In the 1930s, K.C. began to take over bus and trucking companies that were heavily in debt to Irving Oil. By 1936, Irving owned buses, trucks, ships and tanks; all the means of transportation necessary for the shipping of his oil. Upon his father’s death, K.C. also acquired the family lumber business.

Irving lived a life of exceptional achievement and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989. He also contributed to the growth and preservation of his country, developing New Brunswick’s first major reforestation program.

K.C. Irving passed away in 1992; today the Irving group of companies is owned and operated by his three sons, James, Arthur, and Jack, and their children.