Speaking of Business with Goldy Hyder

Laurent Ferreira is blunt when he assesses the state of Canada’s economic trouble.

“The status of our economy is red,” he said in a June 9 conversation with Goldy Hyder at the Conférence de Montréal.

The president and CEO of National Bank of Canada stressed the urgency for Canada to strengthen its economy in light of geopolitical uncertainty. But he’s optimistic the country will take action, saying now is the time to “get projects built across the country, get to the bottom of what are the causes of our economic performance, and move forward.”...

Roy Gori started his first job – a paper route – at age eight. At ten, he was delivering medications to seniors for a local pharmacy. He got a job with Citibank straight out of high school at 17 and has been working full time ever since. So it’s perhaps not surprising that, at age 56, he’s decided to try something new.

In early May, he retired as President and CEO of Manulife after eight years leading the international financial services group. The Canadian company has a massive global footprint, employing 40 thousand people around the world. 

Before leaving h...

Scott Balfour has some simple career advice for his three sons: stay humble, work hard and be kind. It’s what he learned from his mother and grandmother and he maintains those “fundamental skills” have been the most important throughout his career. 

Born and raised in Oakville, Ontario, Balfour spent a year working on the assembly line at the local Ford plant before returning to Laurier University to complete his degree. He went on to work in commercial banking, corporate finance and infrastructure development before pivoting to the energy sector, becoming president and CEO of Emera. The Halifax...

When Dean Setoguchi thinks about Canada’s energy industry, he sees a bright future, and it’s partly due to tariff threats from the United States. “I’m an optimist,” he tells Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast. “I feel like there’s a recognition by Canadians that our national resources are our treasure, and I don’t think that recognition has been there for the past at least decade.”

The president and CEO of Keyera hopes momentum will build to get Canadian natural gas to more customers. “We have an opportunity to deliver the world’s most respons...

What can we expect from a second Trump presidency and how should countries like Canada respond?

Those are some of the themes Goldy Hyder explores with bestselling author, columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria in a conversation recorded on January 13th – one week before the presidential inauguration.

Zakaria discusses his latest book Age of Revolutions and reflects on changes to the geopolitical landscape, including the potential impact of tariffs on countries around the world.

Revealing conversations with influential innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. Listen to more episodes here: thebusinesscouncil.ca/podcasts/

Éric Martel understands the transformative power of innovation. The President and CEO of Bombardier says it “has always been in the DNA” of the company – from the invention of the snowmobile 80 years ago, to the development of cutting-edge aerospace technology today.

In an interview with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Martel discusses why fostering innovation and growing Canadian champions requires a strong partnership between the private sector and government. He argues that Canada needs to take a more proactive approach to supporting its domestic industries, particularly in areas like defence, where the government can work cl...

Deb Pimentel often tells her colleagues to be “loud and proud.” The President and GM Technology for IBM Canada believes Canadians need to be more passionate and vocal about their accomplishments. 

“It's incredible how many fantastic things we do that we don't talk about,” she tells Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast.

Speaking at IBM Canada’s Software Lab in Markham, Ontario, Pimentel expresses great pride in the innovation that happens there. The Canadian-developed software is being used around the world. 

Keeping high-tech jobs in Canada is one of Pimentel’s top priorities...

The man who oversees the $650-billion pension portfolio of millions of Canadians started out his career in the relative safety of a chemistry lab. 

Back then, John Graham was a research scientist with a PhD in physical chemistry. He spent nine years working in a lab before he jumped from the world of science to the world of finance, joining CPP Investments.

Now, as president and CEO of one of the world’s largest pension funds, he recognizes that investing in financial markets is more art than science.

“One of the few things I def...

After 100 Speaking of Business interviews with Canada’s leading CEOs, we decided to mark the milestone by putting a few of them together in a room. We brought together a former CEO from one of Canada’s most established companies, an executive from a Canadian success story that started small and became big, and a company founder from a brand-new sector. They had more in common than you’d think. 

Host Goldy Hyder wanted to know: how do you maintain a startup mindset, even in organizations that are decades old and employ thousands of people?

“If you wa...

As the fourth generation leader of a family business, Galen Weston recognizes the responsibility he shoulders – to his employees, his country, and his great-grandfather’s legacy. Weston’s Real Home-made Bread began in Toronto in 1882. Today, George Weston Limited is one of Canada’s largest private sector companies, with more than 200,000 employees.

“It makes you think in decades, not in quarters,” he says. “You think about what is this company going to be not just a year from now, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now.”

In a frank and revealing...

When Elio Luongo started working for KPMG in Canada in the 1980s, artificial intelligence was the stuff of science fiction movies. Remember when The Terminator hit the big screen? Now, as Luongo prepares to retire as CEO, AI is no longer the purview of sci-fi imagination. It’s increasingly the day-to-day reality in a modern workplace.

Luongo is encouraging all KPMG employees to experiment with and learn from AI.

“Businesses need to help their people develop skills around AI,” he says. “That is probably one of the most fundamental things that we can be doing right no...

Carolyn Wilkins is fully aware how “geeky” it is to talk about economic growth. 

But the former senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada has made a career out of it, and she is inviting everyone else to get in on the conversation – because it’s the very lifeblood of our quality of life. 

“The economy is the foundation of peoples' financial and social well-being,” she says. “The kind of jobs people have, how much money they have at the end of the week, whether they can afford a vacation, that all depends on the state of the...

John Kousinioris describes 2015 as a wakeup call. 

Back then, his company, TransAlta, relied heavily on coal plants to generate electricity for Albertans. The Alberta government had other plans. It announced a phase-out of coal-fired electricity plants and gave TransAlta until 2030 to comply.

Rather than challenging the government’s decision, Kousinioris says TransAlta decided to embrace the change. Over the next six years the company converted all its Alberta coal plants to natural gas, dramatically cutting its greenhouse gas emissions – years ahead of schedule. “It’s been an incredible journey for all of us,” he says.

In an...

As a child growing up in Pembroke, Ontario, Meghan Roach remembers driving more than an hour out of town to shop at a Roots store. “Roots was always something special,” she recalls, pointing to the durability of their well-worn products. “I love the Roots TUFF Boots. You would buy these things and you could not wear them out.”

Little did she know then that she would one day become CEO of the iconic Canadian company.

With humble beginnings in Toronto in 1973, Roots has grown into an international brand, sharing Canadian-inspired products around the world and outfitti...

For decades, the names John Risley and Clearwater Seafoods were practically synonymous. The story of Clearwater’s founding is the stuff of legend in Atlantic Canada.

It’s a story of how John and his business partner Colin MacDonald started selling lobsters in a store on the Bedford highway in 1976 … and how they grew Clearwater into a global seafood giant. 

As the Chairman and CEO of CFFI Ventures, Risley has been involved in many other enterprises throughout his career – including telecommunications, space technology and green hydrogen – but Clearwater is what started it all.

So it was b...

They’re taking on underground construction obstacles, tackling mining and energy quandaries, and don’t hesitate to brainstorm daily about how to address climate change.

Hatch is an engineering and professional services firm that employs 12,000 people in 150 countries around the world, all from its perch in Mississauga, ON.

But you may have never heard of them, and that’s by design.

“It's true that we're not a household name,” says Hatch Chairman and CEO John Bianchini. “We're employee-owned and we don't feel the need to advertise other than – in the good old Canadian way – based on...

When Jennifer Wong was an economics student at the University of British Columbia, she walked into an Aritzia store with her resumé. The company at the time was only three years old and operated two locations. She landed a part-time job, which led to other Aritzia jobs as the company grew. 

Three decades later, she became Chief Executive Officer of the clothing retail giant that now boasts 117 stores in two countries, plus a global online presence.

“My journey has really been about figuring things out, learning new things and overcoming problems,” she tells Goldy Hyder in the...

When the last spike was driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway track on November 7th, 1885 in British Columbia, CP became the first transcontinental railway to connect Canada from east to west. 

Last April, the iconic Canadian company marked another first, when – in Kansas City, Missouri – a ceremonial final spike connected Canadian Pacific with Kansas City Southern. The new railway, now named CPKC, became the first and only single-line railway connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico. It stretches across more than 32,000 kilometers of track and employs 20,000 people. 

“This company is not new to change,” says Keith Creel...

It was a summer job that sparked Mike Rencheck’s lifelong career in the energy industry. He started out as an intern at the Beaver Valley Power Station in Pennsylvania in the 1980’s, and never looked back. “It really opened my eyes to what was possible in nuclear energy,” he says.

Skip ahead a few decades and Rencheck is now the President and CEO of Bruce Power. The nuclear plant on the shores of Lake Huron produces 30 per cent of Ontario's electricity – that’s half of all the province’s nuclear power.

Rencheck recognizes the important role...

Jeffrey Orr has a simple message for business students: live your values. “I think people have the impression that there's a different set of ethics and values that apply in business than apply in their personal lives,” he says. “That’s not the case.”

The CEO of Power Corporation says in his experience, successful leaders turn to personal values and instincts when faced with tough business decisions. 

In a wide-ranging conversation with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Orr discusses lessons he has learned as a business leader. Key to his philosophy is that consis...

Iggy Domagalski is a big believer in having fun at work. “Work can be enjoyable,” he says. “When people know that they can have a bit of fun and that they can take five minutes to spend some fun time with their peers, I think that sends them back to their desk smiling.”

Domagalski is the President and CEO of Wajax, a Canadian industrial products and service company. With 3000 employees working in 120 branches across the country, a strong corporate culture that embraces positivity is a big priority for him. That’s why you might run into a foosball t...

François Poirier and his co-workers see themselves as problem-solvers.

The problems are many, and familiar to anyone who follows North America’s energy industry. 

It’s a tall order, but Poirier – President and CEO of Calgary-based TC Energy – is optimistic that his company and others in the industry can meet the challenge. Not only that, he’s convinced tha...

Twenty-seven years ago, WestJet took to the air with just three aircraft and five destinations. Today, the Calgary-based airline serves more than 100 cities across four continents.

Overseeing the operation is CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. He's a newcomer to Canada but not to the industry, having spent two decades working for and running airlines in Europe. 

When he arrived in Canada last year, he was struck by the country’s rugged geography and “sheer size”, which brought home to him the importance of air travel. 

“In Europe, if you want to get from city A to city...

If you filled up your car’s gas tank recently, or popped into a convenience store, there’s a good chance you visited a Parkland location. The Canadian company supplies fuel and operates convenience stores across Canada under many banners, including On the Run, Chevron and Ultramar. Founded in Red Deer, Alberta, in the 1970s, Parkland now operates 4,000 locations in 25 countries. 

The company has expanded quickly. “We're a 50-year-old company, yet 80 per cent of our employees joined us within the last four to five years,” says Bob Espey, Parkland’s president and CEO.

While Parkland is best know...

Growing up in rural Saskatchewan, Tracy Robinson liked to watch the trains roll by. Little did she know then that trains would have a lasting impact on her life.

She spent 27 years working at Canadian Pacific Railway before switching to the energy sector for almost a decade. Last year she returned to her roots when she was appointed President and CEO of CN, a job she calls “the best in the world.”

Overseeing 30,000 km of track across Canada and the United States, Robinson understands the integral role rail plays in North America’s complex supply chain.<...

Rania Llewellyn spent 26 years working at Scotiabank before making a move she describes as a “big leap and a big change” – becoming President and CEO of Laurentian Bank. And yet she says the hardest part of that transition was joining a new institution in the middle of a pandemic.

The inability to walk through the office and meet people created unique challenges, she says. “Organizations are made of people. You need to be a really good listener to be a good leader.”

In a wide-ranging conversation with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Llewellyn d...

When Deanna Zumwalt became President and CEO of Coril Holdings in 2021, she took on responsibility for an organization with a rich Canadian legacy. The Calgary-based company, with roots in the railway industry, has evolved considerably since its beginnings nearly 125 years ago. Now Zumwalt is looking ahead to the next century.

“Being a family enterprise for 125 years, we think across generations – we think in 25-year chunks,” she tells Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Businesspodcast.

Zumwalt challenges her team to be bold when charting the company’s future. “Whatever we're doing today, we won't necessarily be doing in th...

Canada needs a new foreign strategy that positions it to compete successfully in a changing world, according to former Canadian ambassador Louise Blais.

“There are major shifts occurring in the geopolitical landscape,” she says. “Canada will either come out as losing or winning from an economic and security perspective, but we need to have a plan.”

Blais served as a senior diplomat in Canadian embassies and consulates around the world including Tokyo, Paris, Washington and the United Nations. She is now senior special advisor to the Business Council of Canada on U.S. and international affairs...

When Dani Reiss took over his grandfather’s apparel business more than two decades ago, he gambled on Canada. He resolved to continue making high-end outerwear in Canada, at a time when others in the industry were moving production abroad.

The bet paid off. Today Canada Goose is recognized around the world for its luxury clothing. Reiss credits part of that success to the decision to stick with a “Made in Canada” label. 

For international customers, he says, “a Canada Goose jacket made in Canada was like a Swiss Watch made in Switzerland. It's a quintessen...

COVID-19 created an “inflection moment” that offers Canadians a chance to build a better future, according to Penny Wise, President of 3M Canada. “We have a huge opportunity to make a difference and really change the growth trajectory of Canada if we really seize that moment,” she says.

In a conversation with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Wise points to three ingredients that should be part of the country’s economic recovery. 

First, she urges the country to develop an industrial strategy that capitalizes on Canada’s strengths and potential. 

Second, Wise em...

Is Canada poised to be a winner or a loser as the world transitions toward cleaner sources of energy?

Charles Brindamour, the CEO of Intact Financial Corporation – the country’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance – is convinced that Canada has everything it needs to be a global leader in the drive to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. 

He points to the country’s highly skilled and diverse workforce, its robust energy supplies and its abundant natural resources as areas in which Canada has huge advantages. 

“Whether it's around industrial and natural carbon capture, whet...

Mary Ann Yule worries about the long-term economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women. “Many working women struggled to balance the responsibilities that came with assuming dual roles,” says the President and CEO of HP Canada. “They are 12 times more likely to step away from their jobs to take care of their family.”

The risk, she points out, is that many women’s career trajectories will be hindered or knocked off course. She cites a recent study that concludes global GDP could be one trillion dollars lower by 2030 if action isn’t taken to mitigate pandemic-related job losses for...

John Graham has a clear mandate. As CEO of Canada Pension Plan Investments, he oversees the retirement savings of 20 million Canadians, with the goal of achieving the highest possible returns without undue risk. 

And yet in a volatile and unpredictable world, his challenge is anything but simple.

Take, for example, the fund’s investments in the energy sector. Recently CPP Investments committed to achieving a net-zero portfolio by 2050. But that doesn’t mean it is divesting its holdings in Canada’s oil and gas industry. 

“We believe fundamentally in a path of engagement,” Graham tells...

How does an employer maintain a sense of community and office culture when many people are working from home?

For Sonja Volpe, part of the answer lies in bringing staff together through volunteerism. “Volunteering is taking on an even more important role in the future hybrid work environment,” says the CEO of BNP Paribas in Canada. “It provides us the opportunity to engage with each other, to build out the internal network and strengthen the team dynamic while, of course, helping those in need.”

In conversation with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Volpe out...

When the Business Council of Canada officially endorsed the concept of a national price on carbon in 2007, it was a “tough sell”, says John Dillon, the Council’s Senior Vice President, Policy and Corporate Counsel.

At the time, the federal government and many private sector leaders were concerned that carbon pricing would erode Canada’s ability to compete internationally. “In 2007 there weren’t many countries anywhere talking about carbon price or any meaningful climate policy. There was a worry that a price on carbon could impact our competitiveness.”

Dillon has been working on energy and climate policy...

When Bharat Masrani looks to Canada’s future, he sees opportunity. “We have all the tools in our toolkit to really leverage what is to come,” says the President and CEO of TD Bank.

In a January 25th conversation with Goldy Hyder on the Speaking of Business podcast, Masrani points to strengths – such as Canada’s education system and highly skilled workforce – as key ingredients to help the country succeed in a post-pandemic world.

He also sees an important role for Canada’s energy sector as the country transitions to net-zero emissions. “You look at what those [energy...

Canada has the resources and the know-how to build one of the world’s cleanest and greenest economies. That’s one of the messages four business leaders delivered at a Canadian Club Toronto event on January 17th.

The discussion, “Seizing Canada’s Clean Growth Opportunity,” focused on the steps we need to take now to secure a low-carbon energy future.

Presented in partnership with the Business Council of Canada, the event featured key decision-makers from Canada’s mining, agriculture, financial services and energy sectors: 

When half a million Canadians are counting on you to look after their pensions, you need to stay squarely focused on the long term. “We often joke, ‘A quarter is not three months – a quarter is 25 years,’” says Blake Hutcheson, President and CEO of OMERS, which  manages the retirement savings of current and former municipal employees across Ontario. 

OMERS is one of the largest defined benefit pension plans in Canada, with net assets of more than $114 billion. So it’s good to know that when Hutcheson looks to the future, he’s optimistic about what he sees. 

“This is one...

When Susannah Pierce looks to the future, she’s filled with optimism. Why? As she puts it, “the energy sector is changing, from one of being carbon-intensive to one of being more [focussed on] clean energy.” 

The President and Country Chair of Shell Canada points to innovation and investments in new technology by Shell and others – including renewable fuels, biofuels and carbon sequestration – as significant steps toward helping Canada meet its net-zero commitments.

She also recognizes the need for the private sector to work with all levels of government to reduce emissions. 

“Standing on opposite si...

When Dave Filipchuk began working in the construction industry in the 1980s, digital technology was just a blip on the radar screen. 

Times have changed.

“We’ve got an internet-of-things evolution happening in our industry,” says the President and CEO of PCL Construction, Canada’s largest general construction company. “It goes way beyond measuring things like temperature and humidity. [It includes] air pressure, sound levels, concrete strength, vibration – all with internet-connected sensors in our buildings as we build them.”

Modern building design and engineering also has to take into account climate change. For companies like P...