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Toronto Star
08-06-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
‘Not a fall guy yet:' The savvy and staying power of former Bay Street titan and Ottawa survivor Michael Wilson
Mike Wilson once told me the idea to run for Parliament came to him after a 1977 business trip to Hong Kong. Wilson said he became 'haunted' by the words of an Asian businessman who said, 'We look at Canada, that vast expanse of land where you have resources and can produce food. You've got everything going for you. Why are you messing it up so badly?' Wilson resigned as executive vice-president at Dominion Securities and won public office in 1979. By the time Saturday Night assigned me in 1985 to write a profile on Wilson, he'd been minister of finance for a year. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW My interview time with Wilson included five hours on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to San Francisco. In those days, Air Canada was a Crown corporation but there were plans to turn it into a public company. When a member of Air Canada's counter staff gave Wilson indifferent service, I could see his face harden. 'That's why I want to get some shares out into the hands of the public,' he muttered, 'so they have an interest in improving the service.' Business Opinion Rod McQueen: The man who could have been PM — before an infamous fumble zapped his chances Fumbling photo of Stanfield became a metaphor for his beleaguered campaign, writes Rod McQueen, The speech Wilson gave in the Mark Hopkins Hotel ballroom was received with similar lethargy. When his twenty-three minute talk concluded, he was rewarded with all of nine seconds of applause. If Mike Wilson counted on audience response for nourishment, he'd starve. As I researched the article, many friends and colleagues described him as naive and guileless. I formed the thesis that if Wilson's deficit predictions didn't work out or some financial crisis caused economic trouble for the country, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney would blame his self-effacing finance minister because Wilson wouldn't protest. Among the many anecdotes he told me, one involved him saying to a fellow cabinet minister who'd complained about back pain, 'You don't have a bad back, you've got a bad front.' When the fact-checker from Saturday Night called Wilson and he learned that this comment was in the article, Wilson called me several times to remove the quote. I eventually agreed. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW My story was on the March 1986 cover. The close-up photograph of Wilson showed him adjusting his tie and looking up with the hint of a smile. The cover line read, 'Is the minister of finance about to become Brian Mulroney's fall guy?' Wilson proved me wrong. He had the savvy and staying power required for the role as finance minister from 1984-91. At one point during that period, I received a brown envelope from the Department of Finance. There was no note. There was no need. Inside was the torn-off Saturday Night cover featuring his smile that somehow seemed to have grown wider. In his own hand he'd written, 'Not a fall guy yet' and signed his name. Business Opinion Rod McQueen: Life lessons from Canadian Shark Robert Herjavec: 'I never wanted to be really rich, I just didn't want to be poor' 'It's amazing what you can achieve in ten years,' multi-millionaire Shark Tank star Robert I assumed that this jocular notation meant that he'd forgiven me for my description. He had not. A few years later when I called him to ask for an interview about another matter, he browbeat me again about the 'bad front' quote, before finally agreeing. Wilson was certainly not one of those politicians with a needy ego. The Economist once declared, 'Many Americans seem to think that theirs is just a large country, stuck between dull old Canada and noisy Mexico.' Said a droll letter to the editor, 'Why do you persist in calling Canada dull? What is it you want? Do you know that Canadians are the world curling champions? Do you know that the paint roller is a Canadian invention? Have you ever heard Michael Wilson speak? A country can only stand so much excitement.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The writer was Frank Potter, then Canada's executive director at the Washington-based World Bank, a Wilson appointee who knew the minister wouldn't mind a bit of lighthearted fun at his own expense. After fourteen years in Parliament, Wilson did not run for re-election in 1993, a wise decision as it turned out because his Progressive Conservative party was reduced to two seats. He returned to his old firm, by then called RBC Dominion Securities, as vice-chairman. Wilson's life was forever altered in 1995 when his only son, Cameron, who suffered from mental health issues, died by suicide. Wilson's high-profile role in Parliament allowed him to draw public attention to a topic about which he cared deeply. Business Opinion Rod McQueen: He was a prime minister and a Bay Street player. He lost elections and influence. John Turner didn't shy away from the arena He could charm an audience and he could stumble verbally. He could lead, but knew well his He launched a fundraising campaign for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation. He also gave speeches about the need to help all those with mental illness as well as the importance of not staying silent when it strikes family. I can't think of very many other high-profile individuals who took such a courageous stand. Mike Wilson, who died in 2019, was proof positive that you can thrive after a Bay Street role as well as time in Ottawa, the city that has withered many a heart.
Toronto Star
10-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Lessons in leadership after tragedy thrust her to the helm of a family logging business
I could have done the interview by phone, but I've always found that in-person meetings mean you learn a lot more, not just about the topic, but also about the individual. So when I asked Guylaine Saucier for an interview and she invited me to her apartment on Montreal's Sherbrooke Street West, I jumped at the chance. Saucier, as chair of the joint committee on corporate governance sponsored by the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Canadian Venture Exchange, and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, in 2001 had just produced a report called 'Beyond Compliance: Building a Corporate Culture.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW As a result, she was not only the most important woman in business, but also the most important person in business. For our interview, Saucier chose her favourite room, the library. Shelves were lined with books, a table groaned under documents, and all the technological elements of the modern home office were close at hand. But the colour! The room was painted tomato, a hue that bespoke not only a great deal about Saucier's taste in decor but also her passionate attitude to life. Business Opinion Rod McQueen: How a girl named Bobbie became Ford of Canada's first female president and CEO As a result of her leadership, writes Rod McQueen, Bobbie Gaunt became the first Ford of Canada Saucier was petite with brown hair, wore a checked jacket, and had a smile that was unforced, one of those executives whose warmth was as all-pervasive as her power. When it came to her approach to governance, Saucier told me she was a gradualist. 'I want to get people to change. What is the best way to convince them to change their behaviour? Is it in being totally radical? Or is it saying we'll adopt reasonable positions where people will have a quicker buy-in?' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Everyone on the governance committee agreed that new rules were difficult to devise that applied fairly to companies of every size and circumstance. 'People who know me will tell you that I like everything to move more quickly. That's my personal bias,' said Saucier. 'But when you want to change a culture, it's going to take time. There's what I would call a digestion process. You have to allow time for that, like it or not.' Out of curiosity, I later looked up the meaning of her name. The saucier makes sauces in the kitchen of a great chef. Just as such a role requires a deft touch, so does guiding corporate governance. In Saucier's mind, the prime work of any board is selecting the company's chief executive officer. 'If you are successful in choosing the right CEO for the right time, everything else will fall into place. If this first building block is not there, no board can replace the work of the CEO. In the end, it's a question of judgment. How would you regulate that?' Business Opinion Rod McQueen: The man who could have been PM — before an infamous fumble zapped his chances Fumbling photo of Stanfield became a metaphor for his beleaguered campaign, writes Rod McQueen, Saucier's family business background helped form and frame her views. In 1975 her father was killed in a plane crash. Her five brothers and sisters picked Guylaine, at twenty-nine the eldest sibling, to run the family sawmill business, Saucier Forest Products in Abitibi, in northwest Quebec. Saucier, a chartered accountant, had been the company comptroller for four years. Suddenly she was chairman, president, and chief executive, not to mention the only female boss in an all-male industry. Her tenure turned out to be a notable success. By the time the family business was sold in 1988, employment had tripled to 1,200 and sales had reached $85-million. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Corporate governance was not yet in vogue, but Saucier put into practice at the family firm some of the elements that have since gained wide acceptance. For example, she expanded the board beyond family to include outside directors. It also seemed elementary to me that a woman was better suited than most men for a leadership role. Women's egos don't need as much feeding. And, as an entrepreneur, Saucier knew the last thing a company required was more regulation. As a result, when she accepted the role as chair of the joint committee, she already had a thesis in mind. 'I wanted to deal with behaviour, not structure. If a shareholder isn't pleased, he can sell. If enough of them sell, somebody will get the message. This is how we try to change behaviour. I don't think you change behaviour through regulations.' Business Opinion Rod McQueen: Cadillacs, corporate jets and war stories: Flying high with Canadian banking's former king of all he surveys The U.S.-born, former BMO CEO Bill Mulholland, writes Rod McQueen, tried several times to Over time, her views have mostly come to pass. Better to have boards do the right thing, not just follow rules. The stature Saucier gained meant that she served on a wide range of boards from Bank of Montreal to CBC. Not that she would pat herself on the back. 'I don't have a huge ego for these kinds of things,' Saucier said. 'I have some principles that are very important. When you are managing other people's money, you are accountable to them. I believe that better governance will result in better performance.' And better leaders to show the way. Lessons for life learned long ago while logging.
