Frank Stronach

Giving employees an ownership stake

February 21, 2023

Giving employees a stake in the company they work for has been one of my guiding business philosophies. I’ve always believed that if employees have a real and tangible stake in the company’s success — if employees are part-owners — then they will be more motivated to produce a better product for a better price. The reason why is simple: as an owner or part-owner, you instinctively want to do everything to the best of your abilities. You want to produce work of the highest calibre because you’re part of something you take pride in. And most importantly, you know that your contributions to the bottom line will be financially rewarded. In the last federal budget, the Canadian government announced

Who’s looking out for our small businesses?

January 17, 2023

Many Canadians have bought some lumber or kitchen and bathroom accessories at Home Depot over the years. The company, which opened its first stores just outside of Atlanta, Georgia in 1978, has grown into what is today the world’s largest improvement retailer with approximately 2,300 stores throughout North America. A few weeks ago, one of the co-founders of Home Depot said that if he were to start his company all over again in today’s suffocating business environment, he doubts whether it could have ever grown any larger in size than around 15 stores. I’ve often wondered myself if I were to start Magna all over again today, instead of more than 50 years ago, would I have been able to

The government beast must be tamed

April 25, 2023

Who is the largest employer in Canada? You might think it would be one of the big banks or maybe a company like Bell or Loblaw. But you’d be wrong. It’s the federal government. Governments at all levels and their multitude of agencies, Crown corporations and departments employ a large chunk of Canada’s labour market. According to the Fraser Institute, as of July 2022, Canada’s public sector represented 21.8 per cent of all jobs in the economy — and growing. That means that nearly one out of every four Canadians works for the government — a staggering percentage, which is nearly double that of the United States and almost the same as communist Venezuela. The federal government alone has more

Bringing back manufacturing jobs the key to Canada’s economic future

May 30, 2023

Canada used to be a strong manufacturing nation. Some of our biggest and best known companies were manufacturing powerhouses like Massey-Harris and Northern Telecom. We made everything from tractors and trains to automobiles and airplanes. We also had our own homegrown manufacturers like Inglis and Electrohome that built made-in-Canada washing machines and TVs. One of the first jobs I had when I immigrated to Canada as a young toolmaker was working in a factory that produced parts for the ill-fated Avro Arrow, which at the time was the world’s fastest fighter jet. But Canada hardly ever makes world-leading, technologically advanced products anymore. One of the reasons for this is that we no longer have the pool of skilled technical trade

Unleash small business by exempting them from corporate taxes

May 2, 2023

Small businesses are often described as the backbone of our economy — and that’s because they are. They develop new products and technologies that drive economic growth and create new jobs. But if small businesses are so important, why aren’t we doing more to support their success and foster even greater growth? Small businesses bore the brunt of the economic fallout during the pandemic. The on-again, off-again lockdowns dried up revenue, drove away customers and made employee retention very difficult. I often wonder how many of the small businesses that went under during the pandemic could have become another Magna International? Legendary entrepreneur Richard Branson famously said that all big businesses start small. When I started Magna, I opened up

Socialism is not the solution to inequality

January 10, 2023

Most of us seek balance in all aspects of our lives. But that same ongoing quest to attain balance should also guide the functioning of our society, our government and our economy. And right now, Canada is unbalanced in many areas that shape the quality of our lives. Take wealth, for example. According to a report from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, in 2019, the top one per cent of Canadians held 25 per cent of the country’s net wealth, while the bottom 40 per cent of Canadian families barely owned more than one per cent. The report also found that the household wealth gap — the difference in the share of net wealth owned by households at