Frank Stronach

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

Is Canada still a business-friendly country?

December 13, 2022

When it comes to doing business, Canada may not be as friendly as it once was. Thirty or forty years ago, whenever my company opened a new manufacturing facility or R&D centre in southern Ontario, municipalities would bend over backwards to help us — offering everything from widening the road to installing new traffic lights. In the U.S., job-hungry local and state governments would go even further, promising major tax incentives and free land if we chose to locate there. But the business-friendly environment that existed in Canada years ago has largely vanished. Instead, businesses looking to open a store or factory get slapped with piles of paperwork and never-ending fees. I’ve been trying to get a business operation up

Narrowing the gap between rich and poor

July 18, 2023

In its latest report on the wealth of Canadian households, Statistics Canada found that the gap between the country’s wealthiest and poorest citizens is widening at a record pace. The report also found that most of the country’s wealth is held by relatively few individuals. According to the study, the wealthiest 20 per cent of Canadians account for nearly 68 per cent of the country’s net worth, while the bottom 40 per cent account for just three per cent. Those with the lowest incomes have been hardest hit by soaring inflation and stagnant wages, according to the study. Middle-class Canadians, meanwhile, spent an average of $1,306 more than they earned in income in the first quarter of this year. 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

Canada must slash bureaucracy to reap economic prosperity

June 13, 2023

When I was chairman of Magna International Inc., I could always tell how competitive one of our factories was the moment I set foot in the front door. All I had to do was look at how many people were working upstairs in the administrative and executive offices. When you run a factory, it doesn’t matter how productive the workers on the factory floor are if there are too many people working in administration. If overhead isn’t kept trimmed to the bone, the business will simply not be competitive. This same principle applies to countries as well as companies. One of the great dangers any democratic society faces is the enormous buildup of bureaucracy over time as government grows and

Intrusive government regulators must back off

April 11, 2023

Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan used to say that the scariest words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Audiences loved that line because it really hit home. However well-intentioned our government officials are, they usually end up making everything a little more difficult, a little more costly and a little more complicated. About 10 minutes up the road from my office is a new eight-storey, 422,000-square-foot facility built by the local regional municipality. The new administrative office, which cost more than $200 million to build, will oversee a variety of public services and house 1,500 government employees. What worries me most is what many of these civil servants will be doing day