Frank Stronach

Whatever happened to balancing the budget?

February 28, 2023

The great British economist Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations that countries should be run like any well-managed household: they shouldn’t spend more revenue than they raise. It’s a time-honoured principle. Every family, farmer and small business owner in Canada knows that if you continuously spend more money than you make you’ll eventually go bankrupt. Why, then, does that same principle never seem to apply to governments, which routinely run deficits regardless of which party holds the reins of power?Most Canadians would agree that we have to begin paying down our national debt, but we can only do that if we first start balancing the federal budget. Following decades of budget shortfalls and an international credit rating downgrade,

Business magnate Frank Stronach calls for more companies to embrace ‘fair business’ approach

June 14, 2023

Frank Stronach, the founder of automotive parts supplier Magna International, a company he started in a garage and now has sales of over US$35 billion, has a few ideas about how to make Canada more prosperous, democratic and free. On Tuesday night, the Order of Canada recipient and 2023 Executive in Residence at the University of Toronto Scarborough delivered the first of two planned special lectures. Much of his talk focused on his management philosophy called fair enterprise, a profit-sharing model he credits for accelerating the growth of Magna. According to Stronach, once employees at Magna participated in profit sharing, the company’s revenue increased 60 per cent in the first year, 100 per cent in the second and 200 per

Canadians need to rise up and fight for their prosperity

August 15, 2023

Canadians know deep in their bones that our country is in trouble and our economy is sick. We also know that we have to fix things because time is quickly running out. The national debt is a case in point. If we don’t tackle this problem now, the buildup of debt and the interest that keeps piling on top of it will drastically affect future generations, who will be stuck with the bill. And that’s not the only economic problem we face. The gap between the wealthy and the workers is growing larger and larger. Many Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. And it’s become increasingly difficult for young Canadians to find good-paying jobs or afford to buy a home.

Give young Canadians – and Canada – a break. Teach them trades

August 1, 2023

When most Canadians think of quality products made with a high level of technical skill and engineering, they usually think of Europe. And for good reason: European countries such as Switzerland, Germany, France, Sweden and Italy are all exporters of world-class products. These products include BMW and Siemens from Germany, Ferrari and Ducati from Italy, Cartier and Michelin from France, Kuehne + Nagel and Schindler from Switzerland, and Electrolux and Husqvarna from Sweden. These brands — as well as other quality products from Europe — are synonymous around the world with state-of-the-art engineering, technical precision and know-how, and reliability. It’s why the European Union has one of the strongest and most productive economies in the world and why European living

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

Small farmers need our support

June 27, 2023

Canada’s small family farmers do backbreaking work, day in and day out, from sunup to sundown, providing Canadians with the necessities of life. Yet despite how hard they work, and despite how vital their work is, they often don’t make very much in return. They plant, grow and harvest many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. And they often struggle to eke out a living based solely on the income they generate from their farm businesses. It’s not fair or right — and it’s a problem that’s been ignored by Canadian policymakers for far too long. I operate an organic restaurant and marketplace, and I’m constantly speaking and meeting family farmers from all over southern Ontario. Many of them