02-01 A New Beginning
The Birth of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business It was on a plane returning from San Mateo, California in November 1970, where I had discussed the possibility of cooperating with the U.S. National Federation of Independent Business, regarding critical decisions being made about the proposed Canadian Federation of Independent Business membership and field operations…
02-02 The Mandate Ballot
Combining Sales and ResearchThe key tool in building membership for the new Canadian Federation of Independent Business was the Mandate Ballot. Nine times a year the members received a ballot with four questions on public policy issues that were on the top of the public agenda. Their positions provided us with the ammunition we needed…
02-03 Bullseye Ottawa
Building a sales force and developing a Mandate product that made our sales force a key part of our research effort was just the beginning of the many problems I faced. My biggest challenge was figuring our how I would lobby politicians in Ottawa when I could not afford the plane fare, or the time…
02-04 He Made a Difference
There is a lot of planning associated with creating a new business, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business was no exception. But the adventure associated with a new venture is about the things that happen that were not planned. Our first District Manager or sales representative was one of those stories. When we secured…
02-05 Don’t Skin the Beavers
It is January 1973, and the Federal Government was planning to increase employee and employer contributions to the old Unemployment Insurance Scheme by 40 per cent. A new and overly generous system of weekly UI benefits would make it difficult for small businesses to attract and keep employees. A protest was called for.I got an…
02-06 The Income Tax Act, 1972
The White Paper victory over the dramatic changes to the Income Tax system proposed by former Minister of Finance Edgar Benson had to be transferred into new legislation and passed through the House of Commons. That job was given in 1972 to John Turner, the new Minister of Finance, and his able Deputy Minister of…
02-07 Being Bribed
In 1971, Ron Basford, Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, introduced legislation to upgrade Canada's law designed to regulate certain corporate business practices that were anti-competitive; things like monopolies, misleading advertising, price-fixing and that sort of thing. Our legislation was called the Combines Investigation Act. This time the uproar came from big business.We went to…
02-08 The Cape Breton Island Story
I Finally Figured it OutIt was the summer of 1973, and I was exhausted. We were starting to grow, but as we grew nationally, the job of supporting each new hire was getting beyond me. Our history was based on the explosive fight against the government’s tax proposals which gave me a public profile next…
02-09 Viable at Last
Turning Chaos into PlanningThe period 1971 to 1973 was a period of chaos in the history of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Canadian Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (CCES). Both were joined at the hip, and both were needed to pay my salary. But both made history. At the time, however, it…