It is hard to remember a year so full of action than in1981. The International Symposium on Small Business came to Ottawa in the Fall. The MacEachen Budget was a major shock with about 160 proposals to amend the Income Tax Act. However, the joy of the year was celebrating ten years of action on behalf of small business. 
We published a small booklet called A Decade of Action for Independent Business and distributed it to our 55,000 members. It was also a great handout for new members for several years. All of the staff held their heads high.
Some highlights:
All research based on membership data
All positions based on Mandate and other special surveys
The deduction of Spousal income for proprietorships
Low tax rate for small business corporations starting on the first $50,000 of profits but now on the first $150,000.
National pressure on the Department of National Revenue regarding treatment of small firms
Governments lobbying CFIB more than CFIB lobbying governments
Lower provincial corporate tax rates for small firms at all the provinces
Started the process of providing capital gains tax exemptions on shares of small companies
Ten years of action to remove the excess tax burden on small firms resulted in roughly $1 billion in savings
Major victories associated with reducing the red-tape burden.
Major political battles: the three-foot cheques called "Don't Skin the Beavers" and the “Little Red Rooster" campaign opposing multiple increases in Unemployment insurance benefits and deductions.
Victories in 1979:
Fought the bureaucratic changes to the tax system in the MacEachen budget with solid results
Victories to improve small business financing with a new Small Business Loans Act providing guaranteed loans
Rapid membership growth from zero to 55,000, making CFIB the largest in the world relative to population
A strong education program promoting small business to several hundred thousand young people with the distribution of a range of booklets
Prime Minister and all Premiers follow CFIB political and policy activity
The good news at the end of ten years was that our best years were still ahead. We had both political clout and technical competence. We were firmly believed to be non-partisan political by the public and political class.
Over a period of ten years, the quality of our staff improved, the size and quality of our database improved, our financial position became solid, we had our own building and were living rent-free. We seemed to have some kind of magic formulae. But the real secret? It was our passion. You either have it or you don't.