B.C. Business Leaders: The Power List 2005

Noel Hulsman, Jessica Werb and James Glave

| November 1, 2005

B.C. Business Leaders: The Power List 2005

In July, we partnered with market research leaders Ipsos-Reid to identify the most influential people in B.C.’s economy. Click here for results.

Measuring influence is one thing, gauging how it’s yielded is something else entirely. For that we went to the experts – the people they influenced – to find out exactly how our Power 10 shaped this economy. Who better to assess the impact of, say, Industry Minister and ex-forestry boss David Emerson than lumberman Jake Kerr?

We set up a few ground rules, which of course we immediately broke. But for the most part, we asked prominent people who: a) didn’t work for the person in question, b) wasn’t a close personal friend, yet c) was extremely familiar with their work.

What follows are first-hand accounts from key players on B.C.’s power brokers.

1. Jim Pattison
Glen Clark, President of News Corp., on his boss:
“The thing that’s interesting and important about Jimmy is that he really cares about the province. You saw that with Expo 86, and that was of course a huge commitment. In little ways and big ways, he’s there. I’m not saying there aren’t lots of people who care about B.C., but I think it’s unique for someone of his stature to be so concerned about his province.

He has a certain wiseness – he’s not prone to rhetoric or being political about things. He’s got a certain common sense and wisdom that’s very impressive. And this ‘caring’ – another thing I think really distinguishes him – he cares what people think. When I say ‘cares,’ I mean he genuinely listens to the people who work for him, not just a handful of senior executives. It doesn’t matter if you’re the janitor or the receptionist, he doesn’t care what your station is. He wants to know what you think and he wants to learn from you. In that way, he’s completely without pretension. It doesn’t matter who you are, he’ll return your call. And it’s not uncommon for him to walk into one of his factories and spend most of the time talking to someone on the assembly line. He wants to learn, and he’s always absorbing information. And you see that throughout the company. That’s just the sheer force of his personality. In the Pattison organization, you treat people with respect.

Obviously he’s very demanding of people, but his expectations are clear. There’s no games or politics. It’s very decentralized and he gives you lots of opportunities to be successful. Do you want to be the master of your own destiny? He gives you that opportunity and many bosses don’t do that. He’s approachable and you can’t say that about a lot of people.” – Noel Hulsman

Jim Sinclair, BC Fed president, on the man on the other side of the table:
“He’s built a clear reputation for being a hard-nosed businessman. Certainly in bargaining with him, as unions know, it’s been a tough fight sometimes. But Pattison has a sense of pragmatism. He understands that unions aren’t the enemy. As much as we fight for higher wages, as much as we’re a problem for him, he knows we’re here to stay. And during tough times we can talk to Jimmy about what the province is doing. In my experience, he’s always been open to having conversations about critical issues in B.C. And he’ll have those conversations with anyone.

We’ve recently seen some very nasty labour disputes here. You don’t traditionally see that with Jimmy. In all my years of dealing with him, I’ve never encountered anything like that.

In fact, I remember being in a Seattle courtroom 20 years ago when Pattison bought Canadian Fishing Co. It had gone absolutely flat on its ass bankrupt in the States but was still viable in Canada. It went into receivership. And this is raw capitalism at its best: the receiver went into the courtroom and the judge asked if he was ready to announce who owned the company. He said no and asked if the judge would leave the chambers for 45 minutes.

As soon as the judge left the room, the receiver walked up to the witness box, cranks the microphone over and says, ‘Welcome to the auction for the Canadian Fishing Company. The starting bid is $13 million, and we’re going to go up $250,000 a bid, and you’ve got three minutes.’ I watched Jimmy the entire time. As soon as anyone moved, he instantly upped the bid. In the end, he owned it.

He’s hard-nosed, there’s no question about it, and he picked up that company for almost nothing, but at the end of the day, he believed B.C. should have a fishing industry. I’m not trying to romanticize the guy. The bottom line is the bottom line, but somewhere else in his heart or his mind he’s thinking: “‘It’s important that British Columbia works.’” – NH

Jack Austin, B.C. Senator, on B.C.’s business king:
“I met Jimmy in 1958, when I was practising law. He owned CJOR radio and had fired the manager, who was my client. Even though Jimmy was on the other side of the table, he was very fair. He had a strong personality, but even in adversarial circumstances he was the kind of guy you could like very quickly.

I’ve known him for over 45 years, and he’s always been someone to take note of. He has enormous energy and he’s always been a bit of a showman. When he got into the car business, he made sure everyone knew the name Jim Pattison. It’s that capacity for
marketing and showmanship and creating public profile that’s made him the most successful car dealer in Western Canada.

Of course, on top of all of that, he’s a very shrewd businessman. It’s the combination of
understanding the principles of marketing and business and having the personality to go with it.

He’s had a huge impact on the companies he invests in because he’s so disciplined. He knows exactly the right information to look for. He makes his expectations clear, but he’s also very fair. He keeps his commitments.

Jimmy has received a lot of acknowledgement for his work with Expo 86. Still, it was an
unbelievably masterful performance. I can’t think of anyone else who could have pulled it off like him.” – NH

2. Gordon Campbell

James Moore, Conservative MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, on the premier:
“When you sit down and talk to Gordon about British Columbia, he knows every city, every village and every community in this province. And he knows them well. I’ve spoken to a lot of MLAs and they agree it’s very rare that he comes to a meeting without knowing exactly what he wants to accomplish or the direction of the agenda.
I’ve heard some criticism that he’s a bit too controlling. Because of his anxiousness to get things done, he’s not as big a team player as he could be. He kind of takes everything on, rather than delegating, and I think that is, perhaps, a flaw.

You know, as a British Columbian, I have my policy disagreements with his government. I think he could cut taxes more than he has. He could focus spending on things like transportation and infrastructure more than others. But overall, it’s pretty hard to say that he’s been anything but a clear success. There’s no denying that we have more disposable income, lower unemployment rates, higher standards of living and better real estate prices than in 1996. You have to give credit where it’s due.
I’m a federal Conservative member of parliament and, sitting here thinking about it, I don’t have the faintest idea of how he votes in a federal election. I don’t know if he’s a Paul Martin Liberal or a Jean Chrétien Liberal or a Stephen Harper Conservative. He has this ability to take in all points of view and come up with a quintessentially British Columbian approach to things. He’s not a blind ideologue and that pragmatism is part of what makes him very effective.