SALUTE TO THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL WILSON, P.C., C.C., LL.D.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE OTTAWA ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 2014 AWARD OF DISTINCTION

BY THOMAS D’AQUINO

RIDEAU CLUB DECEMBER 2, 2014

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I first met Michael Wilson when he took up his post as a Minister of State in the 1979 government of Prime Minister Joe Clark. Joe, who had been a roommate of mine at UBC Law School said, “watch this guy…he’s going places”. Joe’s prophecy, Mike, turned out to be golden. What a life, what a career…and it is far from over!

The Clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette, and my successor at the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, John Manley, have spoken eloquently about your achievements. I will offer some reflections of my own drawn from our working and personal relationship spanning some thirty-five years. As head of Canada’s CEO-based organization, the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI), and subsequently the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), you and I travelled to a large extent on parallel tracks.

My business colleagues and I had a great deal of contact with you -- as Finance Minister, as Minister of Industry and International Trade, as Ambassador to the United States. Most of the time, we marched to the same drum – in fighting bloated deficits and soaring debt, in coming to terms with not one but two recessions, in promoting competitiveness, in tackling tax reform, in advancing the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and subsequently the NAFTA – and after those signal achievements, in exercising nimble diplomacy in Washington. 3

Of all your policy triumphs, I would place the passage of the Goods and Services Tax at the very top. I say this because to make it happen required vision, courage and dogged perseverance. While its effects would prove to be transformative, it was political dynamite to handle. You soldiered on nonetheless in the face of intense political and public opposition. You even insisted on making the tax transparent – a defiant act of principle when hiding it would have been the politically easier route to follow.

Brian Mulroney chuckles when he tells the story of the GST. He says he will accept political credit from whatever source, for whatever reason…but, when it comes to the GST, he is it’s all yours, Mike – your idea, your baby!

Ladies and gentlemen, in the past thirty-five years, Canada has had some stellar Ministers of Finance. Mike, on your side of the House, I would certainly put Don Mazankowski way up there. But if I were to take a ballot among the over 1000 CEOs and entrepreneurs with whom I worked at the BCNI/CCCE, I believe you would get first prize. It’s not just your major wins, it’s how you served your country: with grace, humility and integrity that put you in a class of your own.

You are much admired in the business community, of course. When you and I served on the Board of Directors of Manulife Financial, I remember one of our colleagues referring to you as “a prince in a businessman’s suit.” This admiration is widely shared by all who know you and have worked with you. One of those is a certain Susan Peterson, occasionally known as 4

Susan d’Aquino, who is here this evening. During the sixteen years that she served at Finance working with five Ministers and five Deputies, she counts her time with you as among the most memorable.

And my God were you a hard worker! “The Moose”, they called you. But not everyone knew that. One day on a golf course in Banff, you joined me and my business colleagues for 18 holes. Our guests were a group of visiting Japanese CEOs. When at the end the day you came out on top with an impressive score, the legendary Chairman of Mitsui, Eijiri-san turned to me and said “with a score like that, Mr. Wilson can’t be devoting much time to his ministerial responsibilities.”

But then Mike, you yourself have described yourself as a “Triathlete”. That was back in 2011, in a lecture in my name that you presented at the Ivey Business School. You explained that to lead a life of fulfillment, one should seek to make a contribution across three domains. You said, “People with knowledge, sensitivity and a broader sense of values that come from deep engagement on both sides of the private / public divide, and experience in the not-for-profit world, can make a more substantial contribution to the public good.” For your exemplary contribution, you received our country’s highest honour when you were invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada.

This evening, the Ottawa Economics Association has added to your distinctions. Mike, it is a great privilege for me to join with all present in 5

saluting you. Bless you for all you have done for Canada and for all the lives you have touched.