University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2017-09 Northern Tigers: Building Ethical Canadian Corporate Champions Haskayne, Dick; Grescoe, Paul University of Calgary Press http://hdl.handle.net/1880/52226 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca NORTHERN TIGERS: Building Ethical DICK HASKAYNE WITH PAUL GRESCOE Canadian Corporate Champions With additional contributions from DEBORAH YEDLIN Dick Haskayne with Paul Grescoe With additional contributions from Deborah Yedlin ISBN 978-0-88953-406-3 BUILDING NORTHERN ETHICAL CANADIAN CORPORATE THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. 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Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org DICK HASKAYNE WITH PAUL GRESCOE With additional contributions from DEBORAH YEDLIN BUILDING NORTHERN ETHICAL CANADIAN CORPORATE TIGERS CHAMPIONS A Memoir and a Manifesto REVISED & UPDATED NORTHERN TIGERS BUILDING ETHICAL CANADIAN CORPORATE CHAMPIONS is both a fascinating memoir by one of the most successful executives in North American business history and a personal manifesto from an outspoken corporate leader on the issues of business ethics and private philanthropy. In a book brimming with behind-the-scenes intrigue and insights, the man whose name now graces the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary discusses his life and career—from his Depression-era roots as a butcher’s son in whistle-stop Gleichen, Alberta, to his top-of-the-ladder success as head of nine major Canadian companies, including Home Oil, TransCanada Pipelines, MacMillan Bloedel, and Fording Inc. As he chronicles his long career with revealing richly anecdotal detail, Haskayne addresses a vital and timely theme: the need to create companies which are true domestic Tigers—enterprises firmly based in Canada and strong and quick-witted enough to withstand predatory takeovers by foreign corporations. Among many successes, he helped guide some of Canada’s largest-ever mergers, including Fording Coal/Sherritt International, NOVA/TransCanada, and PanCanadian Energy/Alberta Energy, which gave birth to EnCana. But there were many obstacles along the way, too. Haskayne is bluntly forthcoming and regretful about ones that got away—like the American takeover of the venerable lumber giant MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. and the painful death of the legendary Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas Company. Northern Tigers makes a compelling case for building great Canadian-run corporations that can compete in the international area. But, he argues eloquently, they must be “Great” not only in size and strength but also in their high ethical standards, good corporate governance, and in their generous support of the communities where they operate. In Northern Tigers—co-written with veteran business author Paul Grescoe—Dick Haskayne filters all of his hard-earned wisdom through the lens of his impressive life’s work for an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary era in Canadian corporate history. In a new foreword, afterword and final chapter co-written with business columnist and radio commentator Deborah Yedlin, this revised edition features developments and analysis by Haskayne of events which have taken place in the decade since the book was first published. NORTHERN TIGERS NORTHERN TIGERS BUILDING ETHICAL CANADIAN CORPORATE CHAMPIONS A MEMOIR AND A MANIFESTO DICK HASKAYNE WITH PAUL GRESCOE with additional contributions from Deborah Yedlin To my parents and my brother who taught me the fundamentals of business and the importance of ethics to the success of our free-enterprise system. v Copyright © 2017 by Dick Haskayne Haskayne School of Business University of Calgary Scurfield Hall 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB Canada T2N 1N4 haskayne.ucalgary.ca LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Haskayne, Richard F., author Northern tigers : building ethical Canadian corporate champions : a memoir and a manifesto / Dick Haskayne with Paul Grescoe ; with additional contributions from Deborah Yedlin. — Second edition. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-88953-401-8 (softcover) 1. Haskayne, Richard F. 2. Success in business—Canada. 3. Business ethics—Canada. 4. Businessmen—Canada—Biography. 5. Corporations—Canada—History—20th century. 6. Calgary (Alta.)—Biography. 7. Autobiographies. I. Grescoe, Paul, 1939–, author II. Haskayne School of Business, issuing body III. Title. HC112.5.H38A3 2017 338.092 C2017-905498-8 Copyediting by Mikaela Grace Mackenzie Cover image: Colourbox image #11520690 and #15051917 Portrait of Dick Haskayne: Marnie Burkhart, Jazhart Studios Inc. Cover design and typesetting by Melina Cusano CONTENTS FOREWORD 3 INTRODUCTION 9 1 A BUTCHER’S SON Gleichen and Beyond 12 2 THE SHOULD-HAVE-BEEN Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas 29 3 THE DEATH OF HBOG Dome Petroleum 47 4 TAKING IT ON THE CHIN Home Oil and Hiram Walker Resources 66 5 RUNNING WITH THE REICHMANNS lnterhome Energy and lnterprovincial Pipe Line 84 6 OUT OF THE SHAMBLES NOVA Corporation 112 7 THE URGE TO MERGE TransCanada Corporation 127 8 HIGH FINANCES Manulife and CIBC 144 1 9 SHAKING UP THE CORPORATION TransAlta and Crestar Energy 165 10 CLEAR-CUT MacMillan Bloedel 179 11 THE BEST OF SHOW Alberta Energy, PanCanadian Energy, and EnCana 198 12 DIGGING FOR A DEAL Fording Canadian Coal Trust 216 13 THE COMPANIES THAT DID Northern Tigers 241 14 DOING THE RIGHT THING The Ethics of Business 268 15 HOMECOMING The Case for Private Philanthropy 286 16 THE IMPORTANCE OF SCALE Northern Tigers Positioned for Global Growth 311 AFTERWORD 327 INDEX 331 2 NORTHERN TIGERS FOREWORD IT HAS BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE THIS BOOK was first pub- lished, a period in which there have been a number of what could be defined as tectonic events that have had significant impacts on the global economy. Canadian companies have not been immune to the aftershocks of these events. A number of those companies were prominent in the first edition and continue to be important parts of the Canadian corporate landscape as they have taken advantage of growth op- portunities that have arisen in the last decade. Others, such as Encana, have changed direction and strategy. This revised edition highlights the emergence of new Canadi- an Northern Tigers, while also acknowledging those companies that were important global players but have lost that stature or disappeared entirely. Dick Haskayne, sitting in his Calgary living room on a hot July afternoon, sums it up in this way: “I think it’s important for Canadians—whether students or veterans of the business community—to understand what ele- ments have played a role in creating and growing these compa- nies. And I say that from both a positive and negative perspective: the things that have worked and others that have not.” As someone who has been in the thick of the development of Canada’s natural resource sector and the evolution of corporate 3 Canada—whether in senior management or as a corporate direc- tor—for the better part of 50 years, Haskayne believes there is an under-appreciation of the importance and impact of the energy sector across the country and on the Canadian economy. Canada’s energy sector is responsible for about 20 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, 660,000 jobs across the country, with the industry paying an average $15 billion per year through taxes and royalties to local, provincial and federal gov- ernments between 2013 and 2016.