Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: Eva Lau, a successful entrepreneur-turned-investor and the founding partner of Two Small Fish Ventures in Canada, will share her insights on the rise and fall of technology trends, the dynamic forces driving entrepreneurship and innovation, and how lessons of the past can help inform our future to ensure a thriving technology and innovation ecosystem in Canada. Joining her will be Richard Tse, an award-winning technology analyst from National Bank Financial with over 20 years of experience working in the technology sector.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: Thomas D'Aquino worked closely with a thousand CEOs. For 28 years, he was CEO of the Business Council on National Issues and later the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the country's premiere business lobby group. This singular position gave him a front row seat for free trade negotiations, deficit fighting, the fallout from 9/11, and the 2008 financial crisis. To critics, D'Aquino was dubbed the “de facto Prime Minister”, wielding excessive power as the voice of big business. To supporters, he and the Council were an essential component of keeping Canada economically competitive. Undeniably, D’Aquino has been a central policy participant in our modern business history. And he's author of the national bestseller, Private Power, Public Purpose. Join Tom D’Aquino, in conversation with author, consultant and longtime business broadcaster, Howard Green.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have become celebrities and rock stars in popular culture. Often viewed as visionaries they are seen by some as uniquely able to unlock new ways of generating wealth and economic growth for society. Conversely, others see them as grotesquely wealthy, using their roles to enrich themselves whilst destroying political, social, and environmental systems. However they are perceived, CEOs of the largest corporations are key players in global political systems, to the extent that they have ‘displaced politics and politicians as … the new high priests and oligarchs of our system.’ This raises important questions, Who becomes a CEO? What do they actually do in the role? How do they effect the companies they lead? Answering these questions reveals insights into social mobility, meritocracy, business organization, corporate governance, and strategy. Interestingly and importantly, the answers have changed overtime. In this talk we will look at a long run study of British CEOs across the 20th century to see how these trends have evolved. This helps us to understand how CEOs matter now, but what factors may shape the profile, role, and importance of CEOs in the future.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: The legal meaning of bankruptcy and insolvency law has often remained elusive, even to practitioners and scholars in the field, despite having been enshrined in Canada’s Constitution since Confederation. Federal jurisdiction in this area must be measured against provincial powers over property and civil rights, among others. Debt and Federalism traces conceptions of the bankruptcy and insolvency power through four cases that form the constitutional foundation of the Canadian bankruptcy system: the 1894 Voluntary Assignments Case, Royal Bank of Canada v Larue in 1928, the 1934 Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case, and the 1937 Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case. Together, they produced the bedrock for modern understandings of bankruptcy and insolvency law.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: This presentation will examine the historic trends of end markets for Canada's forest products. We will present the commercial responses from Canadian companies following from these trends, including recent activity such as the Resolut Forest Products takeout. A look into the future will include issues such as new demands for forest products (biofuels, housing markets), recycling initiatives, carbon credits, and crypto currency companies purchasing the assets of Canada's pulp and paper companies), and more.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: It is generally understood that the prime function of any business enterprise is to generate profits; its central responsibility is to shareholders. The idea that business owners should also seek to perform social tasks is regarded as an ancillary activity. Historical evidence suggests that not all business leaders or organizations have been content simply to perform a commercial role in society. Numerous industrialists and entrepreneurs throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century made significant contributions to their local communities. The early efforts of socially responsible business leaders and companies are well documented. The character of corporate philanthropy has continued to evolve since the 19th Century along with changes in industry, society and the economy. From public service-minded business owners giving to church charities and pet projects, corporate philanthropy today takes on many forms, even as a broadly encompassing corporate social responsibility strategy. This panel will present and discuss the historical, contemporary, and future role of business and business leaders in the area of philanthropy.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: The recent Rogers Corporation public family feud has brought to light the unique aspects of family-controlled public companies in Canada. Professor Dimitry Anastakis, Chair of the CBHA/ACHA and Professor of Business History at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, leads an expert panel on the fascinating and revealing history of family-controlled public companies in Canada.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: CP Rail announced on September 20th it has reached a deal to acquire Kansas City Southern (KCS) for approximately US$31 billion including debt. The announcement came the same day Canadian National Railway Co. said it is dropping its rival takeover bid for KCS. When completed, this transaction will create North America's first integrated rail network, operating nearly 33,000 kilometres of rail, employing nearly 20,000 people and generating about US$8.7 billion in annual revenues. Calgary – currently the headquarters of CP Rail – will be the global headquarters of CPKC, and Kansas City, Mo., will be the U.S. headquarters. The Mexican headquarters will remain in Mexico City and Monterrey. CP Rail’s U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis-St. Paul will also remain an important base of operations. This CBHA/ACHA Talk will explore the CPKCS transaction in the context of the history of the rail industry in Canada and North America as well as provide a look into the future for the industry and companies.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: At the turn of the 20th century, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil was a force to be reckoned with. In the year 1904, it controlled 91% of oil production and 85% of final sales in the United States. As a result, an antitrust case was filed against the company in 1906 under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The government won the case and the company was split into 34 separate entities in 1911. In the auto industry, early Canadian companies were aided by a National Policy and Commonwealth tariff system that encouraged domestic production. But soon, smaller Canadian operations were forced out of business by the huge financial demands and technological innovations required by the fast-developing industry. American firms bypassed the National Policy tariff by creating US-owned Canadian branch plants, which then also took advantage of the British preferential system to export from Canada to other countries at a lower tariff rate, since the goods they built were made in Canada. Soon, the Canadian industry consolidated into a few, large U.S.-owned companies. What lessons from these past industry trends of competitive consolidation and government-ruled breakups can be learned for today's technology companies? This question and more will be analyzed by our panel.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: The Canadian Banking System has a stellar international reputation. This is NOT because of recent developments but rather it is because the Fathers of Confederation, based on their observations of the American Banking System, opted for banking as a Federal function NOT state nor provincial. Having made that decision they rejected the proposed 1869 legislation modeled on the American National Bank Acts and came up with a unique Canadian system. This was one of the greatest achievements of the Macdonald government, and arguably far more important than the protective tariff or the construction of the CPR. And yet few historians, other than Arthur Lower, even mention it.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: In this presentation, our panelists delve into the issues around creating and maintaining business archives. Why are archives so important and valuable to a company and its stakeholders, what to archive, and the fundamentals of archiving will be just some of the topics discussed.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: Recipient of the $30,000 2020 National Business Book Award, VIVA MAC, is the first cultural history of the iconic brand M·A·C Cosmetics, one that tells the fascinating story of how M·A·C's unique style of corporate social responsibility emerged from specific cultural practices, rather than being part of a strategic marketing plan. Utilizing exclusive interviews with M·A·C co-founder Frank Toskan, key journalists, and fashion insiders, VIVA MAC delves into the history of the M·A·C AIDS Fund and its signature VIVA GLAM fundraising lipstick, which featured drag performer RuPaul and singer k.d. lang in its first advertising campaigns. This lively chronicle reveals how M·A·C managed to not only defy the stigma associated with AIDS that alarmed many other corporations, but to engage in highly successful AIDS advocacy while maintaining its creative and fashionable authority.

Sponsor: National Bank Financial Markets

Description: This webinar presentation will celebrate and explore the fascinating histories of the Hudson's Bay Company (350 years) and the Province of Manitoba (150 years).