Great Canadian Builders
Short stories celebrating the incredible builders who shaped Canada.
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Oliver Bowen
Trains on the Plains
“His legacy, design and leadership are still benefiting Calgarians today”
Chip Wilson
The brand that defined a global movement
“I think you just have to believe in your brand, believe in your product and go for it”
Karl Clark
The man who invented the oil sands
“It is now practical to regard the bitumen content of the bituminous sands as a crude oil and therefore a potential motor fuel.”
The Keevil Dynasty
Building Canada's Mining Powerhouse
“Opportunity can go by in a day –Norman Keevil Sr.”
Jim Pattison
An empire built on honesty and hard work
“I haven’t found anything I like doing better than going to work every morning.”
R.C. Harris
The man who understood that infrastructure could be glamorous
“A drain well dug is as glorious as an opera”
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Building an empire one small brick at a time
“If you want to live and you want to prosper, you’ve got to be ambitious.”
Sir Sandford Fleming
The Man Who Gave the World Time
“Helping shape the world's understanding of 'time' was one of my greatest achievements, and as a result of using my own time well, other people could use their time well too”
Heather Reisman
Building a Country Through Books
“I took myself to my own happy place, which was a bookstore.”
George Cohon
The Canadianization of the Golden Arches
“I was the beneficiary of what many Canadians believe to be the chief American attitude to Canada: amiable indifference.”
Diana Matheson
Building the Future of Canadian Soccer
“If there's something you want to do and you feel like you're the right person for the job, go do it”
Cluny Macpherson
Served his country and his patients with Maritime spirit
“I didn't think much of that German contraption and I thought I could do something better”
C. D. Howe
The Minister Who Built Modern Canada
“"But for him the war would have been lost"”
Frederick Banting
Insulin for the World
“Insulin belongs to the world, not to me”
Donna Strickland
Frickin’ Lasers
“It is truly an amazing feeling when you know that you have built something that no one else ever has – and it actually works.”
E.P. Taylor
Builder of companies
“I like to create things”
Willard Boyle
The Canadian who killed chemical-based photography
“My career at Bell Telephone Labs thrived because of the environment, which encouraged cooperative research, offered opportunities for access to sophisticated equipment, and fellowship”
John Molson
Beyond brewing: Canada's first industrial entrepreneur
“We are all members of a larger community, which depends on everyone playing their part”
Timothy Eaton
“The King of Canadian Retail”
“Promise them not only bargains, but that every article will be found just what it is guaranteed to be. Use no deception in the smallest degree - nothing you cannot defend before God or Man.”
Robert Bourassa
The Complicated Legacy of the “Project of the Century”
“Never let it be said that we shall live like paupers on a land this rich.”
James Cameron
Worlds Above, and Worlds Below
“I’m Canadian, and I’m proud of it. I think there’s a certain sensibility that comes from growing up in Canada, a certain humility and appreciation for nature.”
Mary Pickford
The woman from "the Ward" who invented the movie star
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
IMAX Founders
The small-town visionaries who made cinema bigger than life itself
“We said, ‘Let’s invent this new medium.’”
Billes family
The Ones Who Kept It Canadian
“Dreams are not just for poets and philosophers. Dreams can be realized with strong will, hard work and an enduring set of values. - Martha Billes”
Lewis Urry
An Energizer bunny in his own right
“We all need to be reminded that with hard work and persistence, anything is possible.”
James Gosling
The prairie programmer whose quiet revolution made software universal
“In my heart of hearts, I'm an engineer, and what makes me happy is building something that works and having someone use it. That's cool.”
Alexander Graham Bell
A life wired for meaning
“The inventor…looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by the idea.”
Elsie MacGill
She built 1,400 warplanes and changed Canada forever
“The challenge of winning the war was thrown directly to the Canadian engineer. We are working not just for the satisfaction of winning the fight for our side, but for the glory of hastening peace to the world.”
Alain Bouchard
A definition of the true north grit and perseverance
“Being an entrepreneur means inventing yourself”