"Canadian nationalism! How old-fashioned can you get?” E.P. Taylor, the legendary Canadian entrepreneur, reflected the view of many businesspeople in his dismissal of nationalism. For the business community, nationalists are unrealistic and hopelessly out of touch. Parochial and xenophobic, they do not understand that their naive proposals to limit trade and investment flows would have destructive effects on the economy. Nationalists have been equally contemptuous of corporate executives, believing that they value only money, never realizing the importance of independent economic policies. Businesspeople might have large pockets, but they also have small minds. In Made in Canada: A Businessman’s Adventures in Politics, Alastair Gillespie recounts how he managed to be both a highly successful corporate leader and a prominent nationalist voice in Pierre Trudeau’s Cabinet.
Gillespie was born to a life of entrepreneurship. One of his ancestors was a...
Stephen Azzi is associate professor of history at Laurentian University and author of Walter Gordon and the Rise of Canadian Nationalism (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999). He was born and raised in British Columbia and, like Alastair Gillespie, considers himself a British Columbian despite living most of his life in Ontario.
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