LARRY'S CORNER- Hamilton's Former Mayor Speaks

The South Pole and Anti-Business: A Relationship?

By Larry Di Ianni
(posted January 9, 2009)

Recently I lunched at one of my favourite Indian restaurants in east Hamilton which specializes in vegetarian cuisine. It isn’t a swanky place at all. Really, it’s a Spartan location with a few bare tables crammed close together, but the food is great. No one would go to this place for its ambience, but thousands a week go there for its cuisine, its quick service and unbeatable prices. When I walked in with my guest, none other than a prominent member of Hamilton’s anti-business lobby was there with a presumed friend. Our eyes caught and we exchanged pleasantries. It was the decent thing to do. I proceeded to sit down after we had ordered. The only available table was just in front of the aforementioned customers. It really didn’t matter, the restaurant is so small you can’t help but overhear what others are saying at each table. The two people, both known in the community, were a little more muted than they perhaps had been prior to my entry. I felt badly because I had obviously innocently intruded upon a luncheon meeting. I was almost ready to suggest to my guest that we leave and hesitated only upon realizing the awful signal that would have given, had I been interpreted to rudely depart. We stayed. And really, the pair had already lunched and lingered but a few more minutes. I could not help but overhear snatches of their conversation. They were talking about developers. I don’t know the details of what they were saying about developers, but the words hissed out of the mouth of the better known of the two. Knowing this fellow’s hatred for business in general and developers in particular, I don’t think kind things were being said. It was none of my business and my guest and I went on to enjoy our lunch.

Later that afternoon I read that a few local businessmen were headed for the South Pole. I know some of these adventurers. They are Fred Losani, Peter Turkstra, Steve Stipsits, Mark MacLennan and Steven Perigord. Several of them had taken a trip a few years before to the North Pole. As with the northern trip, the local businessmen paid for each expensive excursion out of their own pockets. While they were shelling out personally, they also were raising money for disadvantaged children and other charities. I believe the North Pole trip raised over half a million dollars. The group expected to match that sum with the South Pole excursion. At least three of these individuals are very closely tied to the development industry and the others are businessmen in other ventures. I thought back to the conversation at the Indian restaurant. I thought it ironic that these were the kinds of citizens who were being hissed at. I am sadly familiar with the diatribe of many in the city against business. We have organizations in the community whose sole purpose seems to be to thwart business at every turn. We have some on Council who espouse the ‘business is bad’ philosophy whenever they have to pass on a tax hike in the city budget. We even have some groups dedicated to promoting ‘progressive’ business principles, paradoxically, by derailing business opportunities they don’t like. Hamilton has been plagued by these obstructionists for generations now. The reality is that there are really few of them, but they are good at swelling their plumage to make themselves seem bigger than they really are. That is too bad.

What is also too bad is that often behind the word ‘businessman’ or ‘developer’ is the kind of community builder represented by the five above. This exceptional quintet is not alone. Hamilton is also fortunate to have others add their collective generosity to our city. We know the notable ones: David Braley, Joe Ng, Ron Foxcroft, Charles and Margaret Juravinsky, Ron Joyce and Michael DeGroote. If it wasn’t for these altruistic and philanthropic titans, our children would not be as well off, our hospitals would be less well-resourced, and our universities and colleges would not have the endowments they receive. Similarly, if it wasn’t for the efforts of caring people like Chris Ecklund who is single-handedly trying to re-brand our community as a City of Waterfalls, our image would stay stuck in an early 20th Century time frame; or the courageous Mischa Weisz, the bank-machine magnate from Ancaster, who just donated half a million dollars to the YMCA so he could ‘invest in children” thereby securing a better future for the community.

And these are just some of the more prominent individuals. For every one of them, there are thousands of other Hamiltonians who contribute smaller but equally significant amounts to charities and other good causes. They volunteer their time as well as their talents to growing our community’s human capital. I used to see them in my travels around the city. I seldom saw any of the anti-business types, other than at this or that protest in front of city Council or elsewhere. There they would be: pontificating, beating their breasts, bellowing their feathers, screaming sanctimony, cornering the truth for all to see, chastising Council and business for any and all reasons. To what end? To change things? Not really. They are like the proselytizers who come to your front door on a Saturday morning who feel their mission is accomplished simply by talking religion, knowing full well they will not sway your religious views.

What the anti-business groups haven’t been able to figure out is that if business succeeds, we all succeed. The ones who really change the world aren’t the talkers, they are the doers. And it is the entrepreneurs who best exemplify this class of achievers. They make money; and in so doing, jobs are created and philanthropy thrives. As Charles Juravinsky once said publicly, “I want to make as much money as I can; so I can give all of it away.” There wasn’t a hiss in his voice when he said these generous words. All of us can learn from this example.

BACK TO LARRY'S CORNER