Since the April death of Galen Weston, his son, Galen G. Weston, has been busy selling off what were once among the crown jewels in the family empire. It’s almost as if he didn’t want to make any of these moves as long as his father was still alive. Unlike many family businesses, this one has prospered since founder George Weston went into the bread business in Toronto in 1882. But what to make of all this recent activity? Among the many aspects of the business sold in recent months was the very core of the company — the bakery....
To all my loyal readers: May your Christmas be merry and bright. And may the year ahead bring good health and much happiness amid the turmoil that surrounds us. Rod McQueen
Family businesses provide millions of jobs in Canada. Anyone can start a family business on a shoestring, in a basement, or a garage. Growing them beyond a hobby with a few hundred dollars in annual sales is difficult. Keeping them alive for the next generation is even tougher. Less than half of family businesses make it to the second generation. Only about 10 percent get to the third. “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” said Seagram founder Sam Bronfman. His grandson, Edgar Jr., fulfilled that prophecy through a foolish merger with Vivendi that slashed the family fortune from $8 billion...
A recent report by the Auditor-General of Ontario underscored an issue that has received too little attention. Among all the provinces, Ontario gives its twenty-four publicly funded colleges $1.6 billion annually, the lowest level of support on a per capita basis in Canada. Meanwhile, enrolment by domestic students has fallen 15 percent over the last eight years. Money to run these institutions has to come from somewhere so they have turned to foreign students whose numbers have increased 342 percent during the same eight-year period. Foreign students now account for 30 percent of enrolment and because they pay three or...
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