Browse "Business & Economics"

Gerald Keith Bouey, banker (born 2 April 1920 in Axford, Saskatchewan; died 6 February 2004 in Ottawa, Ontario). He became governor of the BANK OF CANADA in Feb 1973 and guided the country's MONETARY POLICY through the inflationary difficulties of the early 1980s.

Gerald S. (Stanley) Doyle. Businessman, folksong collector, b King's Cove, Bonavista Bay, Nfld, 26 Sep 1892, d St John's, Nfld, 12 Jul 1956.

Geraldine Van Bibber (née Kelly), public servant, businesswoman and commissioner of Yukon (b at Dawson, YT 3 July 1951). Geraldine Van Bibber was born and raised in DAWSON, YT, and is of GWICH'IN and Irish descent.

Gérard Filion, newspaper publisher (born 18 August 1909 in L’Île Verte, QC; died 26 March 2005 in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, QC). He was the publisher of Le Devoir and an important figure of the French-Canadian nationalism.

Gérard Parizeau, underwriter (b at Montréal 16 Dec 1899; d at St Lambert, Qué 25 Jan 1994).

Gerald Wilfred Schwartz, OC, business executive (born 24 November 1941 in Winnipeg, MB). Gerry Schwartz is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Toronto-based Onex Corporation, one of Canada’s largest private equity firms. A successful long-term investor, he has overseen major business deals in more than three decades at the head of Onex. Schwartz was one of 45 Canadians to make the Forbes list of billionaires in 2019, with the magazine estimating his net worth at US $1.6 billion. He has donated millions of dollars to universities, hospitals, charities and cultural organizations.

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This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on 8 March 1999. Partner content is not updated.

Gilbert Finn, OC, businessman, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick 1987–1994 (born 3 September 1920 in Inkerman Ferry, NB; died 7 January 2015).

Gilbert LaBine, prospector, mining promoter (b at Westmeath, Ont 10 Feb 1890; d at Toronto 8 June 1977). He and his brother Charlie formed ELDORADO GOLD MINES (1926) in Manitoba. When the mine petered out, he used the company's

Gilbert McMicken, businessman, politician, magistrate, police commissioner (born 13 October 1813 in Glenluce, Wigtonshire, Scotland; died 6 March 1891 in Winnipeg, MB). McMicken was head of the Western Frontier Constabulary, Canada’s first secret service, which was established in 1864 in response to the American Civil War. He was also the first commissioner of the Dominion Police, Canada’s first federal police body and forerunner of the RCMP, which was instituted in 1868 following the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee. McMicken served in municipal government in Niagara, in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (1858–61) and in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Gilbert White Ganong, confectionery manufacturer, politician, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick 1917 (b at Springfield, NB 22 May 1851; d at St Stephen, NB 31 Oct 1917).

Gilles Ste-Croix, OC, street performer, businessman (born 1950 in La Sarre, Quebec). In 1984, Gilles Ste-Croix and Guy Laliberté transformed their troupe of street performers into Cirque du Soleil, the world’s largest circus production company and one of the world’s biggest live entertainment companies. Ste-Croix served as vice-president from the company’s founding and as creative director from 1988 until his retirement in 2014. He is a Companion of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Glenna F. Hansen, Inuvialuit leader, businesswoman, health and education advocate, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (b at Aklavik, 1956). Hansen was hired as an executive assistant by David Storr and Sons Contracting Ltd of Inuvik in 1990, and became general manager of the firm in 1996.

Gordon G. Thiessen, economist, banker (b at South Porcupine, Ont 14 Aug 1938). Raised and educated in Saskatchewan, Thiessen joined the BANK OF CANADA in 1963 as a research economist specializing in monetary analysis.

Gordon Roy McGregor, engineer, aviator, airline executive (b at Montréal 26 Sept 1901; d there 8 Mar 1971). After attending McGill University, he joined Bell Telephone Co of Canada as an engineer in 1923, where he remained until joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1938.

Graham Ford Towers, banker, public servant (b at Montréal 29 Sept 1897; d at Ottawa 4 Dec 1975). Towers served in WWI and graduated from McGill in 1919. Although originally intending to study law, he entered the service of the ROYAL BANK OF CANADA.

Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, electrical engineer, inventor and businessman (born 25 April 1874 in Bologna, Italy; died 20 July 1937 in Rome, Italy). Marconi’s early experiments in wireless telegraphy demonstrated the potential of long-range radio communication. He is generally considered the inventor of the radio. Marconi’s first reputed reception of a transatlantic radio signal occurred at Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1901. The following year, he built a wireless transmission station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Half of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Marconi for his work in wireless telegraphy.

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This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on January 13, 2003. Partner content is not updated.

H. Harrison McCain, executive (born 3 November 1927 in Florenceville, New Brunswick; died 19 March 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts). The son of an exporter of seed potatoes, McCain graduated from Acadia U and worked as a sales executive for Irving Oil Co.

Harley Hotchkiss, businessman, community leader, philanthropist (born at Tillsonburg, Ont 12 Jul 1927; died at Calgary, Alta 22 Jun 2011). Harley Hotchkiss was known as a "builder.