OMERS CEO delivers "Letter to Canada" at Toronto Region Board of Trade dinner

The following is a speech Blake Hutcheson gave at Toronto Region Board of Trade’s 135th Annual Dinner on Thursday, February 27, 2025, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, with the theme of Dare to Lead.

Given this uncertain moment in time for Canada, Blake chose to address the crowd of over 1,000 people in the form of a sober but optimistic “Letter to Canada.”

(Check against delivery)

Dear Canada:

I am a guy who grew up in the small town of Huntsville, Ontario, an idyllic typical Canadian community that reflects the values and virtues of our nation. I could not have asked for a more wholesome and hopeful upbringing. We were a humble community, and admittedly we had a lot to be humble about. Yet we knew what a neighbour was. How consistent friendship and allyship worked. How any local success enriched us all. A town where kindness meant strength, not weakness. By your example Canada, we were each other’s keeper.

My family were modest immigrants of Scottish origin, who came to that area just after Confederation with the promise of a 100-acre site. If they built a home on it, they could farm it in the hopes of a new start and better life. Like many immigrants our family practically starved for the better part of two decades. Why? Because with poor soil, the only things that can be farmed in that region are trees and rocks.

Though a little slow to figure that out, my grandfather and his brothers accepted this reality, and launched a lumber company that through hard work became one of the region’s biggest employers and one of Canada’s largest hardwood flooring manufacturers. That generation of my family “dared to lead,” were true pioneers, confidently saw through decades of good and bad electoral and economic cycles, navigated wars and border protectionism, believed in tomorrow, and embraced the promise and pluralism of you, Canada.

My grandfather fundamentally believed that trust was the key to success in every endeavour. A handshake was all one needed. Business travels at the speed of trust. And when it is in the room anything is possible. It is also as strong as it is fragile - one utterance or in certain circles, one person, can decimate it - with apparent impunity.

My father Bob is 98 years old and in perfect health. He is also one of my heroes. He drafted off that region’s other natural competitive advantage, and built a local aggregate, road building and real estate development business that helped shape our community. His commitment to sustainable win/win developments was 50 years ahead of its time. Another good role model for you Canada, that success is not a zero-sum game.

For fun, he also holds the Guinness Record for being the World’s Oldest Water Skier at 92. He is made of Muskoka granite. He also believed in tomorrow, dared to take a lifetime of well-considered small business risks, and is, Canada, one of your greatest champions! A nation that in his words often got things wrong in the short term, but on balance “has always found a way” to course correct and, hold its head and humanity high on every global stage.

Dad’s favourite word has always been “finishiative!” This is a word that you will never find in a dictionary. But what a powerful word! Everyone has initiative. But how can one truly lead, or dare to, without finishiative – getting things done!

Thank you, Canada, for helping my family change its stars, but our story is no more important or impressive than any of yours. Most of us in this room are immigrants to Canada, it just depends on when the clock started. Our nation’s melody is a symphony of these personal notes, and it is made so much better by our rich history of playing in this orchestra so exquisitely together.

Earlier this month, I was speaking to an accomplished group of graduate students and one of them stood up and asked: “You have learned so many great lessons from your family and as a CEO of over 25 years, but if you had to define your own leadership mantra, what would it be?”

I paused before answering, wondering how any of us can narrow it down to just one leadership lesson. Then, drawing on my roots and experience, replied: “Be your authentic self. Remember leadership is not a title. And above all else, with every interaction, every day, be “fiercely competitive and incredibly humble.” I repeat, be fiercely competitive and incredibly humble.

In addition to trust and finishiative, as a passionate Canadian, these cultural characteristics speak to me more than any others as we challenge each other tonight to Dare to Lead.

Today, it is my honour to be the CEO of one of Canada’s crown jewels, the OMERS pension plan, supporting 1 out of every 11 households in Ontario, with a balance sheet of C$230 billion. We are a made-in-Canada success story and have paid pensions on time and as planned for 63 years and counting. A promise is a promise! Canada’s Maple 8 pension plans remain the envy of the world, with a model that many admire, and few can emulate.

This makes me incredibly proud, as OMERS and Oxford, as well as me personally, want this great country to lead and be number one in as many ways as possible, and we are here to help ensure that this happens. In fact, my career has been something of a love affair with you Canada.

Sharing my life with some of your most iconic assets such as Banff Springs Hotel, Chateau Lake Louise, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Ontario’s own Bruce Power, and more recently, in a small way, MLSE (and yes of course this is the Leafs year!).

Canada – notwithstanding what we often read or hear - you are spectacular – with world leading natural resources and critical minerals; an envied social infrastructure including our retirement, healthcare and education systems; unparalleled natural beauty and untapped bounty; an embracing of cultural diversity, gun controls, a women’s agency over her own body; and your manifest goodness.

It should come as no surprise that some might look longingly at our nation, imagining the great wealth and other benefits that unbridled access to our vast resource, particularly, might provide them. But as you know Canada – the real value in this nation isn’t those resources. It is of course the people who call themselves Canadian and the values and grit that we share that makes this country so unassailably great, strong, and free. Sometimes it just takes some prodding from an outsider to remind of us this. For that – I say thank you!

And while I would love this speech to begin and end as a love letter to you, Canada, the reality is - we all have some hard work ahead. We have a real conundrum on our hands, in that we must admit that despite our many advantages, we find ourselves falling behind. Our productivity has dropped sharply in the last 30 years, from approximately 90% to 70% of U.S. levels. This gap is widening between us and other G7 nations. We have high taxes, too much regulation and red tape, constraints on our abilities to scale and innovate, some complacency, and seriously frayed critical relationships.

It is a time for honesty - these things, among others, make it unnecessarily hard to compete here, Canada, with many of your great and iconic companies and individuals either leaving or selling their businesses (and/or souls) to global interests, and millions of others looking and hoping for good reasons not to. I am concerned that in the teeter-totter of life, your weaknesses may soon start to outweigh your strengths. This instability is not welcome or necessary, Canada, at such a vulnerable and complex time, in our history.

But Canada – please know this – we do believe in you. Just like Team Canada – who showed up last week to win not just a game, but that game, our game. We may now, be going into over-time - but we enter it with complete confidence in “you and ourselves.”

Tonight, we are gathered at the Toronto Region Board of Trade 135th Annual Dinner. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are on Your Team. We are your people, and I dare say – We Dare to Lead.

Give us a jersey and give us strength. Today’s opportunity is not just about growth and getting back in the game – it is about defending, protecting, and enhancing our rich history, our culture, our identity – and indeed our sovereignty. If ever there was a time for us to step up this is our time. If ever there was a time for true courageous leadership, this is it.

I will end with three ‘Call to Action Dare to Lead messages,’ all of which stem from the themes I have shared in this letter.

The first, drawing from my grandfather is trust. In my view, it is not helpful to openly criticize Donald Trump, because my experience is not unlike yours Canada – decades of outstanding Canada/US friendships, ventures, and shared victories with good people, and allies. We have to trust that the voice from one office, no matter the title or tone, does not reflect the feelings or the nature of the whole.

As leaders we need to all reach out to our American friends. Share our feelings and ask them to Dare to Lead – to have courage in their own ways to advocate for the truth about our shared history of mutual respect, support, benefit, and trust. I refuse to lose my faith in the inherent checks and balances in that democracy, the immediate lessons that our markets teach us, and in the bond of our North American family. All families have issues. All families have difficult people and moments. We will get through this – it is worth it – for both sides – and with your help common sense and common goodness will prevail.

The second, drawing on my dad’s favourite word - this is a time for finishiative! Getting things done! We all have a job to do. Let’s simply focus on the things we can control or influence - our businesses, our people, this great City, our communities and our families. Let’s all set ambitious but real priorities and execute - with finishiative! When we are old and grey and perhaps talking to our grandkids about their grandkids, we need to know in our hearts that in this moment of great need – we did the very best that we could with the positions of responsibility and authority that we held, with the hands we were dealt. Strengthen our hands please, Canada. And we will strengthen yours.

And finally, let’s remain fiercely competitive and incredibly humble. A business plan to me has always been: “What I am great at, how do I get in the way of a trend, given limited resources.”

Canada, and all of us in this room, let’s recognize that we need to be great to consistently compete and win. And we need to push you, Canada, to set up an environment that helps make that possible. This will require some immediate tough choices and hard work, including expanding our relationships, decreasing our deficits and dependencies, backing our winners, and bettering all expectations on defense spending and investment stimulus. But it is worth it. When did any of us ever accomplish anything extraordinary without an extraordinary effort?

And as for the rest of us, let’s continue to have each other’s backs, lock in our bold game plans, assemble our power plays, be fiercely competitive – and lead.

Canada, we can do all of this with humility as we always have! Our pride and patriotism are as strong as any other nation, we may just not wear it on our sleeves in the same way. But make no mistake it is real – it is intact – and it is not for sale!

We are on your team, Canada. And when we play to win together - I don’t care what people hear from TV screens, social media, rude taunts and threats, whispers, or drunken yells. Nobody can touch us. Let’s not look back. Let’s look forward with strength – and Dare to Lead!

God bless you all. And God bless you Canada!

Sincerely and with deep admiration,
Blake Hutcheson