Tracy Robinson sees the opportunity in the current crisis.
Robinson, the chief executive officer of Canadian National Railway, said productivity data shows Canada is falling farther behind its competitors. Add in the global trade disruption and it’s easy to imagine the worst outcome, she told the Food, Fuel and Fertilizer summit last week.
WHY IT MATTERS: Global trade uncertainty and Canada’s lagging productivity present an opportunity for business leaders to proactively drive essential change through stronger engagement and collaboration.
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But it’s also time to be creative and motivated to change.
“You only create change when it’s more difficult not to change than it is to change,” she said. “So I’m excited.”
Robinson said it will take many conversations with many people willing to step up.
“I think, as CEOs, it’s important that we start having a louder voice in this kind of thing. We tend to let governments and we let associations … do the speaking for us. But this is an important time in our country and in our futures, and I think we’re going to be making some really important decisions that will affect the next generation,” she said.
“The worst thing we can do is hide under the desk and hope that it all passes and we’ll be OK.”
The summit hosted by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce brought together business leaders from around the world to Regina on April 8-9 to discuss Saskatchewan’s place as a producer and leading exporter and how to overcome trade barriers and strengthen supply chains.
Alanna Koch, an Edenwold, Sask. farmer and chair of the Global Institute for Food Security, commended the chamber’s involved in the summit and asked where other business voices are.
“I’ve seen both in our federal regulatory and policy climate, as well as the Trump tariff situation, sometimes businesses are reluctant to actually put their name and their leadership out there to make the statements that are required,” she said after a panel with Mosaic and Richardson International.
“What do you think it’s going to take to actually get businesses to feel threatened enough to understand the opportunity that is going to be lost if they don’t speak up?” she said.
Jean-Marc Ruest, senior vice-president of corporate affairs and general counsel at Richardson, agreed individual companies are often loath to put their necks out on politically-sensitive issues.
“You’re right,” he replied to Koch. “When something stings enough you’ve got to be able to talk about it. You need to say what needs to be said. Otherwise we can’t complain about lack of action.”
There was some discussion of whether there could be better co-ordinated efforts among the many agricultural associations that speak for the industry and what is required from those leaders.
Ruest said they should use the current opportunity to lead while people are open to change.
The conference included many calls for more spending on better trade infrastructure to get all commodities to markets.
Ruest said companies like Richardson are on the front lines internationally, see what’s happening on the ground and should be more involved in talks about how things actually work and what needs to change. Industries have been asking for better infrastructure for decades, he said.
Speakers said both public and private investment are required to build what is required.
Ruest said the industry has been “roundtabled to death” in constant consultation by governments and too much of that is focused through a socio-political, rather than business, lens. Canadian business is less competitive as a result.
“I see way too many people involved in the making and influencing of policy decisions that either don’t know how the industry actually works and what propels it forward or don’t have its best interests at stake,” he said.
Ruest added that agriculture communicates its priorities and challenges well but he questioned whether others recognize the importance of the sector within the economy.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan farmer Kristjan Hebert also addressed the summit and said government should act like a referee in a hockey game — on the ice but not playing the game.
“I want a ref in the game to make sure people are following the rules. I never said I wanted more rules,” he said. “Secondly, I want ambassadors. I want ambassadors telling the world what we’re doing (with) natural resources.
“We need people that care about productivity.”
He said the federal deputy minister of agriculture is the most lobbied in Ottawa with more than 600 groups wanting his time, which must leave him with little time for anything else.
At a conference like this, he said, most will agree on about 80 per cent of the issues and messages should be better aligned.
“It’s the same thing on the grower groups at the provincial and federal level. There’s an abundance of messages,” he said.
Hebert also said in a perfect world Canadian agribusinesses would have Canadian CEOs who have an understanding of what is happening on the farm. He urged multinationals leaders to at least choose some advisory teams of farmers.
Like Robinson, he said volatility creates opportunity.
“I think 10 years from now we’ll look back … and say that this six months to 12 months of volatility might have been one of the best things for the North American economy. It forced us to look at things,” he said.
Robinson had a similar sentiment. She said now is the time to create an environment to attract investment to Saskatchewan and Canada and to improve the regulatory and tax systems to put Canada on a level playing field.
“I do believe there is a chance that a few years from now, when we’re looking back on this and that angst that we have now, and that lump in the pit of our stomach as we contemplate what could happen … we’ll be proud of the decisions we made and the way that we leaned in,” she said.
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