Personalities behind the Chamber of Commerce (1980-1985)
Sunday, 22nd November 2009
Gerald Reimer
Gerald Reimer (1980)
At the age of 42, Gerald Reimer became the youngest Chamber president in its history up until then and one of the city’s biggest boosters.
Reimer has said that Winnipeg is a great city, yet it is somewhat sad that the media in those days did their best to tear apart the city rather than build it up.
The construction of the Bank of Montreal building (the tall building near Portage and Main) was announced when Reimer was president. It was very positive but the The Free Press headline was read as ‘Bank down on Manitoba.’ It was like a totally different event. He went to see the editors and suggested that if his neighbour’s house was burning and he rescued them, the paper would run a headline like: ‘Gerald Reimer breaks into neighbour’s house.’ They told him, oh no, they’d do much worse. They’d likely say: ‘Gerald Reimer rapes neighbour’.
As for other memories of his time in office, he fondly recalls being seated at a Chamber luncheon with two provincial premiers, Sterling Lyon and Alberta’s Peter Lougheed. It was an interesting day, he says.
Another event that stands out, but for opposite reasons, was a fire that destroyed The Chamber Club. He was on vacation in Bermuda that time.
Gerald Reimer (1980)
Gerald Reimer
At the age of 42, Gerald Reimer became the youngest Chamber president in its history up until then and one of the city’s biggest boosters.Reimer has said that Winnipeg is a great city, yet it is somewhat sad that the media in those days did their best to tear apart the city rather than build it up. The construction of the Bank of Montreal building (the tall building near Portage and Main) was announced when Reimer was president. It was very positive but the The Free Press headline was read as ‘Bank down on Manitoba.’ It was like a totally different event. He went to see the editors and suggested that if his neighbour’s house was burning and he rescued them, the paper would run a headline like: ‘Gerald Reimer breaks into neighbour’s house.’ They told him, oh no, they’d do much worse. They’d likely say: ‘Gerald Reimer rapes neighbour’. There’s been a big improvement in newspaper coverage since then.
As for other memories of his time in office, he fondly recalls being seated at a Chamber luncheon with two provincial premiers, Sterling Lyon and Alberta’s Peter Lougheed. It was an interesting day, he says.
Another event that stands out, but for opposite reasons, was a fire that destroyed The Chamber Club. He was on vacation in Bermuda that time.
Jack Hignell (1981)
Jack Hignell
Jack Hignell will always remember a trip to Japan, at the invitation of the Japanese government, and the insight he gained into how they do business. The Japanese were clearly less confrontational when it came to labour/management relations — yes, there were strikes, but workers would be back on the job within an hour or two. During his term, Hignell would face a prolonged postal strike. They went into competition with them (Canada Post). They had their own postal service between chambers. They’d collect mail (from our members) and send it by courier. They’d sort it and then phone to let members know it had arrived.
“By the end of the strike, they (strikers) were as sick of it as we were,” he laughs.
It was also during his presidency that The Chamber moved into the Grain Exchange Building.
“We were on the lower level of what had been the trading floor,” he says, adding although it was never publicized, there was a suspicion that the fire the year before had been arson— occurring at night and gutting the place.
Ed Martens (1985)
Ed Martens
For Ed Martens, pay equity was the big issue of the day. Brought forward by a Conservative government that was going after the female vote, it was an issue. The Chamber “didn’t fare well on.”
The Chamber was not in favour of any form of discrimination, but the pay equity issu was made more complex because it involved a “magic formula” to assess individual jobs. “It made a simple issue very messy…. When we opposed that, we were accused of being typical men,” Martens says. Another memory relates to the period just prior to Hong Kong coming under Chinese authority. The Chamber led a mission overseas to identify opportunities for Hong Kong investment in Manitoba.
“We met with some interesting people, including the president of the Hong Kong! Shanghai Bank, whose penthouse office on something like the 70th floor was 2,000-3,000 square feet for just one guy and his secretary.
“He told us Canada is far too bureaucratic — you have too many lawyers. Those were his exact words,” Martens says, adding the banker later clarified that he wasn’t talking about government, but business.
“He said you spend too much time thinking and planning and don’t get into action soon enough. You want to have your lawyers ‘check it, check it, check it.’ I’ve told that story probably 500 times. Businesses shouldn’t get caught up with the idea that if you’re planning, you’re achieving.”
Martens says he made good friends while at The Chamber, and established a special friendship with general manager Bill Draper.
“We’d visit the Draper ranch west of Carman, which was actually an acreage where Bill maintained the largest garden, partially for the fun of growing stuff and to cleanse mind and soul after a busy week in the city. Every year, he’d grow me what my kids said was the world’s largest pumpkin, weighing in at between 100 and 200 pounds. We’d devise skids to go from the garden to the back of my vehicle.”
Tags: Bank Montreal, Bank Of Montreal, Bermuda, Chamber Luncheon, Chamber Of Commerce, Chamber President, Editors, Free Press, Hea, Lyon, Manitoba, Memories, Neighbour, Personalities, Portage And Main, Provincial Premiers, Rapes, Reime, Reimer, Sterling, Winnipeg
