If These Walls Could Talk
A renovation may revitalize a building for a new era, but a home that retains its heart and vitality weaves its history, stories and characters into the new design.
The CPC is proud to introduce the newly-crowned Pioneer Room which is at the heart of the CPC, a step-down room that is set apart from, yet encompassed by, the main gathering hotspot of the Renfrew Lounge. CPC members sharing breakfast, lunch or drinks within its walls may be immersed in today’s business, but also now find themselves enveloped by the inspiration from earlier builders.
Members have likely noticed familiar faces appearing on the walls of the Pioneer Room, showing art, stories and pictures of the CPC’s foundational and legacy families. Reading like a “who’s who” of Alberta’s emergence to prominence, the CPC’s Pioneer Room showcase captures the essence of the people who shaped an industry and a nation through the deals shaped within these walls.
An artful work in progress, some contributing families and individuals are already on display, with new elements coming soon. The convergence of all this family history into one display was an evolution with its own story to tell.
Our Roots are showing
Nancy Lever of ARC Financial Corp. was Chair of the CPC Facility Enhancement committee and served six years on the CPC board. As the CPC refreshed its look in its club-wide renovation project, Lever recounts the committee carefully considered the contributions of long-time members and their families who helped build the club’s prominence, and how to factor that history into the design. For although it was “in with the new” in some ways, the strength and stature of the CPC lies in its roots.
“There were many discussions about how to best honour our pioneering leaders and contributing families and maintain that sense of history,” Lever says. “We thought about certain rooms or features of the club that different people were associated with. We started mapping out plans to ensure their pictures and stories could find a place in key locations.”
Lever says CPC founders like the Seaman brothers spent countless hours in the card room, tucked into the back section of what’s now known as the Sports Lounge. Another prominent family, the Riddell’s, were better associated with what is now the Trophy Room.
“We started imagining art, pictures and memories in various places around the club, looking to bring these stories to life on our walls,” Lever says.
Variations on the viral thought
The Legacy Contribution Wall, located at the entrance to the Trophy Lounge, was launched in early 2018 to honour our capital campaign contributors. Momentum slowed during the early COVID months, only to evolve later as a new variant on the thought. The committee came to realize that an artful grouping of foundational CPC contributors in one spot in the heart of the Renfrew Lounge offered both ideal placement for recognition and a curated way to bring the room to life.
Doug McNeill, CPC’s outgoing president, was a thought leader who reignited momentum and spotted the potential of this prominent location to inspire new members with stories of club legends.
McNeill urged his father to be featured, but Duncan McNeill was reluctant to be singled out at first. He instead agreed upon a dual feature alongside his long-time business collaborator, Bill Mooney Sr. A joint portrait was painted, which served as the first display and anchors the centre of the south wall of the Pioneer Room.
From there, the idea snowballed with the enthusiasm of the committee and the grace of the families who continue to contribute so much to the CPC. Lever’s partner and the founder of ARC Financial Corp., Mac Van Wielingen signed on to have the Van Wielingen family allocated a prime contributor’s space. The family of the three Seaman brothers, BJ, Doc and Don, agreed to be showcased and sourced a fun childhood picture of the trio together contrasted with a more presentday board-room picture, offering a fun visual link from their history to their present, and illustrating the heart of “family.”
Virtual Vision
Lever and the committee had a clear picture of other key contributors to approach, and now had some builder family examples to point to. The challenge was in reaching these busy people whose business takes them far afield, in the midst of the changing sands of COVID restrictions.
“We were able to arrange opportunities for the families to join us in the Pioneer Room to view the space and for us to demonstrate the vision,” Lever says. With the PowerPoint slides prepared, and at least one example already on the wall, advance Covid protocol boxes checked and verified, there were still families not able to make it in person.
Enter the rolodex of Mac Van Wielingen, whose personal call to missing members laid the foundation for several impromptu videoconference “tours” so that traveling contributors could join in virtually.
“It certainly made for a fun yet surprisingly effective virtual tour,” Lever recalls with a laugh. “We had Doug, Toni-Marie and I moving around the space with the camera following us, indicating where we projected the families’ tributes to be located. And we mixed in the PowerPoint slides so people could see those virtually.”
“We really didn’t have a script but just started talking, showing and explaining. It all turned out quite well.” Well indeed. The virtual tours were a hit and pioneer families rapidly signed onto the vision, pleased with how their contributions would be showcased.
The presentations hit the spot with the families who have contributed so much to the CPC, including the Mannix, Seaman, Van Wielingen, Southern, Riddell, McCaig, McNeill, Siebens, Colborne and Shannon families.
With so many contributors signing on for their part in the Pioneer Room, the committee has turned its attention to working with the families on the look and feel of their designated sections. The Pioneer Room is filling up, with a careful eye to its design aesthetic. Burt Boucock, CPC member and founder of Burt Boucock Interior Design, oversees the project, ensuring the highest quality is achieved.
Designing for interest
Like a curated art gallery, the Pioneer Room offers an array of visual interest. For example, the Mannix family embraced the showcase concept, presenting a statuesque grouping of individual portraits linked by a Mannix crest in the centre. The family of the late Bill Siebens offered unique paintings from their personal collection. A unique painting dubbed “Bulls$%” shows Siebens in a worn cowboy hat, beneath which another original painting captures a moment in time –the famous Siebens pheasant luncheons of yesteryear.
“Its exciting to see how different families have interpreted this, choosing elements that build on the character of the people showcased here,” says Lever. “Not only does this make each segment its own snapshot, but when seen together it is captivating and really shows the range of personalities and stories.”
Next Chapter in development
While a picture may be worth a thousand words, the images also pique interest to learn more about these foundational families and how they have contributed to the CPC, the community and Canada. A large book anthology is being compiled as a type of addendum for the Pioneer Room. Intended to be printed in a large format and displayed prominently alongside the displays for reading. Its pages will recount more of the history, colour and contributions of the CPC members whose portraits grace the walls.
After all, no home is complete without fascinating books and stories waiting to be discovered.
The Pacific Western Group of Companies was built by a remarkable, humble, and warm individual who possessed extraordinary vision, seized opportunities, and lived by his values.
Robert Benton Colborne (referred to as R.B. or Bob) was born on January 11, 1927, at the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. His parents, James (Jim) Blair Colborne and Sarah Anne McGilivary, came west from New Brunswick a few years earlier. They settled in the Sunnyside district of Calgary, where Bob spent most of his childhood and attended St. John’s Elementary School in Hillhurst. The Sunnyside neighborhood is one of Calgary’s oldest communities, established in the early 1880s.
Robert (R.B.) did not come from wealth. He was only three (3) years of age when the ‘dirty thirties’ gripped the country, devastating the Prairies and creating havoc worldwide. Between the years of 1929 to 1938, the family experienced difficult times, and with the family on relief, his father worked at various community-oriented jobs. Determined, his father continued to seek work, and a job with the CPR became available. The family moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1938 (midway through grade six).
Immediately after his stint with road construction, R.B. enlisted with the Air Force and was dispatched to a Training Depot in Toronto. While in training, victory in Europe became imminent, and all trainees were discharged from
the Air Force. However, Bob received a call-up for the Army but, before completing his basic training, the war was over, and he was not called to active service. R.B. always felt that his decision to enlist was definitely due to a deep sense of duty for his country.
In 1946, he applied to the University of Alberta (Edmonton) and, that fall, began working towards completing a Bachelor of Commerce degree. While at University, R.B. played hockey with the Alberta Golden Bears playing left wing and, along with his teammates, were WCIAU Hockey Champions in 1946-47 and 1947-48.
Jobs were scarce after university, and in 1949, Bob was able to find employment with the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC). He began as a field representative and was transferred between Calgary and Edmonton more than once. While working in Edmonton, during the summer of 1950, Bob met his future wife, Jeanne Poitras. In 1956, R.B. left GMAC and became the dealer principal of Wetaskiwin Motors Ltd. (Chevrolet Oldsmobile), located in the small city south of Edmonton.
Along with business partners Harry “Hank” Flock and Gordon Spackman, Bob obtained the distributorship for a school bus body manufactured in Oneida, New York, USA 1957. The bus bodies were shipped by rail to Windsor, Ontario, GM drivetrains were installed, and the completed units were driven to Alberta.
One of Bob’s customers in Red Deer, Alberta, was Gordon Sorensen, who operated a small school bus company called Sorensen Bus Lines. In February 1957, Sorensen
sold his school bus company to Bob, who (along with his two partners) took over all 28 Sorensen school buses. The company was renamed Prairie School Bus Ltd. and was the beginning of R.B.’s bus business.
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Colborne. In February of 1960, a large fire destroyed Wetaskiwin Motors. He was undaunted and operated the dealership out of a service station and body bay until the new building was rebuilt.
In 1961, his partners sold their interests in the school bus company to R.B. Along with a new partner, he continued school bus operations and charter work. The company also sold Blue Bird Buses and Carpenter bus bodies, and in 1964, their distributorship in Blue Bird was sold.
Few people are aware that Red Deer, Alberta, was the birthplace of North America’s largest privately owned people transportation company, the Pacific Western Transportation Group of Companies, headquartered in Calgary. The company currently operates four distinct people transportation business lines: Student, Employee, Motorcoach, and Transit—these feature well-known, recognizable, and reputable brands.
Student Transportation operations include Prairie Bus Lines (Red Deer and Rocky Mountain House), Cold Lake Bus Lines; Southland Transportation (Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Halifax); Century Transportation, McCluskey Transportation, and Montgomery Bus Lines serving Ontario and Diversified and Standard Bus brands serving British Columbia and the Yukon.
Always a man open to opportunity, R.B. Colborne entered into the equipment rental business (in partnership with Carmie Strong and Bob Hucal) with a new company called Diversified Equipment Company.
During the period 1962-1965, Sherritt-Gordon (now Sherritt International) located in Fort Saskatchewan, AB, operated an ammonia plant and began construction of two urea production facilities and subsequently progressed into the phosphate fertilizer business.
When the construction superintendent mentioned needing help getting workers to the job site instead of generators, jackhammers, or compressors, it was Colborne’s first significant contract providing employee transportation for construction workers (from Edmonton and area) to Fort Saskatchewan.
It didn’t take long for R.B. Colborne to secure motorcoaches for his fleet, and he quickly realized that the best business opportunity was not in the equipment rental business. The future was in employee transportation.
On June 6, 1964, the company name was changed from ‘Diversified Equipment Company’ to Diversified Transportation Ltd. R.B. Colborne began pioneering employee transportation services for Alberta’s construction, mining, and energy industries.
As Diversified Transportation launched its employee transportation service in Edmonton in 1964, a megaproject took shape in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Diversified Transportation was about to take its next step in the world of employee transportation.
The mega-project was the building of the Great Canadian Oil Sands, and when the details were unveiled in 1964, GCOS morphed into the largest construction project in the world. The scope and magnitude were enormous, beyond what anyone could have imagined.
The success of Diversified Fort McMurray operations is about the people who came to the community nearly sixty (60) years ago and those who continue to join the company. They are individuals that are determined and committed to success, believe in teamwork and innovation, and excel in delivering exceptional customer service while building a bright future for themselves, their families, the company, and their community.
Diversified has been part of the Oil Sands at every step of the journey, from moving men and women during early construction in 1964 to the production of the first drop of oil in 1967. We have brought hundreds of thousands of people to work and safely home again and we are proud of our 55 year relationship with Suncor.
On September 18, 1973, Syncrude received approval its project plant near Fort McMurray, and was Alberta’s second oil sands operation. It took five years to build. Diversified Transportation provided employee transportation throughout all construction phases and commenced daily scheduled employee transportation for Syncrude employees once production at the Mildred Lake site began in September 1978.
The Pacific Western Group of Companies transportation expertise includes the PW Transit Canada Group, which operates, maintains, and manages transit systems throughout British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.
R.B. Colborne and his partner, Alf Nelson, launched Standard Bus Contracting Ltd. in Prince George, BC 1964. The new company provided school buses, highways and related passenger services throughout the Region.
The transit story begins in 1967 when R.B. Colborne and Alf Nelson formed Prince George Transit after the service provider (at that time) informed the City of Prince George that they wanted to terminate their agreement.
After a series of meetings, discussions, and a referendum (that saw 80% support), transit services commenced in the late spring of 1967, during Canada’s Centennial.
Colborne and Nelson purchased five buses and improved transit services. Adult fares were 25 cents and Youths (under sixteen) paid 15 cents. What’s incredible is that the company has continually operated this transit service for over 55 years!
Looking back over the transit operations, the company feels very privileged to have been able to develop its remarkable partnerships with twenty-five (25) cities and communities served across Canada. All of the employees are recognized for their contributions, dedication and enduring commitment to provide outstanding transit service. The Pacific Western Group of Companies family has established unique and long-lasting friendships.
For many years, throughout the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, Pacific Western Transportation conducted premiere charter and tour motorcoach services that saw thousands of people and countless groups travel throughout Canada and the United States. Michael Colborne served as the Director of Pacific Western Transportation Charters and Tours.
The business focused 100% on Tourism with offices across Canada (Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Vancouver, Toronto, and Niagara Falls) and offered charter travel services to the United States and throughout Canada. Charter and Tour operations in Western Canada concluded in 1992, but PW Transportation in Toronto continued operations.
As part of its passenger transportation services, the company has provided intercity passenger services in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario through its Red Arrow Motorcoach, PW Transportation, and Ebus brands.
In the late 1970s, R.B Colborne was committed to providing people and families with a travel option. However, he would have to move mountains to make that happen.
What stood in the way was Greyhound, which had become synonymous with bus travel in North America. “Leave the driving to Greyhound” was their mantra, and their buses held a near-monopoly on scheduled runs between Alberta’s populated centers.
Regardless of what Greyhound thought, it was obvious that R.B. Colborne and his company did not want to “leave the driving to Greyhound.”
At that time, the Alberta Motor Transport Board had been cautious in granting provincial operating rights to bus companies. The landscape was treacherous; Greyhound operated 98% of all the scheduled bus service miles in Alberta. The onus was placed on companies wanting to offer alternatives to prove the service’s need and ability to provide that service.
R.B. Colborne operated a thriving charter business, picking up tours in the Edmonton and Calgary area. It was restricted to those towns and points along Highway 2, and he requested that it be allowed ‘allpoints pick-up’ throughout the province. He also applied for regularly scheduled runs from Edmonton to Calgary and Edmonton to Fort McMurray. “Greyhound has a monopoly situation,” said Colborne, “and we just want to provide a little competition.”
Taking on the Greyhound dynasty and dealing with the Alberta Motor Transport Board was a tough battle, but ultimately, he prevailed. In 1979, R.B. Colborne was successful in his application. It was the firstever competing scheduled service on the busy ‘Calgary - Edmonton - Fort McMurray route to be approved by the Alberta Motor Transport Board. He was able to launch the Red Arrow Motorcoach service.
The key to his win was offering a luxury motorcoach unlike anything ever seen in North America. This gave consumers not only a choice between companies but between travel styles. Colborne invested in Quebec-built Prevost Mirage motorcoaches for his “Red Arrow” luxury buses, and he introduced galleys featuring self-serve kitchenettes that included sandwiches. Onboard amenities featured; stereo headsets, reading lamps, airline-type seats with fold-down tables, and seating reduced from 47 to 28.
Eleven years later, Rick Colborne (R.B.’s son) was Red Arrow and Diversified General Manager and noted that “we always wanted to offer an upscale product. It took time for the service to develop and evolve.” Ultimately, with the introduction of Red Arrow’s single row of seats, a growing weekend travel trade gained both speed and profitability. In 1988, Rick Colborne noted that “with 14 ‘state-of-the-art’ coaches offering galleys, movies, telephones, pull-out tables, and plush extra-wide seats, business travelers will take notice” --- “it’s like sitting in a first-class airplane seat.”
While R.B. Colborne pioneered and shaped the company’s solid foundation, the “Colborne Family”; Rick, Lynne, Catherine, and son Michael have contributed to the company’s growth.
Catherine was part of the Red Arrow team in Calgary, while Lynne and her husband (Dennis Brennan) expanded the school bus business by adding Southland Transportation in Calgary. Throughout his career, Michael focused on building, developing, and growing the company. His career has been diverse, serving as Director of Tours and Charters, Operations Manager (Fort McMurray), General Manager Transit (Prince George), Corporate Vice President, and served as Pacific Western Transportation’s CEO and Chairman.
Over the decades, the company’s people have contributed immensely and strengthened the reputation and resilience of the organization. R.B. Colborne acknowledged that “our greatest strength is our people – it’s because of them that we are leaders in the industry. We recruit, train and retain only the best and we thank them for being an integral part of our success”. While the company has achieved another milestone (its Blue Sapphire Anniversary), it remains an industry leader and continues to be deeply rooted in its Core Values. Throughout its history, the company has consistently exhibited an uncommon zeal and desire to excel in delivering exceptional service to its customers in all facets of Canada’s transportation industry.
“Our greatest strength is our people – it’s because of them that we are leaders in the industry. We recruit, train and retain only the best and we thank them for being an integral part of our success.”
~ R.B.
Colborne
Throughout his life, a strong entrepreneurial spirit coursed through Duncan’s veins. Beginning in oilfield sales, Duncan would go on to found Stream-Flo Industries Ltd. in 1962.
A year later the company manufactured the first 42” swing check valve in Canadian oil and gas history. In the over 60 years since, the business he founded and led has grown to become an international oil and gas equipment manufacturer and service provider, with 34 locations in eight countries. It remains family owned and operated to this day.
Thanks to his keen foresight, Duncan’s expansion into the international market in 1975 in response to the turbulent North American market turned out to be a prescient decision, with the much-maligned and destructive National Energy Program being instituted only five years later.
In 1982, the creation of Master Flo Valve Inc. helped cement Duncan’s business legacy. His vision and under his guidance, the company has become internationally renowned for its line of surface and subsea choke valves and actuation. The acquisition of Edmonton-based automation company Dycor Technologies in 2017, served as a continuation of Duncan’s storied business legacy by further
A man of few words, but many knew him as honest, fair, generous, humble, intuitive, charming, and mischievous.
“To be in the oil patch has been just a pleasurable thing.”
~ Duncan McNeill
solidifying future growth.
Duncan’s passion for the oil patch and people in it was greatly admired amongst his peers. His fierce loyalty, belief in, and dedication to those whom he employed, a hallmark of his leadership. The support and guidance he provided to other entrepreneurs within the industry, immensely valued. With his “What’s the best way?” philosophy, Duncan championed the idea of providing service, value, and innovation, contributing to a better Canadian oil patch in the process.
In addition to Stream-Flo and the group of companies it spawned, Duncan’s oil patch business pursuits included CANPET and Canol in oil and gas exploration and production, and drilling contractor BoCam Drilling Ltd.
Through the course of his career, Duncan was recognized by his peers and their respective professional organizations. He was awarded the Prairie Regional Manufacturing - High Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1996 and was bestowed the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists Employer of the Year Award in 2002. He was enshrined in the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in 1998.
Duncan was also a founding member of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (now Enserva), a trade organization devoted to advocating on behalf of the nation’s oilfield services industry.
Always community minded, Duncan and his loving wife Verda have been generous in their philanthropy, making significant donations to various organizations over the years, with education and health as main focal points. The pair’s passion for supporting the next generation, evident in their giving.
Through a life well lived and one that was rich in travel, adventure, business, and community, Duncan left behind many friends upon his passing in 2022, including those whom he met through the Calgary Shriners, the Calgary OTS Oldtimers, countless rounds at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, and — last but not least — those whom he counted himself privileged to befriend through networking and finalizing deals with a handshake at the Calgary Petroleum Club.
A humble man, one who was part of the generation that helped build Canada’s oil patch by betting on themselves and their people — blazing a new trail for others to follow in the process.
“In all honesty, when you start out with no money, I don’t think anyone imagines something this size. I never thought that Stream-Flo would be an international company.”
DUNCAN MCNEILL 1931-2022Master Flo Subsea Choke in Houston Being Tested in the Hyperbaric Chamber
“It’s a real pleasure to belong to this very professional club.”
~ Duncan McNeill
William John Mooney was born in Regina in1929 and found his way to Notre Dame College.
“Father Murray taught us that people make things happen when they bring positive ideas to life, and make things work,” Bill recalled of the school’s founder. Bill was inspired to become a scholar, athlete, and leader.
In 1952 Bill Mooney was hired at Core Laboratories in Calgary, Newly married in 1953, Bill and Lois moved to Colorado College and studied geology. Four years later, he graduated and joined Cities Serve in Texas.
Bill moved up through the company, eventually becoming Canada’s chief geologist and VP of exploration. His career took him to London, England, and eventually back to Calgary.
Always a facilitator, in 1975, Bill helped craft the partnership of oil companies and governments that created the Syncrude Project. Canada’s second oil sands company after Suncor became operational in 1978. “Everybody was looking for the security of supply for Canada.“Bill recalled later, “and the oil sands was able to answer that problem.” It also helped assure future generations of a reliable supply of oil.
The last entry in Bill Mooney’s Week at a Glance book for April 30, 1976, reads:
Sixteen months before, the project teetered on the brink of extinction. Construction cost estimates had doubled. A partner had bolted. The rest set up teams to organize shut-down.
A group of believers, convinced that the oilsands were critical to Canada’s energy future, refused to let the giant die. Mooney, a master motivator, played a key role in reviving it. With persuasion, persistence and humour, he brought to a negotiating table people who might not other wise have agreed to be in the same room. The result was the historic Winnipeg agreement on an industry-government partnership to build Syncrude.
At the time, Regina-born Mooney was 45 and had been with CanadaCities Service for 17 years. His Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company (whose Canadian assets were later bought by Canadian Occidental) had been one of the first to invest in Syncrude. The original partnership also included Atlantic Richfield, Gulf and Imperial Oil. When preliminary clearing work at the Syncrude site near Fort McMurray began in November of 1974, the estimate for construction costs was $1 billion. A year later, construction contractor Bechtel reported the costs had doubled. The oil companies were already spending $1 million a day; $666 a minute. ARCO, which had big commitments in Alaska too, quit Syncrude.
“He’s an avowed and committed Canadian.”
Bill noticed people from every walk of life. “Your dad,” Rod Morris said to Bill Mooney Jr., “is the only company president I can see at lunch buying lunch for a couple of bit hands or a couple of mud hands.”
Bill Mooney was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also recognized in the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame and has been named a distinguished Saskatchewanian and awarded the Notre Dame Medal of Honour.
He has held multiple corporate directorships and has been influential in more than a dozen businesses, technical and professional organizations, in addition to participating in industry advisory committees to government on environmental and public policy issues.
In 2010, Bill Mooney was bestowed with the Alberta Order of Excellence. Throughout his career, Bill Mooney has been front and center during some of the most pivotal moments in the evolution of the Alberta energy sector, serving as a valued advisor to provincial and federal government leaders on a range of matters and policy. Central to his contributions has been his ongoing commitment to finding effective cooperative solutions between government and industry on issues of the day.
When asked what he is most proud of, Bill points to his family and all the great friends that have helped him do what he’s wanted to do over the years. What he has always wanted to do is to act as a steadfast Canadian and Albertan and a faithful promoter of the best interests of the province and country that he was honoured and privileged to call home.
Lois remembers her husband fondly “for his ability to communicate with people and his sense of humour. He had the amazing ability to make people laugh.” Bill’s guidelines, as a committed nationalist, were clear. “I think I was able, in a number of things I did with government, to make sure that it was good for Canada, Alberta, and the industry.”
“I love this industry and love the people in it,” Bill Mooney Sr summarized his own life. He died in 2016, leaving behind a legacy of service to the community, industry leadership, and dedication to the common good.
“He spoke for the Canadian oil industry, the ambassador.”
~Bill
Mooney Jr.
In 1934, Ron was born in the small town of Bawlf located in central Alberta. He established himself as a leader in the Western Canadian Oil and Gas business and worked for a remarkable 65 years in the industry.
During his tenure, he earned the respect of his employees and peers through his dedication to training and developing his employees and his integrity in business. Ron’s core belief was that “good management creates a strong company with loyal employees.”
Flint Rig Company Ltd. offered Ron his first job in 1956, which later became Flint Engineering & Construction Ltd, and eventually Flint Canada Ltd. Along his career journey he lived and worked in Edmonton, Estevan, Whitecourt, Red Deer, and Calgary, and ultimately rose to Flint’s President & CEO in 1978.
In the span of 20 years, he went from digging ditches to being the head of Flint’s Canadian operations, until 1998 when he retired. He differentiated the company and established Flint as a leader through leadingedge management programs, including: Total Quality Management (TQM), Stripes Program, Management Training Program, Presidents Award for Safety, and ISO 9000 Standards. While heading up the company he grew the employee base from 400 employees to over 1,200. Ron’s visionary leadership and early implementation of a strong quality management program led to the first strategic alliance in the construction services industry with a major oil company.
In 1992 Ron’s drive, integrity, and determination led him to pioneer a successful business relationship in Russia through the establishment of Flint Eurasia Ltd. He was the first in Canada to take the Canadian energy construction expertise and quality to the Russian oil and gas industry after the fall of Communism.
When Flint Canada sold in 1998, Ron purchased the Russian operation, Flint Eurasia, with minority partners. Flint Eurasia was the only Western Canadian oilfield construction company that stayed in Russia full-time, all others came and went on a project-by-project basis.
After each of his 52 trips to Russia, he came back with many whimsical stories of frustration and bewilderment about the Russian style of business. With every story he told, there was an undeniable impression that he truly enjoyed the challenge of running a business in a foreign country.
During this time, he also cultivated an appreciation for the arts and supported many Russian artists by purchasing their paintings and work. His passion for quality service and construction standards presently rings true in the Russian Industry as the policies and procedures he implemented are still in practice today by his former Russian employees.
Ron helped progress the industry by serving as a member of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, Quality Council of Alberta, Petroleum Services Association of Canada, and as Chairman of the Canada Eurasia Energy and Industry Alliance (CEEIA). Notably, CEEIA held many meetings with senior Russian leaders, including the Prime Minister of Russia. During this period, Ron was also the liaison person between the Canadian Oil & Gas Industry and the Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy.
At the age of 70, and without any loss of tenacity, Ron partnered with Stephen Smith in 2004 to form Strike Energy Services Inc., which later became Strike Group. Within 3 years, Strike was recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies with sales over $50 million, and by 2021 Strike had grown to have sales of $350 million and employed more than 1,200 workers across Western Canada.
Not only was Ron an astute businessman, but he was also a well-known philanthropist. He always ensured that his companies were looking at the big picture and giving back to the community. Both Flint Canada and Strike Group donated significantly to the communities surrounding their operations across Western Canada.
His generous nature led him to volunteer with many local organizations such as the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Calgary, and the United Way. Through a longstanding relationship with the Calgary Museum of Regiments, he was recognized as an Honourary Commander of the Guard for several years.
Over the years his unrelenting vision of continuous improvement and service ensured that he was getting the best from his employees and left a major imprint on the Canadian Energy Industry. For his substantial contributions to the Oil & Gas Industry, Ron was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in 2010.
“Ron was an unwavering champion of fostering the growth of management and leadership teams.
He wholeheartedly endorsed the concept of becoming our own ‘Leadership Engine’ through our exceptional in-house management training program, widely recognized as a pinnacle in our industry.
Furthermore, he firmly held a customer-centric approach − that the customer is the judge, jury and executioner!”
~ Stephen Smith, CEO Strike Group
His accomplishments were enormous. He launched a start-up that grew into an empire. His flagship, Paramount Resources Ltd., is the oldest public independent in the Canadian oil patch. Armed with a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Manitoba, Clay joined Chevron Oil (then Standard Oil) in 1959. He set out on his own in 1969, with C.H. Riddell Geological Consultants. By 1971, he had incorporated Paramount Oil and Gas Ltd. Clay took the accumulated assets public in 1978 as Paramount Resources Ltd.
The petroleum industry was in its adolescence and earth scientists like Clay built the industry almost day by day. A highly skilled geologist, Clay studied rocks with precision and quite literally never left a stone unturned. To his trained eye and unconventional mind, a unique air-drilling technology proved the key to extract low-pressure natural gas from shallow reservoirs in northeast Alberta.
CLAYTON HOWARD RIDDELL
Clayton Howard Riddell was a legendary pioneer, wildcatter, risk-taker and tireless contributor to his community and country.
As petroleum pioneers, Clay and his colleagues created Canada’s most powerful economic engine in the second half of the 20th century. The federal government encouraged these trailblazers to explore and produce the “essentials of modern industrial Man,” which the 1957 final report of the Royal Commission on Canada’s Economic Prospects, called oil and gas.
The petroleum industry became the greatest single contributor to Canadian national wealth and international trade. Clay and his fellow explorers figured out the finance, the tools and the techniques to extract the energy that continues to fuel society today.
As a wildcatter, Clay put his money where his map was and staked a career on hard work, powerful thinking and luck. He hunted in a wilderness of breathtaking beauty amidst the bears, bugs and mud.
This led to the discovery of shallow gas in the Grosmont formation and the “line that Clay built,” the pipeline lateral to Liege. Clay created Paramount from the ground up, always with deep conviction that the land must be left the same or better for his being there.
Clay uncovered over one trillion cubic feet of natural gas in northeastern Alberta alone. That was only the beginning of his brilliant career that would lead him to discover many more prolific fields in northeast Alberta, as well as the Cameron Hills, Liard Basin, Colville Lake and Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories, and then back south to Kaybob and the liquids-rich Montney in central and northwest Alberta. His success extended beyond exploring and he created independent companies to develop, produce and market discoveries. All the while, Clay controlled his destiny by keeping a controlling interest in the flagship, Paramount Resources.
As Clay and his fellow pioneers built an industry, they developed a value system based on trust and respect. A deal was sealed on a handshake. “It’s never been about accumulating wealth,” Clay said in 2017 when he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, two years after his Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame induction. “It’s been about building something, competing with your peers, the love of the chase!”
That chase led to regions that the global oil and gas giants ignored, considered trivial or had written off. Taking the unconventional way, Clay also found himself in some of the most magnificent parts of this planet.
Exploring beyond the familiar gave Clay the edge and the North presented a panorama of possibilities. Everything seemed as limitless as the sky to the scientist who searched to unveil the mysteries of the earth. Clay mapped and lived off the land, lakes and rivers. He searched on foot, canoe, horse-back and helicopter.
Clay and his fellow pioneers knew how to survive in the bush if they must. They understood the wild and its creatures. Most of all they respected what the land could give and what it could swiftly take away.
Throughout it all, Clay lived a life of wonder even in the face of adversity. Born on July 13, 1937, during the waning edge of the Great Depression, Clay knew what harsh realities could bring. His adventures were filled with formidable challenges where triumph hid beyond the horizon. Yet fear never kept Clay from the excitement of exploration and the well of possibility.
No matter the circumstance, Clay chose to dwell not on adversity, but on opportunity. It is endless, he believed, if often elusive. The prospects could be found, quite literally, between a rock and a hard place. As a geologist, Clay often lived that metaphor in full reality. His unique route of discovery depended on respect for the land, the people and the environment.
It was hard work and often meant long and lonely days and nights in the furthest reaches of the northern wilderness. The equipment of the day could be unsafe or barely operational. Travel by air was essential but entirely dependent on pilot skill and luck. Helicopters were seldom grounded unless they could no longer fly after managing to stay aloft with wire, string and a prayer.
Clay and his colleagues gambled on the clues the rocks revealed. A well – seldom the first – could underwrite a future in the business of big risks and rewards.
He understood the past, planned for the future, and lived with his feet firmly planted in the present. Amongst the last of the true wildcatters, Clay knew that dreams fueled discoveries. He also invested in the technology and energy of tomorrow. He trusted science, because that’s how it all started, and his instincts, because they told him when to act. Everything begins in the minds of those who dream big, work hard and face doubt head-on.
Clay and his fellow earth scientists studied the formations of the land within a wilderness of possibilities. Today, many of the secrets are known. Yet the mindset lives on. It’s an attitude that defies convention and questions well-trodden pathways. A new generation follows, armed with science that discloses another level of understanding. Energy continues its creative journey as daughters, son, and son-in-law, with their children too, forge paths that will fuel the future, respectful of the environment.
Clay was a leader within his community and his professional associations. He was an attentive listener and deep critical thinker because that’s where solutions and opportunity collide. Clay represented his profession in submissions to government, providing facts and advice to politicians willing to listen and regulators about to act. He worked relentlessly to inform his fellow citizens on the Canadian energy sector and its contribution to the economy.
For his philanthropy and industry contributions, Clay was awarded numerous honours, including the Stanley Slipper Gold Medal by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, received an honourary doctor of science from the University of Manitoba and an honourary doctor of laws from Carleton University.
Clay and his beloved wife Vi, a life-long nurse, formed the Riddell Family Charitable Foundation that invests in the passion of others to fuel innovation in education, energy, health, sports and social endeavors. Building and serving is the Riddell family philosophy, now passed on to their four children, Lynne, Sue, Jim and Brenda.
Loving the profession he chose and the company he created, Paramount, Clay never retired. He left us far too early, on September 15, 2018, but his spirit continues to inspire today. While the oil patch of old is no more, its descendants ever more efficiently generate the energy of tomorrow. Respect for the environment goes hand-in-hand with the transformational business of bringing energy to the world. That is the Clay Riddell way.
*Adapted from An Unconventional Man, The Life of Clayton H. Riddell, by Sydney Sharpe, Sutherland House, Toronto, 2023
RON & MARG SOUTHERN Building an Industry
Born in Calgary on July 25, 1930, Ron Southern had always possessed a rare combination of entrepreneurial zeal and unflinching determination.
At just eight years of age, he bought gelatin capsules at a local drugstore, painted them, stuck a ball bearing inside each one, and sold them at the Calgary Stampede as Mexican jumping beans. Later, he would organize his friends into a crew to cut his neighbours’ lawns. Into his teens, he worked summers as a busboy at the Banff Springs Hotel, doubling as a night porter.
“I was working just about 24 hours a day there,’’ Ron would recall, “sleeping on a linen pile at night and putting sandwiches underneath my busboy jacket to be able to not have to go to the beanery to eat.”
Around the same time, while attending Crescent Heights High School, he met his future wife, Margaret Southern (nee Visser). Born on February 26, 1931, she was an ideal complement to the ambitious young man. Her father, Charlie Visser, spent his entire working life on oil rigs in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories, and she was used to the long hours required to be a success.
Time and again through the years, she provided clear counsel, encouragement, and an unwavering belief in the vision of her determined husband.
The two were married in 1954 and, from that day forward, Ron and Marg Southern were inseparable in business and in life. With the support of a small but mighty handful of individuals, they authored a true Alberta‐built business success story—one with its foundations firmly rooted in the bedrock of the province’s natural resource sector.
It began in 1947, just as the world was healing. Emerging from the shadows of World War II, life had begun stuttering back to normalcy. Moviegoers flocked to theatres to pay 15 cents for a ticket in the balcony to see the original holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street, while Perry Como, Vaughn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra released chart‐topping records. Also that year, in a small family bungalow in northeast Calgary, Samuel Don Southern (S.D. Southern) and his then‐17‐year‐old son Ron established a trailer for‐rent business they hoped would bring in enough money to enable the youth to study medicine at university.
Ron’s summer jobs at the Banff Springs had helped him save $2,000, a not inconsiderable sum for the time. His father pitched in $2,000 from his mustering out credits as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the two started a small trailer rental business, providing remote lodging for the oilfield’s earliest pioneers. They started with just 15 trailers, purchased while S.D. vacationed in Vancouver. They called the company Alberta Trailer Hire, which would later become known simply as ATCO.
But the basic design of ATCO’s rental trailers would eventually prove inadequate for the harsh environment and austere conditions of northern Alberta. So, in 1952, Jim Turner of Shell Oil Company told Ron as much. “I’d sold him a couple of house trailers,’’ Ron recalled. “He said to me, ‘Ron, these damn things are cold, coming apart. We’ve gotta get something that will be strong and warm.’ ”
So, after a little prompting and starting with a rudimentary design sketched out on a napkin, the Southerns got to work. Although they
couldn’t know it at the time, with this pragmatic decision to build their own products, they would seed a new industry, one that would forever change how natural resources were developed around the world—the manufacture of purpose‐built, versatile, configurable, and durable workforce housing.
In the decades since, ATCO has operated in more than 100 countries around the world, and its operations now comprise modular structures, logistics, utilities, energy infrastructure, transportation, retail energy, and land and development.
“Of course, if you ever could’ve imagined it to be as big as it is, you would’ve taken a deep breath and said, ‘What am I getting myself into?’”
Marg mused in 2020, closing in on ATCO’s 75th anniversary. “But because we were young and wanted to build something it was exciting, more than any other word I can think to fit it.”
Although the company’s operations have increased in scope, scale and complexity, it has never outgrown its strong family values and pioneering spirit instilled by Ron and Marg—a philosophy that has been championed by successive generations of ATCO employees.
“A dream is never just a dream,” Ron would say. “It’s the wish to change your world. It takes spirit, energy, and commitment. It takes passion, joy, and happiness. It takes vision, imagination, and belief. It takes Excellence to make dreams a reality.”
Ron and Marg’s contributions to their community extend far beyond Alberta’s oil and gas industry—and their personal and professional achievements are many.
Most notably, they built the internationally renowned Spruce Meadows Equestrian Centre in Calgary. Their dream from the start was to create a unique environment of “good friendship, good commerce, and good sport”—a place where all visitors were treated as royalty. It has twice been named the world’s top show jumping facility, and it remains one of the world’s finest competitive show jumping complexes.
Together, Ron and Marg Southern have left an indelible mark on Alberta’s oil and gas sector, and on the face of Canada. Their legacy will long be characterized by a ferocious will to succeed and a remarkable ability to bring people together, from all walks of life, to make the world a better place. Theirs is a legacy of excellence.
“Going far beyond the call of duty. Doing more than others expect. This is what Excellence is all about. It comes from striving, maintaining the highest standards, looking after the smallest detail and going the extra mile.
Excellence means caring. It means making a special effort to do more.”
~Ron Southern, Founder, ATCO
GUS AND BETSY VAN WIELINGEN
Gus and Betsy Van Wielingen were Canadian immigrants with deep roots and a shared history within the Netherlands and northern Europe.
What was particularly unique about their lives was the extreme adversity each had to overcome during the war years of 1940-45.
During those years, they lost all their possessions and the security of their homes. They lost family members, friends, and the life they knew had been torn asunder.
They lost their freedom and their dreams; Betsy – as a Dutch prisoner in a Japanese war camp – and Gus – as a terrorized German Jewish refugee in the Netherlands.
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
~ By William Ernest HenleyBetsy endured three and a half years of harsh and demoralizing conditions in captivity in the Dutch East Indies. She and other prisoners had to bow to their captors or be beaten. In the same years, Gus was hiding and literally fighting for his life within the Dutch resistance. Eighteen of Gus’s family members were killed in Nazi war camps including his sister. His mother was a survivor of Auschwitz, and his father narrowly escaped the death camps by hiding in the Netherlands.
Gus and Betsy both experienced the unspeakable horror and brutality of war, and each incurred great loss. They came to Canada seeking freedom, opportunity, and an environment absent of prejudice and persecution.
For Gus, the opportunity was to apply his extraordinary business acumen and technical background within the energy sector. For Betsy, it was the opportunity to raise a family in a safe and supportive community. Betsy was quiet, low-profile, loyal, and dedicated to her family. She possessed a positive, “one-foot-in-front-of-the-other” survivor’s mindset. Gus possessed the same, but with uniquely different qualities. He was a bold and visionary entrepreneur with a fierce “can-do” attitude, and, unlike Betsy, he was unafraid of visibility and profile. He was determined, truly resilient, and undaunted by new challenges. In his war papers he carried the poem Invictus, meaning unconquerable or undefeated in Latin.
Like many immigrants after the war, Gus and Betsy offered their new homeland a depth of character born within the conditions of deep adversity. When the national anthem played, Gus would stand and put his hand on his heart and invariably would be overcome by tears.
Gus came to Canada with nothing but technical know-how, ambition, and true grit beyond what most could appreciate, and he became a giant in Canada’s energy sector.
Gus was one of the very early members of the Calgary Petroleum Club joining in January of 1953, almost exactly 70 years ago from the time of this writing.
ODE: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life’s star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And Cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home:
~ By William WordsworthDARYL K. (DOC) SEAMAN
BYRON
J. (BJ) SEAMAN
DONALD
R. (DON) SEAMAN
The Seaman Brothers: Oil Industry Visionaries
Born in Rouleau, Saskatchewan to parents Byron and Letha Mae Seaman. Doc, B.J. and Don were among the first wave of adventurous oilmen who pioneered the industry after World War II and became some of Alberta’s most successful oilmen and industrialists.
The pain of unemployment with thousands of jobless Canadians riding the rails across the prairies during the Great Depression had a lasting impact on the brothers. The core value of hard work was instilled at an early age. Their father was a road contractor and entrepreneur hit hard by the great depression and the War. As youngsters, Doc, B.J. and Don would help their father with his road building business. It was their father’s wish that they continue as a family business, but their mother was insistent that her children first earn an education.
In fact, Letha Mae was the driving force behind her sons and daughter obtaining a university education. It was a testament to her character that all four of her children graduated from the University of Saskatchewan, Doc, B.J. and Don all graduating in Mechanical Engineering and daughter Dorothy in Home Economics. Over the years the University has honoured all three brothers with an Honourary Doctors of Law Degree.
Integrity, honesty, and loyalty, both personally and professionally, are values the brothers carried with them throughout their lives. A good deal should be good for both parties; your word is your bond; a handshake sealed the deal. These principles were fundamental to the Seaman Brothers.
Their business lives reflected the words of former U.S. President, General Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Engineers build for the future, not merely for the need of people but for their dreams as well. Thus, inherently, the engineer’s work is a fearless optimism that life will go forward and that the future is worth working for.”
As the eldest brother and a true visionary, Doc would often come up with the “idea” and then with the collaboration of Don and B.J, the vision would come to life. In 1949 the wheels were put in motion and by 1950 Seaman Engineering and Drilling was operational.
In 1962 the company name was changed to Bow Valley Industries. Embracing the philosophy that the essence of business is being able to reliably measure risk and make it work, the company grew exponentially.
Ultimately, this led to a venture which resulted in their largest discovery, striking oil in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland in 1975. Joining with two Norwegian companies, Bow Valley constructed a state of the art, semisubmersible it named the “Odin Drill.”
Drilling commenced in September 1974 and after eight months, Bow Valley discovered a massive underwater oil field which it named the “Brae Field” and from which flowed 22,000 barrels of oil per day. The Brae Field remains one of the largest ever discoveries of oil in the North Sea.
Into the 1990s, Bow Valley Industries had become one of Canada’s largest oil companies. In 1992, the Seaman Brothers sold the company in what at the time was Canada’s largest financial transaction in the industry.
Among the greatest satisfactions for the Seaman Brothers was providing its employees, at one point exceeding 3000 people, decent, quality jobs. They demonstrated their loyalty and commitment to their staff by pioneering benefits such as health and retirement plans, education rebates and stock options which were revolutionary at the time. Their premise was to share what they had built. The brothers understood that true success comes from the support of many.
The influence and positive impact of Doc, B.J. and Don extended well beyond their business ventures. They made significant contributions to multiple causes and events in the community including the 1988 Olympics, the Calgary Flames, the Seaman-Hotchkiss Foundation, the Seaman Family MRI Research Centre, the University of Calgary’s NeuroArm Project, the Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Club, Seaman Stadium and the University of Saskatchewan to name a few. Their record of philanthropy has been extraordinary.
Doc coined the phrase “Staying in the Game,” which was adopted by all of the Seaman Brothers who never retired but continued to contribute. The oil patch, the community, the country, indeed, the world all benefited from the extraordinary vision and tireless efforts of the three Seaman Brothers.
“Leave it better than you found it”
~The Seaman Brothers’ philosophyLeft to right: Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman, born April 28, 1922; Donald R. (Don) Seaman, born July 26, 1925; Byron J. (BJ) Seaman, born September 7, 1923.
F.S. MANNIX (FS) Beating the Odds: The Mannix Family in Business
Frederick Stephen Mannix was born in 1881 in Stonewall Manitoba. He came from old pioneer stock.
His father, George Mannix, immigrated from Cork, Ireland and came west with the Wolsey Expedition. He later married Frances Bunn, whose heritage went back to officers of both the North West Company and the HBC.
He left home at 14 and by age 17 had purchased his first slip and team of horses and was contracted to “move earth” as a sub-contractor for the Canadian Pacific Railway branch lines system. FS was a shrewd businessman and rapidly expanded his business to 60 teams of horses for railway and other construction.
In 1904, he established his company’s headquarters in Edmonton after securing a contract with the Canadian Northern Railway. This move, and the formation of Alberta in 1905, linked the Mannix family to the development of Alberta from its very beginning. He tried his hand very early in the oil business in 1914, but this was one of a few businesses that didn’t work out.
In the years following, FS continued to develop his railway construction business, earning a reputation in the industry for his incessant motto of “Do the job, Do it right, and Do it on time.”
With his continuous desire to grow, he helped build the southern Alberta irrigation system with the building of many canals, small dams, and the road network system for the province.
In 1911, he had the largest irrigation contract at the time in Canada, bringing water to the Palliser Triangle. Moving into real estate ownership, and agriculture through the acquisition of Thumb Hill Ranch in southern Alberta, he began to diversify. But, entering the Great Depression, FS had to sell his horses in an attempt to keep his business alive.
In 1934 he had an opportunity to enter the coal mining overburden stripping business, the turning point in Mannix fortunes. His reputation as a great earthmover provided the natural progression to removing the topsoil above coal resources, which became the only viable way to mine coal and provide energy with low Depression-era coal prices.
The mining of coal soon became another part in FS Mannix’s construction company. In 1942, at 61, FS was in ill health and decided to retire. He searched for some way to finish the educational process he had begun with his son, Frederick Charles, so he looked around for a buyer of the company and sold 51% of his interest in Fred Mannix and Company to Morrison-Knudson, then one of the largest heavy construction companies in the world.
Nine years following, in 1951, FS Mannix passed away at the age of 70. However, he lived long enough to see his son, FC, buy back the company from Morrison-Knudsen, after running the company under the mentorship of M-K’s owner, Mr. Harry Morrison.
FS is remembered as an exceptionally hard worker and prudent businessman, never faltering on his word. He was admired and respected for his inspiring leadership and his care for both family and employees. In the early days of the Depression, with no work in the winter, he housed and fed his employees until spring. And he started the Mannix tradition of knowing his workers and their families by their first names. FS continues to be recognized as one of Alberta’s earliest entrepreneurs, who built and significantly influenced the development of Western Canada.
F.C. MANNIX (FC) Beating the Odds: The Mannix Family in Business
Frederick Charles Mannix was born in 1913. From an early age, he worked for “the Outfit”, doing many of the grubby jobs. By the age of 22 he was working full-time in the family construction business.
Through the Second World War, FC seized the opportunities to develop the Company that would later help build significant portions of Canada’s post Second War infrastructure, especially in the energy sector. From 1942 to 1951, under M-K’s mentorship, FC built many airports for the war effort and increased his ownership of the business to 49%. By 1951, he gained full ownership of the Mannix company.
The new Company was incorporated as Mannix Ltd. and later, in 1975, as the Loram Group. In the early 1950s, the construction company pioneered winter pipeline construction which led to diversification building Pembina Pipeline, linking Edmonton with the new Pembina oil field.
Over FC’s lifetime, his companies and partnerships helped build parts of every major pipeline in the country: the TransCanada, Interprovincial, and Transmountain. FC also made the audacious decision to invest in the coal industry at a time when coal was disparaged.
His gamble paid off and would mark the beginning of the Mannix family’s major investment in coal. Later, under his son Ron’s leadership, Manalta Coal, Ltd would become the largest coal company in Canada.
The construction company extended its reach across the country, to play an important role in the construction of most major projects: the opening of the Athabasca oil sands, the TransCanada highway, the Toronto subway, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the Arctic Dewline during the Cold War.
FC withdrew from active involvement in the business in the 1970s. In 1972 his eldest son FP was named President. With other changes, the second generation successfully passed control of the Loram Group to the third generation and FC resigned from all board positions and gave control to the next generation by 1981.
In recognition of his many accomplishments and contributions to Canada, in 1979, FC was honoured by Junior Achievement as one of the first inductees into The Canadian Business Hall of Fame. Then, in 1985, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
The Mannix business changed significantly from the early days of FS, but one thing always remained the same, the value of and appreciation for the efforts of all their employees and their families that contributed to the success of the business.
FC was quoted as saying “…we are not so concerned with the amount of machinery we own, but the people who run it; we are not so concerned with the jobs we are doing as with the people who are doing them.”
FC made sure his employees knew his appreciation for their efforts and ensured they were well taken care of. To recognize the loyalty of employees, FC and his sons created the Loram Quarter Century Club to honour employees that served the group of companies for 25 years or more.
FC also believed that it was incredibly important to give back to the community and gave generously to charities throughout Alberta and Canada. In 1965, FC and his wife Margaret, together with their three children, founded the Carthy Foundation, currently under the stewardship of the fourth generation. In addition, his wife Margaret was one of the founders of the World Wildlife Fund. Furthermore, FC was one of the Founders of the Canada West Foundation, the United Appeal, and the Calgary Foundation, a charity focused on improving the lives of Calgarians.
FC passed away at the age of 81 on July 29th, 1995, but his many legacies remain. Although an intensely private man and remarkably reticent to talk about his own accomplishments, he was a man of exceptional talent and vision, who had a major role in building Canada’s infrastructure, especially in the energy business. He continues to be recognized as one of Canada’s greatest builders and entrepreneurs.
F.P. MANNIX (FP) Beating the Odds: The Mannix Family in Business
Born in Calgary on February 24, 1942, Frederick Philip Mannix is the eldest son of Frederick C. and Margaret Mannix. He is part of the third generation of a pioneering family that has played a significant role in building Canada.
Early in life, FP was imbued with his grandfather’s and father’s ethic of hard work, and discipline in business. At the age of 12, he accompanied his father to New York on a summer business trip and then on to Sept Iles as a labourer on the seven-island railway job.
FP enjoyed an early introduction to the Canadian military as a student at Ridley College in Ontario. He joined the Army Cadet Corps and thrived under the discipline and the sense of tradition. FP attended the University of Alberta and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1966.
In 1967 he became the project manager on the Alberta Resource railroad, in addition to increasing responsibilities in the Group.
In 1975 the diversification of the business led to the formation of The Loram Group of Companies. In 1978, management of the operations and staff of the Loram Group’s parent holding company, Loram Co. Ltd., transferred to a new company, Mancal Ltd. and FP was named chairman of the board, and his brother RN was named President and CEO.
He continued the work of the construction oil and coal companies and in the late 70s, FP expanded the oil and gas interests of Pembina Corporation, buying Western Decalta Petroleum Corporation, thus more than doubling the company’s oil and gas exploration and production. During this time, he also helped expand and develop the Mon-Max joint venture, which became a major engineering design firm that helped build numerous pipelines, gas plants and compressor stations for the oil and gas business.
The first few years of the joint venture were tough, as up until that time, process plant design and construction had all been done by American companies. However, the excellent people in the Mannix organization gave the joint venture credibility and they soon won many major contracts, such as the liquid sulphur storage plant in Okotoks, a job from Imperial Oil to build an extension to their fabrication plant, and a 19-million-litre (five-million-gallon) refrigerated propane storage tank for Greater Winnipeg Gas, the first facility of this kind to be built in Canada.
In FP’s private life, his passion for Canada’s military resulted in him becoming the guiding force behind the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. One of the best of its kind in North America, the centre has assumed a vital role in fostering Canada’s military heritage.
FP is also the founder and Honourary Director of Calgary’s Canadian Global Affairs Institute, which works to promote the understanding of how international issues impact the nation’s prosperity and freedoms.
FP also became a founder of the combined Museum of the Regiments in Calgary. His extensive support of the military has included negotiating a deal for the transfer of a rare British, European, and Commonwealth military history collection from Bletchley Park in England to Calgary.
The field of environmental protection and conservation has also benefited from the work of FP over the years. Driven by his dedication to the use of natural resources and protection of natural habitats, he has coordinated events that have generated more than $20 million for Ducks Unlimited and funded waterfowl research and conservation projects in Alberta and across Canada.
FP has received many prestigious honours including the Vimy Award, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and numerous military awards. In 2006, FP received an Honourary Doctor of Laws from the University of Calgary and became an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2014, he was honoured with the Alberta Order of Excellence.
R.N. MANNIX (RN) Beating the Odds: The Mannix Family in Business
Ronald Neil Mannix was born on February 25th, 1948 and, like his brother, went to work at a very young age, first on the family farm and then as a labourer in the construction company as a foreman, a mine manager, and a variety of positions in the Mannix companies.
He completed a commerce degree from the University of Alberta in 1973 and immediately took on a significant role in the family business as a Mine Manager for Manalta Coal. In 1974 he became President of Manalta Coal and in 1978 he was appointed President and CEO of Mancal Ltd. (parent company for the Loram Group at the time).
RN spent the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s focusing on the development of operations, including taking the organization global. During RN’s time and particularly with the dedication and leadership of Lorne Gordon, David McClement, and Kevin Beingessner, all the energy assets and construction activities were expanded significantly. These included Pembina/Western Decalta, Peace Pipeline, Manalta Coal Ltd, Gregg River Resources, and construction activities of Loram International Ltd.
They rode the ups and downs of Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Policy, Premier Lougheed’s freezing of eastern slopes development, the collapse of global oil prices, and the coming of much stricter environmental measures, aimed especially at coal, oil and gas.
The decades of the 80s and 90s, were an incredibly active period, especially for Pembina, Manalta, Loram, and Techman, the engineering company, as they expanded the reach of the Loram Group. This included selling coal globally, mostly to Japan, and the acquisition and development of new mines, plus the exploration and development of the oil and gas business as Pembina bought further pipeline assets or expanded its existing lines.
The construction company continued to build pipelines, roads, and dams, or work in the oil sands for numerous companies. In 1997, RN and his brother FP made the courageous decision to take both Manalta Coal and Pembina Corporation public through income trusts, as part of their longer-term family and estate planning.
After the sale and splitting cash received and the majority of the energy assets, FP formed Mancal Corporation and continued in the oil, gas, and coal business. RN created Coril Holdings Ltd. to manage his business ventures, while continuing an ownership position in Pembina Corp, as an investment. Coril Holdings today is focused on global railroad activities, health care businesses, and Canada-wide real estate development.
Not only is RN recognized for his business success, with his latest induction into the Southern Alberta Business Hall of Fame with Junior Achievements in 2021, but also for his philanthropy. In 1997, following the sale of the energy assets, RN founded the Norlien Foundation to focus on early childhood development, and in 2015, expanded to include Music and the Environment.
The Cantos Music Foundation, under the excellent leadership of Mr. Andrew Mosker, led to the building of the National Music Centre in Calgary. RN’s philanthropic and business initiatives have been recognized with many awards, including the Order of Canada, the Alberta Order of Excellence, and an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta.
RN continues his family’s tradition of recognizing the total team effort necessary for success in business and the importance and dedication of his associates and employees, with yearly long-service ceremonies and awards.
Always a team player, RN, together with Hal Kvisle, Mac Van Wielingen, Thomas d’ Aquino, Nancy Southern, and Dawn Farrel, all truly exceptional energy and industry leaders and visionaries, together with Adam Legge as President, started the Business Council of Alberta in 2019.
As the longest-serving director and a continuing member of the Business Council of Canada, RN also supports the development of good public policy for all Canadians. Above all, his quiet, anonymous, but passionate, philanthropy has made a great difference to many, many Canadians.
