Village Squire, 1977-03, Page 31BUSINESS
Small businesses ganging up to make a big noise
John Bulloch is a Toronto tailor. You
may never buy a suit from the man, you
may never even go into his shop. but he
could have a very important role in shaping
your future and the future of the country.
Bolloch is a real character, the kind of
guy who has convictions and will stand up
for them. He hasn't been happy with the
way the country has been run for many
years. His outlet used to be to buy
expensive advertisements in the Toronto
newspapers to tell his side of various
issues. But then a few years ago he began
to realize there were others who were
unhappy too and that by getting together
with them perhaps he could accomplish
more.
The Canadian Federation of Independ-
ent Business was formed soliciting a
membership among the hundreds of
thousands of small businesses in Canada.
Today the Federation encompasses some
40,000 businesses across the country and is
growing in the power it commands. Big
business and other big organizations may
not think the group important, but its
influence with government seems to have
grown. Recently the federal government'
appointed Len Marchand as the minister of
state for small businesses. Bulloch and his
group feel this is a real victory.
The organization is potentially important
to small-town areas like Western Ontario
where the majority of businesses is the
smaller owner -manager variety. Recent
economic thinking, and government action,
has all tended toward thinking more of
centralizing power among larger compan-
ies thought to be more efficient. Instead of
the neighbourhood grocery, the big chains
have taken over. Instead of the small
restaurant, the large fast-food companies
have taken a bigger bite of the food dollar.
Small factories have either been bought up
or forced out of business by large
companies, many part of the multi -national
giants.
Bulloch, going against all the establish-
ment thinking, says Canada instead of
relying more and more heavily on
multi -national companies to provide goods
and jobs, should specialize in small.
Canada, he says, is a "foreign -dominated,
resource-based, welfare state. As long as
our resources and our credit rating hold up
most of us can enjoy a pretty fair standard
of living. But this standard of living is a
house of straw."
Bulloch maintains that it is foolish to rely
on multi -nationals to build Canadian
industry because their interests are best
served by raising money in New York,
manufacturing in the Far East where
labour is cheap, distributing in countries
like Canada where people have the money
to buy, and then hiding their profits in
off -shore tax havens.
He's not only against big international
companies, though, he's against big
period. "Big institutions exert a subtle, yet
pernicious influence on our society. Their
sheer size makes them ponderous,
insensitive and inflexible." Big business,
big labour and big government all work
toward centralization, he says, but his
group wants to see public policy directed
toward a decentralized policy.
One of the major influences over Bulloch
has been E.F. Schumaher, a British author
of a book called Small is Beautiful, A Study
of F^onomics As If People Mattered.
One of the things that makes Bulloch feel
perhaps his message is getting through to
government is the fact that when he visited
Schumacher at his country home in Britain
last year, he learned that a member of
Prime Minister Trudeau's staff had been
there two weeks earlier.
Most thinking in terms of economics in
the last several decades has been that the,
more large-scale the production, the more
efficient. Yet Bulloch has illustrations to
show that it ain't necessarily so. In Britain,
for instance, the baking and brewing
industries are highly centralized. In
Germany, with roughly the same size and
For over forty years
Welcome Wagon hostesses
have been making calls
on newcomers - whether they
be within our own nation or
in a foreign country.
If you are a newcomer,
know of one, or are a businessman
desiring representation
in the newcomer's home, call
your local representative listed below
for WELCOME WAGON LIMITED.
II II
e�
s ("04
V LTD
Call your Welcome
Wagon Hostess now.
WINGHAM 357-3275
EXETER 135-2870
MITCHELL 348-8925
GODERICH 524-6654
STRATFORD 271-5856
THE VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH, 1977. PG:29.