The Zeitgeist at Lavalin in 1983: A Moment in Time

I served as the Director of Communications at Lavalin Inc. from 1982 until 1984 when I moved to Toronto to accept a position at The Bank of Nova Scotia. It was years before the merger with SNC, and at the time the two companies were competitors although Lavalin was by far more famous and the poster child of what had become commonly known as “Quebec Inc.”, the emergence of large and often nationally and even internationally renowned companies. I was recruited by a friend of the company who worked with me at the Canadian Unity Information Office in Ottawa, a federal organization used to promote federal initiatives and decisions which was lodged within the Department of Justice under then Justice Minister Jean Chretien. Since I had recently completed a Ph.D. in France, my French was pretty exceptional at the time and I was excited about moving to Montreal and working in my second language.

Although I was still in my twenties with almost no corporate experience under my belt, I realized almost instantly that I had joined a remarkable company with a high-energy collection of men and women who appeared to absolutely love their work. Almost everyone in the organization at the time seemed to me to have layers of connections around them, either to the Lamarre family which ran the company, to politicians, to business and community leaders, and even to the arts. There were so many things that I realized only years later were truly exceptional such as an art curator who consulted with you as to what art from the company’s extensive art collection you wanted hanging in your office to a director of social affairs who dressed and acted like a celebrity, with a brilliant in-house graphic designer and legions of engineers who proudly spoke about the bridges, roads, office buildings and even cultural centres that they were building around the entire world. I remember how they spoke often of being one of the few companies in the world that could offer engineering and construction technology in two of the most important and widely-spoken languages in the world. They had so much pride in their work, and the hallways of every floor were filled with the awards and certificates of excellence that they had accepted for their projects in countless countries.

It was still very much a patriarchal organization and at its core a family company that revolved around CEO Bernard Lamarre, a benevolent leader whose laughter echoed throughout the company’s boardrooms often late into the evening. I was quickly introduced to Monsieur Lamarre and must have passed the test because before I knew it I was made Director of Communications and began being invited to many very senior meetings where managers discussed not only engineering and construction issues but finance, politics and human resources. These managers were always flying in from Africa, Asia, South America and all parts of Canada to report on their progress and to seek guidance from the Senior Management Team, but at the centre of that team was always the man himself, Bernard Lamarre who had an almost mythical quality to him within the organization, an Oz figure whose ideas were always at the core of every decision, of every direction taken, of every initiative.

The most remarkable memory of this time for me, and something I was never to encounter again in the many companies and organizations I worked for in the decades to come, was the level of joy that you always felt emanating from employees. Meetings were filled with laughter and people greeted each other enthusiastically in the hallways. Furthermore, people were always ready to listen to each other’s ideas and if you had an idea that people liked you were sent upstairs to present it to Monsieur Lamarre. He seemed to love giving young employees like me as many opportunities as I needed to shine, and soon I was overseeing the Annual Report, developing new policies and procedures, recommending charitable donations, running press conferences and accompanying executives to meetings in Ottawa to meet with government officials. On one occasion I remember that a group of senior managers recommended to Monsieur Lamarre to let me actually make a very crucial pitch to a group of francophone business leaders in Montreal to demonstrate their commitment to fostering young talent. Soon, I was writing editorials for Le Devoir and had a couple of prominent appointments at places the Company dealt with all the time like the Montreal Chamber of Commerce and a musical charity called La Fondation Wilfred Pelletier.

It was one of the most magical moments of my life. I never encountered corruption, and only have memories of a high-energy group of men and women who seemed authentically happy in their jobs and were extremely proud to be French-speaking Quebecois who were contributing significant improvements to people’s quality of life all over the globe but especially in third-world countries where the need for infrastructure and construction was the greatest.

In short, Lavalin may not have run itself like an English-Canadian company, may have been patriarchal and too much of a one-man show (something that would lead to many problems in future years), but I had the extraordinary good fortune of having been there at its very height, a shining example to the world of what Quebec could and did achieve. There are entire sections of major cities around the world, not to mention some of our great Canadian cities like Calgary, Toronto and of course Montreal, that look and operate the way they do thanks to Lavalin. I have no insider knowledge whatsoever of how this culture changed following the merger with SNC, but I suspect that the enormous pride of its employees continued as it grew into one of the largest and most famous engineering companies our country has ever known. Today, I am told that SNC Lavalin has become even more of a national and international concern and has lost some of the magic that went with working for a family-run, early generation “Quebec Inc.” firm. And of course, we all know only too well that it seemed in some specific operational areas to lose its moral compass at some point, with corruption and downright criminal activities permeating some of its management team. While these problems have long been dealt with and a major house-cleaning conducted, the thousands of proud employees across the country and indeed the entire world are now being seen by some Canadians as working for a shadowy enterprise, something that must be heartbreaking for them and their families.

I only know that the Lavalin I knew in the early 1980s, although it had some problems including way too much centralization of power and decision-making, was a dynamic, proud and very happy place to work where you authentically felt that you and your colleagues were making the world a better place. I suspect that the present-day employees of SNC Lavalin wish nothing more than to get through these crises that have dragged them all into the spotlight and to get back to the business of planning, building and watching communities around the world become better places to live for their residents. That is the company that I remember, and yes, I was extremely proud and grateful to have started my career there.

Dr. Gordon K. McIvor