7 Most Successful Canadian Businessmen

Canada is home to the most successful businessmen who have contributed much to the country’s economy. These Canadian business moguls can’t be ignored as they hold prominent positions, and a mention of their name will automatically ring a bell.

Most of them are founders and owners of their businesses, while others are CEOs of big companies. What comes to your mind when you hear of the name Mark Wiseman? He is the CEO of Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which has a top rank among the institutional investment fund managers.

Mark manages assets worth $119 billion, and before Alberta, he was a senior managing director, a chairman and held more positions in different organizations. Mark is just an example of some of the great Canadian businessmen.

Most Successful Canadian Businessmen

We’ll talk about other industrious businessmen like Eugene Melnyk, Tobi Lutke, among others, who have ensured Canada’s economy stays at the world’s top positions.

1. Eugene Melnyk

Among the famous businessmen in Canada, Melnyk could not miss the list. He is renowned for owning one of the National Hockey League’s teams, Ottawa Senators, and AHL’s Belleville Senators. His LinkedIn profile says it all about this man’s positions and what he owns.

Melnyk is not just the owner of these two teams. He is the governor and chairman of his teams as well. Besides investing in sports, this man also owns and chairs Neurolign Technologies Inc., a pharmaceutical company he acquired in 2019.

Neurolign specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions. Through his company, he aims to create awareness about brain health and wellness and treat those with related disorders.

Melnyk is also the founder and owner of Clean Beauty Collective Inc., a company that creates and manufactures quality beauty products. Clean beauty has been in existence since 2009, with Melnyk being the owner and chairman.

This wealthy Canadian businessman has a passion for horses and racing, which drove him to venture into real estate. He later purchased the Mockingbird Farm in Ocala.

After some years, Melnyk changed the farm’s name and founded Melnyk’s Racing Stables. His horses participate in racing, and they have won prizes. Melnyk has a net worth of about $1.20 billion.

2. Jim Pattison

Jim Pattison, a Canadian investor and philanthropist, comes second on our list. Pattison is a famous name because of the Jim Pattison Group. Jim is the owner, CEO, and chairman of this second-largest privately owned company.

With over 45,000 employees worldwide, Jim’s company makes annual sales of about $10.1 billion. Forbes ranked Jim as the fourth wealthiest man in Canada, with a net worth of approximately $5.7 billion, as of 2018. Jim featured in Canada’s Walk of Fame after being appointed to the Order of Canada in 1987.

He has many recognition certificates, including being in the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, among others. This man owns over 125 stores under different brands, and you probably have either shopped in one of those stores or bought a car through his dealers. If you have heard of Ripley’s Believe It or Not but don’t know the owner, it belongs to Jim.

3. Paul Browning

If you know much about oil, you must also know that Irvin Oil has the largest refinery in Canada and owns Canaport. Canaport is one of the deepest water ports in St. John. And as you read about Irvin Oil, did you come across the name Paul Browning?

Browning is famous for being the president and CEO of the IrvinOil. This Canadian businessman is also served as the president and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Americas, an industry dealing with power generation and energy storage solutions.

These are not the only positions Browning has served as he was also the president and CEO of Thermal Products for three years. Thermal Products is known for being the producer of heavy-duty gas and steam turbines, and they have power plants in the USA, France, and China.

He has ever been the managing director at MaK Caterpillar Motoren, Vice President at Turbomachinery Products, and a director at Turbotec, among other prominent positions.

4. Ian Telfer

What do you know about mining companies, and how many have you interacted with today? If you have a lot of interest in them, you understand that Goldcorp is the current leader by market capitalization.

It is chaired by a 66-year-old Canadian businessman, Ian Telfer. This wealthy Canadian also founded TVX Gold, a Canadian mining company, and Silver Wheaton Corp. He founded TVX together with his friends, but the friends chose him to be the CEO.

By the time TVX was established, there was a gold rush in Brazil, and TVX was formed to take advantage of that. Telfer also co-founds Renaissance Oil Corp, an oil company developing in Mexico in Mexico’s aftermath of privatizing its oil and gas industry.

5. David Thomson

Thomson is a popular name in Canada’s list of the wealthiest businessmen. David Thomson is the Thomson Reuniters Corp chairman, a family business he took over after his father’s death. He also took after his late father’s title, Baron Thomson of Fleet.

Before becoming the chair of their family business, Thomson was the manager at The Bay store and the Zellers president. He independently founded a real estate firm that he operated outside the Thomson empire’s family title.

His firm, Osmington, works on behalf of institutional shareholders to manage commercial real estate assets. The Thomsons have a net worth of more than $20 billion, being at the top of the list of the richest in Canada.

6. Tobi Lutke

Have you ever heard of Shopify? Shopify provides a platform for people to put up an online store and sell their products. At 40 years, Tobi is already a known billionaire Canadian businessman, the owner, CEO, and chairman of the famous Shopify.

This is not his first online shop. In 2004, he collaborated with his friends, and they founded Snowdevil, an online shop dealing with snowboards. Lutke used Ruby on Rails and built an e-commerce platform for Snowdevil’s site.

In 2006, his co-founders of Snowdevil started giving it less attention, and Lutke came up with Shopify. In 2014, he was named the CEO of the year. He has since been making a huge impression, with his company bringing in huge returns.

7. Bruce Flatt

Flatt is the CEO of Brookfield Asser Management. This 48-year-old wealthy Canadian businessman controls an international empire worth over $175 billion. He is also in charge of over 100 malls, 50 million sq. feet industry property, around 50,000 apartments, and a billion dollar-worth of assets.

Final Words

These men have passed all the odds to become the most successful businessmen in Canada. They are the top founders, chairmen, and chief executive officers in various Canadian companies. The good news is that most of these investors engage in charitable activities to support their communities.