Article content

Article content

Victor Dodig, who has led Canada’s fifth-largest bank for about a decade, said the country’s natural resources sector and its highly educated labour force should help Canada “come out on top.”

Article content

Article content

Article content

But he also said that the past decade could have been better.

Article content

Article content

“Let’s say the last 10 years have been, maybe not our finest hour,” Dodig, who retires on Friday, said at a Canadian Club event in Toronto on Monday. “Maybe I am being too kind in saying that. You lose a decade, arguably, you lose two decades. You lose two decades, you’ll lose a generation. And that is something really, really serious.”

Article content

The federal government has vowed to build new projects to boost the economy, which hasn’t been productive in recent years and is currently struggling with high unemployment rates. It’s also been trying to reduce its reliance on the U.S. ever since Trump began imposing tariffs on Canadian goods earlier this year.

Article content

Aside from the nation-building projects, Dodig also wants Canada to implement policies that can help people between the ages of 21 and 35, who he said “need hope” in an unaffordable environment.

Article content

“If you are making $75,000 in the City of Toronto, you have no hope for saving for a house. Old people want X, young people want Y and young people’s concerns aren’t being addressed,” he said. “If you look at the federal budgets and the provincial budgets and the city budgets of the world … you’d be shocked at how little is allocated to (younger people).”

Article content

Article content

Dodig also said there’s a need for more “capital dynamism” to create more small and mid-sized businesses.

Article content

Article content

“Nation-building projects are great. We need that … but that’s not going to rejuvenate the social fabric of our cities or our suburbs, where capital is desperately needed,” he said.

Article content

Dodig said many affluent Canadians are willing to invest in businesses that are high risk, but perhaps those losses could be treated as flow-through shares that can help deduct taxes.

Article content

Reflecting on his time at CIBC, he recalled how his first thought while applying for the CEO position was, “Holy s***, if I get this job, how am I going to do it?”

Article content

But the steps he took seem to have paid off. Just two per cent of CIBC’s earnings came from the U.S. when he joined the bank. Today, he said, that figure is about 20 per cent.

Article content

“The lesson that we have is not unlike the lesson that our own country is experiencing. When you depend on one market or one segment overwhelmingly, it is likely at some point in time to create problems,” he said. “So, our goal was to diversify beyond Canada.”

Article content

Dodig said there’s more room to grow for the bank in its wealth and commercial businesses.