By Andrew Macdonald
Sad news out of Hantsport with the demise of Sir Graham Day, a rural Nova Scotia lawyer who went on to advise the 1980s UK government of Margaret Thatcher on privatizing national entities, including coal mines.
The moves revolutionized Great Britain.
In his book, The Codfathers, skilled author Gordon Pitts wrote about Day, and said: “From a small-town law office in Nova Scotia to the pressure-cooker boardrooms of London, England, where he was Margaret Thatcher’s privatization ace, lawyer and businessman Sir Graham Day has earned an international reputation as a tough-minded but charming negotiator.”
Day, who was 92 when he died, was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2006, five decades after graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1956. The gala Hall of Fame affair was hosted by CBC’s Peter Mansbridge.
“Born in Halifax, Sir Graham has received numerous honorary doctorate degrees from institutions in the United Kingdom, including City University (London), Aston University and Warwick University, as well as his alma mater, Dalhousie, where he continued his involvement as chancellor emeritus,” says his official bio.
“From 1983 to 1986, Sir Graham was chairman and CEO of British Shipbuilders and from 1986 until 1991, chairman and CEO of the Rover Group, a specialist automotive manufacturer.
“Appointed to these positions by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, his task was to restructure and privatize these government-owned companies. Also, in the early 1990s, including during the Gulf War, he was chairman of British Aerospace during a period of management and strategic realignment.
“In 1993, Sir Graham retired as chairman of Cadbury Schweppes plc, the global confectionery and soft drinks company, and as chairman of PowerGen, an electricity generating company where he led the privatization,” his bio states.
“A dedicated businessman, Sir Graham was until 2006 the former chairman of Sobey’s Inc.”
He was senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and consultant to Ashurst Morris Crisp, international solicitors in London, England. He was also counsel to the Atlantic Canada law firm of Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales.
At Dalhousie, he held the Herbert Lamb Chair in Business Education. From 1994 to 2001, he also served as the fourth chancellor of the university. In 2003, he was honoured by the unveiling of his official portrait. On the occasion, Dal president Tom Traves highlighted the achievements of Sir Graham, calling him “a great chancellor.” Traves noted that Sir Graham’s worldwide contacts, gained during a lifetime of global business achievements, were most helpful to Dalhousie.
Speaking in 2011, as keynote speaker at the Windsor Rotary Club’s annual Founders Night, then aged 60, he explained why he and hs wife Lady Ann Day, settled in Hantsport in 1993.
“As a parent and grandparent, I’m both interested and, from time to time, concerned about what the next generation may have to face,” said Day, a father of three, reported the Hants Journal
Day seldom touched on his time spent working for Thatcher, but described himself as an “unabashed” fan of the British prime minister.
IN his after-dinner speech, Day said he started closely monitoring international trade when he was managing industrial businesses in the United Kingdom. “Our business planning was quite detailed and quite sophisticated and it had two basic dimensions: we continually assessed our own capabilities…our strengths and our weaknesses. And, at the same time, we attempted always to assess the international environment within which we were doing business.”
In his 2011 speech, Sir Graham had a blunt message, topical today.
“Day shared a few observations he has made about Canada’s position in the world market. He warned that becoming entirely dependent on the United States for new revenue would be a mistake.
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“Over the long term, our relationship in trade terms with the U.S. is probably not sustainable. Just think of the things we buy and from whence we buy them. More and more of our goods and services are coming from the Far East and the Indian subcontinent,” Day said.
“Our challenge is going to be to try to export more to some of those countries so that we can balance our international trade.”
Day listed China and India as valuable trading partners in the world market. He said smart trading decisions and controlled government spending could help Canada, a country full of consumers dependent on many commodities priced in the world market, handle varying inflation rates without plummeting further into debt,” added the Hants Journal report.
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“We, in Nova Scotia and Canada, have generally moved away from being anything near self-sufficient in food production. And this exposes us to the vagaries of international food prices,” said Day.
“It won’t only be the fossil fuels which test our disposable income, but I think a wide range of commodities as well.”
In the 2010 issue of edition of Canadian Lawyer magazine, Sir Graham was named one of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential.
“The honourees were selected not only on their power and influence but also their ability to help shape the laws of this country, their commitment to cutting-edge advocacy, their contribution to the strength and quality of legal services in Canada and their social and political influence and involvement,” the magazine stated.
“Described by one panellist as ‘someone to be celebrated’, Sir Graham’s accomplishments during his career are indeed notable,” the magazine added.
He has served as an independent director of several major Canadian companies, including Sobeys Inc., Empire Company Ltd., CSL Group Inc., Scotiabank, Moosehead Breweries Ltd., Extendicare Inc., and Scotia Investments Ltd,
“Associated with Stewart McKelvey for approximately 17 years, in receiving this recognition, Sir Graham said, “While I appreciate the honour, I acknowledge freely that so much of this stems from my very happy relationship with Stewart McKelvey.
“I’ve been able to take much pleasure in observing the growth of the firm across Atlantic Canada and beyond, built on the critical principle of service to clients. Among the attitudes I applaud at Stewart McKelvey is the appreciation that the firm is more important than any individual member. The firm is all about its clients.”
Then Stewart McKelvey CEO John Rogers added: “ Sir Graham is an astute leader, mentor and visionary and personifies an enduring commitment to our region and our country. His colleagues and friends at Stewart McKelvey are proud of the recognition he has earned.”
A note from Sir Graham Day
At the beginning of 2021, Sir Graham wrote a Dalhousie note on his establishment of The Sir Graham Day Fund, which at the time celebrated its 10th anniversary.
“The concept for these particular scholarships was John Bragg’s, who imagined a scholarship funding opportunity to honour my contribution to business in Atlantic Canada and beyond. Over the past 10 years, the size of the fund has greatly increased and the scholarships have continued to grow in both number and value,” wrote Sir Graham
How it happened
“At age 60, in 1993, when I retired, I returned to Nova Scotia following the second of my two extended periods of work assignments in Britain. By 2010, I had been home for 17 years during which I had the opportunity to work with several Canadian businesses, particularly in Atlantic Canada, including some which, importantly, were owned by families. Now I was gradually winding down all of these involvements. It was time to try again to retire!,” he said
“Late one afternoon in 2010, Mr. Bragg and I met, and he advised me that he was speaking with the folks in Advancement as well as several of the companies with whom I had worked, in an effort to create a fund to recognize me and to support students at Dalhousie.
“For me, the value of this recognition is the significant benefits to date for deserving students and, over time, the growing impact on generations of future students,” observed Sir Graham.
The funding, then and now
“It was hoped, at the onset of the fund, that the initial value could approach $1 million; today the fund has grown to just over $1.7 million (2021) and will continue to grow. I have been a regular supporter of Dalhousie, so I continue to support the fund on an annual basis. Each year, I have the pleasure of meeting the students who benefit from the fund, and I am constantly impressed by their achievements and future ambitions,” added Sir Graham.
Why the Faculty of Management?
“A few years before 2010, Mr. Seymour Schulich had given a substantial gift to Dalhousie’s Law School. Although, as a law school alumnus, I continue to contribute to the law school, I concluded that the interests of prospective donors to the Day Scholarship Fund might have more in common with the Faculty of Management.
“Also, I had a Faculty of Management connection. For four years in the late ’70s and early ’80s I was very happily engaged in teaching in the graduate Business School and, concurrently, established with external funding the Canadian Marine Transportation Centre (one of the founding elements of today’s Ocean Studies Program),” he wrote.
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“By 2010, I knew very few of the then-current faculty in Management. However, my valued friend and former student, now professor emerita, Mary Brooks, was still there but on sabbatical in Australia. So I phoned Mary, received her advice and suggestions and then said to Mr. Bragg, when the fund is established, please designate it to the Faculty of Management. The initial details were agreed, and when Mary returned, she oversaw the first few years of the scholarship selections,” added Sir Graham.
“A final personal note: my estate plan includes bequests to Dalhousie, both to the Law School and for this Scholarship. I like to contemplate that, when the time comes, some of my surviving friends might decide to add just a little to the Sir Graham Day Scholarship Fund,” he wrote in 2021.
Sir Graham Day has died age of 92. He was ‘Fix-It Czar’ for UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher when her government privatized large swaths of British society. (NS Junior Achievements Biz Hall of Fame)
