WINNING THE WEST
ROGER GIBBINS LEAVES HIS MARK ON THE CANADA WEST FOUNDATION
After observing, considering and discussing politics and the economy for his entire career, Roger Gibbins had to confront the bottom-line numbers and office politics with the future of the Canada West Foundation at stake four years ago.
With an economic crisis reverberating around the world in 2008, Gibbins found himself faced with a very real financial predicament of his own. The four-decade-old public policy think-tank faced its own funding crisis which threatened its continued existence.
“We came within 24 hours of having to close our doors. It was that close,” Gibbins recalled as he looked back on his four-decade career as an academic and opinion leader. “I had to bring the staff together and say from this point on all salaries will be cut by 10 per cent, all benefits are stripped away, my salary is cut 20 per cent because I felt I had to do that.”
Under Gibbins’ leadership as chief executive, the foundation launched in 1970 managed to muddle through and eventually get back on solid financial footing.
For Gibbins, who had spent his entire career as a political science professor at the University of Calgary, the real-world experience certainly broadened his understanding of the big picture political and eco- nomics themes that defined his career.
“It’s been interesting being in this small business environment, where you see the ebbs and flows of the economy much more acutely,” Gibbins said. “It made me much more sympathetic to the swings in the business cycle. I don’t see myself as a businessman at all, but having to navigate these times showed me just how difficult it can be.”
Jack Mintz, who succeeded Gibbins as the head of the political science department at the University of Calgary, said as notable as Gibbins’ contribution to the public-policy debate has been, his work building Canada West and its brand has also been impressive.
“He’s certainly a very warm individual, sensitive to people and a very likable person,” said Mintz, who has known Gibbins since the mid-1990s. “More importantly, I think he’s shown good leadership with an organization that didn’t necessarily have huge funding. He had to work hard at that and did so successfully.”
As he prepares to step down at the end of this month from the helm of the Canada West Foundation, a position he has held for 14 years, Gibbins is reflective on the lessons he has learned over a career that has corresponded with the rise of the West politically and economically within Canada.
Some would suggest the two — Gibbins’ career and the rise of the political clout of the West — are closely aligned.