Forget Not
A Thomson Family Memoir
A reckoning with a family’s past and a business empire’s future.
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Forget Not is a fascinating memoir of three Peters who share not only a name but a legacy. The youngest of the three, Peter Alfred Wolvin Thomson, it reflects on his grandfather, Peter Alfred Thomson, and, more centrally, the life and business career of his father, Peter Nesbitt Thomson. Set against the changing landscape of Montreal, Quebec, and Canada from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s, this book is a history of enterprise and family and a vision of energy and power that helped shape a nation.
The story begins with Peter Alfred Thomson, a Heinz salesman from Hamilton, Ontario, who co-founded the stock brokerage firm Nesbitt Thomson in 1912 and Power Corporation of Canada in 1925. His son, Peter Nesbitt Thomson, inherited a substantial fortune in hydroelectric and petroleum concerns, which he took into bold, creative directions across Canada and into the Caribbean throughout the turbulent 1960s. Rising nationalism in Quebec and resource nationalization would result in the sale of Thomson holdings to BC Hydro and the Quebec government under Jean Lesage during the Quiet Revolution. By the end of the 1960s, Peter Nesbitt had sold Power Corporation of Canada to Paul Desmarais. Betrayed by a provincial Liberal Party that he had long supported, Peter Nesbitt would leave Montreal for good after the Parti Québécois was elected in 1976. Peter Alfred Wolvin Thomson recounts his own path in investment banking and real estate development, culminating in the Cayman Islands and controlling interests in WestIndies PowerCorporation /CaribbeanUtilities Company, the first company based in the Cayman Islands to be traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Both a personal reckoning with a family’s past and a chronicle of social, political, and business history, Forget Not examines the forces that drove business enterprises and families from Quebec during a turbulent era that transformed Canadian history.
“Forget Not is at once a compelling family biography, an engaging memoir, and an insightful business history. Peter Thomson weaves his life into his influential father’s experiences, just as his father’s life is woven into that of his own pioneering father. Thomson’s obvious affection for his forebears is infectious and makes these men believable players in a surprisingly entertaining saga that forays into political events, unusual business ventures, and exotic places.” Roderick MacLeod, co-author of Spirited Commitment: The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation