Bill Laidlaw will make a presentation titled: The 1946 Stelco Strike in Hamilton (70 years ago)
Bill was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1950 and first lived on Holton Avenue. He comes from a Stelco family where his father George Kitchener worked for 40 years throughout Canada.
Bill attended the University of Guelph, Queen’s University and the University of Toronto. After his formal education he taught history at Ridley College before moving to the business world in human resources with the Hudson’s Bay Company, Scintrex, Royal Trust, Paul Revere Life Insurance and Glaxo Canada.
He then moved to corporate affairs where he was the Director of Government Relations for ten years at Glaxo SmithKline where amongst other accomplishments he led initiatives to obtain extended patent period protection for the brand name pharmaceutical industry.
Bill then moved to the not for profit world as CEO of St. John Ambulance in Ontario, Director of Government Relations for CNIB, Executive Director of the Ontario Community Newspapers Association, Executive Director of the Biotechnology Association of the MaRS Centre, General Manager of the Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks and Executive Director of the Canadian Assistive Devices Association.
On the volunteer front Bill has been President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, President of the Empire Club of Canada and President of the Toronto Lung Association. Locally Bill has chaired the Ireland House in Burlington, served as board member for the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation, chaired the downtown Burlington Parking authority and was a member of the Burlington Lakeshore Rotary Club. He also sits on the board of the School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph.
Recently he was elected to serve on the board of the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre.
Bill played varsity football for the University of Guelph Gryphons. He is a long time fan of the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
He lives in Burlington with his wife Sara who is an executive with Intact Insurance. Sara’s father was a long time member of this club. He has two daughters Katie and Elizabeth who live in the region