John Bulloch

In loving Memory

Small business was in John’s blood. The son of a Toronto tailor and small business owner, John became a professor at Ryerson Polytechnic University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), teaching business and finance while helping run the family business after his father passed away. 

In 1969, John was famously sitting in the bathtub when he read a new government policy paper proposing to hike the small business tax rate to 50%. He was outraged, and it was from that moment of frustration and resolve that emerged a growing, national grassroots movement. He founded the Canadian Council for Fair Taxation and rallied thousands of Canadians and Canadian business owners to the Royal York Hotel in Toronto to fight back – and ultimately win – against the unfair tax proposal.  

That movement became the foundation for CFIB, which has spent 55 years challenging governments, amplifying the voices of small business owners, and fighting to make Canada a country where entrepreneurs thrive. 

Under John’s vision and leadership, CFIB pioneered a new model of grassroots lobbying. At a time when public policy debates were dominated by big businesses, big unions, and big governments, John built an organization that gathered input from small business owners across the country and translated it into clear, data-driven advocacy. John would travel across the country, meeting with politicians, holding speeches and rallies and speaking to small business owners himself to draw attention to their issues and concerns. This approach not only amplified entrepreneurs’ concerns to government but also professionalized small business representation in Canada.  

Over the decades, CFIB has become a central voice in debates on taxation, regulation, and economic policy, consistently pressing governments at all levels to consider the impacts on small firms. Governments came to learn that if John Bulloch and CFIB were knocking, they’d better answer the door. Many of the policy discussions that are now standard, such as the importance of competitive small business tax rates, red tape reduction, and reducing administrative costs, owe their prominence to the groundwork John built. 

In recognition of his passion and work on behalf of Canada’s small business community, John was invested into the Order of Canada in 1996. 

While much has changed since those early days where John and his loving wife Mary would come into CFIB’s small office on the weekends to vacuum up the staples from thousands of member survey ballots, the mission has not. Its enduring presence is a testament to John’s original vision: that the best version of Canada is one where independent business owners can come together to shape the policies that affect their livelihoods. 

We will miss John dearly, but we will carry his legacy forward, always.

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