Jean Ivan Gouin

Jean Yvon (Ivan) Gouin (February 15, 1916 – November 11, 2007) was a Canadian businessman and investor. He was the founder of North American Road Ltd., which grew to be one of the largest mining, heavy construction, industrial, piling and pipeline firms in Canada.

Early life Gouin was born to a Catholic family on February 15, 1916 in Vimy, Alberta, one of seven children of Rudolph and Rose Alma Gouin. In 1938, he worked at a grain elevator and in 1940, he purchased a general store with his sister. He later incorporated his company, North American Road Ltd, and seeing that the rapid expansion of farmland in the region would require additional roads to transport all the new crops, expanded the company into road-building. They soon won bids for projects in Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon, including the famous Alaska Highway. At the time, North American Road Ltd had invested heavily in the mining industry incurring high levels of debt when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau implemented the National Energy Program which put a heavy tax burden on energy companies who then pulled back on their capital investments making it difficult for North American Road Ltd to meet its debt obligations. immigrant from Yugoslavia.

Gouin died on November 11, 2007.

Gouin's creed was: "Be fair, but be firm. And plan the next day."