Forget Not - A Thomson Family Memoir

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.