Neil Bruce, President and Chief Executive Officer, SNC Lavalin‎ | March 23, 2016

Hello everyone. After that introduction and the history of SNC Lavalin, even I learned some things today. There's clearly no pressure following on from all that. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to address you today. I felt it was important to make my first address of 2016 here at the Empire Club. Over the past decades, we have worked and delivered numerous major projects in Ontario that we're proud of. Close to 4,000 of our dedicated men and women continue to shape its future as designers, investors, constructors, and operators of iconic projects. This makes my presence today fitting as I wish to share my view on the role our business plays in Canada's growth and prosperity. Let me start with a personal story. Two weeks after my first job in oil and gas, I was sent to the Brent Charlie offshore oil platform in the North Sea. It was my first helicopter ride and first offshore platform. Imagine a platform with 64 storage tanks, each the size of four Olympic pools, sitting on a concrete substructure 150 meters above the sea, in 140 meters of water, built to withstand 100-foot waves. The weather was as harsh as a Canadian winter. I remember putting on layers of protective equipment and thinking, 'How can people do this?' A colleague helped me, and soon I was on the helicopter, the only one nervous. When we landed, I saw the massive platform with 600 people and a floating hotel. I found my shared room and realized the importance of each person doing their job. I was asked to help with 'structural punch listing' – I pretended to know, then learned it meant checking each of the 40-50 component parts, totaling 30,000 metric tons, to see what wasn't done. A single error could delay the schedule. I learned that everyone counts on each other, the importance of teamwork, safety, and efficiency. That experience taught me what it takes to achieve fantastic goals. This is what SNC Lavalin is about. We deliver important iconic projects to clients and communities in Ontario and around the world. I am an engineer by trade and passionate about our profession. Engineers have been shaping our world since the dawn of time. We generate energy from wind, water, or the atom, propel safe rail and transit systems, and more. At SNC Lavalin, our employees tackle projects with fierce dedication. We aim to consistently deliver sustainable, cost-effective engineering solutions that have a lasting positive impact for clients, the environment, and communities. Our work includes mines and smelters, like the Ambatovy mine in Madagascar, which produces 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 tonnes of cobalt a year, and has trained over 6,100 local workers. In oil and gas, we are helping build the Gorgon LNG project in Australia, the world's largest natural gas project, which recently shipped its first cargo. In infrastructure, we built Highway 407, 108 kilometers with 197 ramps and 156 bridges, and over 180 kilometers of light rail transit across Canada, including the Ottawa Confederation Line and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto. In power, we are involved in the Darlington nuclear refurbishment project, which will provide safe, reliable, low-carbon energy for 30 more years. We are also working on projects in China, Romania, and Argentina. Our nuclear supply chain includes over 180 Canadian companies. We also designed and built a power plant for Pearson Airport. At SNC Lavalin, we have seen significant change and improvement over the past three years. We tackled past challenges and are fully committed to ethics and compliance. Our strategic plan has stabilized the organization, improved our cost base, and aligned our businesses with market conditions. Our priorities are: creating a streamlined structure, delivering sustainable results, growth in our four strategic sectors – infrastructure, mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, and power – and building a performance-driven culture. We aim for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7% in 2017. In 2015, we delivered on our commitments, maintained a strong balance sheet with over $1.6 billion in cash, and a $12 billion revenue backlog. We secured an additional $2 billion in early 2016. Our diversity, expertise, and dedication will lead us to continued growth. We are a people business; our assets are our people. Everything we do ensures we continue to build what matters in Canada and overseas for the next 100 years. Thank you very much.

That's a really interesting point. I think if you truly believe in developing a sustainable future, you need to be doing all these things. The days of expats going overseas to do specialist work are finished. To grow, you need to build a local sustainable business everywhere you operate. That means engaging with universities, bringing engineers through, and working with partners. Just a couple of days ago, John Beck of Aecon and I talked about how we can do more to ensure younger people get apprenticeships and training to start their careers, much like my own start. I totally agree.

That probably needs to go to Preston more than myself, but thanks.

I think universities, education companies, and governments all have a role. From a company perspective, we see everything we do in that arena as creating our future. It's like a sports team developing younger talent. One thing I was proud of in the UK was the 'Determined to Succeed' program in Scotland, which filled the gap between industry and education around career advice. Academics aren't always the best at giving career advice, and business isn't always the best at academics. By teaming up with schools, even primary schools, we can explain the opportunities. We need engineers, but also many other skill sets – accountants, marketers, graphic designers, strategists. The more business and education get closer together, the better. We should do more of that.