The veteran business leader was honored with the Canada-India Business Council's lifetime achievement award at a dinner reception at the Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel, downtown Toronto, November 15. The award coincided with the 25th anniversary of the founding of the C-IBC. Bata, who founded the C-IBC, emphatically said he loves India and Indians.

"People in India consider Bata to be an Indian company," he quipped during an interview with India Abroad. "And they occasionally complain that the shoe doesn't fit. In India we do occasionally have problems with our [labor] union leaders," he added, laughing.

"Union leaders have to do something to make their presence felt," he continued. "We talk to them and tell them it is in our mutual interest to cooperate with each other. Sometimes they listen, and sometimes they don't."

Minister for Industry Jim Prentice, the keynote speaker at the C-IBC event, hailed Bata as "a true Canadian business legend," and acknowledged that "few Canadians have led a business with the reach and success of Bata Shoes." The encomiums were echoed by C-IBC President Kim Rathee, when he invited Bata to the stage to be recognized in front of a 250-plus packed audience of businessmen and professionals.

"Canada is honored," Rathee said, "to have a business giant in the name of Thomas Bata, who at this ripe age continues to overlord his conglomerate across more than 50 countries around the globe, giving a livelihood to over 40,000 employees, serving over one million customers every day through 5,000 retail stores, which are supplied by 40 production facilities in 26 countries."

Also present to honor Bata were Ontario Minister for Small Business Harinder Takhar and C-IBC Chairman Roy Maclaren, a former minister for international trade.