The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Feb. 9, edition that until recently, Canada had a reliable cast of plain speaking business people who would openly say what was on their mind, such as pension plan titan Claude Lamoureux or respected investor Stephen Jarislowsky or former Toronto-Dominion Bank boss Ed Clark. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that over the past decade, most of their ilk have retired or taken a step back, leaving a vacuum in their wake. The next generation of bigwigs is much more meek. Today, too many prefer to wage silent wars, somehow believing that "withholding" their votes is a strong enough scare tactic. This silent treatment happens with more frequency now that the Big Six banks dominate Canadian mutual funds. Their portfolio managers are almost never allowed to speak their minds. The recent fight between Suncor Energy and Canadian Oil Sands was so refreshing because Seymour Schulich owns a big chunk of COS. Mr. Kiladze notes that Mr. Schulich is one of few remaining savants from the old guard. There are ugly consequences to Canadians' silence, says Mr. Kiladze. To get ahead of the problem, he says Canadians need to speak up -- just a little.