After graduating, Morton became president of Odeon–Morton Theatres.[1] From 1974 to 1975, he was president of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.[3] At 35 years old, Morton was the youngest president in team history.[4]
Morton invested in and served as president of Canwest, a company formed by Izzy Asper to operate an independent television station in Winnipeg.[5] In 1975, Canwest agreed to purchase the assets of KCND-TV, a U.S. television station that targeted the Winnipeg market, if it received a licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The acquisition gave Canwest the equipment and staff it needed to launch a station and eliminated a competitor.[6] Canwest beat out Craig Broadcasting for Winnipeg's new television licence and on August 31, 1975, the company launched CKND-TV.[5]
In 1974, Morton, Asper, and Seymour Epstein formed Global Ventures Western Ltd. to aid Allan Slaight's IWC Communications in its purchase of Global Television Network, a regional television station serving Southern Ontario.[7][8] In 1977, Global Ventures Western Ltd. purchased IWC's shares in Global and Morton became president of the network.[9] In 1979, Global acquired the Toronto Metros-Croatia of the North American Soccer League, which the company renamed the Toronto Blizzard.[10] In 1980, Morton sold Odeon–Morton Theatres to Canadian Odeon Theatres to focus on Global.[11] In 1986, Morton and Epstein sued Asper, alleging he had reneged on a deal to sell them control of Global Ventures Western Ltd.[12] The lawsuit was dismissed in 1989, but the court ordered that the company's shares be auctioned off.[13] Asper outbid Morton and Epstein to acquire the network.[14]