The Rural Voice, 1990-02, Page 3general manager: Jim Fitzgerald
executive editor: Sheila Gunby
editor: Lise Gunby
contributing writers:
Adrian Vos
Gisele Ireland
Keith Roulston
Gord Wainman
Wayne Kelly
Sarah Borowski
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton
Cathy Laird
Ian Wylie-Toal
Susan Glover
Bob Reid
Dee Kramer
Mervyn Erb
Peter Baltensperger
Darene Yavorsky
advertising sales:
Gerry Fortune
Merle Gunby
advertising production:
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
office assistant: Tracey Rising
office: 519-524-7668
laserset: with the McIntosh Plus
printed by: Signal -Star Publishing
Goderich, Ontario
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The Rural Voice
Box 37, 10A The Square
Goderich, Ontario
N7A 3Y5
BEHIND THE SCENES
by Jim Fitzgerald
General Manager
As you may have read in the
December issue, The Rural Voice has
been acquired by Signal -Star Publish-
ing of Goderich, Ontario, and I have
been appointed general manager. I am
pleased to say right off the bat that the
Gunbys have an excellent reputation
in the agricultural publishing field and
are highly regarded by both the indus-
try and loyal readers. Those sterling
attributes we intend to maintain as our
first priority.
Like many of you, I too have been
a loyal reader of The Rural Voice
since my good friend Keith Roulston
founded it in 1975, and watched with
admiration as it grew to become one
of the more sensible, balanced voices
in the field of agricultural journalism.
Signal -Star has pledged to enhance its
excellent reputation.
To refresh your memories a little,
while trying not to be redundant, I
have just completed four years in
Queen's Park as the executive assis-
tant to Jack Riddell, Ontario's agricul-
ture minister from 1985 to 1989.
Previous to that, I ran my own
professional photography studio, and
for ten years was also the editor of a
weekly newspaper. My background
in journalism and agriculture should
serve me well in my new position,
doing what I like best: writing about
farming and food production.
While I was in Toronto working
with Jack, my family remained in
Clinton and I became one of those
ever-increasing commuting horror
stories. At 4 a.m. every Monday
morning I'd jump in the Chevy to try
to beat the 401 maniacs, stay in Tor-
onto in a tiny over -priced apartment
(at my own expense), and head back
to the sanity of Huron County Friday
night. It's a sort of schizophrenic
lifestyle which makes you part of two
different lives but not really a com-
plete person in either one. Political
life in the provincial and federal scene
means a great deal of sacrifice in one's
social and family life, and it's cer-
tainly easy to understand why politi-
cians have poor matrimonial records.
But as an education in how democ-
racy works and in the immense com-
plexities of the agriculture and food
industry, my time at Queen's Park was
second to none. It's an experience I
wouldn't trade for anything.
An executive assistant is some-
thing like a chief of staff, a sort of
jack-of-all-trades, master -of -none
person who has to know a little bit
about a whole lot of things but isn't
really an expert in anything in particu-
lar. In that role, I worked with a staff
of 10 — most of them specialists in
legislative, policy, or communications
areas — in the minister's office, which
operates at a hectic pace, with long
days, short nights, and a chance to
travel this great province.
These are challenging times for
those of us involved in the agricultural
industry, which last year in Ontario
netted more than $5 billion at the farm
gate and, when processing, transporta-
tion, and retailing are added in, made
for a $15 billion a year industry sec-
ond only to automobile manufacturing
as the province's major economic
stimulus. In the near future, we face
free trade, the GATT, animal rightists,
environmentalists, continentalists, and
sometimes fickle consumers. Depend-
ing on which side of the fence you're
sitting on, the next few years will be
either exciting or downright stressful.
In future columns, I'll be looking
at some of the crucial issues in farm-
ing and food production, and also at
the wheeling and dealing behind the
scenes which, fairly or unfairly, charts
the course for our industry.0