The Rural Voice, 1992-07, Page 29property while they built a solar -
heated house facing south on the
hilltop. They installed an electricity -
generating windmill and battled with
Ontario Hydro to get the kind of
agreement that is now accepted for
private power generation: allowing
small generators to sell electricity to
Hydro when they had a surplus, and
buy when they needed additional
power.
They were one of the first farms in
the region to be totally organic and
still don't have a flush toilet, yet were
also into computers when most of
their neighbours were still using
adding machines.
That strange combination earned
respect from some farmers for the
couple's committment to their ideals
without forcing them on others, but
suspicion and ridicule from others.
One wag, on hearing McQuail had
been named Executive Assistant to
the Minister suggested that OMAF
would now be giving research grants
for designing PTOs for horses. Many
people feared McQuail would force
his environmental ideals on all
Ontario farmers through his
influential position.
But many who knew him worried
more about the effect the high-
pressure lifestyle would have on a
man deeply devoted to his family, his
community and his land. Could the
fish out of water survive in the
strange world of Queen's Park?
The answer, he says, over a lunch
of brown bread, ham and cheese in
his hilltop kitchen, is yes, and no.
There's something exciting and even
addictive about the world of top-level
politics, he says, but after 18 months
he was missing the things he thought
were important in life. His two
daughters were growing up and as he
looked at some of the long-term
planning in his department, he could
see their birthdays fly by. "You can't
put your kids on hold when they're
eight and 10 and say `I'll have time
five years from now'."
Knowing the life he enjoyed, why
did he take the high-pressure job in
the first place? "I don't think we,
including some of the new MPPs, had
a clear idea of what a big life change
we were getting into," he says.
One of the first major changes was
to close down the farming operation.
With the time he'd tied up with the
Hydro hearings, he knew it would be
ca
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CC
ca
42 a)
cU
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Cabin Crafts
Carpet
BAECHLER
li%tc�l��•�a$ t iftstvoi tics
150 The Square,
Goderich
524.8600
Benjamin
Moore Paints
(AVontie
ccAr
JULY 22 & 23, 1992
This program:
• gives you a taste of what you will learn at College
• has you choose a farm operation you would like to study and
spend an afternoon at the farm collecting information on farm
management
• has you evaluate your findings and make recommendations
• join in an evening of social time with some "planned fun"
Age: 16 - 20 years of age
Cost: $40.00 + GST ($42.80) — includes meals, overnight
accommodation, travel to and from farms and refreshments
Apply by: July 10, 1992 — limited to 24 delegates
Anyone who attends AgVantage receives 1 credit towards their diploma in
Agricultural Business Management al Centralia College.
For more details — contact John Stephens, (519) 228-6691, Ext. 252
Ministry of
Agriculture
and Food
ONTARIO
CENTRALIA
COLLEGE
Huron Park, Ontario NOM 1Y0
JULY 1992 25