MY FAMILY
My family is the key to why I fought the whole Hydro-gate issue. Priorities were easy for Sharon (my deceased spouse) and me: family was number 1, and still is.
My family consists of Nathan (19), at the University of Toronto; Jonathan (17), who is well over six feet tall now; and Suzanna (13). We have mixed race family, which changes one’s whole perspective on where to live. We became very conscious of racial issues, and wanted to live in a mixed race environment.
About once a month, Sharon and I would discuss where to live, and it always came back to the same place: Toronto. Toronto had the best racial mix and relations of anywhere on the planet, and Sharon and I had both been around. UNESCO or someone recently voted Toronto the ‘world’s #1 multicultural city’. We knew that years ago. Don’t be fooled: Toronto is not perfect, even so.
Unfortunately, there was only one good job for me in Toronto (at the start of Hydro-gate): at Ontario Hydro Research/Technologies. That’s why I decided to fight the system.
ONTARIO HYDRO Ontario Hydro Technologies
* * * *
Back to my family, and a question that only women seem to ask: "How are the kids?"
Immediately after Sharon’s death, we had loads of problems. Not only did we have Sharon’s death and Hydro-gate (which the kids didn’t even know about), but we had a string of puberty problems as well. To add to it all, Suzy went through early puberty too. We got over all of these problems, thanks to friends and the medical profession. Right now, we are relatively problem-free. Most of our current problems come from things like housework and sibling rivalry, which is pretty much par for the course.
"Oh yeah?" Says the cynic. "Who is this man trying to fool?" Try these two examples.
Being in international sales and marketing, I travel a lot. These days, I simply leave my children behind, with food and cash. It works. Besides North America (no real problem traveling here), I take ten day trips to places like the Middle East and Australia. My kids do fine, and mostly complain about the lack of cooked meals. Most of the problems, in fact, almost all our major problems, are imported from outside.
My guess is that most two parent families couldn’t (and wouldn’t) leave their kids alone that long.
So, my family is doing all right. And the reason Hydro-gate is happening is because of my family, specifically because we have a mixed race family, and Toronto is the place to live. Is Hydro-gate ‘in the best interests of my family?’ Time will tell, but I’ve made my call.