From: howard.smith@spacebbs.com (Howard Smith) 
Newsgroups: sci.energy
Subject: Strong of Ontario Hydro
Date: 11 Dec 92 09:33:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: howard.smith@spacebbs.com (Howard Smith) 

Background / Maurice Strong
A dynamo and man of power

By Richard Mackie

Maurice Strong, the new chairman of Ontario Hydro, has been a
business success, a strong environmentalist and a lightening rod
for controversy.

He has made millions in business, campaigned for the environment
long before it was the thing to do, and been a target of
criticism for his tight relationship with the government of
former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. At one point, Mr. Strong
was even rumoured to be a successor to Mr. Trudeau, before he
backed out of electoral politics, reportedly because of business
troubles.

Now he is set to move into a job where his predecessor Marc
Eliesen, was constantly under attack for his high salary, his
management style and his close personal ties to the NDP
government.

Unlike Mr. Eliesen, Nr. Strong has no history of links to the
NDP. Premier Bob Rae told a news conference yesterday that he
sought out Mr. Strong because he has been impressed with him
since he first met him.

"Mr. Strong is somebody who has been an inspiration to a great
many of us for many, many years. When the thought occurred to me
at the conclusion of the Rio Summit, and when the vacancy was
there at Ontario Hydro, I thought that this was a challenge that
I might be able to offer him.

"I thought it was really a case of the job seeking the person,"
Mr. Rae said.

Mr. Strong was a friend of Mr. Rae's father, a diplomat, and he
told the news conference he had similarly been impressed with Mr.
Rae as a boy.

Mr. Strong's success in business has impressed many people. He
left his home in Oak Lake, Manitoba, in 1943, when he was 14. e
worked on ships and eventually winded up in the North with Wild
Bill Richardson, a Texan seeking to make his fortune in mining
exploration.

This led to a meeting with Noah Monod, a Frenchman who was
treasurer of the United Nations. Through Mr. Monod, Mr. Strong
started working at the UN in 1947 and building his international
network of associates.

But the next spring, he was working with James Richardson and
Sons, a Winnipeg brokerage house, where he started to climb to
the top of Canadian business.

At the age of 21, he helped create Dome Exploration (Western)
Ltd., forerunner of Dome Petroleum. At 35, he became the
president of Power Corp. At 39, he was a partner of Paul
Nathanson, a Canadian movie-distribution mogul.

Later he had success through Stronat, an investment company he
co-founded. His star rose so high he offered to buy Petro-Canada
in 1979 when the Conservative government was threatening to sell
it.

Mr. Strong's work as an environmentalist at the international
level has won him much praise. In 1972, he was secretary-general
of the first UN-sponsored conference on the environment, held in
Stockholm.

A recent review of his career in Saturday Night magazine said
that he started the UN Environment Program and ran the UN office
that tried to deal with African famines in 1985. Last summer he
was secretary-general of the United Nations environmental summit
in Rio de Janeiro.

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