Deborah Whale has been appointed a director on the Ontario
Power Authority just as it’s in the political crosshairs for extravagant salaries
and pension benefits and about to hike hydro rates by 33 per cent over the next
three years.
Whale was a defeated Liberal candidate in Wellington County,
but is also a well-connected leader in the agricultural community.
She and her
husband, Bruce, own Clovermead Farms Inc., a dairy, veal and field crops
operation near Alma in Wellington County.
She has served
as the Chair of the Agriculture Research Institute of Ontario, the Vaccine and
Infectious Disease Organization, the Poultry Industry Council, and the
Minister's Advisory Committee for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and on
the Boards of Farm Credit Canada, the Ontario Institute of Agrologists and the
Poultry Research Council.
She is on the
boards of the Ontario Livestock and Poultry Council, the Agricultural Hall of
Fame, the Biogas Association and Grand River Agricultural Society.
She is a
daughter of the late George Jones, a high-profile plant breeder at the
University of Guelph who strongly promoted corn production when it was still a
minor crop in Ontario.
The Ontario
Power Authority has been accused to being asleep at the switch as the ranks of
senior executives, their salaries and perks increased.
The provincial
auditor-general drew public attention to the situation and the energy minister
immediately dismissed three of the senior executives and Premier Kathleen Wynne
promised to keep a tighter rein on the executives.
