LASSITER’S LIMITED WANHAM, AB 1947&1948
In the chapter on my education, I explain how I obtained a job with the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Peace country, in which my friend Tim ran into difficulties the first day of the job. My problems surfaced a bit later. After a short time, the foreman said, “Just what are you supposed to doing here? All I see you doing is coming into camp to report that the truck is stuck and you need a pull”. This didn’t seem to be good omen so I decided to try to do something about the situation.
The next day, when we were shut down by rain, I went to the welding shop and engaged the head welder in conversation. When he found out that I knew a bit about welding he told me to do some welding on the job he was working on while he had a smoke. When he came back he was satisfied with what I had done and told me to continue while he went to the cookhouse for a cup of coffee. He then suggested that since I didn’t have anything better to do I could start up the spare welding machine and work in the shop for the day.
The next time I saw the foreman I suggested that I could work in the shop and still be available for my original backup purpose. He commented the welder had told him about my welding ability and agreed to my transfer to the shop.
I spent the rest of the summer in the shop helping the welders and mechanics. This was a better paying job and more interesting than bouncing around the bush in a truck, fighting the ferocious mosquitoes.
The next summer I contacted the foreman and asked if I could come back. He agreed and when I arrived he said he had a different job in mind. The instructions were fairly simple, “Do whatever it takes to keep the all the tractors on night shift running until morning”. I used a truck mounted welder and one of the men loaned me his toolbox. If one of the cat skinners was missing, I ran his tractor for the shift. If everything was going well, I worked in the shop on routine welding jobs.
The summer went quite well and again the work was more interesting and the pay rate was higher. It also gave me experience in supervising people that was useful later on.
THE HOMESTEADERS
The purpose of the project was to provide veterans with the opportunity to obtain a homestead. Harry, an engineering student at U.B.C. who was also working at the project, and I decided that we should apply. The intention was to harvest two crops before having to live on the land.
We went to the part of the project that would be ready last and found an area that seemed to be better soil. Our applications were accepted and three years later we received notice that our homesteads were ready for farming. Harry said that he was interested in doing the actual work so I gave him some money to buy seed. In mid-July he contacted me and said that the season was unusually late and he hadn’t been able to seed yet. I asked him to sell the seed and was no longer a homesteader. The next time I saw Harry he was managing a gravel company in Edmonton so he hadn’t become a homesteader either.
PRAIRIE FARM REHABILITATION ADMINISTRATION (P.F.R.A.) 1949 to 1951
Although this was not the type of work I would have chosen, there was nothing else available when I graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1949, so I started with P.F.R.A, a branch of Agriculture Canada.
I was told that the job involved starting up a pump irrigation system at Fort MacLeod, Alberta. I also understood that the project was at least two years late in completion, was greatly over the budget, and had been criticized by the local MP for these problems. I was to report to Fred Humphries, who I understood had been assigned to help me get started. He had previously started a larger pump irrigation scheme in Saskatchewan and was considered to be the authority on this type of project.
On the designated day, I went to the P.F.R.A. office in Fort MacLeod and found a group of four or five men involved in a discussion. I asked for Fred Humphries, he identified himself, and introduced me to the rest of the group.
They were discussing a problem with the check valve on the pump for the system. When the pump was installed the check valve was dropped into the well, which was connected to the Oldman River in order to supply water for an irrigation project. They were trying to come up with a method of emptying the well so that the check valve could be retrieved and installed on the pump. They recognized that all of their proposals would have cost tens of thousands of dollars. After listening for several minutes, I became convinced that they were missing an easy solution to the problem.
I was concerned that if I said anything they would assume that this was a green kid fresh out University, who thinks he knows everything, trying to tell them what to do. However, I decided to take a chance. So I said, “I realize that I’m on the new kid on the block and I probably shouldn’t say anything. However, I have a couple of suggestions that may be helpful”. They indicated that I should explain my ideas.
So I said, “We all know that the check valve has two functions. One is to prevent the water draining back through the pump, if the motor shuts down, and causing damage to the electric motor by “overspeeding” it. It seems that the water has drained back a few times already and the motor has not been damaged. So this is probably not a serious concern. The second use of the check valve is to keep the pump full of water when it stops. This eliminates the need to prime the pump. I understand that you have already gotten around this problem by using the vacuum in the manifold of a car engine to prime the pump. If it turns out, in the future, that a check valve would be desirable; a new check valve could be purchased and installed for less than $1,000”.
There was silence in the room until Fred looked at his watch and said, “I’m still on Moose Jaw time and by my watch it is lunchtime”.
That was the last I heard of the check valve. I was relieved of the possibility of having to implement some involved, and expensive, scheme devised by a committee.
By the next day, I had noticed that Fred spent most of the day, on the phone, talking to his secretary in Moose Jaw and most of the evening talking to his wife. It was apparent where his loyalty was. Again, I took a chance and suggested to him that things were reasonably under control, but that if a problem arose he could catch the night train in Moose Jaw and be back in Fort MacLeod by the next morning. He took the afternoon train back to Moose Jaw. I felt that my first day on the job had gone reasonably well and that I had made a useful friend in Fred.
Jack Ragan, the man who was running the office, was an old friend of the Superintendent in Regina, so it seemed like a good idea to keep on reasonably good terms with him.
The irrigation project was a joint operation between P.F.R.A. and the Province of Alberta. P.F.R.A. was responsible for the pumping station and the main canal and the Province was responsible for the distribution system. The local farmers were not very enthused about the scheme and so no work had been done on the distribution system. Once we could keep the main canal full of water our job was finished. Since I had nothing better to do I travelled around the district, which covered most of southwestern Alberta and became familiar with the other projects.
Later in the summer, the Superintendent sent word from Regina that he wanted me to drive him around the district. I could tell that Jack was not pleased with this; he would have liked to have been the one to take him around, but anyway I spent two days travelling around the district with the boss. On the last day he commented, “I notice that you downshift when going down a hill. I learned to drive in the army in WW1 and that is what we were taught.” I explained that I had learned to drive a truck that had no brakes on the farm.
Sometime later, word filtered back from Regina that someone had remembered that there was no District Engineer in this district. When the Superintendent was alerted to this, he said, “We have Knowles in the district. He knows what is going on there.” This created some consternation because normally a District Engineer was a reasonably long term employee and there were several people with seniority who would welcome the opportunity. However, he stayed with his decision and I was named the District Engineer. I suspect the fact that I was on reasonably good terms with Jack, who had been quarrelling for some time with the previous engineer, had something to do with his decision, as well as the downshifting. This new classification meant a pay increase of almost 50%; also I was expected to attend meetings in Regina. Although the District Engineer should have been responsible for the operation of the office, I let Jack carry on. My classmates, who were still bouncing around in trucks with survey crews, were astonished at my promotion.
After I had been at Fort Macleod for about a year, I heard that Jake, the engineer who worked with Fred, in Moose Jaw, was thinking of leaving. I contacted Fred and asked if he would consider me as a replacement if, by chance, the other engineer left. He said that I would be a good candidate. A few weeks later he phoned to say that Jake had left and that I could have the job.
This was the depot for P.F.R.A. construction equipment, which was an area that I was familiar with and found interesting. Somehow, nobody seemed to be concerned that I was overpaid for the position.
There was the usual suspicion of know-it-all book types by the shop people. One day I was walking through the shop and saw the foreman and one of the mechanics struggling to get a wheel puller into position to take the drive wheel off a Caterpillar tractor. I said, “There is an easier way to do that”. The foreman responded, “If you know a better way, be my guest”. I asked for a large punch and a big sledge hammer. I showed them where to hold the punch and hit it as hard as I could with the sledge. The wheel dropped to floor with a loud clang. The mechanic said, “You shouldn’t be sitting in the office drawing pictures. You should be out here doing something useful’. After that they treated me as an equal and discussed their problems with me openly.
One of my projects while at Moose Jaw did not turn out well. One of the people involved with the major irrigation projects learned of a machine being used in Utah for clearing irrigation ditches. He took me to see the machine in southern Utah with the intention of getting a similar machine. I could only see it through the fence in the contractor’s yard and take some pictures.
Without having more information, I could only design a similar machine to the best of my ability. In order to try to ensure that it would be durable I made it heavy and strong enough to survive. It turned out that it required a D8 Caterpillar to pull it rather than the D6 the contractor used. After I left P.F.R.A., the machine was abandoned following some attempted usage.
THE OZAMA SUGAR COMPANY, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1951 to 1955
After I had been in Moose Jaw for about a year, the U of S contacted me to advise me that there was an opening with a subsidiary of the B. C. Sugar Refining Company in the Dominican Republic. Until this time, the only idea that I had of the Dominican Republic was the vague notion that it was located somewhere in Central America. The discovery that the country is located on an island in the Eastern Caribbean increased my knowledge of geography. After an interview in Vancouver I was offered the position and decided to accept it.
I stopped over for a day in Miami on the way to the Dominican Republic. As I was wandering around the city I became aware that many of the signs were in some foreign language, which I assumed was Spanish. In particular I noticed that the movie theaters had signs saying “NOW PLAYING” and also “HOY”. I assumed that HOY must mean NOW PLAYING and felt that I was well on my way to learning Spanish.
At Ozama, I soon began to hear the word OY. Initially I didn’t make the connection that this was the pronunciation of HOY. Once this was apparent, it was obvious that HOY, in the context that I was hearing it, didn’t mean NOW PLAYING. I soon learned that HOY means TODAY. It is also used in the expression HOY DIA (TODAY DAY), which means, more or less, RIGHT NOW TODAY. Spanish is one of the easier languages to learn. Generally the pronunciation is phonetic, the spelling is consistent and words tend to have only one meaning.
Sugarcane is a perennial crop and the practice was to plow up each field every 5 to 6 years to rejuvenate the soil. A different variety of cane was then planted.
My major responsibility was the operation of the tractors used in cultivating the cane fields. After the cane harvest started and the plowing of the fields began, I was dismayed at the low productivity of the plowing operation. The usual area plowed was some 5 acres per day. A farmer in Canada would do this before lunch using a much smaller tractor than the D7 Caterpillars used here. Since I was concentrating on learning the language and how the company operated, I decided not to attempt to change this right away. However, the situation changed when the field superintendent spoke to me one day and indicated that he thought we should buy some more tractors. This would enable the plowing to be done more quickly and give the new replanted cane a longer growing season before the harvest. This would result in a higher production of sugar.
I felt that a request to purchase more tractors would not be welcome at this time, so I told him I would look into the situation. After thinking the problem over, I organized a meeting of the “tractoristas”. They were quite enthused at the thought that they would be paid to come to a meeting and talk. I tried to explain to them that plowing more acres per day would be beneficial for them because they would continue to be paid by the acre and would finish their work earlier while still getting the same pay. The response was, “To do what in the longer free time”. Since they already worked less than four months per year, I could understand their position.
I then tried to explain that this would be beneficial for the company. The response to this was, “It’s the company’s problem not ours”. Since this discussion was not producing a solution, I told them that if they did not increase their daily output I would put one “tractorista” on each tractor in the morning and another in the afternoon. When it was apparent that they understood what I said, I left without giving them a chance to argue. The obvious problem with this scheme was the difficulty in finding the necessary qualified men. Also, anyone who was reducing their earnings could well be found lying dead in a ditch.
A few days later, the field superintendent told me that the tractors were suddenly plowing twice as many acres per day. He asked what I had done. I felt it best not to admit the dangerous tactic I had used. When the General Manager learned that the situation had been apparently resolved without any financial expenditure, he was quite pleased with my performance.
Two years later, when my responsibilities had been increased to include most of the maintenance operations, I decided to try to improve a three span bridge on the Ozama River that customarily had to be replaced after every rainy season because the center span washed away. I designed and installed a center section using steel available onsite and held up by concrete pillars.
The bridge was quite successful and enabled the trains to cross without having to slow down to avoid the danger of the bridge collapsing. Unfortunately, during the next rainy season a large pile of debris built up in front of the center section of the bridge and the two original end sections washed out.
In addition to relatively primitive housing for several hundred local people at the site the company had twelve Canadian type houses for the foreign supervisors with families. Also, there was a six bedroom guesthouse that was used for foreign employees with no families and for visitors from the head office in Vancouver.
My duties included the supervision of the staff for this guesthouse. The people involved were: Tatana, the cook; her sister Maria, the housekeeper; and John, the 50-plus-year-old yard boy. He lived in a room at the rear of the building and in addition to cutting the grass and hedges, he went to the company store to get the food that Tatana prepared. Tatana, Maria and John were fed as part of their remuneration, and I suspect that many of their friends also dropped in for snacks. Since this was relatively insignificant compared to other problems, like ensuring that locomotives that cost more than $150,000 were properly maintained, I didn’t worry about it.
Tatana had been trained by working in the house of one of the foreign families. Her cooking ability and the meals she prepared were definitely not of epicurean standards, but we accepted this as part of the working conditions to be expected at this site.
The manager’s wife went to England to have an expected baby and the manager decided to come to the guesthouse for his meals. After a short time, he and Tatana had a violent argument about something or other. The upshot of this was that she announced that she was quitting.
This left me with the problem of finding another cook, a task similar to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. I don’t remember exactly how this woman turned up but she won the contest by default. The fact that she was large and looked well-fed may have been a factor. On her first day at work, she asked what she should prepare for supper. I felt that eggs “huevoes” would be a relatively safe bet to start her with. When supper time came, she served us several raw eggs in their shells. This was the way that the Dominicans were accustomed to casually eating eggs that they found in nests. I told the cook that the eggs needed to be cooked before we could eat them. Accordingly, she produced more eggs that she had cooked in hot oil until they had the consistency of hockey pucks. We managed to eat them, hoping for better luck in the future. Fortunately for me, the others realized the virtual impossibility of finding a cook with even Tatana’s limited capability.
After a bit of discussion, the next day we decided to drive the 20 km into the capital city and have supper at a restaurant. After some days of this, Bill, the manager, left to join his wife in England. After the news that he was no longer on site had spread, Maria advised me that Tatana considered that she had enjoyed sufficient unpaid vacation time and was willing to return to work. This was the best news I had heard for months and I didn’t hesitate to accept the offer. With Tatana on the job and Bill in England, life returned to normal.
The molasses produced in the factory was stored in a tank located on the river and hauled to another tank at the harbor in the city. Once a year a ship came to haul the molasses away. On one particular occasion when a ship was loading, the manager saw me in my office and asked why wasn’t supervising the loading of the molasses. I told him that I had arranged for mechanics to supervise the operation of the pump which transferred the molasses from the tank at the harbor to the ship. Also, there were two barge loads of molasses to be hauled to the harbor and loaded directly into the waiting ship. Two tugboats were waiting to carry out this operation. I felt bad as I felt that all necessary precautions had been taken. However, he said, “Someone will find a way to screw up the operation and delay the loading and as you know, there is a one thousand pesos per hour penalty if the ship is not loaded within the allowable time. I said. “I’m on my way”. I kept out of sight for the remainder of time the ship was loading. Fortunately, everything went well and the ship left 10 hours ahead of schedule. This meant that there was a 10,000 peso rebate coming to the company. The next time I saw the manager he said, “I guess I owe you an apology”. I replied, “Remember this $10,000 rebate when you are calculating my year end bonus”. He didn’t make a direct response to this.
STEELWELD MACHINE CO, EDMONTON, 1955 to 1957
When I arrived back in Canada, I was looking for work in Alberta. I tried several opportunities in Calgary and Edmonton but found out employers were concerned that a person with several years experience would not work out in an entry level job, which would be required because I had no relevant job experience. For this and possibly other reasons, I found it difficult to find employment.
I eventually obtained a position with the Steel Weld Machine Co, a metal fabrication and general machine repair shop in Edmonton. One branch of the company was engaged in providing the miscellaneous steel parts required in construction projects. My prime responsibility was the preparation of estimates to be submitted to general contractors and supervising the field installation work of projects obtained as a result of the bids submitted.
I found the work interesting and challenging, partly because I had no previous experience in the building construction field. Despite this, I was able to carry out the required duties reasonably successfully. Later I was offered a position with one of the larger general contracting companies but I did not feel that this was what I wanted to do on a long term basis.
After approximately 2 years with Steel Weld, I took time off to get married and when I came back I was advised that I was no longer required. This necessitated another job search during a minor recession in the Edmonton economy.
THE ROSSDALE POWER PLANT, EDMONTON, 1957 to 1962
I was successful in obtaining a position as a mechanical engineer in the Rossdale Power Plant. Again, this was a field in which I had no previous experience. My work primarily involved the preparation of specifications for boilers being purchased, and the supervision of the installations. This was completely different from my previous experience as a supervisor and I found it difficult to make the transition. Fortunately, the other engineers were pleasant and agreeable to work with and things went reasonably well.
On one occasion, the fuel gas supply to the plant was cut off causing the plant to shut down. I wrote a report indicating that this was probably due to an inadequate gas supply in the system that supplied gas to the plant. The gas supplier disputed this, but the next spring they installed another gas supply pipe that effectively eliminated the problem that I had identified.
One unfortunate and undesirable incident occurred when I conducted a test of a newly installed turbine and found that the performance was less than that specified by the supplier. The representatives of the supplier were dissatisfied with this and objected. I offered to do the test again to see if there was a problem with the result. However, the plant manager told me to ignore the test. I found this very disconcerting but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
THE CITY ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, EDMONTON, 1962 TO 1974
I was successful in applying for the position of Equipment Director in the City Engineering Department. This was a field in which I had previous experience and I considered it to be a more satisfactory job.
There were three principal aspects to the job. One was the supply of construction equipment required for the construction projects being undertaken by city personnel. If city owned equipment was available, this was used. Otherwise, privately owned equipment was hired. I was responsible for establishing the rental rates for the privately owned equipment, maintaining a roster of available equipment, ensuring that the requirements for eligibility as a supplier were met and for allocating the rentals on as equitable a basis as possible. In order to qualify as a source of rental equipment, the owner had to be a property owner in the city. Another major aspect was the supervision of the city shops in which the city-owned equipment was maintained. I was also responsible for preparing the specifications for the vehicles and equipment purchased by the city and ensuring that the equipment met the specifications.
During my interview with the City Engineer when I applied for the position, he commented that some of the people with whom I would be working had reputations for being difficult to work with. I got the impression that he expected me to deal with this without involving him. I didn’t expect this to be a very serious problem. However, the implications of this soon became apparent. The city people using the equipment recognized that they were effectively my customers and expected appropriate treatment, similar to that provided by the private equipment providers. Also some of them preferred to use equipment from the same supplier year after year, which did not fit with the policy of spreading the business around.
The engineer, John Smith, responsible for the maintenance and construction of the sewers was a large man, formerly on the University of Alberta wrestling team, who was notorious for his autocratic, imperious and “It’s my way or no way” attitude. Maintaining a satisfactory working relationship with this man was a real challenge for me but we got along reasonably well most of the time.
At that time the sewer tunnels were excavated by laborers using pneumatic clay spades, which are similar to jack hammers. Three shifts of eight men working on a project would normally excavate approximately one meter of tunnel in a day. I felt that this system should be reviewed.
A used small truck-mounted backhoe, with a telescopic boom, became available and I was able to convince John that we should try a machine to excavate one of the sewer tunnels then being constructed. He agreed and I purchased the machine.
A considerable amount of modification was required in order to make the excavator suitable to work in the tunnel. The excavator was removed from the truck and mounted on a rail car suitable for the railway system used in the construction of the tunnels. After considerable additional modification the machine worked satisfactorily and the total daily production of the crews working on three shifts, which had been decreased from eight to five men, increased to as much as five meters per day.
A larger machine of the same type, which had been used during the construction of the dam on the South Saskatchewan River, at Outlook, Saskatchewan, became available. John suggested that we go to Outlook to view machine. On the way back to Edmonton, he rambled on about the advantages of this machine and felt that we should purchase it. I expressed no opinion, because I had serious reservations about the suitability of the machine.
A few days later, I indicated to him that I had prepared a report, for the city engineer, on the machine at Outlook. I indicated that I thought he should see the report before I sent it on. In the report, I recommended that the Outlook machine not be purchased, because the increase in the other costs, associated with the larger tunnel required to accommodate the excavator, would more than offset the decrease in excavation costs. Also, I recommended that we consider the acquisition of a rotary head excavating machine, known as a “mole”, for use in the sewer construction program.
As he started to read the report he became increasingly agitated. His face flushed, his eyes narrowed, and his breathing became more labored. I was afraid that he was going to throw a chair at me. However, after he finished reading the report, he gradually simmered down. Finally he said, “As much as I hate to admit it, you are right. When can we have a mole to use in sewer construction?”
In the ensuing five-year period, the Department acquired seven moles, becoming, arguably, the largest tunneling operation in North America. The largest mole was also used to dig the tunnel for the downtown section of the Light Rail Transit (LRT).
At about this time, John, who was in his late 30s, suffered a fatal heart attack. Although this was very unfortunate, both for his family and for the effective operation of the sewer construction division, it made my work life considerably less stressful.
The engineers in the roadways construction branch asked me for a compaction machine that would compact both the clay subsoil and the gravel surface and be able to move from job to job throughout the city. There was no machine available that met their requirements, so, after considerable thought, I agreed to build one.
As might be expected, this took more time and cost more than I originally estimated. However, it was finally completed and worked very satisfactorily. One of the engineers had been at Disneyland at the same time as our family. He named the machine “TINKERBELL” after the fairy in Disneyland and the name stuck. The compactor was used for more than twenty five years, by which time I had retired from the city.
Four new trucks, known as flusher trucks, used to wash the streets, were purchased. I specified cab over engine type in order to increase the amount of water they could carry by putting more weight on the front axle. Soon after they were put in service, two of the drivers came to my office and asked me to take the truck for a short drive. After a few blocks I could understand what their concern was. Accordingly, I said, “I understand what your concern is and I will have power steering installed on them”. They were happy with the results of their contact with me.
The City had several work centers, known as “YARDS”, throughout the city. Each of them had facilities for servicing and storing vehicles and equipment. I visited all of them from time to time; consequently, I needed a car for work. Rather than use a city car, which would have caused a problem at home because of limited parking space. I used Nora’s twenty-year-old car and received an allowance for it. There was parking space at city hall for city employees coming to the building on business, so I parked there. One day, my immediate supervisor, George the Assistant City Engineer, commented that the City Commissioner had been inquiring about the old black car in the parking lot. George told him that it belonged to me. His advice to me was, “If the Commissioner asks you about it, tell him that if he gives you a raise, you will get a newer car”. I continued to use the car for the next ten years without any further questions.
By 1970 I was becoming concerned about my future opportunities with the Engineering Department, so I decided to improve my qualifications. Accordingly, I made arrangements to work part time while enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Alberta.
CORPORATE POLICY PLANNING OFFICE, EDMONTON, 1974 TO 1982
In 1974, a new group, The Corporate Policy Planning Office (C.P.P.O.), was established by the City of Edmonton. I joined the group as one of the planners. The prime purpose of the group was to improve coordination between the various City Departments and develop a city-wide plan for the activities of the various departments. The main people involved were The Chief Corporate Policy Planning Officer and four Senior Corporate Policy Planning Officers. Each of the Senior Planning Officers was responsible for a group of City Departments. My group included the technically oriented Departments, such as Engineering, Telephones, Power and Water & Sewers.
Each year we received a five year plan from each of the Departments and using this information we prepared a plan for the entire city. We then presented this plan to the City Council for their information and approval. This necessitated several meetings with the Council and considerable research to respond to their concerns.
One of the responsibilities that developed for me was explaining to the Council the meaning of the technical reports they received from the Departments for which I was responsible. This involved considerable discussion with the department personnel and, in the process, I became quite familiar with the operation of the various department. It was expected that the Senior Planners would serve a limited time in this role and then move on to other positions.
EDMONTON POWER 1982 TO 1984
In 1982 I moved to Edmonton Power with the title of Director of Renewable Resources. This rather unspecific position was created primarily to oversee the purchase of a natural gas company for the City. It was intended that this would give the City more power in negotiating with the company from which the natural gas for the City and citizens was purchased.
A budget of $400,000,000 had been set up for the purpose. In order to prevent the identity of the purchaser from becoming known we used the services of an investment advisory company and an engineering consultant in Calgary to act on our behalf. As this project developed I learned a good deal about the petroleum industry and found the job both interesting and educational.
A potentially suitable company had been located and we were investigating more details when the identity of the prospective purchaser leaked out and the company refused to continue with any discussions. They didn’t want to be involved with a public organization. This primarily left the supervision of the Environmental Group of Edmonton Power as my principal responsibility.
While at the C.P.P.O., I had received a performance bonus that put my salary one grade below the General Managers of the larger departments and one grade above the other Directors at Edmonton Power. The city payroll people were reluctant to continue this bonus and I had to complain to the Chief Commissioner and remind him that he had agreed that I could keep the bonus when I transferred to Edmonton Power. Eventually I started to receive the bonus pay, along with back pay for the time the issue was being disputed. I was concerned about the reaction of people in Edmonton Power if they were aware of the situation, but as long as it was resolved in my favor I didn’t worry about it and no apparent problems came up.
In 1984 a new mayor was elected and he decided to reduce the number of City Employees. Accordingly many of the senior employees were offered a year’s pay as in incentive to retire early. I decided to accept this proposal with the intention of starting an investment advisory service. I had completed the requirements for a Certified Financial Planner designation. However, I became more involved with work at our church and didn’t feel that I had the time to start a new career. Also I didn’t really need more income. Accordingly, I became an unemployed retiree and I found it easier to adapt to this career than I had expected.