A Little Exploration on the Number Forty

While I now try to consciously avoid any thinking about the current fiscal mess now rampant in Ontario, now and then something so bizarre breaks through that it is impossible to ignore.

Such is the case with the that jewel in the Liberal Party crown, the Ontario Power Generation Company (O.P.G.) and its use of the number forty.

Now "forty" has a long history. There is, for instance, the forty years Moses and the Israelites spent in the wilderness, or so the  Bible tells us. In the present day, we speak of a nap of "forty winks", and a score of forty-forty in tennis -- three wins apiece --  is equal to "deuce", at which point a player must take two consecutive games to claim victory. And Canadians of a certain age will remember Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins belting out "She'll be back home in forty days."

For our purposes today, however, I will draw on yet another reference, to wit: the Arabian tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

This careened into my mind when I, more by accident than design, stumbled upon the fact that the OPG management included FORTY VICE PRESIDENTS.*

This was hard to believe, and became even harder when I learned that while all made salaries in the six figure range, there were no titles to go along with the term aside from three: VP, Finance; VP, Operations and VP, Human Resources.**

What would the others be called? VP, Alternating Current would be one, which would lead to VP Direct Current. There could be a VP for Isotopes,  a "Heavy Water" VP, a VP that looked after certain flora and fauna that had become radioactive -- well, the list could go on, and I will leave this little exercise in the hand of my capable readers.

Given the horrific state of OPG finances, and the frightening electricity bills that are starting to be delivered to Ontario homes and businesses, I don't think I'm far off the mark when I draw attention to a slightly updated version of the old tale, as with "Kathleen Wynne and the Forty Thieves."

There. I'm done.

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* I was researching a number of American Vice-Presidents at the time. Isn't it interesting that the most powerful nation on earth only requires ONE Vice-President, while the OPG requires forty. --LSS

** The term "Human Resources" is fairly recent, and replaces the term "Personnel Department." Very much a step backward in my opinion. Resources can be used, then thrown out. It is a titch more difficult to do when you cannot escape the fact that these are people with whom you are being so cavalier. -- Ed.