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36 | Atlantic Business Magazine | September/October 2012 Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 37 Photo: Alec Bruce Alec Photo:

On any given day, at any other time of the year, you might find one of Canada’s wealthiest women and most prominent philanthropists behind a podium giving a fundraising speech, or before fellow establishmentarians preaching the good gospel of social works, or, perhaps, entertaining her children and brood of grandkids at her spacious and tastefully garnished home in the heart of Toronto’s Rosedale district. But on this day, an achingly beautiful late June morning, you find Margaret Norrie McCain at the end of Ollie’s Loop, where Covey Road winds down through the junipers, firs and jack pines, past the azaleas and elderberries, all the way to the sea, near Hackett’s Cove, and a view only the rich can afford.

For this is Nova Scotia’s South Shore: “You know,” she continues, “in the past year, The playground of international yachtsmen, I’ve lost two significant men. One gave me American trust-fund babies, Halifax’s greatest love, a family and a life. The other gave me a (if not necessarily noblest) families, and other mission.” denizens of unreachable privilege. This, The “one” was Wallace McCain, her husband McCain explains, is her summer sanctuary, of 56 years who died, at age 81, on May 13, 2011. a sylvan splash of land at which you arrive, The “other” was Fraser Mustard, her mentor of through gates, and only by invitation. And you nearly 20 years who died, at age 84, on November are welcome, even though she knows you are 16, 2011. It would be facile and, frankly, flat armed with questions about how the other half wrong to say these men animated her life, as if lives or, more precisely, how a charter member they were twin Svengalis to her Trilby. But, in of the nation’s “one per cent” gives away a meaningful ways, they played principal roles in massive chunk of her late husband’s fortune to the evolution of her world view, including her the other 99 before the sun sets on yet another attitudes towards philanthropy. exemplary life. Wallace, the son of a successful potato broker “I’m 78 this fall,” she declares almost in Carleton County, New Brunswick, rose to cheerfully under the patio umbrella. “I don’t become one of Canada’s most accomplished expect to live that long. But let’s say I live 20 businessmen. years.” With his brother Harrison, he built a frozen She pauses, as if startled by the substance of french fry empire that spanned six continents. her own statement. Later, he chaired the board of Toronto-based

38 | Atlantic Business Magazine | September/October 2012 Locaux à louer ou à vendre Locals for sale or rent

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Funded by the Government of Canada’s Canadian Language Sector Enhancement Program Maple Leaf Foods – a job he repeatedly insisted was virtually ceremonial – where his son, Michael, presided as CEO. Forbes Magazine once pegged his personal fortune at close to $2.3 billion (U.S.), making him, for a time, the country’s 13th richest individual. Mustard was a physician and internationally renowned expert on early childhood development, a subject he framed under the rubric, “the socioeconomic determinants of human development and health.” A co-founder of McMaster University’s medical school and the intellectual fountainhead of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research between 1982 and 1996, he pioneered The Early Years studies (in which Margaret, herself, is listed as a co-author), a series make these of three seminal reports (1999, 2007 and 2010) which advocated, among other things, a system of early childhood make sense education that recognized this stage in a person’s life as, he once wrote, “equal to or, in some cases, greater in importance for the quality of the next generation than the periods children and youth spend” in primary or secondary schools. Superficially, the differences between these two men could not have been more striking. One was a titan of industry, a captain of capitalism. The other was, for lack of a more formal designation, an egghead. But they shared at least one fundamental ethic: They were convinced that people who possessed sufficient resources – intellectual, material or both – could not only change the world for the better, but had a responsibility to do so. “Both Wallace and I grew up in homes where commitment to community and philanthropy to the degree that you are capable of giving was part of our family culture,” McCain says. “Meeting people in the 1930s at the back door. It happened in both homes. Education was a religion, along with faith ... Wallace happened to be very successful in life. He always believed he was obliged to give back. More than this, though, he wanted very much to give back. In his dying days, he said it was more fun to give it away than it was to make it.” In fact, Mustard and Wallace shared another trait: An abiding belief in the value of discipline and rigor. This found expression, in the former, in his systematic approach to the research, development and evaluation of early childhood development programs. In the latter – who once said his favorite subject in university was math – it manifested iParks Moncton make these make sense When Wallace and Margaret McCain founded their Family Foundation, Wallace provided $25 million as an asset base so that the organization could commit a million dollars annually towards early childhood development. in his strict, by-the-numbers approach to and Wallace agreed to fund this past year commercial operations. – amounts to some $50 million. That’s on Now that they are gone, these qualities top of the roughly $45-50 million they had of mind – a passionate commitment to already dispersed to various organizations improving the life of others and a devotion in the handful of years before his death. to structure and strategy – purchase When done, she ball parks, the better part nearly every waking moment of Margaret of $200 million will be gone – if not all McCain’s time. before she dies, then eventually. In fact, “Philanthropy is far more than writing that’s exactly how she puts it: “Eventually, a check,” she says. “There is charitable everything will be gone.” philanthropy and there’s strategic She utters these words almost gleefully. philanthropy. And we’ve done both ... But But there’s also the ring of solemnity let’s say I do live another 20 years. I have in her voice, as if she has embraced a to be effective. And effective philanthropy profound, even sacred, duty. “You know,” is focussed. It’s based on intelligence and she says, “our kids are not going to be knowledge of the issues.” hungry or cold, because they inherited the It is, in effect, a business, like any other. shares in Wallace’s companies before he And to be successful, it needs a plan. died. We were given a liquid piece of that specifically to give away, and, of course, The list is as long as it is impressive: to keep me until I die. I now handle the The Canadian Women’s Foundation, the dispersement. That’s the plan we agreed Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, on. We talked about it. We worked on it. and the Muriel McQueen Ferguson That’s my job.” Foundation, which funds research into Ultimately, though, these legacy gifts the causes, incidence and forms of family do not comprise the strictly “strategic violence. And then there are the institutes philanthropy” in which she is otherwise of higher learning: The University of engaged. Her real passion is the Margaret and Toronto, Mount Allison, the University of & Wallace McCain Family Foundation New Brunswick, Dalhousie, St. F.X., and whose board members include, apart Mount Saint Vincent University. And the from herself, her sons Michael and Scott, and her daughters Martha and Eleanor. ’ health centres: Women’s College Hospital, you re St. Mike’s, Princess Margaret Hospital, Its mission is “To champion effective and the Centre for Addiction and Mental early childhood programs across Canada Health. that provide equal opportunities for all Altogether, McCain estimates that children, align with the school system and there. the first round of what she calls “legacy operate within a provincial or territorial gifts” – the cornucopia of charities she framework.” iParks Moncton Great philanthropic leaders like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Bill Clinton have moved, and are moving towards, using their resources to make a difference proactively, rather than reactively.

Michael McCain

More than this, its objectives are Bertrand was not able to comment for people a piece of her mind from time to both specific and transformational: “In this piece before press time, but in the time. One of the worst crimes you could selected Atlantic Canada communities, to acknowledgments of Early Years Study 3, commit was apathy.” transform existing public health, family the authors (McCain, Mustard and Kerry Truly, Margaret Norrie Sr. wasn’t the support, child care and early education McCuaig, a policy fellow at the Atkinson kind of woman with whom one could resources into effective integrated Centre of the Ontario Institute for Studies trifle. And the stories about her iron early childhood programs that provide in Education) testify that she had been resolve in Colchester County, Nova Scotia opportunities for all young children “our brain trust through three Early Years – where she and her husband settled with and their families; amplify efforts to put studies. All have been shaped by her their kids before his death in 1945 – were science into actions that benefit the lives inexhaustible knowledge, contacts, skills legion. “When a census-taker once told her of young children; support efforts to and dedication ... The authors do not have that he would refer to her as a ‘housewife’ gather, build and share evidence about enough words to convey our gratitude.” on the official form, she snapped, ‘my early child development with the goal of Today, McCain laughs, “Yeah, we call husband’s dead and I’m a Jersey breeder’,” informing and inspiring public discourse Jane our ‘Google Lady’. She’s a walking Margie once recalled. “Then there was the and policy action” and “initiate a pan- encyclopedia ... She works maybe 70 per time when Mother tried to stop a road from Canadian alliance to promote policies cent of her time for the Foundation as our being built through a woodland area. She for integrated provincial/territorial early program director.” not only joined the protest; she wound up childhood systems as an extension of Still, if the architect of this endeavor leading it. Later when she won the Liberal public education.” is naturally proud of the people, system nomination for Colchester County, she This is why Michael McCain, for and structure she’s been able to erect, she went up against none other than Robert one, nestles his mother’s approach is quick to admit that the learning curve Stanfield in the 1956 provincial election. to philanthropy in the contemporary has been, at times, steep. Even now, she He won, of course, but she loved every mainstream of effective giving: “It all but dismisses the authority her name minute of it.” reflects, to a large degree, where on Mustard’s reports invariably implies. The extent to which any of these philanthropy has gone in the past decade. “His work has had an impact around the qualities rubbed off on her children is Great philanthropic leaders like Bill world,” she says. “I’ve been flying on his hard to know. But one thing is indisputably Gates, Warren Buffet and Bill Clinton coattails. And I’m not the only person. At true: As far as she can remember, Margie have moved, and are moving towards, his memorial service, at least 150 or 200 has been nuts about kids. using their resources to make a difference of the 500 people who attended would all “You know,” she laughs, “I loved dolls proactively, rather than reactively ... To be have been his disciples ... So when I say he and I loved babies. I was passionate about a catalyst, to have an impact ... That’s not gave me a mission, he did.” babies. I played with dolls until I was 12 always been the philanthropy of the past.” Of course, a man so erudite and years old. And I had a doll that was my Certainly, Margaret’s overarching goal discerning must have observed, in so apt baby. I was the oldest of four. I have a is nothing if not proactive. “I want to see a pupil, the native affinities necessary to younger brother who was born when I a national early child development system carry on his work in the public square. was eight, and I couldn’t keep my hands in this country that’s publicly funded, off that child. And I wanted another one publicly driven for the public good,” she Born Margaret Anne Norrie, so badly. I drove my parents crazy. I used declares. in Amos, Quebec, “Margie” (as she was to pin notes on their pillows ... to inspire And if it takes a village to raise a child, called) was the first of four children. them.” it takes some organization to assemble the Her father James was a mining engineer Perhaps the most important lesson she villagers. “The formal planning for this whose preternatural skills eventually learned from her mother was how to say began about five years ago,” she explains. landed him in the Canadian Mining no, even on the dance floor. “That,” she “Wallace immediately put $25 million in Hall of Fame. Her mother, Margaret, says, “is where I first met Wallace shortly as an asset base so that we could reasonably was a professor of biology, dairy farmer, after I had arrived at Mount Allison. He start to commit a million dollars a year to avowed feminist before the term was was 20 and, well, I wasn’t. He was tall this issue ... Then, I had to educate my fashionable, and, later in life, a member and loud. At the same time, he seemed family, so I brought in Jane Bertrand, the of the Canadian Senate. As Margie said somehow shy and reserved. I would woman who had been one of the research in an interview more than a decade ago, have danced with him, but I came with coordinators on Fraser Mustard’s studies, “My mother, after whom I was named, someone else; and that’s exactly what I to do a presentation. They were totally was something of a force of nature. She told him.” bowled over. Wallace fell in love with her. was constantly on the go, helping in the Fine, Wallace must have thought, he My kids were so impressed.” communities where she lived; giving wouldn’t ask a second time.

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Atlantic Chambres de Provinces commerce Chambers of des provinces Commerce de l’Atlantique says. “She had to play the family leadership role. She engaged in everything – from being a nurse to a bus driver to a sports enthusiast.” Margie’s daughter Martha puts it this way: “Through a combination of natural ability and determined engagement she created a ‘village’ of family and friends for all those around her. And that created a community environment of safety, kinship, opportunity and confidence for young people.” Adds daughter Eleanor, who is an accomplished singer: “She has been incredibly supportive ... For instance, she used to drive me to Fredericton once a week to have a singing lesson which was an hour-and-a-half each way. She also played for many of my performances growing up. She put many of her own interests aside while we grew up so that she could be there for us.” Her second stage of life commenced just as soon as her children had struck out on their own. She threw herself into various good works, developing, not surprisingly, a passionate interest in the problem of family violence, becoming a founding member of the Muriel McQueen Ferguson Foundation, as well as other boards and influential charities in New Brunswick. Then, in a move that, she says, surprised no one more greatly than her, the provincial government came calling. Would she consider accepting the post of Lieutenant Governor? That was in 1994; she held the post until 1997. “She used that office, to some degree, to lead a movement for social change, especially concerning family violence,” Michael says. “Instead of considering the (Top) Margaret McCain and Mount Saint Vincent University president Ramona Lumpkin, announcing McCain’s role as strictly ceremonial, I think she was $2.5 million donation towards the Margaret Norrie McCain Centre for Teaching, Learning and Research. Some of one of the pioneers who used the office for the Mount’s flagship programs and initiatives, including Women’s Studies, the Gail and Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Learning Disabilities, the Institute for Women, Gender and Social Justice, and the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging will real good in the community.” make the McCain Centre their new home. (Bottom) Margaret McCain and Dr. William Montelpare with children from Frank McKenna, who was premier UPEI Panther Camps. McCain was at UPEI to announce a three-million-dollar gift to create the Margaret and Wallace McCain Chair in Human Development and Health. Montelpare is the inaugural chair and will focus his research on of New Brunswick at the time (and who issues in public health and exercise science with a specialty on the early years. Photo: UPEI photography considers Margie “a close friend”) concurs: “She was a superb L-G, vitally interested After all, he had a steady and he August 13, 1955. The day was glorious, full in all of the major issues affecting (the certainly wasn’t looking for excuses to of light and sweet summer scent. After province) ... Wallace was also greatly humiliate himself in the company of the guests departed, they assured their influenced by Margaret’s passion. The a teenaged girl. Still something about mothers that, yes, they would be happy lives of countless young people have been Margie intrigued him. Maybe it was the together. And they were. greatly influenced by her energy and polite but firm way she turned him down. Michael looks back on his mother’s dedication.” Maybe it was the fox-fire in her eyes when life and, somewhat jokingly, calls it a It was, of course, her passion for young she said, “no, thank you.” “two-stager”. The first stage, in Florence, people that, almost seamlessly, drew In any event, five years later, long N.B., where Wallace and his brother were her into the orbit of Dr. Fraser Mustard after both had finished worrying about building what would become their empire in the early 1990s. “I actually met him collegiate social conquests (and after she of the spud, involved performing the before I became Lieutenant Governor, had earned a Bachelor of Arts), Wallace duties of a classic, stereotypical country when he was president of the Canadian asked her out for a cup of coffee. matron. “She had a husband who was Institute for Advanced Research (CFAR). They were married under the maples travelling the world and was gone from He had come to New Brunswick as part at the United Church in Truro, N.S., on home 60 or 70 per cent of the time,” he of his effort to convince ministers and

44 | Atlantic Business Magazine | September/October 2012 ministries of health across Canada on the it wasn’t easy to read,” she says. “I went importance of the social determinants of home and I read diligently for the whole health. The then-president of UNB, Dr. weekend. All of a sudden, the light bulb Robin Armstrong, was also a founding went on. I realized that family violence member of CFAR, and for some strange is one of the big determinants of health. reason he invited me for lunch. He wanted But what you do in the early years sets a me to meet Fraser.” life trajectory in the child ... in health, in But, as she recounts the occasion today, learning, in poverty, in crime, in violence.” the meeting did not go well. At least, not at She leans back in her deck chair and first. “I sat there listening to these men talk, searches for the appropriate words. “It’s a listening to Fraser Mustard talk ... He was terrible analogy,” she begins, “but if you speaking a language I did not understand can imagine a psychiatrist standing on ... He spoke in the stratosphere. And I sat the banks of a river and he watches the “She was a superb L-G, there thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ I had no bodies of children floating by, and he vitally interested in all of idea why I was there. More than that, I felt doesn’t know whether he should jump so stupid! I didn’t know enough to ask a in to try and save as many as he can or the major issues affecting decent question. And they didn’t bother go upstream to find out why they are (the province) ... Wallace to explain about the language. They falling in and prevent them from falling were talking about ‘gradients in human in ... So, we have to continue to care for was also greatly influenced outcomes.’ As far as I was concerned, a those children who are victims of family by Margaret’s passion. The gradient was how steep the hill was that violence or for those who, for whatever I was about to ski down. And I was totally reason, fall through the cracks. But if lives of countless young at sea and feeling extremely inadequate.” we want to create a non-violent society, people have been greatly The feeling didn’t last long. She left we have to try and create a system where the get-together determined to both children are well-nurtured, well-cared- influenced by her energy broaden and deepen the scope of her for, loved and touched and stimulated to and dedication.” understanding about the issue. meet the requirements of what we know “You never left Fraser’s presence a child needs for healthy development ... Hon. Frank McKenna without a stack of material to read, and Also to meet the needs of parents ... And Former Premier New Brunswick

Online extras: atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | 45 when I became the Lieutenant Governor, “Cancer Research I brought together key ministers, policy Saved My Teacher.” makers, academics so that they could talk about this issue and how big it was and how it impacts our society.” Please Give Today CancerResearchSavesLives.ca Consistent with her businesslike approach to, as she says, “giving it Kelly Ells (survivor) and her student all away,” her Foundation funds the Ainsley Duykers, Tantallon, NS research and evaluation component of 10 demonstration centres in the Maritimes that deploy Mustard’s ideas concerning, and approach towards, early “experienced- based” learning for pre-schoolers. She calls this “play with purpose”, which, research demonstrates, better prepares youngsters to “receive education” when they get into the public (or private) school system. But does it, in fact, work? The answer is a definitive no if you ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper who, as one of his first official duties, axed his predecessor’s national child care strategy, which had, in fact, borrowed extensively from Mustard’s principles. But, Margie winks, you can’t really trust the reasoning of a man who has such demonstrable disdain for evidence. You’d be better off examining the results of Quebec’s 20-year experiment with comprehensive, public child care. LDS-AtlBus-One simple call-ad-Jul-12_Layout 1 12-06-08 11:26 AM Page 1 “Believe it or not,” she says, “that system has paid for itself. Not only has it paid for itself, it has put back $1.05 for every dollar invested, back into the provincial treasury. Atlantic Business Magazine 1/3 page horizontal.indd 4 12-06-08 2:17 PM And 44 cents on every dollar has gone to Need a new pharmacy? the feds. It cost seven dollars a day. I know there’s been a hue and cry, and the rest of Canada is saying, ‘Yeah, we’re paying for Switching to us is as easy as one it.’ Well, maybe the rest of Canada could do the same thing in their provinces. Try simple phone call to our it ... Not only that, it has reduced child poverty by 50 per cent. So, how have they pharmacist. done it? They’ve put women back into the workforce. The biggest uptick in the workforce is in Quebec. It has improved children’s outcomes. It has increased the birthrate, which of course we are all worried about.” Again, for Margaret McCain, it’s about the outcomes. She’s perfectly happy funding hospitals and universities. They do invaluable work. But the opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child – a child who, through the ministrations of her Foundation, could become a great teacher, like Mustard, or a successful entrepreneur, like Wallace – is simply too tempting a proposition to ignore. As she contemplates the next stage of her life, this third stage, her uncluttered mind embraces the virtues of her businesslike lawtons.ca/switch approach to giving it all away: Make it mean something, because you sure as hell can’t take it with you. | ABM

46 | Atlantic Business Magazine | September/October 2012