Adventures at Honey Harbour
I was but a callow youth when I first started marking the lessons in the MAP correspondence program back in 1963, under the supervision of Professors Stewart Fyfe and K. G. Crawford at Queen’s University. The latter was a very prominent figure who could look rather stern, but I was fortunate to spend enough time with him to observe and enjoy his sense of humour. I will never forget driving with Crawford and his wife to the AMCTO annual conference, back when it was held at the Delawana Inn in Honey Harbour. Old-timers (like me) will recall that the experience was unique and could not be replicated once the conference shifted to more conventional hotel settings. You didn’t have to find out the room number of a social event; you just walked between the various cottages on site and listened for the sound of laughter.
If you couldn’t get a room in the Delawana Inn, you were destined for the back-up hotel (called the Royal, as I recall) which was located on a nearby island. The last boat to take guests home was at 11, but more than once some people stayed late, consumed copiously, and then swam over to their digs. In spite of its name, the Royal was rather primitive and one of its striking features was the provision of rope ladders in lieu of fire escapes from the various upper floor bedrooms. [I should emphasize that I am speaking of the Delawana Inn of long ago, not the current Delawana Resort]
My 45 Year Writing Project
The original Municipal Administration Program was written by a large number of people, most of them practitioners chosen for their knowledge of the subject matter. The result was a program with widely varying writing styles and ease of reading. As a result, Crawford and Fyfe (via the Institute of Local Government at Queen’s University) oversaw the first comprehensive rewrite of the program – designed to update it and to incorporate a consistent writing style. That became my assignment between 1965 and 1967, and I continued to write and revise the program (with minor interruptions) until 2010.
To support the correspondence students, we introduced an annual tutorial, held at Ryerson in Toronto. I led many of these review sessions but other participants included Ben Bolton, Larry Close, Frank Kidd, Kent Murray, Albert Liboiron, and Stewart Fyfe. A high point for me was always when George Betts, the “Senior Tutor” responsible for administering the correspondence program through Queen’s, would give a pep talk to the students in attendance. When addressing the perennial issue of why some markers were slow in getting the assignments back to the students, George would invariably reply “don’t shoot the piano player, he’s doing his best.” Without fail, a look of bewilderment appeared on the faces of students.
The Correspondence Program Comes to St. Lawrence College
By the mid-1970s, Queen’s decided that it no longer wanted to administer the Municipal Administration Program and that responsibility shifted to another university for a few years. The Association then asked St. Lawrence if it would assume responsibility for the program, which it did, beginning in 1984. From that point enrolment increased strongly, averaging some 300 students a year and contributing to the substantial growth in AMCTO membership over the ensuing years.
The key to our success was ensuring that the program was administered directly from my office which I shared with Ian Wilson, who also had a strong background in local government – particularly as a member and head of council. We were ably supported by two staff named Anne, one of whom had helped with the administration of the MAP courses when they were at Queen’s. When students called us, they knew immediately that they were speaking with folks who knew – and cared about – municipal government.
We provided extensive backup and support for the correspondence students and I was very proud of the fact that we had an attrition rate of only 10%, compared to 30% or more for regular “in house” programs. Typical of our follow up was the time I phoned a student who was falling behind in her assignments. Her contact information was incomplete, but did include the name of a municipality. When I phoned that office, I was told that the lady did not work there, but was known to staff as she dated the Fire Chief. When I was put through to him, I announced breezily that I was trying to reach his girlfriend. “And who the hell are you,” was his response.
It is, of course, the COVID crisis that has revived the correspondence version of the Municipal Administration Program and various other local government training programs. This will presumably be a temporary arrangement but I appreciate the trip down memory lane that it provided for me.