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Jack Kiervin sort of owes former Ontario premier Ernie Eves a favour. As chairman of Prison Fellowship Canada, the venture capitalist held a summer fundraiser entitled "Women Rising" in his home in Oakville, Ont., and some of the neighbours might have been surprised to know what was going on inside. After all, the event featured two speakers who had landed behind bars after run-ins with the Man.
The former inmates mingled with well-heeled females from Bay Street over finger foods and juice cocktails before outlining how life can take unexpected turns. After a nice sit-down lunch, one explained how she used to prey on poor women willing to do anything for a subsidized southern vacation; her life as a drug-mule runner only became distasteful when the competition tipped the cops and she was forced to see her crimes — and two prison stints — through the eyes of her kids. The other ex-con then described losing a good government job after a bloody domestic dispute — in which she lost an eye while taking her partner's life.
The speakers were introduced by Prison Fellowship's executive director, who also went to prison after a run-in with authority. "We couldn't be more happy to have Ellie on board," Kiervin says.
"Ellie" is Eleanor Clitheroe. And she didn't tell her story at the meeting. Then again, most people think they know it already. But Prison Fellowship's executive director didn't find religion in jail. For the record, she's not a criminal. She was never charged with a crime. The authorities in her tale aren't even cops.
Indeed, Clitheroe's run-in was with then-Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, who, on July 19, 2002, had her terminated with cause from the high-profile CEO job at Hydro One, the province's transmission-grid operator. As you may recall, she was hired to run the controversial privatization of the utility, which would have netted Ontario an estimated $5.5 billion. But Hydro One started generating heat for the province after it paid Clitheroe a compensation package worth about $2.2 million in 2001. The utility also raised some eyebrows by sponsoring sailing competitions, one of Clitheroe's passions.
When the political waters got too hot, Eves promised to cut Clitheroe's pay. Hydro One's board cried foul. Led by former chairman Sir Graham Day, a Halifax native respected around the world for leadership, restructuring and privatization efforts at numerous companies (he's worked with Bank of Nova Scotia, Cadbury Schweppes, British Aerospace, Dome Petroleum and Powergen, among others), Hydro One's directors resigned en masse — after Eves moved to fire them. The government then installed a new board, chaired by Tory operative Glen Wright, who fired Clitheroe using what many call trumped-up charges of breaching her fiduciary duty.
This wasn't a standard executive execution — you know, the kind that comes with a vague explanation like "parting ways to pursue other interests." It's been called a character assassination. But what really happened to Clitheroe was more like being tarred and feathered, then crucified. The termination announcement was short, but not sweet. It actually listed the alleged wrongdoings. More public outrage followed. One newspaper columnist suggested Clitheroe should follow the example of the Girls of Enron and pose for a Playboy spread dedicated to Canadian greed. Another scribe insisted she wasn't fit to be a mother, let alone a CEO.
That was too much for Clitheroe's dad, who is no longer proud of the country he served as a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator during the Second World War. The 85-year-old thinks he can still recognize defensive flak when he sees it, and he saw it in the way Eves treated his daughter. "My father still can't let it go," Clitheroe says. "He has this box full of media clips that he keeps in the basement, and he just can't figure out why they describe a person he doesn't know."
Clitheroe herself has accepted her fate. She knows she'll never regain the reputation that landed her on corporate boards in a range of sectors, including mining (Inco), banking (TD) and steelmaking (Dofasco), not to mention her directorships with the Conference Board of Canada and the Federal Standards Advisory Board, or her role as chancellor of the University of Western Ontario.
But that's OK. She no longer cares about corporate titles or the trappings they provide. She now lives in student housing and works relaxed hours — or relatively relaxed, for a workaholic. Her new boss is reportedly fairly forgiving, and he offers a better long-term retirement plan than the one Hydro One took away. Clitheroe is now an Anglican priest. "When you give up things, the next thing you have to give up is the thought of the things," she says, citing monk-poet Thomas Merton. And that's what she did.
God has always been part of Clitheroe's life, so after losing her job, she completed a master of divinity degree from Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, where she is now working toward a doctorate in theological philosophy (learning ancient Greek in order to study Old Testament prisons). As a curate at St. Cuthbert's Church in Oakville, where she is known as "Reverend Ellie," her job is pastoral and sacramental. She walks "with people on their spiritual journeys as a leader in a parish community," she says. At Prison Fellowship, which was started by Watergate co-conspirator Charles Colson, she helps people "impacted by crime in as healthy a way as possible." She has administrative tasks, but she also works in the field — prisons — with inmates and families.
Let's get something straight: Clitheroe isn't seeking redemption for what happened at Hydro One — she's seeking compensation. Before leaving office, Eves enacted legislation preventing her from suing the government. But the courts ruled she could sue Hydro One. Alan Lenczner, Clitheroe's lawyer, is going after her former employer for millions in severance and pension compensation outlined in the contract revoked by Eves. She has also filed a $5-million libel and slander suit against Wright for what he said when she was fired.
Away from the corporate world
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