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Born in [[Oak Lake]], [[Manitoba]], Strong had his start as a petroleum entrepreneur and became president of [[Power Corporation]] until 1966. In the early [[1970]]s he was [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] Conference on the Human Environment and then became the first Executive Director of the [[United Nations Environment Programme]]. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of [[Petro-Canada]] from [[1976]] to [[1978]]. He headed [[Ontario Hydro]], one of North Americas largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of [[YMCA]]s, and headed [[American Water Development Incorporated]].
Born in [[Oak Lake]], [[Manitoba]], Strong had his start as a petroleum entrepreneur and became president of [[Power Corporation]] until 1966. In the early [[1970]]s he was [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] Conference on the Human Environment and then became the first Executive Director of the [[United Nations Environment Programme]]. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of [[Petro-Canada]] from [[1976]] to [[1978]]. He headed [[Ontario Hydro]], one of North Americas largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of [[YMCA]]s, and headed [[American Water Development Incorporated]].


Today Strong lives in the [[People's Republic of China]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} and is President of the Council of the United Nations's [[University for Peace]]. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to grant degrees at the [[masters degree|masters]] and [[doctorate degree|doctoral]]. He is an active honorary professor at [[Peking University]] and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
Today Strong lives in the [[People's Republic of China]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} and is President of the Council of the United Nations's [[University for Peace]]. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to completely indoctrinate young minds into the cult. He is an active honorary professor at [[Peking University]] and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}


==Business==
==Business==

Revision as of 21:45, 12 May 2010

Maurice F. Strong, PC, CC, OM, FRSC (born April 29, 1929) is a Canadian businessman. He is an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and one of the world’s leading proponents of the United Nations's involvement in world affairs and strong proponent of "New World Order". A one world government with an objective of redistribution of wealth from the industrious nations of working individuals, to those of non-industrious and non-educated nations of non-working individuals.

Born in Oak Lake, Manitoba, Strong had his start as a petroleum entrepreneur and became president of Power Corporation until 1966. In the early 1970s he was Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and then became the first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada from 1976 to 1978. He headed Ontario Hydro, one of North Americas largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of YMCAs, and headed American Water Development Incorporated.

Today Strong lives in the People's Republic of China,[citation needed] and is President of the Council of the United Nations's University for Peace. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to completely indoctrinate young minds into the cult. He is an active honorary professor at Peking University and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.[citation needed]

Business

Maurice Strong had his start in business as a specialist in oil and mineral resources for a leading brokerage firm, James Richardson & Sons. Moving to Calgary, Alberta, he became assistant to one of the most colorful and dramatically successful leaders of the oil industry, J.P. Gallagher. At Gallagher's Dome Petroleum, Strong occupied several key roles including Vice President of Finance.

In the 1950s he took over a small natural gas company, Ajax Petroleums, and built it into what became one of the leading companies in the industry, Norcen Resources. This attracted the attention of one of Canada’s principal investment corporations with extensive interests in the energy and utility businesses, Power Corporation of Canada. It appointed him initially as its Executive Vice President and then President from 1961 until 1966.

In 1976, at the request of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Strong returned to Canada to head the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada[1]. He then became Chairman of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, the holding company for some of Canada’s principal government-owned corporations.

American Water Development

As Chairman of AZL Resources Incorporated and American Water Development Incorporated, Strong instituted a program to pump underground water and send it to the suburban Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Townspeople of nearby Crestone, Colorado created a grass-roots movement against the business project. The project was opposed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and National Park Service, both claiming it would cause significant environmental damages to nearby wetland and sand dune ecosystems. After a lengthy trial, Colorado courts ruled against AWDI and required payment of the objectors' legal fees, $3.1 million.[2] Afterwards, Strong was quoted as saying, "My interest in the water went beyond it being a good business. I saw development of the water as an exceptional opportunity to apply my sustainable-development principles on a real-life scale."[3] When his partners opted for an alternative plan to export the water from the valley, Strong donated his interest to charity (the Fetzer foundation).[3]

United Nations work

Strong first met with a leading UN official in 1947 who arranged for him to have a temporary low-level appointment, to serve as a junior security officer at the UN headquarters in Lake Success, New York.

Stockholm Conference

UNEP logo.

In 1971, Strong commissioned a report on the state of the planet, entitled “Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet” [4] and co-authored by Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos. The report summarized the findings of 152 leading experts from 58 countries in preparation for the first UN meeting on the environment, held in Stockholm in 1972. This was the world's first "state of the environment" report.

The Stockholm Conference established the environment as part of an international development agenda. It led to the establishment by the UN General Assembly in December 1972 of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and the election of Strong to head it. UNEP was the first UN agency to be headquartered in the third world.[5] As head of UNEP, Strong convened the first international expert group meeting on climate change.[6]

Maurice Strong was one of the commissioners of the World Commission on Environment and Development, set up as an independent body by the United Nations in 1983.

Earth Summit

His role in leading the UN’s famine relief program in Africa was the first in a series of UN advisory assignments, including reform and his appointment as Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Environment and Development—best known as the Earth Summit.[7][8]

After the Earth Summit, Strong continued to take a leading role in implementing the results of agreements at the Earth Summit through establishment of the Earth Council, the Earth Charter movement, his Chairmanship of the World Resources Institute, Membership on the Board of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Stockholm Environment Institute, The Africa-America Institute, the Institute of Ecology in Indonesia, the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and others. Strong was a longtime Foundation Director of the World Economic Forum, a Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank, a Member of the International Advisory of Toyota Motor Corporation, the Advisory Council for the Center for International Development of Harvard University, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund, Resources for the Future, and the Eisenhower Fellowships. His public service activities were carried out on a pro bono basis made possible by his business activities, which included Chairman of the International Advisory Group of CH2M Hill, Strovest Holdings Inc., Technology Development Inc., Zenon Environmental Inc., and most recently, Cosmos International, and the China Carbon Corporation.

Strong lobbied to change NGO perspectives on World Bank.[9]

In 1999, at the request of then UN Secretary-General, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, he took on the task of trying to restore the viability of the University for Peace, headquartered in Costa Rica, established under authorization of the UN General Assembly.[10] The UN’s reputation was at risk as the organization had been subjected to severe mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and inoperative governance. As Chairman of its governing body, the Council, and initially as Rector, Strong led the process of revitalizing the University for Peace and helped to rebuild its programs and leadership. He retired from the Council in the spring of 2007.

From 2003 and 2005, Strong served as the personal envoy UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to lead support for the international response to the humanitarian and development needs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.[11]

2005 Oil-for-Food scandal and hiring practice criticisms

In 2005, during investigations into the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Programme, evidence procured by federal investigators and the U.N.-authorized inquiry of Paul Volcker showed that in 1997, while working for Annan, Strong had endorsed a check for $988,885, made out to "Mr. M. Strong," issued by a Jordanian bank. It was reported that the check was hand-delivered to Mr. Strong by a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who in 2006 was convicted in New York federal court of conspiring to bribe U.N. officials to rig Oil-for-Food in favor of Saddam Hussein. Mr. Strong was never accused of any wrongdoing.[12] During the inquiry, Strong stepped down from his U.N. post, stating that he would "sideline himself until the cloud was removed". Strong now lives in Beijing.[12]

Strong was the UN's envoy to North Korea until July 2005. According to Associated Press his contract was not renewed "amid questions about his connection to a suspect in the UN oil-for-food scandal", Tongsun Park, as well as due to criticism that he gave his stepdaughter a job at the UN contrary to UN staff regulations against hiring immediate family.[13]

UN Secretary General's tribute

Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, near the end of his term, paid the following tribute to Maurice Strong:

Looking back on our time together, we have shared many trials and tribulations and I am grateful that I had the benefit of your global vision and wise counsel on many critical issues, not least the delicate question of the Korean Peninsula and China’s changing role in the world. Your unwavering commitment to the environment, multilateralism and peaceful resolution of conflicts is especially appreciated.

Honors and Awards

Maurice Strong has received a number of honors, awards and medals. He has received 53 honorary doctorate degrees and honorary visiting professorships at 7 universities.

Among the honors and awards:

Other honors and awards include:

References and notes

  1. ^ "Maurice F. Strong Is First Non-U.S. Citizen To Receive Public Welfare Medal, Academy's Highest Honor". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  2. ^ "Rural area beats back water diversion plan" article by Barry Noreen, High Country News May 30, 1994
  3. ^ a b Where on Earth Are We Going?. April 23, 2001. Texere.ISBN 158799092X: On AWDI, page 169: "My interest in the water went beyond it being a good business. I saw development of the water as an exceptional opportunity to apply my sustainable-development principles on a real-life scale." page 170: "Initially my partners had all given at least passive support to my plans for the project, which I had insisted from inception to be an example of environmental and socially responsible development." page 171: "I donated my interest to the Fetzer Foundation."
  4. ^ Ward Barbara Dubos Rene. Only One Earth. May 25, 1972. Andre Deutsch Ltd.ISBN 0233963081
  5. ^ http://www.unep.org Website of the United Nations Environment Programme
  6. ^ "A super agency?". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-01-14. Member account login required to access full article.
  7. ^ Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio, 1992
  8. ^ Tribute Special Supplement: On the Road to Rio. (1991). World Media Institute, Ottawa, Canada
  9. ^ http://www.mauricestrong.net/2008072115/strong-biography.html
  10. ^ "University of Peace Makes New Appointments and Agrees on Major Expansion". Science Blog. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  11. ^ "UN urges North Korea-US talks". London: British Broadcasting Corporation. April 4, 2003. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  12. ^ a b "Maurice Strong: The U.N.'s Man of Mystery - WSJ.com". online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  13. ^ The Globe and Mail

External links

Is a threat to US sovereignty

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