Most of Phil McNichol’s multi-faceted work career has been in the news business. He has worked as a Grey/Bruce-based journalist since moving to the Bruce (Saugeen) Peninsula in 1979, including more than 20 years as a staff reporter for The Sun Times in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. He also wrote his award-winning weekly column Counterpoint for The Sun Times for 15 years. It earned him an Ontario Newspaper (ONA) Award in 2005 for opinion and analysis writing. He also won a Western Ontario Newspaper Award (WONA) in 1994, with two other Sun Times reporters for a series they did as a team on the issue of fresh water as a threatened resource. Phil has written extensively on local, provincial, and national politics, Indigenous rights, local and foreign affairs, agriculture, the environment, nuclear energy, aging, literature, and his beloved little farm in Hope Ness.
Phil has also owned and operated several small, local businesses including the Family Deli, Dreamers Gallery, and a market garden he continues to cultivate, plant, and harvest. He sells his naturally-grown produce at the farm on Cathedral Drive, beside the Bruce Trail, and at the grocery store in the village of Lion’s Head. He has continued to write short stories, and is working on two novels: ‘A Toronto Tragedy,’ a family history, largely focused on his maternal grandmother’s life; and ‘Hope Ness,’ the story of a very elderly man who undertakes an extraordinary journey to return to the place of his birth in order to finally come to grips with tragic events that happened there.
Read his introductory blog, Finding Hope Ness, here.
BLOG DIRECTORIES:
Spillbean Web Directory.
Blogging Fusion Blog Directory
1Abc Directory
Blogs Directory
BlogDirectory
blog links
blogville
Bocaiw Directory
Finding Hope Ness 
His best accomplishment is being a good Father. The best in fact.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ok so I am here and see that you live in a beautiful part of Ontario! I was intrigued by the post of a driving license in rural Ontario as a friend had some issues with her’s awhile back. I love your wit and wealth of information you share.
LikeLike
I have a farm on the Bruce Peninsula, in a sparsely populated rural area called Hope Ness. It’s about four hours northwest of Toronto, but a world away. The “wealth of information” may have something to do with my background as a journalist. I still write a column for a local daily newspaper. I have three grown daughters, 11 grandchildren and even one great granddaughter. This past winter was not so bad as the two before, but cold and snowy enough. I have a long driveway which I have to clear of snow after a storm with a tractor and attached snowblower. A few times this past winter the temperature was down around -20 Celsius. Amazing isn’t it how different the environment is in different parts of the world for people who can connect now in an instant like they’re right next door.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a grand life! I have been to Toronto and as far as Barrie. I loved my time in Ontario and wished I could have made my home there. Presently, I live with my 4 young adult children in Malaysia, where it’s humid everyday but I dream of snow and ice. I don’t even know if i can survive a day below 6 degrees Celsius and yet I dream!I love reading that you are a journalist but write with such passion, often times the information delivered outweighs the emotion and I never finish reading an article, yours have pleasantly surprised me. My dream was always to be a writer but my mother decided otherwise and I grew to love the profession I am in now. But writing is my first love though English is not my mother tongue I hope to improve with time. In a time long past I wrote aerograms and had to wait weeks for my friend to reply my letters from Canada and today we are just a click away. Amazing indeed! And like you it amazes me that we can share about stuff happening in our different worlds in a matter of no time. Thank you for reading this terribly long reply.
LikeLike
I’ve nominated you for the quotes challenge, because you have helped me so much along my way of figuring out WordPress, and you are one of the first people I think of when I think of the WP community! If you would be happy to take part please see the latest post on my blog. Thanks:)❤
LikeLike
Thank you very much for nominating me Mia. I’m honoured someone who obviously has a promising future as a writer has said such a nice thing about me and my blog. Unfortunately, though, I’m really too busy right now to participate and do the quotes challenge justice. All the best. Phil
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Phil,
You are so immensely kind and you have helped me so much. I understand that you’re busy and it’s absolutely fine. Best of luck with everything! –Mia
LikeLike