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the charge in some of the province's most contentious files, in everything from child welfare law to health, labour, and provin- cial offences. In recent years, she repre- sented the government of Ontario in the Maher Arar inquiry, acted as lead counsel at the inquiry into child sexual abuse in Cornwall, Ont., and led the province's legal team in the SARS litigation. With plans to retire this month, her career was rightfully capped off last spring when she received the Ontario Bar Association's Tom Marshall Award. The decoration goes to public sector lawyers who have demonstrated excel- lence and outstanding achievement. She also received an Amethyst Award, which honours excellence among Ontario's public sector employees. That the OBA award is named after Marshall, a former senior lawyer for the province and one of McIntosh's key mentors, made it all the more significant for her. She credits Marshall with convincing her to return to the Crown Law Office (Civil) — where she had articled after graduating from the University of Western Ontario's Faculty of Law — following three years in the legal services branch of the Ministry of Community and Social Services. McIntosh recalls carrying Marshall's bag to an Ontario Municipal Board hear- ing as an articling student. Incensed after a preliminary objection was overruled, he swept out of the room, advising his oppo- nents that he'd see them in court. "He was right, and my advice to students is, don't try that unless you're Tom Marshall," she says. At the same time, McIntosh says Marshall was guided by a specific idea of the office of the attorney general's man- date, as enshrined in legislation: to ensure that the government of Ontario oper- ates according to law. "What Tom passed down to us was the notion that we were the front line in the defence of the rule of law in Ontario," she says. "That meant that if we thought that the government of the day was not proposing to act accord- ing to law, we should say so." McIntosh says Marshall's steadfast alle- giance to that ideal has remained with her throughout her career. She points to a recent case in which a landowner claimed a special deal had long ago been struck between himself and the Crown to protect him from any future adverse zoning. When McIntosh pulled out an old file on the matter, she was pleased to find that it was one of Marshall's cases. She discovered that such a deal had been pro- posed, but Marshall objected, saying the measure would be illegal and handcuff future governments. That memo allowed her to prove that the landowner's new claims were false. "We always had a really strong sense that the public service was to be apolitical, doing our best to assist the government of the day with their program, but never losing sight of the fact that we would be here after they're gone, and we're responsible for the government being conducted in accordance with the law," notes McIntosh. While she has applied that wisdom to the cases she's worked on over the years, her contributions are not just in the courts. McIntosh has become a top speaker on administrative law issues, and served as an adjunct professor of administrative law at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law. She's also served on the bench and bar committee of Ontario's Divisional Court, as a member of the board of direc- tors of the Association of Law Officers of the Crown, and is a past warden of St. Peter's-on-the-Rock Anglican Church in Lakefield, Ont. She's also remained active, playing with the York Raiders Women's Basketball Club since 1970. McIntosh admits to having "burned the candle on both ends" during her career. She's looking forward to spend- ing more time with her husband Alick Ryder, a union-side labour lawyer who continues to practise with Ryder Wright Blair and Holmes LLP. Retirement will also afford her more time with her three stepdaughters and five grandchil- dren. She plans to stay active teaching law, however, moving to Osgoode Hall Law School in January. McIntosh also intends to foster her hobby of urban planning, perhaps by taking courses on the topic and sitting on an urban design board of directors. But first on her agenda is a trip to Scotland in September with her mom. YOUR ONE-STOP RESOURCE FOR INTERPRETING ONTARIO'S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICS LEGISLATION NEW PUBLICATION ANNOTATED GUIDE TO THE ONTARIO TOXICS REDUCTION ACT JOSEPH F. CASTRILLI Provide the best possible advice to your clients by interpreting the new Ontario Toxics Reduction Act, 2009 correctly. 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