April 9, 1979

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Frontlines

A Caribbean coup: revolt in reggae time

They interrupted the coup on the spice island of Grenada last month to announce that a lady had lost her red leather purse, and would anyone finding it please contact the police. Maurice Bishop, 35-year-old leader of the “people’s army,” had just finished his first major speech to the first mass rally of the new regime. By William Lowther11 min

20d

Canada

Another opening, another show

Joe Clark flinched at the sickening whine and the staccato burst of motor-driven press cameras each time he dropped his chin onto clasped hands at an Ottawa news conference. As the nightmare of an unflattering front-page picture receded, the Conservative leader chuckled softly and went on with his pitch. By Robert Lewis8 min

Frontlines

The stakes are high in the great herring hunt

The Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland rise out of the fog banks like mesas from the desert heat. Pale blue and cream ferries nose among them, trailing streamers of gulls. In March, these placid waters can roil and surge before a compasswheeling wind, but on this particular day they are calm as the 95-foot Canadian Coast Guard cutter Rider steams toward Nanoose Bay, a hiccup in the Vancouver Island coastline north of Nanaimo. By Thomas Hopkins7 min

Films

Something small is growing big

On the whole, babies and young children appear to have been left to survive or die without great concern... What psychological effect this may have had on character, and possibly on history, can only be conjectured... If children survived to age seven, their recognized life began, more or less as miniature adults. By Lawrence O’Toole6 min

U.S.A.

The Harrisburg Syndrome

In the latest Hollywood disaster thriller, The China Syndrome, a disintegrating nuclear reactor threatens to burn a hole through the earth’s core. That was not quite what happened at the Metropolitan Edison’s Three Mile Island nuclear power station, a mere 15 miles from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s state capital, last week.

World

People

Although it’s questionable whether they will ever touch a hair on his bushy head, macho music-maker Gino Vanelli recently purchased a pair of platinum scissors to give to his parents, who own several hairdressing salons in Montreal. “They never gave up faith in me,” said Vanelli. By Jane O’Hara6 min

Canada

16 battlefields where the most blood will flow

The not election just at the campaign national will level be fought by the party leaders but also by the candidates in each of the 282 ridings (increased from 264 ridings in the last election). In many of these ridings, local issues or personalities may influence the vote more than anything the leaders say or do. By Ian Urquhart5 min

World

A new society or a new tyranny?

It was supposed to be a great popular affirmation of the revolution, a great demonstration of unity among Iranians about the shape of the society to be built on the ruins of the monarchy. The preordained majority for an Islamic Republic in last week’s referendum, however, proved little except that Ayatollah Khomeini still commands respect and that his followers can still mobilize the masses, as they did so successfully in bringing down the Shah. By Martin Woollacott5 min

Letters

Ee-i-ee-i-o As much as I admire Ian Urquhart’s writing, I am concerned about his handling of the constitutional conference in Talking a Good Game (Feb. 19). He uses such words as “feuding” in relation to the transfer of the BNA Act, “squawked” in reference to a remark of Trudeau’s.

Frontlines

Coming soon: the ‘Mr. Métis’ Louis Riel doll

The the legend brink of of overnight Louis Riel popular totters sucon the brink of overnight popular success after nearly 100 years as a cottage industry for writers and academics, patriots and scoundrels. Suddenly everyone wants a piece of the myth, the story of the rebel who couldn’t shoot and barely could ride, who would rather pray than fight and went to the grave expecting to rise again on the third day. By Kaspars Dzeguze5 min

April 21979