November 12, 1979

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Energy: Canada

The secret numbers in Alberta’s sweet new deal

In 1956, a 17-year-old Grade 11 student from Alberta eased back onto an oak seat in the spectators’ gallery of the House of Commons and watched history written within reach. He had come to Ottawa courtesy of the Rotary Club, a public-speaking winner in their “Adventure in Citizenship” program, and he sat entranced as the debate of the decade raged below. By Roy MacGregor9 min

52h

Adventure

Seven years on the seas

They were sailing in the Indian Ocean. The sea was calm, the current fast and the winds friendly on this warm December morning. The weather was so good that Winston Bushnell, a miner from Sudbury, Ontario, had decided not to make port on the east side of South Africa. By Warren Gerard8 min

Films

It happens every night

Time was Friday nights were spent with a box of popcorn and a date, watching Doris and Rock meet, marry and live happily ever after—in pyjamas and twin beds, of course. Things are no longer so blissfully simple: the popcorn is still at hand but the date is someone else’s estranged spouse, and up on the screen Jill and Burt are falling in and out of the matrimonial bed (now a double), in and out of a series of arms and are generally reeling from the torments of mid-life crisis. By Patricia Goldstone8 min

Frontlines

Morin in Wonderland

Claude Morin is sure of the answer; it’s the question that’s blowing in the wind. Sometimes, at night, in the seclusion of his suburban bungalow, Morin scribbles out trial questions, juggling words to come up with just the right combination that will elicit the YES he is so certain of winning from the people of Quebec. By David Thomas8 min

Frontlines

A spirit to last

It was, conceded a troubled Nova Scotia Minister of Development Roland Thornhill, “the worst thing a politician ever has to do. But really, what was the choice?” Saddled with a comingapart-at-the-seams steel plant which needs an infusion of a half-billion dollars to make it efficient, and already staggering under the weight of an accumulated debt of $300 million—not to mention new losses piling up at the rate of $1.25 million more a week—Thornhill made his Hobson’s choice. By Stephen Kimber7 min

Energy: Canada

War within the Tory Triangle

In the months after his election, Clark strove for what he termed “a new partnership,” which he signalled in a series of concessions to the regions: off-shore oil and gas ownership to governments on the coasts, control of lotteries, provincehood for the Yukon. By Robert Lewis5 min

People

When they are not performing doowah ditties, Anna Melena and the Startools are sterilizing, scrubbing up or anesthetizing in Ottawa hospitals. The eight-member medical band got together 1½ years ago at a hospital Gong Show and since then they have been carving up a storm at local benefits, which are regularly attended by their patients. By Marsha Boulton5 min

20h

Frontlines

The land of milk and money

So Big Business has tried to supplant nature by concocting a better infant’s milk, The Mother's Milk Formula for Health (Oct. 15). And thousands of babies are dying as a result. How many more unnecessary deaths from industriai-spawned poison must there be before our legislators demand that a social accounting become part of every business’ balance sheet?

48d

Health

One more test for the boat people

To test or not to test—that was the question. And while on the surface it should not have been difficult to answer, it took more than a federal government task force, a group of medical specialists and constant pressure from Canada’s dental community to arrive at the decision. By Merilyn Read5 min

U.S.A.

The end of Teddy’s teasing

This week Senator Ted Kennedy finally makes his presidential candidacy official after two months of hitting and teasing. The declaration, planned for Boston on Nov. 7, means the press and public can now shift their attention to the content of his campaign. By Ian Urquhart5 min

November 51979