Maclean's

COVER

Labor’s Fight To Survive

Almost from the day they began in mid-June, the rotating strikes against Canada Post Corp. by the nation’s 20,000 letter carriers were precedent-setting—and troubling. The Crown corporation, vowing to stay open for business, became one of the few federal agencies ever to hire strikebreakers. By RAE CORELLI10 min

32

COVER

The Lessons Of Eaton's

Michael Danyluk was shopping for a video cassette recorder in an Eaton’s department store in Brampton, Ont., in November, 1983, when he had a casual discussion with a salesclerk who complained of low wages. As business agent for the 30,000-member Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Danyluk gave the clerk his card. By SHARON DOYLE DRIEDGER4 min

12

WORLD

Democratic second string

After a fund-raising lunch in Houston last week, Democratic presidential hopeful Bruce Babbitt noted with humor that televised political debates usually put him to sleep. For the estimated 10 million viewers who tuned in to public television to watch Babbitt and six other Democratic presidential contenders in a special live edition of Firing Line only hours later, the former Arizona governor’s comments may have seemed prophetic. By MARCI McDONALD9 min

24

BUSINESS WATCH

Laurentian’s Asian campaign

Next week Michael Hale, a senior vice-president of Imperial Life, leaves Toronto for a long-term posting in Hong Kong. Next month Claude Castonguay, head of the Laurentian Group, which owns Imperial, will also touch down in the island colony before moving on to Kuala Lumpur. By Peter C. Newman4 min

26

SPORTS

Canada’s new lord of the ring

Matthew Hilton’s victory party was appropriate, if exhausting. Four days after becoming the first Canadian-born fighter in 44 years to win a world professional boxing championship, the 21-year-old Montrealer last week attended a Canada Day celebration in Hudson, Que. By DAN BURKE4 min

40

MUSIC

The spell of pop’s unstoppable siren

The costumes changed almost as often as the songs. Stepping out first in a black corselet tipped with coneshaped pasties and dangling tassles, she was all bare legs and shoulders topped by a shock of platinum hair. Two numbers into the show, she switched to a blue silk taffeta dress and petticoat, to become a vision of innocence.

6

CANADA

Hard choices on crime

For Bud Bradley, the 49-year-old law-and-order Conservative member of Parliament for Dunnville, in rural southern Ontario, it was a decision he had agonized over in the weeks leading up to the vote that began at 1:20 last Tuesday morning, June 30. By HILARY MACKENZIE6 min

48

THEATRE

F-words at Green Gables

Dazzling in a gold lamé suit, his lips curled in the famous pout, a young Elvis Presley (Ben Bass) makes his debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. As he thrusts his pelvis against the microphone stand while belting out Hound Dog, a frantic TV producer repeatedly shouts “F---,” for the act he thinks Elvis is imitating. By ANN THURLOW4 min

8

CANADA

Mulroney’s red-hot summer

For Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the occasion was a welcome break after nine months of bear-pit politics in Ottawa. For two days last week Mulroney, his wife, Mila, and their four children retreated to the warm embrace of his home town, Baie Comeau, Que.

8

CANADA

Testing party power

While most Canadians enjoy the solaces of summer, the country’s leading politicians are waging three high-stakes political battles. Across the nation—in the rugged Yukon, in the Ontario steel city of Hamilton and in Newfoundland’s seaside capital of St. John’s—voters go to the polls in byelections on July 20 to fill vacancies in the House of Commons.

4

COLUMN

Stranded on the road to reform

For 10 hours on a Thursday last month the media were locked up in a dreary Ottawa hockey arena to study a six-inch stack of tax reform measures proposed by Michael Wilson. Fuelled by strong coffee and stale sandwiches laid on by the government, reporters quickly resorted to bad jokes. By Diane Francis5 min

20

WORLD

Final verdict for the Butcher of Lyons

All eyes were fixed on the wasted, bowed figure in a baggy suit who spoke from the dock. In a quavering voice, he denied that he had committed crimes against humanity by shipping Jews and French Resistance fighters to concentration camps. “It was the war,” he said, “and the war is over.” By PETER LEWIS4 min

34

COVER

White Knight On A Crusade

Admirers have nicknamed him “the White Knight” because of his ambitious crusade on behalf of organized labor over the past 35 years. And Robert White, the 52-year-old head of the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW), has probably won enough victories to earn the accolade, battling such corporate giants as Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca to gain concessions for the 150,000 workers under his direction. By MARY McIVER4 min