October 5, 1987

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CANADA

WALKOUT FROM THE TALKS

The tough ultimatum was issued after a morning of ill-tempered negotiating. On the fifth floor of Washington’s Winder Building, where Abraham Lincoln once studied Civil War battle reports, the American delegation at the Canada-U.S. free trade talks had just finished their luncheon sandwiches last week when Gordon Ritchie, Canada’s deputy trade negotiator, appeared.

COVER

TRADE SQUALLS DEAD AHEAD

The report that Canadian negotiator Simon Reisman had broken off talks aimed at achieving a free trade deal with the United States struck Canada’s largest fishing company with the suddenness of a Grand Banks squall. Early last week, before free trade talks broke down, Halifax-based National Sea Products Ltd.

TELEVISION

New recruits in the war for ratings

In a society where life tends to imitate television, the start of a new fall season provides a revealing portrait of current American obsessions, fears, myths and trends. This season almost all the new shows follow two old formulas: the law-andorder format of Dragnet and the syrupy paternalism of Father Knows Best. By HATHER ROBERTSON7 min

WORLD

An attack in the Gulf

In his priestly robes, Iranian President Ali Khamenei displayed outraged innocence as he stood before the United Nations General Assembly, vowing revenge and excoriating the United States for an “abominable act” of aggression in the Persian Gulf.

LIVING

Threats stalk the victims of a plague

In the southern Florida agricultural community of Arcadia, terrified and angry area residents threatened the lives of a local couple that was trying to convince the school board to readmit its three young sons—all of whom have tested positive for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus—to classes.

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EDUCATION

The artful dodgers

In 1982 Jaimie Fuller enrolled as a University of Toronto music student. Over the next two years she supplemented her income as a parttime waitress by borrowing $3,900 from the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), a plan that the chartered banks fund, with guarantees from the federal and provincial governments.

THE WINTER OLYMPICS

Countdown to Calgary

Juan Antonio Samaranch’s visit to Calgary had more to do with straightforward protocol than the labyrinthine politics of amateur sport. Last week the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) arrived to dine with Frank King, chairman of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics organizing committee (OCO), and Donald Getty, premier of the host province.

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DATELINE: TIBET

A land of ruined temples

Approached on horseback, up one of the numerous dirt tracks that slice across the front of the mountain, Drepung Monastery, near Lhasa, Tibet, gleams brightly in the harsh sunlight. Tucked into a wedge of the mountain, it comprises five main whitewashed buildings and numerous smaller outbuildings. By DAVID POTTS5 min

COVER

Post office showdown

In recent years Canada’s post office has often backed down in confrontations with its unions. The result was labor contracts studded with generous benefits that helped to drive the Canada Post Corp. deficit close to $1 billion. But this year, with the backing of a determined Conservative government, the Crown corporation has taken the offensive. By MARC CLARK5 min

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Cashing in on debt

Owned and operated by one of Brazil’s most successful family dynasties, the Papel e Celulose Catarinense (PCC) SA paper mill has long been Latin America’s most profitable pulp producer. But last May the controlling Klabin family, which owns 71 per cent of the mill, suddenly had two foreign banks as shareholders. By THERESA TEDESCO5 min

September 281987