January 4, 1988

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Maclean's/Poll

CANADIANS SPEAK OUT ON ISSUES AND HOPES

At 26, Ronald Van Groenigen, who has worked at the Stelco Inc. plant in Nanticoke, Ont., for the past seven years, says that he is confident about the future. In August Van Groenigen and his wife, Joanne, who works as a forklift operator at an apple packing plant, bought a three-bedroom house 55 km southwest of Hamilton. By MARK NICHOLS10 min

Sexuality

RUNNING THE RISKS IN CASUAL AFFAIRS

Fatal Attraction is a movie about a married New York lawyer and his weekend affair with a woman book editor who refuses to drop the entanglement until his wrathful wife puts her rival permanently out of print. It is a movie that makes an extramarital affair as inviting as a picnic on an airport runway, and hundreds of thousands of Canadians have seen it since it opened across the country on Sept. 18. By RAE CORELLI9 min

Superpowers

RELAXED RELATIONS

Throughout the year, like two mismatched dancers unsure of each other’s rhythm, they appeared to be moving haltingly toward a finale. Then, in early December, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Washington and signed a treaty to eliminate land-based intermediateand shorter-range nuclear missiles.

Free Trade

A CRITICAL CONCERN

Since the depths of the 1981-1982 recession, unemployment has consistently topped the list of public problems worrying Canadians. But in 1987 something happened. For the first time in six years, the focus shifted. Now, according to respondents in The Maclean ’s/Decima Poll, free trade is their predominant concern. By MADELAINE DROHAN6 min

Patriotism

DEFINING IDENTITY

The Maclean's/Decima Poll indicates that the feelings of Canadians about their national identity have not changed markedly since the British author J.B. Priestley made those observations 20 years ago. The survey left no doubt that Canadians do consider themselves to be distinct from the Americans. By ANDREW PHILLIPS6 min

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Stock market addictions

The New York Police Department (NYPD) and the U.S. federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) called them Operation Buy and Cry and Operation Closing Bell. Last spring the two agencies launched joint undercover campaigns against drug abuse on Wall Street, the heart of New York’s financial district.

AIDS

DEADLY ANXIETIES

Sandra Goulding has been separated from her husband for 16 months. Since the breakup the 25-year-old dog groomer from Grand Falls, Nfld., has been frequenting singles bars to meet men—but lately she has become much more cautious about who she goes home with. By NORA UNDERWOOD6 min

The Economy

‘A FULL-BLOWN BOOM’

It on seemed the party as if on the Oct. roof 19 had when caved the in world’s stock markets collapsed with a shudder. But for Canadians, the headlines after Black Monday appeared to represent a distant phenomenon that left their own economic situation almost untouched.

Politics

THE TRUST FACTOR

After three years of Brian Mulroney the voters have hardened their hearts. The annual Maclean's/Decima Poll shows that many Canadians who were previously unsure of how to rate the Prime Minister’s performance are now willing to pass judgment—and most apparently do not like what they see.

Lifestyles

STRONG FAMILY TIES

For Adrian Graham, 33, the decision to walk away from a 12year career as a Toronto restaurant manager came surprisingly easily. So did the decision to leave the city’s waterfront Beaches area and move with his wife, Lindy Stroud, 37, and two daughters, Sarah, 5, and Shannon, 1, to a quiet new suburb of Guelph, 100 km west of Toronto. By CHRIS WOOD5 min

December 281987