July 25, 1988

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COVER

The 'Royal' Wedding

The crowd along Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue began gathering in the morning and, by late afternoon, it had swollen to nearly 10,000 people. Sidewalk vendors hawked “Wayne and Janet” balloons and peddled hotdogs, popcorn and ice cream to the good-humored crowd in the warm, sunny weather.

CANADA

Tense times at Laval

The scorching summer sun had raised temperatures to record levels across Quebec. Inside the 19th-century grey stone walls of Laval penitentiary, just north of Montreal, the atmosphere was superheated: over 200 restive prisoners of the maximum-security prison were locked in their cells or in isolation units for more than 22 hours a day all last week as the result of a July 7 riot in the exercise yard.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Pitchmen in Russia

Long after they had devoured all the food on two long tables brimming with appetizers last week, more than 30 Soviet government officials and Canadian businessmen were still in a mood to celebrate. As two bartenders in Moscow’s Western-style Mezhdunarodnaya Hotel tried unsuccessfully to signal last call, a group of 10 Canadians and Soviets gathered nearby in a boisterous circle. By Anthony Wilson-Smith7 min

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

A golden view in a periscope

The Canadian defence industry is waiting at the starting blocks for Defence Minister Perrin Beatty to signal the beginning of the race. Beatty is expected to announce by the end of this year whether British or French technology will be used to build Canada’s $8-billion fleet of 10 to 12 nuclear-powered submarines.

WORLD

A presidential misstep

CAMPAIGN ’88 It was, as Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis himself put it, his first “presidential act.” And just before midnight on July 11—nine days before his official coronation as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s Atlanta convention this week—he carried it out at the kitchen table of his suburban Boston home. By MARCI McDONALD6 min

COVER

THE BLADES OF SUMMER

A tough fringe player in the National Hockey League who became the Oilers’ coach in 1977, Sather retreats to the Rocky Mountains during the summer. One of his favorite activities is golf— although he shoots too high to have a handicap. Said team publicist William Tuele: “He is a terrible golfer, but a very keen one.”

CANADA

Turner’s trusted media image-maker

His unimposing bearing and resistance to self-promotion are rare in an industry that places a premium on style and bravado. In fact, Henry Comor, medical-doctorturned-television-communicator, refuses even to discuss the details of his job as the current media adviser to Liberal party leader John Turner. By BRUCE WALLACE6 min

COLUMN

Two visions of perestroika

The air was close in the lavish dining room of a private London home, and the women were perspiring under their heavy jewelry. Just outside the circle of 40 guests at the table, the five bodyguards to Yehuda Avner, the Israeli ambassador to Britain, shifted uneasily on their feet. By Barbara Amiel5 min

CANADA

Waiting for an election

The popcorn machine that sits on a desk in Senator Alasdair Graham’s corner office in Parliament’s East Block building was a gift from a political rival. Last August, when Graham was appointed co-chairman of the federal Liberal party’s election campaign, Senator Norman Atkins, his Conservative party counterpart, sent him the corn popper along with a card that read “When the going gets tough, I find that popcorn helps the day go better.”

ANOTHER VIEW

When the heavens turned yellow

It was difficult to describe the color of the sky. It was not quite grey, because there were no clouds. It was almost white at times, a bit yellow, perhaps. On those hot, suffocating days, people could argue about what color the sky was. They were in agreement that it was not blue. By Charles Gordon5 min

July 181988