March 23, 1998

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Health

Critical lessons for life

Seventeen-year-old Kasia Smetny was watching a tennis match in Halifax last summer when she saw another spectator, a white-haired man of 60, fall to the ground. A small crowd gathered around the man’s unconscious body, recalls Smetny, who was visiting friends in Halifax at the time, “but nobody was really doing anything.” By MARK NICHOLS6 min

WORLD

Downsizing royalty

In the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, under a leaden London sky, Queen Elizabeth II is doing what she does best. A matronly figure in a sombre suit and beribboned hat, the British monarch bestows a regal smile upon a Malaysian athlete while extending a gloved hand bearing a gold-and-silver baton. By BARRY CAME5 min

The Nation's Business

An unlikely effort to soothe B.C. business

British Columbia politics has always been a swamp. In most jurisdictions, provincial politicians ride the hurricane of changing public opinion by tailoring policy and legislation to solidify their hold on some sort of middle ground. Not in British Columbia. By Peter C. Newman4 min

Backstage

The need for privacy in public life

About a month after the 1993 federal election, Jean Charest and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien bumped into each other in a corridor of the House of Commons. Despite their shared Quebec roots and time in Parliament, the two men had never yet met privately. By Anthony Wilson-Smith4 min

COVER

Upstarts with star power

The 27th annual Juno Awards will once again flag Canada’s top-of-the-pops status. Shania Twain and Sarah McLachlan—part of this country’s titanic female quartet, along with Céline Dion and Alanis Morissette—are headliners at the March 22 event at Vancouver’s GM Place. By NICHOLAS JENNINGS7 min

Canada

The Charest effect

It was another one of those frustrating weeks for Canadians who complain they can’t pry Quebec’s grip from the wheel of the national political agenda. There was Jean Charest, a Quebecer who leads the federal Conservatives, asking for a short period of time to decide whether he should answer the calls begging him to come home to lead the Quebec Liberal party. By BRUCE WALLACE7 min

WORLD

The primary target

In the beginning, there was Life: the messy but ultimately successful campaign by a morally ambiguous southern governor to become president of the United States. Then came Art Imitating Life: a shadowy writer known only as “Anonymous” slapped a veneer of fiction on the story and retold it as Primary Colors, the 1996 novel that became a surprising best-seller. By ANDREW PHILLIPS4 min

March 161998