April 20, 1998

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Canada

The positive Tory

People just expect Hugh Segal to be funny. He made his national reputation as a political pundit, firing zingers in defence of Tories and Tory policies from a couch on morning television. Even casual acquaintances greet him as “Hughie,” and in political circles, his affable backslapping style has given him a reputation as “The Happy Warrior." By BRUCE WALLACE8 min

Column

A leadership worth running away from

Anyone who has been watching television in recent weeks can only be in awe of the worthy souls who read the network news—their rigorous self-discipline and the stern grip they keep on their emotions. Not once has either of the Peters (Mansbridge or Kent) or Lloyd (Robertson) done what any other Canadian would surely do—convulse with laughter or roll hysterically on the floor and have to be removed from the set while reading the latest news of the once-proud Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. By Geoffrey Stevens4 min

Canada

Citizens' revolt

As a middle-aged pension expert in the Toronto office of the international consulting firm William M. Mercer Ltd., Malcolm Hamilton is an unlikely political firebrand. But put him in front of a crowd of Canadians who take their money seriously, such as the conference of real estate agents he recently spoke to in Ottawa, and Hamilton generates the sort of outrage that makes governments uneasy. By JOHN GEDDES7 min

April 131998