October 11, 1999

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Cover

Why Gerry Schwartz Needs Air Canada

The big black Mercedes glides past the beds of goldand wine-coloured chrysanthemums that spruce up Toronto’s business district in early fall. Quickly and discreetly it transports Gerry Schwartz from his Onex Corp.’s corporate headquarters in a gleaming office tower to a lunchtime reception at one of those neo-classicallooking clubs on University Avenue. By Kimberley Noble

The Mail

It’s about time we started recognizing the new generation of aboriginal peoples (“Move over,” Cover, Sept. 27). There is a lot of talent and energy there. We hope the actor Adam Beach becomes well known on the Canadian and international scene.

Special Report

Northern Exposure

Hollywood star Salma Hayek can be heard skittering, clickety-clack, across the pavement of the studio lot in her three-inch spike-heeled sandals. Heads turn, not only in response to the sound, but to the vision of the sultry 31year-old actress in her clinging, spaghetti-strap shift, her burnished bare legs, her shiny mahogany hair spun into a tight French knot. By Jennifer Hunter

Cover

Solutions in the air

Maclean's: Is this country big enough for two national airlines? Oum: There is no question we can support two international airlines. Australia, which has a slightly smaller population and has many of the same geographical problems, has two good-sized national and international carriers in Quantas and Ansett Australia.

Books

The Literary Art of War

John Keegan, the most prominent military historian alive today, has a simple answer to the question why his craft is undergoing a renaissance. “Its the excitement, that’s all,” says Keegan. “I just read a new translation of the Iliad and the batde scenes made my hair stand on end and that’s 3,000 years old.

Books

‘If I didn’t do this, I’d have to get a job’

One day in the autumn of 1975, Peter C. Newman, who was about to morph stately old Macleans into a newsmagazine, sent a letter across the mountains to me in Vancouver. In it he offered me “a job of your choice.” I told him I couldn’t move, for family reasons, to dreaded Central Canada but would do a national column for him from Vancouver. By Allan Fotheringham

Canada

Lobster Wars

Department of fisheries and oceans officers were waiting as the crew of My Best Yet, an 11-m lobster boat, climbed onto the wharf in Yarmouth, N.S., one afternoon last week. Within minutes, the situation turned ugly. The authorities left the full-blooded Mi’kmaq who owned the boat alone. By John DeMont

Opening Notes

Doling out patronage is a tricky business. Plum appointments must be visible enough that friends know loyalty has its rewards—but the system is best kept out of the eyes of the public. These days, the federal government is having trouble with the second part: patronage is being exposed to the glare of critical scrutiny with unusual regularity. By Tanya Davies, John Geddes, Danylo Hawaleshka

Education

Putting teachers to the test

For as long as he can remember, Leon Barrett wanted to be a teacher. Maybe its genetic: his grandmother taught for years in the small Jamaican community of St. Elizabeth, where he grew up, and seven of his nine siblings pursued the same career. By John Schofield

World

A Nation in Peril

All appears normal on the campus of Atma Jaya University in central Jakarta. Students sit in groups in the shade of large trees offering protection from a relentless afternoon sun. The food stalls do a brisk trade in nasi goreng, or Indonesian fried rice, and all manner of snacks. By Warren Caragata

October 41999