The War Measures Act swept 453 Quebeckers into jail. Editors. Singers. Intellectuals. Unionists. Even a piano tuner. It was done with the over-whelming approval of the Canadian people. But later — perhaps too late — came a profound questioning that challenged the wisdom of the action.By RON HAGGART, AUBREY GOLDEN20 min
No news is good news, so the saying goes. But to scan the front page, to watch the 11 o’clock news and, yes, to read this magazine, you’d think it was the reverse. Apparently, good news is no news, so they don’t bore us with it. Well, don't despair, the news isn’t all bad.
FIJI IS A LAST CHANCE to get a look at the vanishing world of the South Seas. It has more than 800 islands, only 100 of them inhabited, ranging from a patch of coral with a tuft of coconut palms to the main island of Viti Levu, which appears out of the Pacific like a mirage 3,200 miles southwest of Honolulu, its blue mountains draped in clouds.By ROBERT THOMAS ALLEN14 min
BARRY LORD used to work as an art critic for the Toronto Star, and in his own way he is a courageous man. He has been involved in demonstrations against the imperial politics of the United States, and he has said in a magazine that he lives with a woman who is not his wife; not heroism, perhaps, but small public acts that allow a man in the middle of the night to think of himself as brave.By WILLIAM CAMERON13 min
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS probably had a lot to do with the way it hit me. First there was the party. Three rooms full of smoke, booze and careful faces. Carefully they smiled, and carefully chose their sparring partners for each tight little exchange of careful words.By PAT ANNESLEY12 min
Inside the cabinet room on the night of October 15-16 were men who believed there was a plot by intellectuals to overthrow the government of Quebec. How heavily it weighed in the decision to impose the War Measures Act, we don’t know. But Ron Haggart and Aubrey Golden say they know the belief was there, unspoken and unseen, later to be used as after-the-fact justification for suspension of our liberties.
IT IS WRETCHED EXCESS, said Shakespeare, “to throw a perfume on the violet.” Canadians too prefer natural smells. Increasingly, though, they are throwing, spraying, rolling or smearing perfume of one kind or another upon their persons, and they show a growing affinity for many kinds of manufactured scents.
I AM A MEMBER of an abused minority. It is The White (dirty pink) Anglo-Saxon (with a strong Celtic admixture) Protestant (often lapsed or lapsing) minority that nowadays is liable to find itself blamed for all the injustices and inequalities that afflict our divided land.By GEORGE WOODCOCK5 min
AN INFREQUENT moviegoer who sees a new film such as Joe, Five Easy Pieces or Where’s Poppa? is likely to have two reactions: a slight shock — a considerable shock if he or she hasn’t seen a film for several years — upon realizing that no word is too “blue” for today’s movies; followed by dismay upon discovering that movies rarely address themselves to a general audience any more.By JOHN HOFSESS5 min
THE HAMMER SWINGS and cracks a painted skull; the irritable mother snarls at her playing child; the unctuous druggist looms forward with the guaranteed, foolproof, 40%-more-by-volume cure. Those TV ads are on to a good thing — the universality of the headache.By M. L. CHAZOTTES5 min
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