June 20, 1988

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COVER TORONTO SUMMIT'88

THE LAKESIDE SUMMIT

The setting for three days of summit talks by the leaders of the world’s seven major industrial democracies is a windowless underground room with an octagonal conference table in downtown Toronto. Along one wall are booths for interpreters providing simultaneous translation in five languages, while senior aides, located at consoles electronically linked to teams of advisers, stand ready to deal with unexpected questions.

COVER TORONTO SUMMIT '88

‘A CITY THAT WORKS’

The first time that Toronto figured in an international event of any consequence, it was ravaged by fire, looting and death. On April 27, 1813— when the Lake Ontario harbor town was called York, had fewer than 800 citizens and was not quite 20 years old—a shipborne invasion of 1,700 American troops overwhelmed a defence of 300 imperial British regulars and about the same number of colonial militiamen and Indians. By CARAL MOLLINS9 min

COVER TORONTO SUMMIT '88

UNABASHED BOOSTERISM

The opportunity seemed to be too good to pass up: as many as 4,000 members of the world’s news media gathered in the same place at the same time. And for the arrival of those journalists in Toronto to cover the June 19-to-21 economic summit, Canada’s largest city was determined to greet them with a blast of self-promotion.

COVER TORONTO SUMMIT '88

‘A COMMONALITY OF VALUES’

Mulroney: I have a very good relationship with President Reagan—very friendly. I know Margaret Thatcher on a first-name basis. So we talk about families, children, various problems that we all encounter.

COVER TORONTO SUMMIT '88

IN SEARCH OF PROSPERITY

Nov. 15 to 17: Amid worldwide “stagflation”—combined economic stagnation and inflation—Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, then the president of France, convened a summit meeting of six leading industrial democracies at the 14th-century Château de Rambouillet, 55 km southwest of Paris.

Attacking service fees

For irate bank customers, it was a moment of sweet vindication. In a scathing 34-page report last week, the House of Commons standing committee on finance and economic affairs criticized chartered banks and similar institutions for their array of service charges that committee members said were too high, too numerous and too complex. By THERESA TEDESCO3 min

MEDIA WATCH

Open for business-but no sale

Robert Maxwell, the Czechoslovakian-born publisher of—among many other things—the chirpy Daily Mirror, the London tabloid, has talked recently about being hot on Canada. He already has a one-quarter share of the new English-language newspaper the Montreal Daily News and a piece of Donohue Inc., a pulp and paper company. By George Bain5 min

CLOSE-UP: JIMMY CARTER

A redesigned president

Outside Ellijay, Ga.—a rustic logging town 100 km north of Atlanta—the steep gravel driveway snaking down Walnut Mountain was unmarked. At the bottom, a log cabin nestled amid white pine and alder groves might belong to any outdoorsman longing for solitude—except for one telltale clue. By MARCI MCDONALD4 min

WORLD

Candidates at the gate

In the opulent ballroom of Los Angeles’s Biltmore Hotel, a sense of anticlimax prevailed. Beneath ornate frescos, a banner proclaimed it “An American celebration.” But the party balloons refused to budge out of their overhead netting. And when a victory that had seemed inevitable was announced, the enthusiasm of the crowd was decidedly restrained. By MARCI McDONALD5 min

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BUSINESS WATCH

Borrowers and lenders in crisis

The time bomb that threatens to blow apart Toronto’s economic summit is inflation or, more specifically, the impact of high interest rates on Third World debt. Although that intricate but blunt problem has been touted as a highlight of the visiting prime ministers’ agendas, its solution defies not only their collective wisdom but the laws of economics as well. By Peter C. Newman4 min

June 131988