Maclean's

CANADA

JOHN TURNER’S SENATE GAMBLE

John Turner knew that he was gambling with his political future —and he needed time to think things over. During a two-week vacation in early July at the family cottage on the shores of Lake-of-theWoods, near the Ontario-Manitoba border, Turner spent long hours “chopping wood or just staring out the window,” a friend said later.

44

CRIME

Murder in a small town

The numbing discovery confirmed the worst fears of the townspeople. As dusk fell on July 17, a search party of six volunteers found the naked body of eight-year-old Erin Burkholder in an abandoned gravel pit on the scrub-covered outskirts of Mount Forest, Ont., 100 km northwest of Toronto.

14

CANADA

‘THE PEOPLE SHOULD DECIDE’

Maclean’s: Should the Senate, an appointed body, have the right to obstruct the will of the elected House? Turner: There are precedents for this in Canadian history. Whether I’m right or wrong, Canadians will judge. Look, I wrote a book on the Senate—my university thesis in 1949.

30

COVER

THE HOT FIGHT TO LURE THE CONSUMER

On April 28, the Nissan Motor Corp. ship Nissan Laurel sailed into the Halifax auto port decked out as a floating showroom with 3,500 Japanese-built Nissan automobiles and trucks. Local Nissan dealers set up shop on board, enticing customers with savings of $549 to anyone prepared to buy direct from the ship.

18

WORLD

Candidate from suburbia

The images were both shrewd and contradictory. For four nights, the Hollywood producers of last week’s Democratic national convention choreographed their $2.5million extravaganza with all the slickness of a prime-time television variety show. By MARCI McDONALD9 min

34

COVER

LEE IACOCCA LOOKS AHEAD

Since he became chairman of Detroit-based Chrysler Corp. in 1979, Lee Iacocca, 63, has become North America’s celebrity executive. He has written two books and has spoken widely on his favorite topic—the automobile industry, including the increasing tensions between Japanese and North American carmakers.

24

WORLD

‘A wild, inhuman idea’

For the millions of Soviet television viewers who watch the nightly news program Vremya (Time), it was a remarkable experience. On the night of July 19, instead of its usual lineup of bland official reports, Vremya broadcast a no-holds-barred debate among the country’s top officials. By Anthony Wilson-Smith4 min

26

COVER

CAR WARS 1988

The TV commercial is erotic and arresting. In a moonlit bedroom, a sleek young woman slips from beneath the covers and, leaving her mate behind, steals off in their car. With the scene set for infidelity, the next sequence reveals that her purpose is only to enjoy driving the Honda Accord at dawn along a coastal road. By D’ARCY JENISH8 min

20

WORLD

Famous names, new faces

For a Political party attempting to rekindle its glory days of the early 1960s while luring the youngest of today’s voters to its ranks, the symbolism was perfect. At a fund-raising party during last week’s Democratic national convention, Massachusetts congressman Joseph Kennedy, 35, son of the late senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, put his arm around 31-year-old Martin Luther King III, heir of the slain black civil-rights leader. By IAN AUSTEN3 min

22

WORLD

Giving peace a chance

The letter, signed by Iranian President Hojatoleslam Ali Khamenei and delivered to United Nations Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, caught the world off guard. Last week, Iran announced that it was willing to accept the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 598, which calls for an end to the eight-year-old Persian Gulf war between Iran and neighboring Iraq that has claimed more than one million lives.

36

COVER

A province’s billion-dollar bonanza

Brian Peckford stood in the sweltering heat of a St. John’s hotel ballroom last week, the cocky, combative former outport schoolteacher who, only months before, was contemplating his retirement after nine years as premier of Newfoundland.

14

CANADA

TAKING SIDES ON THE ISSUE

Free trade advocate Michael Walker, executive director of the Fraser Institute, a conservative Vancouver-based think-tank: “It is strange that Turner would do this because it is an election that he cannot win. By telling Liberal senators to blockade the free trade bill, he is bringing the issue of Senate reform out in the open.