December 9, 1996

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Opening Notes

When it comes to shopping in North America, only certain streets have real panache—Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, for instance, or Fifth Avenue in New York City. But recently, retail development along Vancouver’s Robson Street has elevated it into a must-seeand-be-seen-on destination for the gold card set. By BARBARA WICKENS5 min

Sports Watch

Modern goalies hide behind their masks

What a wonderful wacky moment it was a few weeks ago in Philadelphia when that uninhibited goaltending fellow Ron Hextall sped, no, lumbered, no, galumphed the length of the ice to engage Felix Potvin, his rival in the Toronto cage, in a joust of horrors de combat. By Trent Frayne5 min

History

Young survivors

In the spring of 1945, Simon Saks took a train ride that haunts him still. He travelled in a slatted cattle car, exposed to the weather. Crammed in with him were hundreds of other inmates taken from the Buchenwald concentration camp. For a month, the train fled through the German countryside, its drivers trying to avoid the advancing Allied armies, now just weeks away from victory. By John Bemrose8 min

Canada

Labor's trying times

Deeply held views, reflecting deeply divided philosophies. Lee, 58, has spent 19 years building his woodworking and gardening tool business into a seven-store chain. Times are good at Lee Valley Tools, partly because of growing U.S. sales, and the company’s 300 non-unionized employees enjoy a generous profit-sharing plan.

The Nation’s Business

Peter Munk: a dreamer who became a king

A few years ago, after one of my Maclean’s columns revealed that Peter Munk had acquired a key piece of real estate on the strategic Ring, the superhighway that encircles Berlin, and was about to build Europe’s largest industrial park there, he phoned me with a bitter complaint. By Peter C. Newman5 min

BETWEEN COVERS

Pages of sheer pleasure

ShadowLight: A Photographer’s Life by Freeman Patterson (HarperCollins, $55) showcases the acclaimed photographer’s 30-year career with images that chronicle an inner journey. From South African rock formations to mist-covered hills in his native New Brunswick, Patterson evokes a sense of mystery and beauty.

COVER

An empire above ground

On a fall day in 1991, Peter Munk addressed a fund-raising dinner in Toronto, then flew all night to Berlin. Jet-lagged but jovial, the mining magnate changed his clothes and hopped in a car that took him to Genshagen, a tiny village about 20 km south of the once and future German capital. By NOMI MORRIS7 min

BETWEEN COVERS

Creative lightning strikes

My mother tells this story of my beginning: when I came into the world, I didn’t cry, I vocalized—coos and burbles that struggled towards speech. I spoke early; my first word was “Cheezies.” As soon as I could string a sentence together, I reportedly talked about my past life in detail, though on pressing, my mother can’t provide particulars.

Canada

Canada NOTES

Federal Human Resources Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced that the provinces are willing to work with Ottawa to create a national benefit plan to ease child poverty. The new system would combine the current federal child tax credit plan with provincial welfare payments for children.

December 21996