May 18, 1998

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COLUMN

On changing political stripes

Winston Churchill was arguably the English-speaking world’s first—and best-known—political free agent. Born and raised a Conservative, he was elected as one to Great Britain’s House of Commons in 1900. In 1904, he switched to the Liberal party; 18 years later, he jumped back to the Tories. By Anthony Wilson-Smith4 min

COLUMN

A controversial report that Ottawa ignored

Canada’s biggest competitive disadvantage is high taxes. And businesses and citizens alike must convince Ottawa that is the case or the country will continue to lose capital and talent to the United States and elsewhere. Clearly, the Liberals are not listening. By Diane Francis4 min

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Personal Finance

Lower fees for the asking

Len Deegan didn’t want to do it. For more than a year, he and his wife, Andrée, tried to sell their three-bedroom, two-storey home by themselves, trying to avoid the thousands of dollars in commissions they would have to pay a Realtor. The 54-year-old manufacturing business owner expected no shortage of buyers for the renovated Victorian house, which sits serenely on 98 acres of gently rolling woodland near Orangeville, Ont., 60 km northwest of Toronto. By JOHN SCHOFIELD4 min

World

Revolution's child

Like many young victims of sexual abuse, Zoilamerica Narvaez says she lived with a terrible secret for nearly two decades, ashamed and afraid of what would happen if she told anyone. But as the stepdaughter of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, Narvaez, now 30, carried a double burden.

COVER

THE PROVING GROUNDS

Bobby Orr is sipping tomato juice and telling stories. The former Boston Bruins great is seated in the lounge of a Thunder Bay hotel, surrounded by a small group of hockey fathers from the southern Ontario city of Peterborough. They listen intently to his story about a certain superstar with a fat contract who, Orr says, works hard only three nights out of 10. By D’ARCY JENISH7 min

Canada

The gentler touch

After three years of damn-the-torpedoes Mike Harris government, Ontarians are being treated to a wave of niceness that they have not seen in quite some time. Canada geese are once again flying in the premier’s promotional videos; public money is being lavished on all sorts of projects—including $1.2 billion to refurbish many of the same hospital beds and long-term care centres that the Ontario government spent much of the past two years closing. By ROBERT SHEPPARD7 min

COLUMN

Incredible! A government killed by bingo

We are out on the Left Coast, British California, where politics is on the wild and woolly side and the losers are thrown over the side quickly. The next one due for the Dumpster, now for certain, is the NDP government. Hang out the black crape. By Allan Fotheringham4 min

Canada

Turning on Ottawa

The notes, scribbled at the table by one of the participants, show that the strain surfaced from the very start. Allan Rock had been on the job as federal health minister only a month when, during a July 25, 1997, meeting with provincial health ministers in Montreal, he first broached the subject of cash compensation for Canadians who contracted the hepatitis C virus from tainted blood.

May 111998