Towards lasting power

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 4:33 PM - 53 Comments

The Prime Minister talks to our editor-in-chief.

What I want to do, of course, is really entrench, over time, a Conservative-majority coalition in the country. I probably—the more I’ve thought about it—I should probably stay away from the natural governing party terminology, because I think as soon as a party believes it’s the natural governing party it’s in a great deal of trouble. Since coming to office, we’ve grown steadily. We’ve grown from our base out. We haven’t tried to re-engineer the Conservative movement, we’ve built on it by bringing more people into it. We still have more work to do to be as representative of people as we’d like to be, but all the elements are there in terms of the coalition. I think, obviously, it has to be backed up with an agenda, and the agenda has to be successfully implemented, and the country has to buy into it and be happy with the results. So that’s the big thing we have to do, but I think in the end—given the outcomes of the election—we’re greatly helped not just by our own result but by the relative incoherence of the opposition as an alternative for government.

A reminder, on Canada Day, of how far we have come

By From the editors - Friday, July 1, 2011 at 1:35 PM - 2 Comments

Courtesy of Bruce Bradford

The dapper newsie to your right is Bill Bradford. The year is 1934, and Bill is 12 or 13 years old. According to his son Bruce, who sent us this photo, the lifelong Brockville resident has just been officially proclaimed Maclean’s sales champion for eastern Ontario. If young Bill looks a little serious, even troubled, for a contest winner, it’s because his job was serious business. “As a representative of your company,” says Bruce, “he supported his impoverished parents and three younger siblings by working the streets to help them survive.”

Bill died on May 4, one summer’s span short of his 90th birthday. Maclean’s was just one of the ways he sustained his family through the worst of the Depression. With his father unable to hold down work and often altogether absent, young Bradford worked unceasingly, hauling luggage at the rail station and hustling tickets for Thousand Islands boat tours. He remembered stealing fuel from a local coal yard whose sympathetic proprietor would feign inattention. “He once asked me, ‘Bruce, do you think you’d steal to make sure your family was warm?’ ” Bruce recalls. “I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Yes. You would.’ ”

Bill trained for the infantry during the war but never got overseas. A younger brother died fighting in France. Later, at the outset of his 40-year career as a relay adjuster in Brockville’s Phillips Cable plant, Bill lost a young wife to breast cancer; Bruce was just six at the time. Bill’s humble station didn’t stop him from winning friends across the class spectrum. An energetic raconteur and a soft touch for charities, his social circle included everyone from senators to street kids. Most men pushing 90 have outlived most of their friends, but Bill Bradford’s funeral brought in a hundred mourners.

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Maclean's explains everything

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 9:10 AM - 7 Comments

After taking a couple days to ruminate on the meaning of it all, Messrs Wells, Coyne, Geddes and myself will explain this election to you next week in an exclusive live event.

We’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge.

Is this Tim's new lid?

By Jason Kirby - Monday, March 14, 2011 at 10:06 AM - 9 Comments

Karen Bleier/Afp/Getty Images

As Maclean’s noted two weeks ago, legions of Tim Hortons coffee sippers regularly complain the company’s lids have fallen way behind the competition. They leak, and the tabs never stay open. It’s clearly a hot-button issue—our original story is the most-read article on Macleans.ca this year. So behold, the new Tim Hortons coffee lid (sort of). This week Doug Stitt, an Ohio resident and Tim Hortons regular, sent us a photo of a new lid that debuted at his local Timmies. Stitt, who spoke to Maclean’s for our original story, was told the new lid is part of an “experiment” and was only available in one size: extra-large. A company spokesman says the new lid is being test-marketed for specialty drinks (though Stitt got his with just a regular coffee), but the company has good news for dribble-sufferers: Tim Hortons is working with its supplier on a redesign of its current flip-tab lids, which will hit stores later this year.

Now we don't have to worry'

By Josh Dehaas - Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Andrew Tolson

Jessica Holman almost didn’t apply to university. Once accepted, she almost didn’t go. Even after a successful first semester of social work at Carleton University, she often felt she should be working instead of studying. The thing constantly nagging at her? Money.

That’s why Holman started crying when a woman from Maclean’s told her that she’d won the $20,000 scholarship contest, which was part of our 20th Rankings Issue celebration. She was chosen at random from more than 27,000 entries. “Maclean’s didn’t know how badly my family needs the money, so it’s kind of astonishing that we were the ones who won,” says Holman. “Now we don’t have to worry about whether or not I can go back to school next year.”

When she says “we,” she means her entire family back in Oakville, Ont. Her mom, dad—even her older brother and sister—are all scrimping and saving to help her pay for school. Her experience is a good reminder of how much many Canadian families sacrifice to send their kids to university. All in, it now costs roughly $80,000 for a four-year undergraduate degree, according to TD Economics. For many families, it’s a struggle to put even one child through school.

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‘An immediate threat’

By Michael Frisconlanti and Martin Patriquin - Monday, January 31, 2011 at 3:47 AM - 4 Comments

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW TOLSON

It’s been 2½ years since Hani Al Telbani, luggage in tow, was sent home from Montreal’s Trudeau Airport—the first-ever casualty of Canada’s “no-fly list.” Since then, the young Muslim has proclaimed his innocence again and again, insisting that he is “not a danger to the public” and has been “unjustly associated with terrorism.” Telbani is so certain of his version of events that he is even suing the federal government, demanding $550,000 for the “stigma, humiliation, contempt, hatred and ridicule” he has endured because of Ottawa’s “errors.”

Only now, after its own legal fight, can Maclean’s finally reveal the other side of his story.

According to newly released evidence from CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, Hani Al Telbani was one of the devoted administrators of a notorious but now defunct Web forum dedicated to “virtual jihad.” From his fifth-floor apartment in the suburb of Longueuil, Que., the computer engineering grad allegedly posted messages and offered detailed technical support to fellow members of al-Ekhlaas, a militant, password-protected site frequented by thousands of hard-core Islamists—and used by al-Qaeda to broadcast fresh messages from Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Telbani’s online alias was “Mujahid Taqni” (Technical Jihad).

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One school's native intelligence

By Paul Wells - Friday, November 12, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 19 Comments

Photograph by Deddeda Stemler

Increasingly it seems we must look to the University of Victoria for good ideas. This year’s Times Higher Education Supplement rankings put it sixth among Canadian universities and 130th in the world. UVic does well in our own rankings too, as you’ll see. Rankings were the first thing David Turpin, UVic’s president, wanted to talk about when he visited me in Ottawa last month. But his other story was more focused and may be more important: Victoria’s success in attracting, retaining and rewarding Aboriginal university students.

In 2006, only eight per cent of Canadians with Aboriginal ancestry had university degrees, compared with 23 per cent of non-Aboriginal Canadians. This is not merely too bad. There is a genuine economic and human cost, because the correlation between higher education and various social goods is exhaustively documented. Post-secondary education attainment is associated with better health, increased civic participation, lower crime rates, higher income, correspondingly higher tax payments, reduced dependence on social benefits, and more.

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Where do I belong?

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10:09 AM - 0 Comments

Studying into the night at Mount Saint Vincent | Photograph by Andrew Tolson

Deanna Jarvis, the 19-year-old first-year student on our cover, says she knows the University of Guelph is the right place for her. She’s just not sure why. Maybe it’s the gold and red leaves that litter the campus in the fall. She could never live in a concrete jungle, she says. Perhaps it’s that Guelph offers a rare major (adult development, families and wellbeing) that will teach her how to help people. “I just like to listen to friends and help them,” she says. Or maybe it’s that Guelph is a big enough school to keep famous playwrights like Judith Thompson on staff. Jarvis, a parttime actor, is a huge Thompson fan. Whatever the reason, Guelph just seems to fit.

Parents, students, university presidents and even education marketers are trying to nail down exactly what makes a school fit. Traditionally, school size and city size were the shorthand for determining where a particular student should go. Big schools offer more cultural opportunities; tiny schools offer more personal interaction, or so the theory goes. Those rules still apply, but sociologist James Côté, of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., has found another predictor for what he calls the “goodness of fit.” His research found students do best when their inner motivations match what the environment has to offer.

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The enrollment controversy*

By Stephanie Findlay and Nicholas Köhler - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 9:51 AM - 1,905 Comments

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW TOLSON/ SIMON HAYTER

When Alexandra and her friend Rachel, both graduates of Toronto’s Havergal College, an all-girls private school, were deciding which university to go to, they didn’t even bother considering the University of Toronto. “The only people from our school who went to U of T were Asian,” explains Alexandra, a second-year student who looks like a girl from an Aritzia billboard. “All the white kids,” she says, “go to Queen’s, Western and McGill.”

Alexandra eventually chose the University of Western Ontario. Her younger brother, now a high school senior deciding where he’d like to go, will head “either east, west or to McGill”—unusual academic options, but in keeping with what he wants from his university experience. “East would suit him because it’s chill, out west he could be a ski bum,” says Alexandra, who explains her little brother wants to study hard, but is also looking for a good time—which rules out U of T, a school with an academic reputation that can be a bit of a killjoy.

Or, as Alexandra puts it—she asked that her real name not be used in this article, and broached the topic of race at universities hesitantly—a “reputation of being Asian.”

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It's our 20th birthday, and the future never looked so bright

By Cathrin Bradbury - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 8:58 AM - 6 Comments

Megan Johnson (left) and Denise Davison take a study break at UPEI | Photograph by Jenna Marie Wakani

Going to university is like standing on the edge of your life—one of many edges, we later discover. It’s an optimistic moment, especially if you believe Oscar Wilde when he said that the basis of optimism is sheer terror. Students have to figure out not only where to go, but more importantly and subtly, where they belong—the “goodness of fit,” as one of our experts described it. We parents have to stand aside (okay, not too far aside) and let them choose, negotiating our own desires and fears alongside theirs. We hand them off to their professors, who take on the daunting task of literally educating our darlings—roomfuls of ambitious, cocky, nerve-wracked kids—to become the very best and smartest versions of themselves. Meanwhile, we all look to the leaders of our universities, presidents from the University of Victoria to the University of Prince Edward Island, to navigate and define what it means to be an institution of higher learning in Canada in 2010. And while we’re on it, just what is the purpose of a university education today—to expand your mind? Get a job? All in all, it’s a lot to think about.

Which is where Maclean’s comes in. For 20 years, we have been bringing together parents, presidents, professors and prospective students in a conversation about education. This, the 20th anniversary issue of our university rankings, is our biggest and most ambitious edition ever. Our goal is not just to be the most valuable resource in the country—and we are that—but also to personalize the university decision by making it as easy as possible; everything you need to make up your mind is right here in one place. It’s not a cheap decision, either: a four-year degree in Canada now costs about $60,000. On the other hand, university graduates earn an average of 75 per cent more over their lifetime than non-graduates, and have a substantially higher employment rate. Not bad, as investments go.

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20th Annual University Rankings

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 8:58 AM - 0 Comments

	Click here for the overall rankings For more the complete rankings, pick up an issue on newsstands now.
Features

The future never looked so bright Bringing together parents, presidents, professors and prospective students in a conversation about education	‘Too Asian’ A term used in the U.S. to talk about racial imbalance at Ivy league schools is now being whispered on Canadian campuses	Where do I belong? That mysterious substance guidance counsellors call ‘fit’ is not so mysterious anymore
In Conversation with Linda Frum (audio) McGill student Linda Frum upset the establishment by writing the first honest guide to Canadian universities	Future graduates, dropouts and cast-offs A few words of advice from a man who spent six years in school, for a four-year degree

Maclean's 10 most controversial cover stories

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 8, 2010 at 10:34 AM - 0 Comments

Maclean’s 10 most controversial cover stories

Parliament rebukes Maclean's

By John Geddes - Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 9:14 PM - 0 Comments

A House motion upbraiding Maclean’s for the magazine’s cover story on corruption in Quebec politics is thought to be only the second time in a century that MPs have closed ranks to express their disapproval with the work of a news publication.

Only one independent MP, Quebec City’s André Arthur, openly argues the motion was misguided, although Liberal MP Marc Garneau also expressed concern about the precedent. “If in two weeks, another magazine writes something that’s considered excessive,” Garneau said, “we can’t make a habit of putting out a motion every time we’re not happy about what’s written in the media.”

But Government House Leader John Baird, whose party approved the motion without argument, suggested the situation was “somewhat unique.” He added, “It goes without saying that matters of national unity are sensitive.”

This week’s House motion was prompted by the Maclean’s cover story headlined “The most corrupt province,” which was illustrated by a satirical depiction of Bonhomme Carnaval—the popular snowman mascot of Quebec City’s famous winter carnival. The story chronicled scandal in Quebec politics and an accompanying column by Andrew Coyne discussed why the province might be prone to it.

The motion by Bloc Québécois MP Pierre Paquette said: “That this House, while recognizing the importance of vigorous debate on subject of public interest, expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean’s magazine to denigrate the Quebec nation, its history and its institutions.”

It passed without debate or a recorded vote.

Maclean’s requested an interview with Paquette, but a Bloc spokeswoman said the party would not answer any questions from the magazine until it issues an apology “to the people of Quebec.”

Baird, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s point man for House business, said the motion was shown to him on Wednesday. He agreed to it without asking for changes, although he said the precise wording wasn’t what he would have used had he drafted it himself. He didn’t say how his version might have been different.

Baird drew a distinction between Paquette’s motion and a formal censure from the House. “Censure would imply a judgment with consequences,” he said. “This just expresses sadness.”

In this case, the House did not ask for an apology, as it did after the Globe and Mail published a story in 2006 on the shooting at Montreal’s Dawson College, in which author and journalist Jan Wong prompted outrage inside Quebec by suggesting that the province’s history of linguistic strife contributed to the incident.

That prompted Liberal MP Denis Coderre to introduce this motion: “That, in the opinion of the House, an apology be given to the people of Quebec for the offensive remarks of Ms. Jan Wong in a Globe and Mail article regarding the recent Dawson College tragedy.”

It passed with the approval of all parties, like Paquette’s this week. However, the motion denouncing Maclean’s nearly failed to sail through unopposed: André Arthur, an independent MP from Quebec City, who is an outspoken former radio host, initially answered No when the Deputy Speaker asked if the motion had the unanimous consent of MPs.

Paquette immediately rose to warn Arthur “that he had better stick around for the rest of the week and all of the next week because I will move this motion every single day.” Arthur then left the chamber, and the motion was then agreed to by all MPs present.

“What they’re trying to do is make people who haven’t read Maclean’s or don’t read English believe that you said Quebecers are corrupt, when in fact Maclean’s clearly showed the political system in Quebec has unbelievable corruption problems,” Anthur said in an interview. “That’s perfectly true.”

Beyond the content of the Maclean’s story, Arthur questioned the wisdom of the legislature pronouncing on journalism, except where Parliament itself is directly involved. “I think the only case in which Parliament would have the right to comment on news coverage would be in a case where the integrity of Parliament itself was called into question,” he said. “It could call in the journalists and have them explain themselves. In any other case, Parliament has no business censuring, endorsing, or criticizing a newspaper article.”

In fact, the House has very rarely passed motions to rebuke the media. The Library of Parliament could find only two other comparable episodes, both obscure footnotes, before the recent Maclean’s and Globe cases. In 1873, the editor of the newspaper Courrier d’Outaouais, Elie Tassé, was ordered to appear before the bar of the House to answer questions about an article reflecting on two MPs. Then in 1906, a journalist named Joseph Ernest Eugène Cinq‑Mars was also called to appear before the bar, where he answered questions about a story that reflected poorly on an MP, after which the House passed a motion of censure against him.

Censure, though, is the term usually applied when MPs are upset over some action that directly affects their work—not wider controversies unfolding beyond Parliament. In 2003, Parliament censured former privacy commissioner George Radwanski for allegedly providing misleading information, and RCMP Deputy Commissioner Barbara George was found in contempt by the House in 2008 for misleading a parliamentary committee.

Paquette’s motion fits the definition, not of a censure motion, but of a “resolution.” According to the Glossary of Parliamentary Procedure used by the House Speaker’s office, a resolution is: “A motion adopted by the House in order to make a declaration of opinion or purpose. A resolution does not have the effect of requiring that any action be taken.”

The House of Commons is profoundly sad at Maclean's

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 7:56 PM - 0 Comments

This evening the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion censuring expressing its profound sadness at this magazine. The following is the submitted text of that motion.

That this House, while recognizing the importance of vigorous debate on subjects of public interest, expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean’s Magazine to denigrate the Quebec nation, its history and its institutions.

Independent MP Andre Arthur reportedly objected to the motion, then left the chamber, allowing the motion to be re-introduced and passed.

The house Maclean's built

By Tom Henheffer - Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 6:44 PM - 1 Comment

The neighbours are furious, but their protests can barely be heard over the sound of contractors shattering glass and pummelling concrete at 7 Austin Terrace, the former home of Lt.-Col. J.B. Maclean, the founder of Maclean’s magazine. By the time they’re done, gone will be some of the century-old Toronto home’s most distinctive architectural features—windows, wood frames, columns, and the portico are already mostly destroyed.

Robert Levy, the president of the local housing association in Casa Loma, the northwest Toronto neighbourhood where Maclean House is located, stopped by the home earlier this week. The workers, he says, “were trying do as much damage as they possibly could. This basically had every characteristic of vandals going to town.” According to Levy and members of the housing association, John Todd, the local developer who purchased Maclean House in 2008, is scrambling to prevent it from being designated as a historical site by the city. Should it be recognized as such, Todd’s plans to demolish the $2.3-million residence and replace it with a new housing development would grind to a halt.

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19th Annual University Rankings

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 12:24 PM - 26 Comments

Selected articles:

The Winners — Schools in Quebec, British Columbia and New Brunswick top our evaluation of university excellence
So you want to be a doctor — Brutal requirements, years of school, long hours—and a guaranteed job
Can high school grades be trusted? — If you need better marks, some private high schools are happy to oblige—for a fee
The first 30 — Our on-the-ground undergrad reports on his debut month
No campus like it — Tough. Challenging. Rewarding. That’s student life at the Royal Military College

For more coverage pick up the issue on newsstands now.

Reeves claim now cleared to proceed

By Michael Petrou - Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 2:00 PM - 2 Comments

Last month, Maclean’s wrote about Cindor Reeves, the brother-in-law of former Liberian warlord and president Charles Taylor. Taylor was forced into exile in 2003 and is now on trial in The Hague on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Reeves is now a refugee claimant in Canada.

Originally, Reeves was Taylor’s ally—he helped him smuggle diamonds and weapons between Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 1990s. But later he turned against Taylor and risked his life to bring him to justice, first by spying for MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, then by working with the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which eventually indicted Taylor. Continue…

No news here

By Michael Friscolanti - Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 12:00 PM - 2 Comments

Canada’s News Hall of Fame (yes, there is such a thing) is a collection of engraved plaques shaped like single quotation marks. The location has changed quite a few times over the years, but these days the wall display can be found hanging in a swank hotel in downtown Toronto. In the basement. In a room that is locked most of the time. Even if someone did happen to stumble across the exhibit, he would have a tough time figuring out exactly what it is. The sign, CANADIAN NEWS HALL OF FAME, is missing a few letters.

It reads: CANADIAN NE ALL OF FA E.

Something else is sorely lacking: new members. The shrine that is supposed to showcase the country’s most renowned and respected reporters—names like Gordon Sinclair, June Callwood, Knowlton Nash, and Austin “Dink” Carroll—has not inducted anyone since 2001. “One prefers journalists who don’t take life too seriously,” says Peter Worthington, founding editor of the Toronto Sun tabloid and himself a Hall of Famer. “But I do think it’s a pity. We all know people in this business who are somewhat special, and the trouble is when they die or retire, they’re forgotten.”

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The Parliamentarians of the Year

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 7:57 PM - 10 Comments

The Parliamentarians of the Year were honoured at a ceremony in Ottawa tonight. Maclean’s editor-in-chief Ken Whyte handed out awards to this year’s winners: Jason Kenney, MP of the Year; Bob Rae, best orator; Megan Leslie, best rookie; Peter Stoffer, most collegial; Bill Casey, best represents constituents; Paul Szabo, hardest working; Joe Comartin, most knowledgeable. For profiles of the winners, pick up this week’s issue of Maclean’s, or check out our Parliamentarians of the year article.

Iggy’s morally contemptible words

By Mark Steyn - Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 1:49 PM - 202 Comments

The other day the National Post ran an excerpt from Michael Ignatieff’s new book, True Patriot Love. Most of it was just the usual boilerplate hogwash apparently obligatory if one fancies oneself a member of the intellectual wing of the Canadian establishment. You know the sort of stuff:

“Most of us are quietly but intensely patriotic. Our nationalism exemplifies the paradox that feeling for a country increases with the difficulty of imagining it as a country at all.”

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Arthur Irwin and P.K. Page have a room of their own

By Rachel Mendleson - Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 10:30 PM - 0 Comments

When esteemed editor Arthur Irwin married P.K. Page in 1950, she was already an accomplished poet and budding painter. But Irwin, 18 years her senior, and having just wrapped up his quarter-century tenure at Maclean’s, “was the principle character” in the relationship, recalls his son, Neal. However as Irwin, who passed away in 1999, approached retirement, “It was just the other way around. He went into full support mode for her,” he says. The same man who had pushed for writing to be a collaborative process begun by the journalist but shaped by the editor, “leaned over backwards not to impose his editorial thinking on her,” says Neal. “He recognized that she had a creativity that he never had.” Page, who is 92, recently remarked, “I couldn’t have done it without him.”

On Saturday, family, friends and local literati gathered at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., for the dedication of the Page Irwin Colloquium Room, and for the launch of Page’s newest collections of poetry, Coal and Roses and The Golden Lilies. Fittingly, the room is the focal point for the English department’s Public Texts graduate program. As Masters students explore the political, aesthetic and economic significance of publishing, there are perhaps no better muses. Page’s poetry has earned her a Governor General’s award; her paintings adorn the walls of the National Gallery of Canada. And Irwin, who is often described as “the man who made Maclean’s,” recruited some of the country’s most prolific non-fiction writers and published stories that sparked change in public policy—and consciousness. According to longtime Maclean’s writer Peter C. Newman, “It was his inspiring and stubborn purpose to turn Canadians into an independent frame of mind as he transformed the magazine to become their house organ—must-reading for a then, new generation of Canadians who discovered their home country’s untapped potential.”

Long before he met Page, Irwin was making his mark on Canadian journalism. Born in 1898 in the village of Ayr, Ont., he started his career after returning from the First World War, while he was still a student at the University of Toronto. His first gig at the Mail and Empire paid just $30 a week. But within a few years he had been picked up by the Globe, and was covering Parliament Hill. He resigned “on principle” during the 1925 federal election, after Globe owner William Gladstone Jaffray took issue with an editorial he penned, which had raised the hackles of a group of prominent businessmen.

Maclean’s was still a bi-weekly, general interest publication when Irwin started as associate editor. Determined to “keep in touch with men who are doing things, and keep alive to what is going on,” as he explained in a letter to his new boss, Irwin brought the issue of Canadian brain drain to the U.S. to the fore by canvassing recent emigrants, and sparked an investigation that changed the way government defense contracts are awarded. At the same time, he set his sights on finding new talent. As Pierre Berton, perhaps Irwin’s most renowned recruit, once wrote, “an entire generation of writers, both freelance and staff, cut their teeth on Maclean’s.” The cadre he assembled included Barbara Moon, Blair Fraser, June Callwood, Trent Frayne, James Bannerman, Sydney Katz, Fred Bosworth and Clyde Gilmour.

Though he may be best known for his contribution to Maclean’s, cemented during the five years he spent as editor-in-chief, Irwin’s influence can also still be felt at the National Film Board, where he became commissioner in 1950. Believing creativity would come easier away from the federal seat of government, he moved the NFB from Ottawa to Montreal. Page, who immigrated to Canada from Britain as a child, was working as a scriptwriter there. After a brief courtship, they were married. (Irwin’s first wife Jean, who he married after university, died of asthma in 1948.) As he went on to serve as a diplomat in Australia, Brazil and Mexico, she won acclaim for her poetry and painting. As Neal recalls, “She said, ‘He gave me full freedom to do my thing, and a safe and sheltered place to do it from.’” When the pair returned to Canada, they settled in Victoria, where Irwin was publisher of the Times until 1970. He died at the age of 101.

Page could not make the trip in from Victoria for this weekend’s dedication. But her presence, and that of her late husband, was certainly felt. Irwin’s great-granddaughters wore T-shirts silkscreened with images Page scrawled as a child, and people lined up to buy her books. And Page’s paintings—including one of Irwin—hang on the walls of the Colloquium Room. In the doorway, there’s a large black and white photo of the couple, with wide smiles across their faces.

Who called Ignatieff our "Sexiest Cerebral Man"?

By John Geddes - Monday, February 2, 2009 at 3:53 PM - 50 Comments

A New York Times profile of Michael Ignatieff, published this past Sunday, declares that “Maclean’s magazine once named him Canada’s ‘Sexiest Cerebral Man.’”

It’s an amusing phrase, and nobody minds being cited in the Times. If only we could confidently claim to having coined it.
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Hello? Hello? Random House, are you there?

By Kenneth Whyte - Monday, November 24, 2008 at 9:00 AM - 11 Comments

Covers matter. At Maclean’s magazine, we sell between 7,000 and 21,000 copies a week on newsstands, and the most obvious variables week to week are the cover subject, the cover image, and the cover line, which means that when we nail a cover, we can sell three times as many copies as when we don’t. I spend a good amount of time every week on the details of Maclean’s covers, endeavouring to arrange things so that our results are as often as possible at the high end of the range.

Last summer, when I was finishing the manuscript of my first book, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst, my editor at Random House mentioned that we should start working on its cover. A few weeks later, she emailed me some mock-ups prepared by her in-house designers. She asked my preference. Once my input was received, I was told, the designers would produce the book cover. Simple enough. Continue…

Megapundit: Climate change—like Y2K, only warmer

By selley - Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 1:33 PM - 0 Comments

Must-reads: Dan Gardner on Y2K+8; Colby Cosh on gun control.

On Americans, Canadians, and guns
Why we don’t have a well-armed militia, and why maybe we should.

“We are fond of interpreting [Canada's and the United States'] different gun cultures as the product of their origins,” Colby Cosh writes in the National Post, but as recently as 100 years ago, the differences were few and far between: “a housebreaker or robber in Canada could then still expect to be greeted by the nose of a revolver,” and concerned homeowners could purchase their weapon of choice by mail order. The fact that US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s amazing defence of the handgun (e.g., as opposed to a rifle, “it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police”) now “seem[s] to float to us from some alternate universe very far away” is proof, says Cosh, of how “small social differences … can be exaggerated by means of policy within just a few generations.”

The Toronto Sun‘s Peter Worthington, meanwhile, trots out all the usual statistics to show that gun control doesn’t work, including the fact that the murder rate in Washington, D.C. went up after the city instituted the handgun ban that was overturned by the Supreme Court last week. We wholeheartedly support Worthington’s campaign against Toronto mayor David Miller’s hopelessly facile anti-gun campaign, but as usual with these arguments, it’s really just a big mess of chicken and eggs. For example: is Arlington, Va.’s miniscule murder rate in comparison to Washington’s a byproduct of its relatively high rate of private gun ownership, or its relatively rich and well-educated populace? (Answer: it depends whether the gun control opponent is trying to argue that gun ownership reduces crime, or that criminals, not law-abiding gun owners, are the real and only problem.)

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