June 18, 1975

Canadian Newspapers Just Like Home

Will Rogers, the great American comedian, used to complain that he only knew what he read in the newspapers.  I confess to the same handicap insofar as our Canadian neighbors are concerned.

This year I spent five days in Toronto and Montreal, reading the local newspapers from banner lines to classifieds.  What I noted may not be an absolutely accurate reflection of Canadian life, but it was fascinating in that their problems differ little from that in the U.S.

In case you have come to feel that life in America is going to hell in a hand basket unaided, take a small measure of comfort from the realization that our troubles are not unique.

Following are some lead paragraphs from Canadian newspapers that provide a new perspective on what we may have considered strictly American short comings:

• A Quebec racket involved the purchase of up to 20 tons a week of bad meat from dead animal collectors for distribution to meat markets here from 1966 to 1972, the Quebec inquiry into organized crime was told yesterday.
• Charges of illegal voting in city council against Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau were quashed yesterday by a municipal court judge.
• The cabinet in Ottawa will study later this month a 200-page brief from Protestant school boards opposing Quebec's Official Language Act which permits discrimination against English-speaking groups.
• The controversial Rochdale College building in Toronto - an experiment in communal living and no-study- degrees - was repossessed yesterday by the government Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
• The printed speeches of Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan have cost Canadian taxpayers $62,113 since he became minister in 1972.
• Close to 200 Canadians - most of them youths - are being held in jails outside of Canada for drug related offenses, most of them smuggling.
• Pacific Western Airlines went on trial Thursday in Richmond, B.C., for dismissing two pregnant stewardesses.
• The jury hearing the trial of Dr.  Henry Morgentaler for illegal abortion took less than an hour to acquit him, upon which the 52-year-old physician demanded he be released immediately from prison.
• Montreal's permanent paper recycling depots have closed during the past few months, casualties of an ' economic slow down which has knocked the bottom out of the paper salvage business.
• Operation Filet, the special drive to curb the wave of extortions in Quebec, netted four men yesterday following bank robbery attempts in LaTuque and Brossard.
• Rene Gagnon, the former personal secretary to three Liberal ministers, appeared before a Sessions Court Judge here yesterday to face influence peddling charges.
• Residents of St. Remi won't receive a cent in tornado aid from the provincial government unless Quebec revises its policy.
• About 300 editors and reporters walked off their jobs yesterday at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
• The British Columbia Railway, provincially-owned, falsified its annual reports and hid losses totaling more than $52.7 million between 1957 and 1972, Premier Dave Barrett charged yesterday.
• Finance Minister John Turner suggested yesterday stronger controls are needed over organized labor, stating "We'll be out of business unless we bring about charges to put ourselves back in a competitive position.
• Prime Minister Trudeau, under fire for weeks over his personal expenses, is said by aides to be sorry he permitted a swimming pool costing more than $200,000 to be built at his official residence.
• Seventeen months after Bora Laskin became its 14th chief justice amid buoyant expectation, the Supreme Court of Canada is more sharply divided over social issues than ever before in its 100-year history.
• For the graduating class of '75, jobs are difficult to find.
• South Korean officials are adamant in their claims that their war-threatened country will never use a nuclear plant purchased from Canada for non-peaceful purposes, despite the experience of last May when India exploded a nuclear device using fissionable material produced by a Canadian-built reactor.
• If Premier William Davis really is worried about violence in society, he should ban the sale of semi-automatic rifles in Ontario, Stephen Lewis, New Democratic Party leader, said yesterday.
• Federal Transport Minister Jean Marchand made a strong pitch for, Canadian unity here Saturday, urging Quebecois not to give up making compromises with the anglophones in the interest of keeping the country together.
• Several of the hundreds of police officials attending the civic funeral of slain MUC Police Det.  Sgt.  Giles Beauvais Saturday made it clear they want the death penalty restored and parole laws revised.
• The solemnity of the courtroom in St.  John's, Newfoundland, was shattered when a witness took the stand here Thursday and replied to a question from the magistrate with, "That's right, me old trout."  After court officials regained their composure they had to warn the witness several times on how to address his honor properly.

Author: Lindsey Williams