Yearly Archive: 2026

Helene Darroze, who went on to run a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, England, was born to a family who operated another Michelin-starred restaurant in the 1990s. She continued her heritage, a celebration if ever there was one, after the family-run restaurant in Villeneuve-de-Marsan closed in 1999 and she opened her next bistro in Paris. Dining in that first restaurant in southwestern France was so enjoyable that today it still remains happily lodged in my head, heart and taste buds because, even in France where fine food is an expected joy, Helene Darroze holds a very special place. So special that...

Syd Jackson, CEO of Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Co., was the most playful chief executive officer I’ve ever met. The first time I interviewed him in 1984 he plunked his six-foot-three frame down on his carpeted office floor and bounced around like a boy demonstrating how he received his artillery training. Using his coffee table for a landscape he added various items from his desk to act as mock-up artillery pieces and potential targets. Beyond his fun-loving side, Jackson was one of the first CEOs in Canada to actively promote women with three among his top executives. “It’s not an impressive...

February 2! It’s Groundhog Day. Local radio says the groundhog saw his shadow so there’ll be six more weeks of winter. If the rest of winter is like recent days we’re all going to be stir crazy. But Groundhog Day brought something else to mind – the movie starring Bill Murray, one of my Top Ten films of all time as Groundhog Day keeps repeating for him. He woos a woman and robs an armoured truck among other activities. I got thinking about my top ten movies of all time of which I give Groundhog Day a full-hearted position. Here...

Some of my most vivid memories are seeing musicians live in concert. You know, the kind of shows where for years after you can close your eyes and revisit all the sights and sounds in your mind. Among my favourites is Freddie Mercury at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1980. The slicked-down hair and full moustache were new, but the haughty style was familiar as his vocals scorched through 48 (by my count) speakers. I took my prerogative as managing editor of Maclean’s to get press passes for my son Mark and I so we could stand in the media...

Just when you forgot all your New Year’s resolutions and thought there was nothing else to worry about, along comes a cold-hearted announcement from Ottawa. The Old Age Pension, otherwise known as the pogey, has been increased for 2026 by a piddly 2 percent, less than the rise in the cost of living last year. According to the economic advisory group CanAge, seniors are turning down the heat in their homes and buying expired food to save money. Even the economists at Canada’s six major banks couldn’t come up with anything more positive about the coming year than “cautiously optimistic”...