In the dying days of a long parliamentary session, Canada's Liberal government last week suddenly brought forward and enacted its 20% tax on advertising in Canadian editions of U.S. magazines.
Finance Minister Walter Harris, who devised the measure five months ago, remained its main supporter. In a 35-minute speech he hailed the tax as a great boon to Canadian culture, contending that Canadian magazines are in desperate economic shape and that a tax on competing U.S. publications is necessary to save them from "disappearance."
Ontario Conservative W. Earl Rowe, acting leader of his party, scoffed...