Let us assume that American and Canadian national magazines belong to the same family of sea mammals, Odobeniade. Like the eared seal Harper’s, Canada’s newest publishing endeavour The Walrus has turned its hind limbs of financial and intellectual resources forward, and used all fours to triumphantly move ashore onto Canadian newsstands.
Canadians now have recourse from summarily consulting American magazines for a monthly measure of intelligent discussion on current affairs and civic life. With the launch of The Walrus at the Capitol Event Theatre last week, there is no indication that The Walrus will ever be found by readers in the shallow waters along the declining Arctic coasts of the rest of the pack of current national publications. Rather, it might be hauled onto the rocks of accolades and the ice floes of ingenuity to bask in the critical praise of the likes of renowned local criminal lawyer Clayton Ruby, who mused: “My God, a critical discussion of intelligent issues? What will these Canadians think of next?”
In December 2001, The Walrus founding editor Z. David Berlin resigned as editor of the Literary Review of Canada and committed himself to acquire funding for Canada’s answer to Harper’s. Berlin had precociously intended to develop a Canadian appendix for Harper’s, perhaps to redress the fact that American magazines invariably portray an inaccurate perspective of Canada. At the launch party, consulting editor Tim Rostron concurred: “I’m a recent acquisition to Canadian culture,” the Brit explained. “I’ve only been here for the past three years. The Walrus is refreshing; whenever Harper’s or The New Yorker write about Canada they get it wrong. The Walrus will get it right.”
Ultimately Berlin’s idea matured and he decided to create a national magazine with sponsorship from Harper’s editor Lewis H. Lapham and publisher John R. MacArthur. The Walrus declares itself to be politically ambivalent, endeavouring to publish investigative journalism that questions both the assumptions of the left- and right-wing. Amongst the magazine’s objectives is to provide Canadians with substantive writing that addresses consequential issues that would otherwise be left to academia, while giving their writers the necessary resources to write stories that will impact upon social discourse.
National Post gossip columnist Shinan Govani isn’t sold, however: “‘Paul Martin’s Empire!’ screams the headline on the cover, which I guess for the intellectual set is the equivalent of a US Weekly headline screaming ‘J. Lo’s Booty!’ It’s a niche market, let’s just say.”
The people behind The Walrus believe that Canadians have been waiting for a magazine like theirs for a long time. “The appetite existed in Canada already,” said Rostron. “The idea of The Walrus is to give something with intellectual heft. There is no Canadian equivalent to The New Yorker or Harper’s. Macleans is hopeless. There is no convoy-The Walrus is the first magazine to properly compete with Harper’s and The New Yorker.”
The Walrus plans a paid circulation of 25,000 to start and the most extensive internship program in Canada, sponsored by the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation. The Chawkers Foundation (established in 1966 by Montreal lawyer Charles Alexander to fund educational and environmental initiatives all over Canada) will provide $1 million per year over the next five years to fund the magazine, publishing two issues this year, eight in 2004, and ten issues each year thereafter.
“I think it’s fucking great. I like their banners. It’s brilliant,” said Christopher Michael, co-editor of TRUCKER Magazine, emphatically. “I like the fact that they’re paying their writers $2.50 a word and they have five years behind them before they have to worry about going broke. They’ve already made their mark in the Canadian publishing industry.”
The Walrus Foundation will also host conferences, seminars, debates and literary evenings pertaining to social issues covered by the magazine and others of public interest.
One wonders if The Walrus’ similarity with Harper’s will have the potential to affect American culture? Nobel laureate Saul Bellow wouldn’t be surprised: “Some seriousness to the north of us may sober us up down here. I am all for The Walrus.”
