Jessica & Friends

Jessica Allan loves her job. She is the pert, bright-eyed, fortyish executive director of the Canadian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities. Last week, when more than 300 mayors and aldermen from Halifax to Victoria swarmed into Winnipeg's Royal Alexandria Hotel for the federation's tenth annual conference, everything was all set. Jessica had seen to it.

She had looked after "the little things" long before the delegates arrived. Mayors without wives were paired up as roommates according to their habits (i.e., tipplers and late sleepers did not bunk with teetotalers and early risers). Banquet placecards were arranged so that French-speaking and English-speaking delegates did not sit next to one another. Arrangements were made for entertaining wives while delegates were at meetings. Jessica, who has been with the federation since it was founded in 1938, thinks the mayors are a "grand bunch"; she wanted everything to go smoothly.

Jessica got delegates out for meetings despite the withering summer heat and a free flow of Scotch, rye, gin and beer. Every morning, as a reminder of the day's program, she had chummily-worded Mimeographed bulletins slipped under hotel-room doors. "Pullleezzzee Gentlemen," the Thursday conference bulletin began. "The session opens at 9:30 this morning. We know it's a crime on a Thursday after a Wednesday night but les affaires sont les affaires."

On Wednesday night delegates had debated Canada's housing problem for many hours, had ended by placing it squarely on the shoulders of the Dominion Government. J. O. Asselin, chairman of Montreal's Executive Committee, gave the keynote. "Canada's national housing policy," he cried, "forgets 45% of the population of the country and makes provision for adequate shelter, at the most, of 10% of Canadians. ... As long as existing gaps continue to riddle the national housing policy, it cannot be said that Canadians as a people are either well-housed or have any prospect of being so."

At week's end a special committee got ready to go to Ottawa to demand a Dominion-subsidized, low cost, low rental housing program. Jessica's last bulletin sped it on its way: "The strength of true democracy lies in sound local government. And the strength of local government lies in cooperative effort."

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