June

*Conservative Senator Michel Cogger is convicted in a Quebec court of influence peddling. He is fined $3,300 and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service. The crime: a decade ago he accepted $212,000 from a Montreal businessman seeking federal subsidies.

*Barry Goldwater dies at age 89 after suffering from Alzheimer's and a 1996 stroke. The super right-winger captured the 1964 presidential nomination, but lost by a landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater most recently made waves within Republican ranks by arguing that the ban on gays in the military should be lifted.

*Comic actor Jim Carrey attempts to broaden his horizons by starring in a semi-serious role in The Truman Show. The film is an "high concept" work about a man (Carrey) who stars in a wildly popular non-stop TV show without ever being aware of it.

*Monica Lewinsky fires her lawyer William Ginsburg and replaces him with two seasoned Washington lawyers.

*Bre-X founder David Walsh dies of a stroke in a Nassau hospital. Walsh and his family sold their stock in Bre-X and moved to the Bahamas before the mining stock collapsed.

*Anne Heche and Harrison Ford star in the romantic comedy adventure Six Days, Seven Nights, about two mismatched souls who get stranded on a desert island. The big question is: will people buy the lesbian Heche in a heterosexual role? The answer appears to be yes; the film rakes in over $80 million domestically.

*Health Minister Allan Rock bows to pressure from event organizers and tobacco lobbyists and postpones the implementation of regulations that would seriously limit tobacco sponsorship of cultural and sporting events. The legislation was supposed to go into effect Oct. 1, but is delayed for five years.

*Geri Halliwell, aka, Ginger bows out of the $700-million girl power empire known as the Spice Girls citing "differences." Later in the year she becomes a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.

*A blast at Accueil Bonneau kills three people and injures 17 others.

*World Cup fever hits France.

*Oscar-winning actor and Hollywood royalty Charlton Heston is elected head of the National Rifle Association. His mandate: promote guns to American youth.

*William Johnson is pied at the Fête Nationale. Later that night a riot breaks out in the Plateau, 16 people are arrested and 13 city blocks are littered with broken glass. For weeks afterward, Plateau residents are annoyed by a police chopper whizzing overhead and keeping a watchful eye.

*Edgefest, oh Edgefest, the ultimate Can-con con. The only good band on the bill is Sloan.

*Blackie Lawless wisely pulled his band W.A.S.P. off the Metal Mania '98 tour, probably because he realized he was sharing the bill with Iron Maiden sans Bruce Dickinson, Dio sans Dio (?!), and an AC/DC cover band. It's not that metal is dead, it's that the '80s are dead, see?

*Afro-soul legend Manu Dibango, 70, rocks Metropolis as part of the Francofolies.

*Rancid release Life Won't Wait on Epitaph. A wicked good safety-pin-through-the-nose punk platter, even if it is 20 years late.