IN Canada, where three out of every four magazines read by Canadians are imported from the U.S., a three-man Royal Commission has just submitted a report, proclaiming its "indispensable'' goal of creating a periodical press "directly responsible to Canada." It insists several times that it does not want to provide "a sanctuary for mediocrity" and is in no way influenced "by a spirit of anti-Americanism or of Canadian ultranationalism," and has no designs against freedom of the press. But it proposes, by rejuggling advertising rates and other punitive devices, to end the great popularity in Canada of two U.S. magazines in particular--TIME and the Reader's Digest.

The story of the Royal Commission's report is treated in full in the HEMISPHERE section. In this space, Lawrence E. Laybourne, managing director of TIME International of Canada, Ltd., sums up TIME'S reaction:

"While the Royal Commission report is ambiguous and contradictory on critical points, the clear intention seems to be to destroy TIME in Canada. We cannot believe that the Government would adopt such recommendations, or that the Canadian people would approve such action.

"The Commission did not find or report a single point of evidence that TIME has used its resources to compete unfairly with Canadian-owned magazines. TIME'S apparent offense is a double one--that its excellence is appreciated by the Canadian people, and that it is therefore profitable. The Commission itself notes that there are 'no direct Canadian editorial competitors' to TIME, and that 'the Canadian market is probably too small' for a purely Canadian newsmagazine.

"The Commission says that 'what ever is done should be positive rather than negative, with the goal of the promotion of the Canadian periodical, not the suppression of the foreign.' It then proposes a death sentence on TIME. We cannot follow this logic.

"As the Commission knows, TIME has plainly indicated its willingness to transfer a large additional part of its publishing and editorial operations from the United States to Canada.

But TIME in Canada obviously could not survive the proposals put forth by the Commission.

"There is no doubt that Canadians accept and value TIME. More than 245,000 Canadians buy it every week, and some million and a quarter Canadians read it regularly. We think they would regret being deprived of it."

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