These files consist of correspondence, memos, reports, notes, clippings, journal and magazine material and some print and near-print publications.
They comprise the Department of the Environment's information services' responses to queries addressed to the department during McMillan's tenure of this portfolio. They constitute a record of the inquiries addressed to the department by individuals, corporate groups, businesses (General Motors and Polysar), political action groups (often dealing with foreign issues, such as the Tamils, the Muslims in Bulgaria and the Turks in Cyprus), social organizations (such as the War Amputees of Canada and the Family Council of Canada), officials from other levels of government and from foreign governments (their ambassadors), and from politicians both in Canada and from abroad. In sweep, this series is global.
While much of the material was generated by inquiries addressed to the Department of the Environment, a portion consists of unsolicited promotional material sent to the department. This series holds much on the environment, reflecting the issues of the day regarding which people wrote the department. There is much concern with energy matters and pollution. The files contain speeches and literature reflecting positions by other governments, organizations and individuals on critical issues related to the environment portfolio. The series also holds information on other salient issues of the time, such as free trade, apartheid in South Africa and the Meech Lake Accord. On these issues, both environmental and general, there is a reflection of the attitudes and positions of various Canadian members of parliament and politicians, including the prime minister and provincial premiers, commenting on the positions they espoused.
Some of the files contain invitations to the minister; very many of the files contain mail-ins and promotional literature.
