[3] His stores featured staging of plays, poetry readings, encouraged social interaction, and unusually, permitted drinking coffee.
[7] Much to the surprise of the publisher, the second edition was unexpectedly sold at up to a 55 per cent discount by national companies, roiling the market.
[9] Hurtig was an Officer of the Order of Canada, was granted honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from six Canadian universities, and was the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award.
[10] In 1967 Hurtig became interested in politics when the Liberal Party was looking for a new leader in the wake of Prime Minister Pearson's impending retirement.
[9] In 1973, he left the Liberal Party and joined with other nationalists including Walter Gordon, Jack McClelland, and Claude Ryan to establish the Committee for an Independent Canada (CIC), which lobbied against foreign ownership of Canadian economic assets and cultural imperialism.
[1] On the day of his death, one daughter, Leslie Hurtig, read him "newspaper headlines about the launch of the inquiry into murdered and missing women"; he responded, "Bravo", and died that afternoon, surrounded by family.