| : i 7 sinianiieh AeA _ Winnipeg citizens isecotaary indu stries needed to give youth job and future Why must our youth suffer in a land as richly endowed as B.C.?' The challenge facing all people in B.C. is to provide opportunity for our young people through a bold program of. economic development. This article points out some of the things which can be done. Other articles will’ follow dealing with other aspects of the problems of youth. By B.C. Youth Commission Communist Party HRONIC unemployment C has become a_ growing blight on Canadian life. Hard- est hit are young people. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported in April, 1962, “Unemployment rates have also been consistently much higher for young peo- ple than for people in older age groups.” In the under-19 age group, unemployment rates in 1961 were double the National average for a stag- gering 16.6 per cent. In the 20-24 age group the rate was 40 per cent above the national figure. Thousands of young people in B.C. face a future without Work. For many, unemploy- Ment insurance has run out or is not available due to re- cent graduation from high School. Hundreds of others are on social assistance. Many more will be this winter. Why? Why should this be, in One of the richest areas in the world in terms of natural wealth. The answer can be found by looking at the de- velopment of these resources. NEED SECONDARY INDUSTRY, B.C.’s'economy is based on Primary industries whose Products. are mainly for ex- port. Such an economy can- -not provide jobs for the 300,- 000 to 350,000 young people Who will come on the labor Market in B.C. in the next 10 years. Export of raw ma- terials means export of jobs. e must not continue to ship the future of our young peo- Ple away with every boat- load of iron ore, with every Unprocessed ingot, with every barge of raw pulp, and with Sellout treaties and foreign control. B.C. needs a new plan of €conomic development. Our future security lies in the es- of Canada tablishment of secondary in- dustry to make maximum use of our resources. B.C.’s present position is shameful. The Gordon Com- mission on Canada’s_ Eco- nomic Prospects indicated our plight. In the period 1926- 1953 B.C. led all ower Cana- dian regions in the increase in value of products from basic industries with a 74.4 per cent gain. In the same period we trailed all regions, even the Prairies and Mari- times, in the increase in value of products of secondary in- dustries. Our 25.3 per cent was less than half of the na- tional figure, which showed a 56.8 percent rise. Cheap power is the key to modern industry. B.C. has vast reserves of coal, oil, natural gas and above ll, hydro. Of more than 30 mil- lion horsepower hydro poten- tial only a little over 3 mil- lion has been developed. Key among these untapped rivers is the Columbia river — the greatest undeveloped source of hydro in North America. PUT POWER TO WORK Full development of power sites in Canada would prc- vide many millions of horse- power. How could we use such output? What new in- dustries could be developed with their thousands of new jobs? 1. A modern steel industry capable of producing 500,000 tons per year would meet B.C.’s estimated present re- quirements of 300,000 tons. The remainder would go to construction of secondary in- dustries and for export. The lower mainland or Vancou- ver Island would be the best location in terms of raw ma- terials and markets. Coast steel plus Columbia power means jobs in a score of sec- ondary industries. 2. B.C. has one of the world’s greatest potentials for development of a chemical in- dustry. Modern plastics, fi- bres, fertilizers and so on come from oil, gas, coal and wood. Our oil reserves are now over 100 million barrels. Peace River natural gas fields contain some 6 trillion cubic feet, our coal reserves now lying unused, are conserva- tively set at 7 billion tons, our forests rank among the world’s greatest. A chemical complex and related industries in the Co- lumbia basin and another on the coast could employ 20-30 thousand people. Synthetic textiles and garments, con- struction and home plastics, synthetic rubber, dyes, drugs, and medicines, and many more such products could transform our _ province’s economy. Skilled workers, technicians, and university graduates would be attracted to B.C. — a reversal of the current trend. OUR FOREST INDUSTRY Almost one-half of B.C.’s income is from our. forest. Today this greatest resource is under foreign control. U.S. monopolies have been grant- ed vast tracts under forest management licences. These firms are exporting increas- ing amounts of raw _ pulp, craft paper, and even raw logs. With these exports go jobs by the tens of thousands. “The.fact« that “B:C. is not getting full value from its forests has long been recog- nized.”’ (Labor Progressive Party brief to the B.C. Royal Commission on Forestry — 1955). The uses of wood are grow- ing rapidly. In “Forest Re- sources of B.C.” the late Com- missioner of Forests, Gordon Sloan, said, “someone in the U.S. Forestry Service, with- out exhausting the list, noted 4,500 commercial and indus- trial uses of wood, ranging from the heaviest structural timber to sheer rayon.” We need a new forest pol- icy based on nationalization of the giant monopolies and planned development. EXPAND MINING 4. Copper, silver, lead, zinc, cadmium, gold, and a dozen more minerals are produced in large quantities in B.C. The great Trail smelter and numerous mills export con- centrates and ingots to the U.S. and other foreign coun- tries in huge amounts. Development of large scale secondary industry in BC. would require lead, zinc and copper in a multitude of forms. A variety of process- ing plants in the Kootenay area would turn out copper wire, batteries, piants, gal- vanized metal products, in- secticides, brass, castings and a number of other goods for industry. Once again jobs would be created for B.C. youth. 5. During the war years B.C. became a world famous ship building centre. Canada was a Major maritime power. As part of the post war sell- out to American policy our merchant fleet disappeared and our shipyards dwindled. A new economic policy for B.C. means trade. This would demand a new merchant mar- ine and a rejuvenated ship building industry. Vancouver’s port facilities would be reconstructed and developed as a part of a gen- eral economic plan. The maritime industry could provide ten thousand new jobs. These are but a few of the province - building projects that can ensure the future for our young people. At present our provinces resources are in the hands of huge US. monopolies. The Provincial Government pursues policies designed to accelerate for- eign domination. The result for our youth is unemploy- ment, insecurity, or emigra- tion. B.C. needs at least 100,000 new jobs. Only through the development of secondary in- dustries, the nationalization of American owned corpora- tions, expanded trade, and a planned program of economic growth can these jobs be created. The future of our Province’s 800,000 young peo- ple — half our population — is at stake! Orlikow By DON CURRIE Manitoba Organizer, CPC HE high sounding phrases, “freedom of the individ- ual,” “freedom of conscience”’ and ‘‘academic freedom,” etc. Stuck in the throats .and burned the ears of scores of the past few weeks as they were given @ rude and jarring lesson in democracy. Beginning with a visit by a group of American students to Communist Party head- Quarters in Winnipeg, organ- ized by a local high school teacher, Lionel Orlikow, as Part of an extensive tour of the city, the incident quickly mushroomed into a national affair becoming involving the minister issue of justice, the RCMP, Cath- olic spokesmen, the New Democratic Party and many prominent Winnipeg citizens and organizations. * * * Orlikow was the recipient of a $5,000 school board schol- arship to take up studies at Harvard University in the United States. This was the pretext for a character as- sasination attempt by Dr. Andrew Moore, a member of the Winnipeg School Board, who introduced a motion to. withhold the scholarship on the grounds - that Orlikow had been investigated by the RCMP for organizing the visit DON CURRIE ‘cause celebre’ to the Communist headquart- ers. Many people were suspi- cious of Dr. Moore’s motives and public support for Or- likow mounted rapidly until the issue came to a head at the Jan. 2 meeting of the ‘school board when’ over 200 people packed the board chambers in support of Or- likow and to condemn Dr. Moore’s_ witch-hunting with hoots and boos. A petition bearing more than 1,000 signatures, includ- ing the name of the former provincial premier Douglas ~ Campbell, was presented by Professor W. L. Morton of the University of Manitoba on be- half of several other uni- versity professors in support of Orlikow. ae = = Prof. Morton told the board that if the motion were pas- sed by the board, “any teach- ers . .. might well ask what activity, what statement, what reported word, might not get them into trouble with the board?” Prof. . Morton’s' remarks were taken a step forward in the brief presented by the Manitoba Teachers Society. The teachers’ brief demand- ed the fullest academic free- dom to expose their students “to all kinds of social and See ORLIKOW AFFAIR, pg. 8 Jan, 18, 1963—PACIFIC, TRIBUNE—Page 5