0h | ENSURE INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION & JOBS FOR CANADA'S PEOPLE Above Electrical Workers (UE). Is the front page of the two color folder put out by the United liberals aim to push through Columbia pact T i gepeech from the Throne a Y makes it clear the Lib- necesserveTment intends, if Pushing a Stake its life on Treat Sessicn ud protocol at the new ss Parliament fe the campaign the sellout treaty is Moy Bae ve is the front page its Beaton folder which the Si mrcirieal Workers Union cre dely Circulating across Th —<_ilder makes out a strong Ough the Columbia © case against the present Treaty and calls for support of the Mc-. Naughton Plan to keep Canadian control of the vital waterway. It urges the public to write their -MP’s opposing the Treaty and demanding a full public hearing on the Columbia. Also last week a lengthy ar- ticle. appeared on the editorial page of the Toronto Globe and Mail which charged that ‘‘the Treaty and protocol will establish a master-and-slave relationship on the Columbia. Canada will not be the master.’’ CAPITAL COMMENT MLA urges action On consumer prices By ERNIE KNOTT : hee take stock, we are “Slo Tough this 1964 ses- 5 ae the MLA’s have Ming €cord number of days . Sults at each other ‘k pune about social wel- : bank, while ignoring eal ermpie lings ble. Waldo Skil- (up) ©) charged Gordon Gibson : being drunk during ? the 1961 spec- _ ial session for the B.C. Elec- tric takeover, Gibson, in turn, said he Tim -€round inan attempt to learn why he € *saiq Such a remark. ‘SUpligg the Oxford dictionary Meaning «Word ‘‘skillings®? 80 from » = Shed or outhouse,’ Bos lings as «a privy Shou] q Bimor and an out- it mance as one local as Voice of the i? tee, eee people did break througha couple of times during the week. William Speare (SC) read in the House a letter from women in his consti- tuency (Quesnel) who are cam- paigning for aprovince- wide boy- cott, March 2-9 onsugar. He called for a consumer prices commission to investigate what is going on in the field of consumer goods, especially sugar and gasoline. Dave Barrett (NDP) charged ‘the government is so smart it subsidizes the production of physical resources, like ironore, which goes to Japan to be made into steel which is sold back to B.C. while refusing to sub- sidize human resources by deny- ing people necessary and adequate social welfare services and treatment.’’ So far we are certainly not getting our money’s worth, exX- pecially when you consider an MLA gets the following for an average 40 day session: Salary $4,000; expenses $1,000; per diem living out allowances at $25 per day, $1,000; telegraph and telephone $400; and 25¢ per mile for car allowance. Grand total of $6,500. os os INDUSTRY POSSIBLE B.C. can process ironore —but Victoria must act By MAURICE RUSH Two recent announcements— one from Victoria and the other from Ottawa—knock on the head the arguments which British Col- umbians have heard for gener- ations against the building of a steel industry on the Pacific Coast. For many years the two chief arguments against the feasabil- ity of a steel industry on the Pacific Coast were: First, that B.C. does not have iron ore in sufficient quantities and of high enough grade for steel smelting. Second, that B.C. lacks proper fuel for steel refining, and that its coal is unsuitable for the mak- ing of steel. These arguments, together with the cries: ‘‘There’s no market’? and ‘Where will the capital come from?”’ have served powerful U.S. and eastern Can- adian monopoly groups, who have blocked the building of a steel industry on the Pacific Coast for their own interests. The first of the important an- nouncements came last week from B.C. Mines Minister Ken- neth Kiernan. He told the Legis~- lature that the Queen Charlotte Islands have 30 million tons of known iron ore reserves and could become a major steel pro- ducing area. Kiernan said that there prob- ably is ‘‘a whole lot more’”’ on the island. The only thing lacking, said the Mines Minister, is that there is no suitable fuel for smelting and refining the ore, This problem now, accord- ing to the Socred minister, is blocking a steel industry on the Pacific Coast. The second important an- nouncement came almost as an answer to Kiernan. From Ottawa came a report that the federal cabinet will announce soon that a subsidy for coal amounting to about $3 per ton will be intro- duced to facilitate the sale and shipment of Alberta and B.C. coal to Japan. : Japan is reported to be very anxious to buy more medium- grade coal for steel smelting. - In October the Japanese steel Demand federal action to expand Vancouver's port The 17th provincial conven- tion of the Communist Party of Saskatchewan has written Trade Minister Sharp that im- mediate action is required to expand port facilities in Van- couver. The letter, signed by pro- vincial leader W. C. Beech- ing, stated that in addition to making money available for port expansion ~ “Ottawa. should enter into negotiations © and financially assist the pbuilding of large capacity pool elevators in Vancouver.”’ Pointing out that present facilities are inadequate to meet greatly expanded trade with socialist and world mark- ets, the letter said: “The federal government I has publicly admitted that it was unable to conclude all the agreements for wheat that were possible this past few months because of inadequate handling facilities.”’ While it welcomed this ad- mission by the government, action is quickly neededto re- medy the present short- comings, it said. ‘fits,’ industry signed a three-year agreement with B.C, and Alberta coal producers for 800,000 tons in 1963 and at least one mil- lion tons in 1964, In the last few years Japanhas tremendously increased its pur- chase of iron ore in B:C. There have been major iron ore devel- opments by Japanese capital in B.C., and special freighters have been built to haul our ‘‘inferior’’ iron ore thousands of miles to Japan, for smelting into steel. Now Japan has built special coal carriers for its trade with B.C, Last week a giant Japanese bulk coal carrier, Kanishka Jay- anti, loaded 35,000 tons of coal at Port Moody Terminals in only 30 hours for Japanese steel mills. Japan has now become the third largest steel producer in the world. And she has relied heav- ily on B.C.’s iron ore and coal for the basic materials to build its steel industry. The interesting thing is that Japan has been able to use so called ‘inferior’? B.C. iron ore and coal to make steel, to ship the raw materials over 5,000 miles to Japan, then ship the steel products back another 5.000 miles to Canada, and still sell steel at competitive prices. The question arises: ‘‘If Japan can use B.C. iron ore and coal for making steel, why couldi’t BGs The answer is that we can, The Hon. H. H. Stevens who was a member of the R. B. Bennett cabinet, has repeatedly charged that B.C. could have had a large steel industry generations ago but that it has been consist- ently blocked by the giant U.S. steel companies who for their own interests never wanted a steel industry built on Canada’s Pacific Coast. In all modern countries the building of a steel industry has been the foundation on which industrialization took place. For B.C, such an industry is one of the major prerequisites ifwe are to ever move away from being a raw material area and becom- ing a modern industrial manu- facturing province. Building of a steel industry, taken together with the vast hydro and other raw material resources we have in abundance, could, if developed under correct policies, make B.C. one of the great in- dustrial areas in the world. The argument that there is no capital for the building of a steel industry on the Pacific Coast is ridiculous considering the vast wealth of B.C. The public’s re- sponse, for example to the sale See STEEL, pg. 12 LABOR ROUNDUP Jobless to state case before council, govt. The Vancouver Unemployed Council will be presenting a brief on the plight of unemployed workers to city council and the provincial government. Contents of the brief were endorsed in principle by the Vancouver Labor Council at its meeting last Tues- day. Ray Tickson, speaking for the youth division of the unemploy- ed council, told VLC delegates that youth is hardest hit by un- employment in the midst of plenty. ‘‘We have no experience in industry, we can’t afford to go to university and its practically impossible to get into vocational schools,’’? said Tickson. In ad- dition, there is ‘a lack of edu-- cational facilities, a lack of jobs and a lack of unemployed bene- about which the senior governments are doing nothing. Tickson’s remarks were greeted with the strongest ap- plause of the evening. Speaking after Tickson, Charles Shane (Tunnel & Rock Workers) charged that the sad plight of B.C.’s youth is part and parcel of the crisis in soc- jal assistance to the needy. ‘‘Despite this sorry situation, it?s encouraging to see the youth has not lost faith in the trade union movement,’’ Shane stated. Also participating in the dis- cussion was John Hayward (Street Railwaymen) who told delegates: *‘As long as we continue to ship our raw materials from B.C. to all parts of the world, our youth will continue to look for jobs in vain.’’ @ Charlie Wilson, president of the Marineworkers union, told council that the 5 - man negoti- ating committee for 22 strike bound unions in the shipbuilding industry is meeting in Victoria to discuss the two week strike at Burrard Dry Dock, Yarrows and Victoria Machinery Depot. He said the committee was pre- pared for futher meetings to try to resolve the strike with em- ployer representatives ‘tat any time’’. Wilson charged that ‘*Burrard Dry Dock alone is sitting on approximately $27 million worth of contracts—trying to starve its workers into submission—while it tries to maintain a wage and vacation scale far short of what has been achieved in comparable industries.’’ He expressed confidence the-~ 2,000 workers on strike would receive the solid backing of the entire labor movement in B.C. Meanwhile, press reports in- dicated that Victoria Mayor R. B. Wilson and North Vancouver Mayor W. M. Angus were press- ing Prime Minister Pearson to rebuild Canada’s merchant marine ’’as a long term measure to keep all yards operating.’’ 6 Striking oil workers at Irving Refinery in New Brunswick are overjoyed with aid received from B.C. labor. Jerry Le Bourdais (Oil, Chemical Workers, Local 9-601) told council over $3,000 has gone to the strikers from B.C. unions—not including the province’s oil workers. Morale is still high, he said, and has been further boosted by a drop in production at Irving from 45,000 to 30,000 barrels a day. Further production losses are expected, after which time it is hoped the company will be- gin to seriously negotiate on workers’ demands. The UFAWU ref submitted a 34 page argument to Mr. Justice N. Nemetz on the “question of terms of reference in the dis- pute between salmon net fisher- men and the cannery operators. Mr. Justice Nemetz was appoint- ed “sole arbitrator’’ to replace the Hon. V. L. Dryer, who was unable to continue with the hear- ings due to pressure of other business. February 21,:1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3