Trudeau rebuked for stand on sub base Prime minister Trudeau has Made it clear to the labor movement that he has no intention of registering any protest with the €rican government over the Construction of the Trident sub- Marine base at Bangor, Washington. In fact, he considers that to try to convince the U.S. 80vernment ‘“‘to do away’’ with Trident would “not be in Canada’s Interests,”* Trudeau’s comments were in Tesponse to a letter from the New Westminster and District Labor hee Council which called upon him to ‘intervene and halt the export of two missile-loading cranes con- structed by Heede International at Port Moody and slated for delivery to the Bangor base. Council secretary Tom Baker said that he had written Trudeau and ‘‘made our position quite clear. We told him that there should be no export of any Canadian goods to that base — no cranes, no materials, no steel, — nothing! We told him that to accept ‘an order for 100 tons of steel was ; Friday, November 5, 1976 ‘© eo 48 the same as condoning the con- struction of the Trident base and that in our opinion that was a grave mistake and presented a very real, serious threat to world peace. Trudeau’s reply to the council was based on the dubious logic that the Trident base was part of a deterrent program aimed at preventing the outbreak of nuclear war. He assured the council that the ‘‘government of Canada is continually concerned over the possible outbreak of nuclear war and the need to contribute to preventing such a catastrophe’’ but that the ‘tmost. meaningful approach”’ to that question was to “maintain the present balance of nuclear deterrence. The govern- ment of Canada is therefore convinced that it would not be in Canada’s interests to try to con- vince the U.S. government to do away with the Trident submarine project which forms an important part of the overall deterrent for- ce,’’ he said in his letter. Baker said that Trudeau’s reply was ‘‘a stupid statement’’ a con- tention that was supported by Vancouver Labor Council secretary Paddy Neale. Neale told delegates to the Vancouver Council, who voted to concur with the action of the New Westminster council and urge Trudeau to stop the export of the cranes, that the question was not one of ‘‘striking a strategic balance, but rather of annihilation. Our prime minister has failed to grasp that.”’ Neale said that the question of see TRIDENT pg. 3 Vol. 38, No. 44 i COPE candidates later presented petitions to Hydro. (See story). —Sean Griffin photo About 150 people demonstrated in front of the B.Cm Hydro building Monday in opposition to recently announced increases in bus fares. Fares on Hydro buses are scheduled to increase by 40 per cent to 35 cents per ride next Monday. The demonstration was called by the’ “Committee of Progressive Electors, and COPE aldermanic candidate Atiba Gordon presented Hydro officials with a petition of over 5,400 names which urged the Crown corporation to keep bus fares at the present 25 cents. Gordon said that the 5,000 names were collected in a period of little morethan two weeks, most of them before the fare increase was an- nounced by Hydro. ‘‘The fact that this many people signed our petition before we even knew for sure of the rate increase is yet another indication of just how strongly people feel on this issue. “The fare increase is going to create hardships for the ordinary people of this city. Transit is a public service just like hospitals and education and all the talk of a deficit is just an excuse to make ordinary people pay for yet another essential service. “We refuse to accept this 10 cent increase, and we want Hydro to know that there will be many more signatures coming in on still more petitions protesting this increase.”’ COPE mayoralty candidate Bruce Yorke, who said that about half of COPE’s 27 candidates were present at the demonstration, said that the demonstration was ‘‘just a warning to the general public that this (the fare increase) has got to stop. Bonner has already said that they’ll raise the rates again next year.”’ A COPE. council would make the “strongest possible representation to the provincial government to force a withdrawal of the fare increase,*’ he stressed. Yorke accused B.C. Hydro chairman Robert Bonner of “playing the old con game” when he said that there ‘‘might be an increase of 45 cents’ so they could slip through the 10 cent increase. “‘But I want to assure them that we are not fooled. The whole general direction of Hydro policy on this question should be in the opposite direction. It should be towards the phasing out completely of bus fares over a reasonable time period.” He questioned the validity of the reasons given for the fare hikes by Bonner who had said that one of the contributing factors was increases in wages. Yorke said, ‘‘that simply could not be substantiated,” as see FARE pg. 3 Case against Leonard Peltier upheld Renewed demands that justice Minister Ron Basford not sign the €xtradition order on American Ndian Movement activist Leonard Peltier were expected to follow the decision last week by the federal 8ppeals court upholding Justice W. - Schultz’s earlier decision that eltier be held for extradition. Schultz’s original decision — rought down in June — declared that a prime facie case against Peltier had been established on four counts. The appeals court Upheld that decision. _ The Peltier Defence Committee M Vancouver said that the decision of the appeals court places Peltier’s life in even greater Jeopardy. Peltier and other Prominent figures in the Indian movement are all convinced that he would never live to stand trial if he were to be returned to South Dakota. A spokesman for the defence committee told the Tribune that Peltier has been held in solitary confinement at Okalla since the fourth day of his imprisonment and is manacled and shackled every time he leaves his cell, despite the fact that he has never been con- victed of any criminal offence. With the denial of his appeal, the committee has a number of options open as to how to proceed with its campaign. ‘“‘One route we could go is to launch a further appeal through the Supreme Court of Canada, or we could drop the appeal procedures and step up our direct pressure on Basford urging _him not to sign Leonard’s ex- tradition order,” the spokesman said. At the time of the original ex- tradition hearing last summer, one of the most significant factors in granting the extradition order was the introduction of two affidavits submitted by Myrtle Poorbear which said that she had been with Peltier on the reserve at the time of the shooting. The committee spokesman said that there was a third affidavit, dated prior to the two submitted to the extradition hearing, in which Poorbear at- tested that she was with Peltier miles from the. shooting scene. “The appeals court refused to accept this as new evidence, even though the lawyers acting for the U.S. government never denied that they knew this document existed,’’ she said. On that basis alone, the spokesman said, Basford should be very careful before he signs any extradition order. “You must remember that the final decision in any extradition case rests solely with the minister of justice who must sign the actual order” she said. So far, the committee estimates that they have collected well over 50,000 signatures on a petition directed to Basford demanding that Peltier be allowed to remain in Canada, - WILLIAM KASHTAN Bill Kashtan here Nov. 13 Nigel Morgan, leader of the B.C. Communist Party, announced this week that the national leader of the Communist Party of Canada, William Kashtan, will arrive in Vancouver on November 13 on the first leg of a national tour. Kashtan, who was _ re-elected leader of the Communist Party at its 23rd Convention in Toronto last month will visit a number of centres on Vancouver Island as well as appear at a number of meetings in Vancouver. Morgan said that Kashtan is scheduled to meet with the 30- member provincial committee of the party on November 13 and will address a public meeting at 2 p.m. thenext day in the Russian Peoples Home, 600 Campbell Ave. Following his Sunday meeting in Vancouver, Kashtan’s schedule will take him to Victoria on November 15 and Port Alberni on November 16. He will return to Vancouver to address a meeting of trade unionists on Wednesday, November 17. Meetings for the Communist Party leader have also been scheduled in Alberta beginning November 18.