EIDIMORUAIL COMIMIEINT. Constitutional questions, a relatively unfamiliar. puzzle for most Canadians, and the “mystery” of energy self-suf- ficiency, are key questions today. Devi- mesmerize an entire population. Between Canadians and their oil re- serves (and the use of these to build in- dependent Canadian industry) stands a coalition of multi-national corporations, governments “attuned” to them, the media, owned and operated by the same corporate elite, and reactionary “front organizations” like the National Citizens’ Coalition. 25 years ago... - MAKE 1956 DISARMAMENT YEAR The Statement attributed to Canada’s UN ambassador, made in the United Nations Disar- mament Committee, is gratify- ing to most Canadians. Advocat- ing what he called an “alarm sys- tem”, which would incorporate. both the United States’ air reconnaissance proposals and the USSR’s plan for control posts, the Canadian_ delegate said: “However, we need not re- strict ourselves to alarm schemes. Reductions covering a broad range of armaments could now be adequately con- trolled.” ; If Canada will pursue that position, advancing it to include a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons and their ultimate out- ake pea it could pre- sent committee with a plan upon which negotiations could move ahead. It is obvious more pressure on MPs is needed before this will be done. Tribune, January 30, 1956 $2,850. 50. years ago... POLICE SMASH MONTREAL MEETING MONTREAL — A detach- ment of plainclothes police marched into a Lenin memorial meeting here Jan. 23, occupied the stage and immediately placed the speakers under ar- rest. When the audience of 1,200 refused to budge, the police pul- led down banners and photo- graphs. The crowd still showed resistance and an additional uad of uniformed police were called who brutally attacked the crowd. Outside the hall within two blocks of the building the streets _were lined with police who con- tinued arrests. Two of the ar- rested, comrade Halpern and Leslie Morris are charged with “seditious utterances”, eight with “interfering with police duty” and eight with “obstructing the sidewalk”. Halpern and Morris’ were held without bail until the fol- lowing morning and then re- leased on bonds amounting to The Worker, January 31, 1931 Prafiieer of the week: before. lf you didn’t know what “healthy market conditions” meant, it’s when a corporation can make higher profits while selling less of its product. That’s what Gulf Canada did in the year ended Dec. 31/80. After-tax profit was $380-million, on top of $288-million the year Figures used are from the company’s financial statements. Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Associate Editor — FRED WILSON Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186 Subscription Rate: Canada $10 one yr.; $6.00 for six months; All other countries, $12 one year. Second class mail registration number 1560 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 6, 1981—Page 4 The same forces try to hobble any move toward constitutional change which recognizes the existence of two equal nations — French Canadian and ’ English-speaking Canadian. The hoax this clique of monopolies tries to pawn off is this: You have to choose between Trudeau’s patriation package, or the reactionary right package, embodying the hope of provincial vetoes over Cana- dian development and over equal oppor- tunity for Canadians. The truth is, we don’t have to make such a choice. . The answer should be: create a made- in-Canada constitution with the above guarantees, and guarantees to the Native people. Exactly this topic was put on the Pretoria racism an.issue _ Prime Minister Pieter Botha of South Africa has called an “election” for April 29, to renew the racist rule of the coun- try’s four million or so whites over 20 million Blacks. At the time of the election announcement he even managed to de- liver to the electorate an alleged “Soviet spy” — always good for putting down’ any ideas left of Ronald Reagan. (Botha became the prime minister of apartheid in 1978 when he took over the role from scandal-ridden John Vorster.) Some interesting issues for the cam- paign should be turned up at a meeting scheduled to run from Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 in Luanda, Angola. That will be a session of the International Commission of In- quiry into the Crimes of Racist and Corporate generosity _ Who says corporations aren’t gener- ous? Toronto’s new mayor, Art Eggleton can vouch for a long list of them; they’re on his list of election campaign con- tributors. Not that any of them left them- selves short. Argus Corporation topped the reported list with $2,250, while Power Corp., and Noranda mines each threw'in $1,250. George Weston put down $1,000. - The list is rather extensive, including numerous developers (Cadillac Fair- view, Fidinam, etc.), real estate outfits like A.E. LePage, along with Crown Life _ Insurance, Merrill Lynch Royal Sec- urities, Jerry Goodis advertising agency, and so on. Tales monopolies tell us — ous solutions to them are used to try to | there will be no oil _simple: It’s our oil! } propositions by the monopolies and - against its apartheid policy, its military hotels, wine companies, etcetera will agenda of the meeting of westerm Canada Communist leaders, Feb. 1. _ The energy hoax goes like this: Unless _ the multi-national oil corporations ate allowed a free hand to reap super-profis by appropriating Canada’s resources, production, and industry will grind to a halt; the mult. nationals will go elsewhere. - q That was another item placed on the Communist leaders’ agenda. The answet lies:in taking over the oil giants through joint federal/provincial crown corpora tions. The National Citizens’ Coalition asks in costly newspaper ads, why “we pay our own(!) Canadian producers” less than we pay Mexico for oil. The answer o one should be fooled by Imperial Oil's “soft-sell” newspaper ads in which it claims to be “ready, willing and able” to, produce oil. If Canadians pay the Te quired blackmail, that is. With these heads-I-win-tails-you-los _ \ their governments, Canadians should be forewarned. These manoeuvres raise t0 ‘even. greater importance the decisions coming out of the meeting of western Canada Communists, who offer the alternative. | Apartheid Regimes in Southern Africa. The session will listen to and discuss re ports by southern’ Africa’s front-line states, including Angola, Mozambique and Zambia, which, it is charged by Paulette Pierson-Mathy, the Belgian general secretary of the Commission, are subjected to constant South African mil- tary attacks. The fact that the South African racists ignore UN and world-wide protests intrusions, and its illegal occupation of Namibia would, one might expect, rais¢ more of an.outcry among the surprising number of human rights experts in Canada. x } Eggleton made it clear that these and the long list of other donations from have no bearing on his decisions. Evi dently the sight of a good right-wing candidate just brings out the spontaneity in corporate circles. Oh, there was the little thing about the Canadian National Exhibition board, of which the mayor is a member, switching its annual $1-million advertising budget from the Foster to the Goodis agency. That could have happened any year. — Still, if one persisted, one might even- tually find that there’s a political reason somewhere behind the gift-giving by the corporations, who are not otherwise noted for giving anything away.