; “ontrotleg ‘h

Cloak

tint geeation

The S

c
— SYstem red government's anti-education policy has led B.C.’s school

ability neers crisis after another, Education for all to the limit of their

i 1 Snould be our goal says the B.C. Communist Party.

BY M. GIDoRA

. AS Ins
0
NVolving jncuy Other cases

g labor

obtain ad

| ’s struggle to
livin

ae Standard of
€ _ big-business
aoe has attempted
rces of | i
Of the villain abor in the
attention brought to the
an fee New Westminster
Velepates Met Labor Council
Couneip at their last meeting.
in reads Tesident Gerry Stoney
the Ny. 2 from a letter sent by
Broaden 2! Association of

0 Cast the f

ni
delegates (NABET) told
at NABET has been
: “i Out a contract since
Whed one When the publicly
to Negotiate wrated CBC refused
Bree at all until the union
that it eet its demands
Work 7 wed to contract out
Tightfully should be
: to outsi .
Nec nicians, utside, non
TeValuat, Proposed co
Stine: oy and Behari:
proyj With the view of

| Provigi 8 operations. and

Ntrog & new jobs
Wee, “ction of a ees

Showed its tru
} e
lock Tefusing to negotiate
they 98 Out the union until
to allow its
Bprands which
Stroy} € effect

Ying NABET’s job wa
Steg
coe = exposing the
a ding the ©havior of the brass
md callin Publicly-owned CBC
tious ,_© fOr the opening of
S, the media
tah he about how the
: pisedh ey wncellation of
con Bates Y ames, ete.

; @ to t
meqis Med he. he NWLC

1 actions,
he the growing
Test that labor
ence when they
Susly to send a

ni

measures to protect the wo

New West Labor Council
Pledges support to NABET

letter to French President
Pompidou demanding 4
cancellation of the proposed
nuclear blast in the South
Pacific.

The council also gave vigorous
support to a motion calling upon
Ottawa to set up a commission to
review all price increases made
in the retail food industry. It was
noted that last year alone Kelly
Douglas showed an increase of 35
percent in profits and Hamilton
Harvey profits up by 50 percent.

One delegate dispelled the
rumor that increased food prices
were a direct result of union-
gained wage increases when he
said ‘‘They raise their prices
without any negotiations,
without any strike votes .- -
They get the profit and we get
the blame,” adding that it was
“high time the government in
Ottawa introduced some
rkers
from this type of vulturism
among the retail food
distributors.”

Delegates pledged full support
to all workers who are currently
being attacked by the
Employer’s Council who, with
the full blessing and support of
Premier Bennett and his Socred
henchmen are trying to destroy
many of labor’s hard fought for
and well-deserved benefits to
which the working class of this
and any other province is
entitled. -

They renewed their pledges of
support to the striking civic
workers throughout the lower
mainland and to the locked out
construction workers. Warning
was issued to the Forest
Industrial Relations Board that
the IWA will have the full
backing of all labor against any
attack the employers may
initiate.

Wass Turple Ill

Veteran PT supporter Wass
Turple is in St. Paul’s Hospital in
Vancouver where he underwent
minor surgery this week. The PT
extends its wishes for a speedy

recovery.

Communists outline views
on education crisis in B.C.

~ The Bill 3 Committee of the
Burnaby Teacher's Association
recently asked for submissions
from all B.C. political parties for
their views on policy in the field of
education. The provincial com-
mittee of the B.C. Communist
Party, through its provincial
leader Nigel Morgan, presented
its position, extracts of which are
given below:

The Communist Party
believes the basic philosophy of
education should have two main
characteristics:

First, it must be a serious
statement of the real aims and
objectives of the system, rather
than a mere catalogue of plati-
tudes whose implementation is
not genuinely to be carried into
practice.

Secondly, it must be respon-
sive to the real needs of the
students from the kindergarten
level to, and including, post grad-
uate work.

The basic aim of our educa-
tional system should be to
develop the talents and abilities
of all who desire to take advan-
tage of its opportunities to the
fullest degree possible; to
develop each individual
personality; to help everyone to
work efficiently and well, and to
encourage participation by all
citizens in the direction and
management of public affairs.

One of Canada’s greatest
educationalists once declared:
“Education among the people is
the best security of good govern-
ment and constitutional liberty.
The first object of a wise govern-
ment should be the education of
its people. Education should be
as common as water, and as

free.”
S

That concept is as correct and
meaningful today as it was
when expressed by the father of
Canadian education — Egerton
Ryerson—a century ago.

Education should underscore
the need for, and usefulness of
work, and teach respect for
working
based on the concept of peace,
respect for all nations, and the

equality and dignity of all

peoples.

Education should provide an
open-ended, continuous process
(free to all) with the widest pos-
sible diversity of programs and
institutions. It should provide
the highest standard of scien-
tific and humanistic education
to the widest circles of the popu-
lation (young and old) so they
can take their rightful place in
this revolutionary age of
science and technology, and
move up step-by-step, without
having to face closed doors.

Curriculums should include a
selection of basic knowledge in
the most essential aspects of
human thought and action. It
should include new ways of
acquiring skills and knowledge,
and above all the ability to think
and find information indepen-

dently.
FINANCE

The Communist Party starts
from the viewpoint that educa-
tion financing is in an acute and
critical condition. Social Credit
interference in S ric
budgetting has led to one crisis
after another. In many urban

people. It should be ©

chool district.

centres classes are taught in
make-shift accommodation, and
double-shifting places severe
strains on family life.

Bill 86 (1968) disrupted what
had been generally accepted as
a fairly satisfactory method of
distributing grants (though
inadequate in amount) to
requirements of — school
districts. We regard the intro-
duction of referenda provisions
for operational budgets as
disastrous, and we will continue
to work and fight for removal of
such provisions.

Education is a service to
people, and should not be a tax
against property. The Com-
munist Party has for years advo-
cated removal of the costs of
education from farm and resi-
dential properties.

More than half the money
necessary to make such a
change could be found in the pres-
ent provincial budget surplus
And with timber resources;
vast deposits of industrially
important minerals, oil and gas,
coal and other non-metalics, and
electrical energy several times
the per capital of most devel-
oped nations — revenues are
available providing the govern-
ment calls a halt to the massive
giveaways and foreign plunder
of our birthright.

Education should be free to all
with the necessary academic
qualifications; kindergartens
and day-care facilities should be
provided as an integral part of
the public school system, as well
as special attention and facili-
ties to help the handicapped,
and our Indian and Metis chil-
dren. Special stipends— a main-
tenance allowance — should be
made available for students
entering the higher educational
system, as is done in all Social-
ist countries.

Senior governments, which
have access to the bulk of the tax
dollars, could and should com-
pletely finance education costs
in the elementary grades, and
provide at least 80 percent of the
cost of secondary schools. The
federal government should
assume the cost of higher
education.

ADMINISTRATION

Policies of the present govern-
ment have completely under-
mined local control, and we
believe local autonomy must be
restored, with the whole com-
munity (starting with teachers
and parents) involved in the
democratic process of defining
goals and standards required to
meet today’s education needs.

The Communist Party believes
that free collective bargaining
up to and including the right to
strike and picket, without injunc-
tion and court harrassment, is
the inalienable right of all who
work for a living.

The Communist Party is
unalterably opposed to Bill 3;
we are opposed to any form of
“‘wage control’’ (particularly as
long as corporation profits,
interest rates, rents and prices
are allowed to take whatever
the traffic will bear.) We are
also opposed to Bill 37, (which all
political parties voted for at the
session) which was simply a ruse
to undermine labor’s fight
against wage control and helped
foist it on 125,000 B.C. govern-
ment employees. ;

It is to point the way toa

future which provides every.

opportunity for our young
people to develop to the full their
talents and abilities and en-
hance British Columbia’s well-
being that we have discussed
and set down our views. Educa-
tion for all to the limit of their
ability is the greatest invest-
ment in the future our province
can make.

. BRITISH

COLUMBIA

AROUND

the

PROVINCE

NANAIMO — The Junior
Chamber of Commerce here
refused the request of fallers in

the area to take part in their -

Victoria Day parade. A march—
(fallers ‘‘march,”’ other people
just parade, evidently) would
‘not be in the spirit of the
parade,” said a Chamber of Com-
merce type.

This group is composed of
small businessmen who would be
in a bad way if it were not for the
fallers who cut the logs ‘to stoke
the mills to stoke the business-
men’s pockets with wage
dollars, but they forget the fact.

Perhaps Queen Victoria is still
alive and well— in Nanaimo?

* OK
WEBSTER’S CORNER —
Sunday afternoon of last week
saw the celebration of the reno-
vation of a hall which was built
by the Finnish Canadians of this
community more than 75 years

ago.

Around 200 persons enjoyed a
pleasant afternoon, sitting in
the shade of the spacious
grounds, eating salmon stew,
playing bingo and listening to
singing and speeches from
descendants of those early
miners, loggers and builders
who settled the area.

Alderman Harry Rankin men-
tioned the long history of the
hall, how the _ progressive
workers who had helped develop
the country had made it the
centre of their activities. He.
urged the Finnish Canadians to
make it their concern to see that
the country developed in a
rational way; to fight for jos, for
the retention of a clean and
healthy environment, and to
fight for the use of natural
resources developed in a
rational way; to fight for jobs,
country is much the better be-
cause there are hundreds of
different cultures within it.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1972—PAGE 3