Editorial
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AND J US 1 TO
Abuses of power) 2:
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THe PREE- TRADE Deny

Corruption and arrogance by those in power is not new to Canada. Nor is the PLL THROW IN MY
fight to end such undemocratic and illegal abuses. MoTHER - ABSOLUTELY

Replying to the throne speech in Upper Canada’s parliament in 1836, William = (se
Lyon Mackenzie told the Mulroneys of his day, the Family Compact: “We cannot
reconcile with the principles of our Constitution the appointment and continuance
in office of persons ... who are known to stand opposed to the wishes of our people wey
... and who do not possess the confidence of the people ... .” =

There’s little doubt those early reformers who led the fight for democratic
representation would today lambast this Conservative regime at Ottawa with much
the same eloquent anger.

The public allegations by former Tory cabinet minister Suzanne Blais-Grenier
that kickbacks and payoffs in awarding government contracts is commonplace
reveals the tip of an iceberg.

Prime Minister Mulroney and his friends can fulminate to the heavens. They
may excommunicate their errant, talkative colleague. But killing the messenger
never did eliminate the bad news. g

Corruption, payoffs, patronage, kickbacks, influence peddling and conflict-of- _
interest are rooted in the private enterprise system—and this Tory government is one ES
of the most corrupt Canadian governments on record.

Isn’t there something terribly wrong, even immoral, about a system where food . some?
banks in Ottawa are shut down while farmers are forced off the land? Or where F F-24833 lt SINE
thousands of Canadians are homeless or live in sub-standard housing when there << sone SNA?
are layoffs in the lumber industry and almost one million people can’t find work? : :

From Tunagate and influence-peddling by Mulroney-appointed cabinet minis- EDITOR Published weekly at
ters to free trade and privatization, what we’ve seen is four years of unbridled Sean Griffin in East seals Street
political arrogance combined with unfettered personal greed. Small wonder polls ASSISTANT EDITOR Goes * =
show a catastrophic drop in Tory popularity in four years, coupled with Mulro- Dan Keeton Phone (604) 251-1186
at S song ee today as the least trusted leader at Ottawa. BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Subscription rate: ;

anadians show excellent good sense. The democrats of yesteryear would be Mike Proniuk Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35

proud. Today, when an election is called, we can start the process toward decent two years @ Foreign $32 one year
representation by kicking the Tories out and replacing them with honest men and GRAPHICS Second class mail
women, communists and other candidates of the working class and people’s Angela Kenyon registanpe guy eet aSod
movements.

A: the end of the parliamentary debate: >

on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade
Agreement draws near — thanks to the
closure imposed by the Conservative
government’s huge majority in the
Commons — the anger of the free trade
Opponents increases.
And justly so: never has so momentous
a decision for the future of Canada been
ushered onto the political stage with so
little public input or understanding as to
what it entails. Never has so weighty an
initiative been undertaken with absolutely
no electoral mandate. Indeed, Prime Min-
ister Brian Mulroney stated his opposition

to free trade during the election campaign, -

as has been pointed out numerous times
by those who demand an election on the

issue before the deal is ratified in the -

House.

These arguments, voiced numerous
times in this publication and elsewhere,
have renewed pertinence for us when we
contemplate the letter we received recently
from International Trade Minister John
Crosbie. Unsolicited as it was, the missive
defending the Free Trade Agreement
scarcely thickens the small pile of mate-
rials we've accrued from the federal
government on the deal, and its unsub-
stantiated claims of wealth and prosperity
only serve to underscore the contrived lack
of public debate and knowledge on the
issue.

In his letter Crosbie hits us with a few
quick facts: “In 1986, British Columbians
exported $13.5 billion worth of goods. The
United States bought $6.3 billion of these
exports, or 51 per cent.

“Obviously (the letter opines), the U.S.
is essential to the province’s economy.”

The minister imparts this information
after telling us that Canada is historically a
trading nation and that this heritage can
be seen in initiatives to increase trade and
economic relations with the other Pacific
Rim countries. The man who admitted he
had not read the full text of the pact wants

People and Issues

us to accept these assumptions: that
somehow the Canada-U.S. pact is part

and parcel of growing international Can- ~

adian trade, and that the volume of B.C.
exports will somehow increase after the
deal is in place.

This is specious logic, to say the least.
The B.C. Federation of Labour in a study
last spring predicted that 56,730 jobs will
be lost when the tariffs protecting B.C.
manufacturing and agriculture are re-
moved and the cheaper-produced U.S.
goods flood B.C. markets. Among the vic-
tims will be the textile and clothing indus-
tries, and the wine and grape-growing
concerns, the latter already the focus of
attention — being recipients of some
inadequate provincial and federal gov-
ernment assistance granted in a_half-
hearted attempt at damage control —
thanks to a ruling by the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which
struck down protective subsidies for those
industries.

But John has harsh words for such
detractors. The B.C. Fed study, his letter
tells us, “was not an analytical study (and
it) resorted to the selective use of quotes
and a reliance of misinformation about
the Agreement.” (The study, as we noted
in our free trade special report in the
March 16 Tribune, was based mainly on
federal and provincial government re-
ports.)

Instead, Mr. Crosbie prefers to rely on

“credible” studies produced by such enti-

ties as the Economic Council of Canada
and the C.D. Howe Institute — big busi-
ness organizations whose members are

responsible for the scheme in the first
place.

The minister also dismisses those who
point out the danger to Canada’s water
resources with these words: “Water is cru-
cial to British Columbia and that is why
this government remains committed to
protecting and enhancing this resource
through the Federal Water Policy and
further legislation if deemed necessary.”
He ignores those Canadians who have
sounded the alarm about massive water
diversion projects such as the GRAND
canal scheme — and the lesser but insi-
dious export of tanker water — and who
point out that the Free Trade Agreement
overrides any legislation or policy Parlia-
ment might produce.

What the trade minister in his response
to the water export critics and the labour
movement does show is how sensitive the
Tories have become about the anti-FTA
criticism. Having been lambasted for his
government’s thwarting of democracy by
rejecting the demand to hold cross-
country, open access public hearings on
the pact, he now pleads with “individuals
such as yourself to help inform and edu-
cate people of the tremendous benefits of
this agreement.

“T look forward to your continued sup-
port,” he writes.

Sorry, John. That presumptuous sign-
off is as unfounded as is the reasoning in
the rest of your letter. You can count on

the continued opposition of us — and of -

thousands of other Canadians — to your
government’s ruinous and unmandated
scheme.

A: time takes its toll, we’ve had to use
this column to report with sadness the
deaths of many social and labour fighters
over the years. But one of the saddest
we’ve had to report in recent years is the
passing of human rights activist Renate
Shearer, whose life was cut short at age 52
last week.

Shearer, whose list of credentials
includes membership in the former B.C.
Human Rights Commission and a contri-
bution to Vancouver city council’s com-
mittee on race relations, rose to public
prominence in 1983 when she was chosen,
along with former B.C. Federation of
Labour president Art Kube, as co-chair of
the Solidarity Coalition. Her leadership
underscored the point that political mod-
erates become social fighters when, as part
of 27 bills of legislation designed to wipe
out labour and human rights in this pro-
vince, the Social Credit government of the
day abolished the quasi-judicial Human
Rights Commission of which she was a
member.

She was appointed to that commission,

headed by peace activist Dr. Charles Paris,
in 1981, and presided over hearings into
discrimination against B.C. farm workers
in 1982. She became a volunteer member
of Vancouver’s race relations committee
in 1982, and was a supporter of the Com-
mittee for Racial Justice.
- Shearer was born in Germany in 1936
and came with her parents to the United
States under a Quaker program to help
Jews emigrate from Hitler’s fascist, anti-
semitic regime. She received her degree in
social planning and administration at
Ohio State University.

Words of praise for her work came
from B.C. Fed President Ken Georgett!
and Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council leader —
George Watts, following news of her
death from cancer Aug. 23. The Commit-
tee for Racial Justice has set up the Renate
Shearer Human Rights Education Trust in
her memory.

—

4 e Pacific Tribune, August 31, 1988