CANADA Across Canada Mulroney “too apologetic’ says MDs TORONTO — The head of a physicians organization has accused Prime Minister Mul- roney of being ‘“‘too apolo- getic’’ in his handling of the U.S. nuclear testing program. Dr. Jan van Stolk, president of Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, wrote to the Prime Minister to protest the Feb. 3 test of a nu- clear device in Nevada. Stolk said that despite Mul- roney’s ‘“‘repeated stand in favor of a Comprehensive Nu- clear Test Ban ... you have appeared far too apologetic for the nuclear test-promoting position of the United States administration’’. The physician, who heads up the three thousand member organization, rejected gov- ernment claims that verifica- tion difficulties prevent the conclusion of a test mora- torium. ““We cannot understand what these verification prob- lems might be when the grow- ing volume of publicly avail- able information clearly re- futes such arguments’’. The 20 kiloton test, brought protests from around the globe, including the co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear ~ War, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Bernard Lown. “The test shows that the arms race is continuing at a break-neck speed. It demon- strates that the present ad- ministration in Washington is disinterested in stopping the doomsday process. We had a chance to take a first step to- wards sanity. The Soviets have refrained from testing for over a year and a half. They would have continued to refrain had the U.S. stopped testing. But a perverse desire for new geno- cidal weapons prevailed over rationality’’, said the U.S. physician. Meanwhile Democrats in the U.S. Congress, called for a halt in financing weapons tests, postponement of additional explosions and pursuit of immediate test ban talks with the Soviet Union. Manitoba rejects nuke waste OTTAWA — Manitoba Health Minister Gerard Le- cuyer reminded a House of Commons environment sub- committee of the province’s non-nuclear status and refused to allow the disposal of nuclear waste within or near its borders. Calling nuclear waste dis- posal ‘‘a social, not purely technical decision’’ the minis- ter told the sub-committee, “‘our strategy has been to sup- ‘port Atomic Energy of Canada Research into deep geologic disposal in Manitoba, while demanding strong assurances from both AECL and the fed- eral government that Manitoba will not be considered as a lo- cation for nuclear waste dis- posal’’. Lecuyer reviewed the events of last January, which saw the United States Depart- ment of Energy recommending the choice of potential sites for a second nuclear waste reposi- tory in neighboring Minnesota. Three of the potential sites were located within the Red River drainage basin, which drains in Manitoba. As a result of overwhelming opposition to both the process and many of the potential sites, the process was suspended by the U.S. government last fall. But there could be renewed efforts to revise the plan the minister says. If this happens the province would make its opposition known and would expect support from the fed- eral government. ‘‘We would have the same concerns about potential disposal sites in northwestern Ontario draining into Manitoba that we had with the Minnesota sites,’ Lecuyer added. Legislate NWF Ontario TORONTO — Provincial peace groups want legislation to enforce Ontario’s nuclear weapons-free status. The 63 delegates celebrated the success of the NWFZ cam- paign, initiated in North Bay September 1985, which this fall saw Queen’s Park adopt the motion proposed by New Democrat Richard Johnson. Immediately following the vote however Premier David Peterson, who supported the motion, said the action was “largely symbolic.” Johnson presented the meet- ing with a draft bill which would facilitate the conversion of nuclear weapons production to ‘‘projects which serve the civilian sector.’’ The bill pro- vides job security or benefits for workers displaced by con- version. The meeting also considered a proposal from the Nuclear Awareness Project to prevent Ontario Hydro from shipping heavy water containing highly radioactive tritium to its extraction facilities at Darling- ton. The meeting was attended by representatives from peace groups, the Ontario Federation of Labor and the New Demo- cratic, Communist and Green Parties. CFS rallies in Regina REGINA — Alarmed by Tory education policies, 300 students rallied at the Legislature Jan. 29. It was the first major protest on the government’s doorstep since its re-election last October. But with Premier Devine and his cabinet ministers hinting at deep spending cuts to reduce Saskatchewan’s budget deficit, other groups are expected to fol- low the students’ example. The rally was part of the Cana- dian Federation of Students National Week of Action’’ Jan. 25-31. In recent years, thousands more Canadians have returned to campuses, unable to find work and hoping to upgrade their skills. Student leaders point out that means more crowded classes, less contact with professors, and other signs of declining quality of post-secondary education. University of Regina Student Union president Lyndon Surjik warned the rally that without a big increase in provincial university funding, three things will happen: an increase in tuition fees, already the highest on the Prairies; major program cuts; and across the board enrollment quotas. Since 1981, he said, student credit hours have shot up 30 per cent, while funding has risen only 10 per cent, leading to the present crisis. Three politicians — NDP Peter Prebble, Saskatchewan Liberal leader Ralph Goodale, and Lib- eral Senator Hazen Argue, backed the students’ demands, with Prebble detailing the efects” of underfunding at the University of Saskatchewan in his native Saskatoon. The U of S library, he noted, was recently ranked 98th outof 104 surveyed in Canada and the USA. Provincial advanced education minister Lorne Hepworth was- jeered for his invitation to dents to join the government's ““belt-tightening’’ drive. Observers considered the turn- out impressive, since it was publi- cized with only a few days’ notice. (Even more so as some SU leaders, expressing little con- fidence in their fellow students, gave little support and failed to attend.) Another sign of the depth of - concern over the university fund- | ing crisis is seen in Saskatoon. Early in January, nearly half the professors on that campus cancel" led classes for a day, to protest pay restraints and the declining quality of education at their insti- ‘tution. They are planning further action in February. The Regina” rally drew the support of many U- of R faculty members, university president Tories. Lloyd Barber sent a letter of support, seen as a warning signal to the stu- and wey Manitoba NDP convention opposes Tory agenda Special to the Tribune WINNIPEG — Delegates to the Mani- toba New Democratic Party’s annual convention Jan. 30 - Feb. 1 affirmed their support of continued government re- sistance to neo-conservative policies and urged new legislation protecting workers and defending health, education and so- cial services. The convention passed resolutions calling for affirmative action in the public sector with contract compliance for the private sector and demanded speedy implementation of pay equity laws for civic government and the private sector. About 80 per cent of the more than 700 delegates endorsed a resolution to freeze funding for private and parochial schools, despite opposition by several cabinet ministers and MLAs. The convention also supported a clean-environment resolution which in- cluded proposals for public funding for environmental groups and a requirement that polluters pay the real costs of waste 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 18, 1987 disposal and pollution prevention. A resolution opposing free trade, deregulation and privatization was pas- sed unanimously. This puts the party at odds with the NDP government which has called for a suspension of free trade talks with the U.S. but has yet to come out in opposition to free trade. Various resolutions were passed on the farm crisis, nuclear disarmament, northern development, day care, educa- tion and human rights. At the convention’s close, Premier Howard Pawley was acclaimed provin- cial leader for another one year term. In his remarks, the premier played up the province’s relatively positive eco- nomic record and promised new job creation efforts and ‘‘economic justice for all’’. He sounded a warning about escalat- ing health-care costs, especially in the light of federal transfer payment cuts, but said the province will move ‘‘prudently, responsibly and in consultation with Manitobans,’’ and has no plans for means tests or user fees for health care. ‘‘Manitobans want no part of the hackers and slashers who would sacrifice vital programs in pursuit of the holy grail of deficit reduction,”’ the premier said. The convention passed a vaguely- worded resolution on health-care re- form, with only oblique references to ac- tion. During debate, the dominant cen- trist elements of the party leadership took advantage of the mood of the dele- gates to force right-wing Health Minister. Larry Desjardins to back off from state- ments he made last year predicting user fees and cutbacks. Premier Pawley also promised there would be no trend to privatization of Crown Corporations, especially public utilities and the Manitoba Public In- surance Corporation, but he claimed that the province is justified in increasing util- ity rates and insurance premiums. Overall, the convention was low-key and the political emphasis in speeches from the premier, federal leader Ed Broadbent and federal party president Marion Dewar was on the NDP becom- ing the official opposition after the next federal elections by preventing any shift in voter support from the NDP to the Liberals while working to keep the Mul- roney Tories in third place. The federal Tories were exposed for cutting federal transfer payments, used to fund education, health and social ser- vices in the province; their failure to implement tax reform and their obvious- ly partisan refusal to award the lucrative F-18 defence contract to the front run- ning Manitoba firm, instead awarding it, at much greater expense, to a Quebec corporation. Broadbent, who has been desperately trying to make inroads into Quebec, carefully avoided the F-18 issue. But there was no reference by the leadership and very little comment dur- ing debates on the main causes of the crisis in social service funding — the in- creased military budget and massive fed- eral tax concessions to the corporations.