Washington “disapproves.”

export of Canadian produced
Vietnam. No “regrets” on that

Pentagon madmen.

ed,”,

“mighty dollar”,

is now,

EDITORIAL

Not a clip game

- (CP) news item from the customary “ reliable’sources”
reports that the Pearson cabinet may dumpits “ special’’
“Vietnam envoy Chester Ronning, because forsooth, Mr. Ronning
has said something about U.S, bombing in Vietnam of which

What is worse for Canadians however, is the fact that our
gutless prime minister and his equally gutless cabinet are in
a like position, True, Mr. Pearson has publicly “regretted”
the criminal U.S. bombing in Vietnam, very timidlyto be sure,
the while giving governmental blessing to a $300-million

Less timidly however, Mr. Pearson “feels” that his envoy
(Mr. Ronning) “may have been indiscreet”, thereby terminating
his “usefulness’? — to Washington.

Most decent Canadians hold a different view: that such
envoys in the cause of peace are only useful when they close
the “credibility’? gap with the naked truth; when they call a
spade by its right name; when they cease to invent gutless
apologies and excuses to cover up the heinous crimes of the

Hats off to Chester if that is the cause of his being “dump-

‘Indiscreet’ envoy

A: the opening date of Expo draws closer, one probability
begins to stick out like a sore thumb; that millions of Canadian
and foreign visitors to Montreal to participate in Expo cele-
brations are going to be “taken to the cleaners” on a grand
scale. Scores of news briefs, semi-official statements, man-
on-the-street comments, all point in that direction,

Despite the effort so far of Expo officials, civic and other
bodies to hold food, housing, transit and other prices for the
Expo visitor on a fairly even keel, the “get-rich-quick” boys
are said to be already moving in for the Centennial “kill”,

It therefore follows that unless some very drastic price
controls are set up now to safeguard Expo celebrations, with
adequate machinery to see that they are enforced, Canadians
of 1967 (and foreign visitors) may have cause to remember
their first Centennial year as the “year of the big fleece.”

From where we sit out on the Pacific Coast we would prefer
to hear and read of Expo as a great celebration embodying all
the warm hospitality, generosity and achievements of our
first centeniary — not a gigantic scalping operation for the

The time to take full precautions against that eventuality,

arms for the Yanks to use in
deal,

OOO Oo

"ee

Tom
Mc EWEN

rade unionists in British

Columbia or elsewhere
who may be following the pro-
ceedings of the Sargent commis-
sion currently “investigating” the
Ritz Hotel “bugging” episode, may
be wondering just what is being
investigated; an electronic inva-
sion into the privacy of the in-
dividual, now used by one union
against another, or how to doa
gang-up smear job on trade union-
ism per se?

The whys and wherefores of the
“bugging” incident with all its
slimy connotations and associa-
tions seems to have faded into
the background, Now the prime
objective seems to be how best
to tie a McCarthyite“red herring”
around the neck of trade union-
ist “A”, or the “Order of Judas”
around the neck of trade union-
ist ‘*B’’, with the Communist
Party and the NDP getting a
goodly touch of smear in the
backlash!

All a very interesting and en-
lightening brouhaha, and no doubt
highly profitable to the legal

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beagles who fatten on this sort
of “legal” slop faster than a hog
on corn mash, But the trade union
and labor movement as such,
whatever the color or crest on
the union car, takes one hell of
a beating in this “legal” deface-
ment of its image,

\

There can be little doubt, judg-
ing from the course of events
that the prime motive which
prompted Premier Bennett to
be real “quick on the draw’’
with his appointment of a royal
commission was precisely that, A
crafty boy Wacy, not given to
Passing up an opportunity which
affords him a splendid opening
for getting in a swipe atthetrade
unions, the NDP, the Reds or
what have you, all with one big
discharge of royal commission
Bennett buckshot.

Wac’s “indignation” a la “bug-
ging” merely adds a touch of
‘*virtuous” lustre to a rather
brassy Socred halo, Nothing
more,

What seems to be important

‘HOUSING IN CITY AT
CRISIS PROPORTIONS’

Vancouver Communist Party brief to

é

‘Council calls for determined effort.

“The housing shortage has
reached crisis proportions and
has become one of the main social
problems in Canada, It is esti-
mated that at the present time
there is a shortage of 750,000
to one million units in Canada,
And Vancouver has the worst
shortage in the country.” This
was the charge made this week
in a brief presented to City
Council by the Vancouver Com-
mittee of the Communist Party,

Signed by the Committee’s
secretary Charles Caron, the
brief said:

There does not appear to be
much controversy over the crit-
ical state of housing in Vancou-
ver. What is lacking is a deter-
mined effort to tackle the prob-
lem, The main responsibility
for the current inaction in this
matter appears to lie with the
Provincial Government, Mr. H,
W. Hignett, President of Central
Mortgage and Housing Corpora-
tion, was quoted as saying that
the Bennett government was hold-
ing up four major public housing
projects, :

This has been confirmed by
Vancouver City Planner, Mr. W.
E, Graham, who stated that there
are six major public housing
projects, totalling 1,200 unitsand
involving 12 million dollars,
awaiting government approval,

However, despite the justified
criticism of the B.C, Govern-
ment, the City Council should
not ignore its own shortcomings,
The present city plans awaiting
approval of the Provincial Gov-
ernment are far from adequate
if we are to cope withthe housing
crisis. A minimum of two thou-
sand housing units a year is
more in line with the need.

Furthermore, financial aidhas

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now is whether or not trade union-.
ist John Doe “follows the Com-
munist line’’, just skates around
it, or avoids it entirely as the
devil is said to avoid holy water.
Or that alleged “bugger” O’Toole,
alias Finnigan, whose unrecord-
ed departure from Ireland was
Erin’s gain, sponsored the
“brothers”? he was ‘‘bugging” as
fitting member candidates for the
NDP,

Filling the columns of our
ultra “free” press with that sort
of judicial bilge does a very ill-
service not only to the immediate
unions involved whether National
or International, but to the entire
trade union and labor movement,

An inquiry into the “invasion
of the privacy of the citizen’’ by
electronic devices, in order that
it may be catalogued as a civil
or criminal offense, prohibited by
law, is one thing, Utilizing such
an inquiry to publicly air labor’s
internal affairs, differences,
politics, stewardship, etc, is
something entirely different.

There the objective aimed at
is to foment and sharpen inter-
necine warfare, destroy . all
avenues to greater trade union
unity and autonomy, create sus-
picion and distrust between union
members irrespective of affilia-
tion, thereby making it easy for
organized monopoly and its “kept”

been available in the past for slum
clearance and it must be said
that the past council has done
very little to take advantage of
this fund. We reguire a vigorous
program of urban renewal to re-
move the blight that extends to
many areas of our city.

The housing shortage has been
aggravated by government tight-
money policies and by monopoly
control over the construction and
building materials industry, The
result of that control by such
firms as Ocean Cement, Mc-
Millan Bloedel and General Elec-
tric, is exhorbitant costs and
rising rents, Recent increases
in rent are simply shocking. For
many tenants it constitutes one-
third or more of their income,

Finance Minister Mitchell
Sharp’s “crash program” to aid
housing announced January 30th
will not cope in any serious way
with the problem, Myr. Sharp
said that “a significant increase
is expected for residential mort-
gage and, funds will be available
to speculative builders to con-
struct 20,000 housing units,”

It is clear that the $200 million
“crash program” is far from ade-

quate and provides very little for

® Vou CoN STaP WORRYING ABOUT THAT POOR

WIPOW WITH 51% KIDS... 1 JUST ARRANGES
Jo HAVE HER FoREctLosep! *

ARAN
5
o*0°e 0 e*e* eee enero rene

politicians to trample over labor
at will, economically, politically
and socially. To continue its-at-
tacks upon labor on a new front,

Of course there are other fac-
tors (some hidden), much more
important than the sheen on
Premier Bennett’s “virtuous”
halo, implicit in this judicial
spree. ‘

There is a super-salaried In-
ternational union bureaucracy
whose image, policies and ideol-
ogy is barely distinguishable from
the National Manufacturers As-
sociation, and whose association
with state departments and police
agencies is closer than Siamese
twins, And in the lower echelons
of labor “leadership” a similar
bread of bureaucrats, phonies
and ideologies are daily incu-
bated; the kind that rely on the

those in dire need, There®

lack of funds to solve the hoe
crisis if there was a will ®
so, a good part of the ™

wasted on arms couldbe div"
to that purpose,

The Provincial Governmel
also evading its responsi f
Financially it is over-comm

on power projects aimedat®

ing U.S. interests, and it@
as a result, meet its obli

to education, housing, and®”
requirements of the peopl@ |

The problem of decent a
for those who need them @
be left to speculators and
developers whose main COM

is profit, and not the needs a

people,

We support the notice of ™,
before Council on S80")
‘{llegal’ suites submit
Alderman Rankin and Al
Alsbury to Council on J@),
24, 1967, but only as 4 ©.
gap measure until prope! y
ing is provided, Furthel
propose:

oft
*Establishment of 2 PM
cial Housing Authority.

Authority should have repre”)

tation from the B,C, Gover
from large urban centres E
as Vancouver;

from: Te
governments; from labors |,

f

from the Vancouver Housifié 7

sociation, The function of a f
Provincial Housing AY
would be to plan and 3

develop an adequate housing?

gram,

@A large scale low 2

public housing program
units a year for the n@
years,

-
I

@ Acquisition of land fof”

‘ing in suitable areas. The™*

See HOUSING, pg- 1?

bosses’ courts for “legal
proval of their illegal act

The more such a union
ship is faced with the T@
their collective member"
the insistent demand for ® af
greater measure of trad@

yolt

democracy, autonomy af

the more this corrupt 4” ri

principled union hierarchy? yj

the aid of those very forc®

least that’s the pretense”

they draw their Chambeé |

-Commerce salaries,

These factors are not a

lated to the hearings #
progress in Vancouver;
which the “bugging” by a
national union ‘landed
grant” has become merely
dental. It is organized 1ab0! ‘y

jm

whole that is now gettim@ —

“treatment”,

A}

=
ee
~

f

Editor-—TOM McEWEN

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February 10, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—!

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