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Premier's Montreal address ‘provocative’

BC. premier Bill Bennett’s
- Stay with us’’ speech to the Mon-
treal Board of Trade and Com-
merce last Monday has been rap-
ped by spokesmen for the-French
‘Canadian community, the New
Democratic Party and the Com-
munist Party.

All attacked Bennett for his pro-
vocative Montreal speech in which
he said that B.C. would not tolerate
“special status” for Quebec in a
united country.

“I.am not proposing ‘special
status’ for Quebec when I say that
Quebec should have some flexibili-
ty on matters of language and
culture,” Bennett told the 400
businessmen, all supporters of the
“no” campaign. ‘‘All provinces

~ would-have that right even though

Urging tenants to “keep organizing
a rally Sunday that “governments will listen when we have strong organization.
Rankin (right, at microphone) also addressed the meeting, organized by the Greater Vancouver

few might exercise it. Provinces
would have the freedom to do so in
accordance with their needs.”’

Bennett went on to threaten that
if Quebec votes ‘‘yes’’ in the
referendum May 20, B.C. will
refuse to negotiate a new deal for
Quebec.

“A sovereign Quebec would
become a foreign country with
whom we would greet exclusively
on the basis of self interest,’’ he
said. ‘‘Economic association offers
disadvantages to B.C. . . . We will
have nothing to do with it.’’

But aside from denying Quebec
nationhood, and re-asserting the
discredited view that it is merely a
province, Bennett had little else to

Sees

say. The half hour lunchtime

speech, lauded by many in the
Western press, was filled with
flowery, but largely meaningless,
rhetoric.

‘He offered nothing to the peo-
ple of Quebec,’’ Communist Party
provincial leader Maurice Rush
said of Bennett’s speech Wednes-
day. ‘‘Except more of the status
quo.”

“Bennett’s speech failed complete-
ly to recognize that the people of
French Canada constitute a nation
and that what they want is not a few
more provincial rights, but
recognition of their right to self-
determination, and recognition of
their national rights in a new Cana-
dian constitution. This is the only
basis for a voluntary union of
Canada’s two nations.”’

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3

Renters’ Association, along with NDP MP Margaret Mitchell and MLA Gary Lauk (story, page 2).

‘Peace our common cause,’ say CPs

““We want disarmament,
cooperation and friendship among
the peoples. Therefore we say:
peace is our common cause and our
joint struggle can ensure the
triumph of this cause.”’

The words rang out from a
special call to the people of Europe
from the European Communist
Parties which held a special con-
ference on peace and disarmament
in Paris, April 27-29.

The meeting was ‘‘crowned with

- success”, Communist Party of

France general secretary George
Marchais said of the conference,
co-sponsored by the CPF and the
Polish United Workers’ Party.
“Tt reached the clear cut and
POsitive aim set for it — to have the
Communist Parties of Europe,
which represent a large force, make
a contribution to the noble and

_ humane cause of peace and disar-

_Mament.”’”

The appeal for peace from the
conference had a special urgency
because of the “‘reckless policy of
American imperialism’’, Boris
-Ponomaryov, head of the Soviet
delegation to the Paris conference
said.

An eloquent appeal adopted on
the last day of the conference warn-

ed of new dangers in the interna-

tional situation: ‘‘Plans are afoot

for developing new arsenals of
nuclear weapons in the heart of
Europe; fresh attempts are being
made to destroy the fruits of
detente; the agreements concluded,
the negotiations now in progress
and economic, cultural, sport and
human contacts are being openly
brought into challenge.”’

The conference resolved to
jointly press for cancellation of the
NATO decision to station new
U.S. missiles in Europe; to press
for ratification of the SALT Il trea-
ty; and to strive for ‘‘decisive pro-
gress at the Vienna Talks for a
reduction of armed forces and ar-
maments.””

The conference agreed to sup-
port all ‘‘partial measures”’
towards disarmament, including

the establishment of nuclear free §

zones in Europe.

Other decisions included
resolves to struggle for the con-
vocation of a follow up meeting on
European Security in Madrid in
1980 and for an all-European con-
ference on military detente and
disarmament in Warsaw. The CPs
also voted to back the United Na-
tions decisions on disarmament
with arms funds diverted to ‘the
fight against hunger’’.

“We, Communists of all Euro-
pean countries, are ready, when a

struggle for peace and disarma-
ment is involved, for any dialogue,
any talks and any joint actions,”’
the appeal declared, ““We want all
peace forces to unite with this aim
in view. Whatever our nationality,

Coal
strategies

= The giant coal deal with Ja-
® pan has been linked to plans
§ for a new military alliance in
lm the Pacific, and with new
® plans in the capitalist world
lm to emphasize coal as the
“fuel of the future,” page 11.

Illegal
arms

The federal government has
B taken no firm action against
BS a Canadian company which
admitted selling arms illegally
to South Africa. A solidarity
organization in Barbados is
pressing the issue, page 7.

PORTE

Bias pir oen LL

_Bennett’s proposals for decen-
tralization of the country won’t
meet Quebec’s aspirations, Rush
warned, but will weaken the toun-
try as a whole.

Also sharply critical of Bennett
was the Federation des fran-
cophones hors du Quebec which
rapped him for ignoring that there
were two founding nations of
Canada.

“The Quebec bound pilgrim-
mage undertaken during the
referendum by the premiers of the
English speaking provinces is look-
ing more and more like a plea on
behalf of the status quo since they
have failed to make any clear pro-
posals about fundamental con-
stitutional gaurantees for in-
dividual and collective language

Bennett speech denied Que. rights

rights,” the Federation said in a
statement issued in Montreal.

In this province, NDP provincial
justice critic and former MP Stu
Leggatt said that Bennett’s rejec-
tion of special status for Quebec
harmed Canadian unity.

But Leggatt’s criticism of Ben-
nett was couched in terms of sup-
port for the ‘‘no’’ vote, a stand af-
firmed by NDP provincial leader
Dave Barrett who had no comment
on Bennett’s speech but urged a
“*no vote.”’

Barrett has been at odds with the
stand of the NDP in Quebec which,
together with the Quebec Federa-
tion of Labor, Confederation of
National Trade Unions, the Parti
Communiste du Quebec and most

See BARRETT’S page 12

‘Day of Action’
hits UK Tories

Hundreds of thousands of
British workers responded to the

2 call of the British Trade Union
= Congress (TUC) Wednesday for a
z national ‘Day of Action’”’ to pro-
Stest the economic and social
| policies of the Thatcher Tory
@ government.

The May 14 national protest

y came one day after a general strike
2 in France to protest the attack on
ba {2 Bie .£ social services in that country. Last
, Linda Mead (1) from the Red Door Rental Registry told tenants at Week, a massive strike of over one _
” Alderman Harry million Swedish unionists ended.

Nota general strike, the TUC ac-
tion called on unions to hold var-

our convictions and our way of life,
we are saying to all of you, the
Communists, the socialists, the
social democrats, the Christians
and people of other creeds: peace is

ious protests. But many, including
miners, printers and transport
workers, were off the job.

‘The purpose of the Day of Pro-
test is to explain why the govern-
ment must change its desperate
course before the British economy
plunges downward past the point
of no return,’? TUC spokesman
Harry Urwin said.’

Britain has over one and a half
million unemployed and a 21 per-
cent inflation rate. The Thatcher
government has aggravated the
economic crisis with slashing at-
tacks on social services, pensions,
maternity leave and has cutback
subsidies to municipalities and
housing programs and transporta-
tion.

Tribune ‘‘Labor Comment’’
author Jack Phillips was in Lon-
don until May 13 and witness to the
campaign against the Day of Ac-
tion. Next week’s Labor Comment
will carry a full report.

Crisis on the farms.

Farmers in B.C. have their backs to the wall and are being
squeezed by machinery companies, fertilizer companies,
banks and retail chain stores. Ben Swankey examines the
crisis on the farms and proposes a program to meet it, page 3.

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