Editorial

Arresting questions

Asking questions about world peace at a Mulroney rally can be dangerous to
your health and liberty in Canada in 1988.

Canadians, in the course of this election campaign, risk assault and arrest for
standing up at public meetings to question the prime minister about military
spending.

Mulroney’s handlers have sealed their man in a cocoon, avoiding all contact
with persons other than Tory supporters. He is to be photographed only under
strictly-controlled conditions, always smiling, always positive, always winning.

They must, say his opinion-makers, curb Mulroney’s temper and keep his
mouth under control. He must read only from the script and preach only to the
converted. He must avoid questions — which means, of course, he must shun
questioners.

Supporters of the Canadian Peace Pledge Campaign (CPPC) found this out
Oct. 12 in Toronto, discovering first-hand what Mulroney’s concept of free
speech is.

For daring to question the prime minister on the wisdom of spending billions
on nuclear-powered attack submarines, two peace activists were first assaulted
by RCMP officers, then arrested by Toronto police on orders from Tory
organizers. As Mulroney lectured the crowd on “respect for political dissent,”
other peace supporters were forcibly thrown out of the rally, one requiring
hospital treatment.

That’s what talking about peace will get you in Mulroney’s Canada these
days.

The two arrested peace leaders, David Kraft and Robert Penner, are co-
ordinators of CPPC, which is raising peace issues widely during this campaign.
CPPC is asking every candidate (including Mulroney) from every political party
where she or he stands on these crucial matters. Peace, after all, is everybody’s
business.

The use of two police forces to prevent just such legitimate questions from
being asked is a grim reminder that just behind Mulroney’s smiling facade
stands the naked force of the capitalist state ready to subvert democracy if that’s
what it takes to get the Tories re-elected.

But there will be more rallies and questions during this campaign. And, since

~ --millions.of-Canadians.support the aims of the Canadian Peace Pledge Cam-

paign, we should challenge Mulroney. to arrest each one of us.

slarving
Kids

FIRIBUNE

~

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GRAPHICS
Angela Kenyon

t’s known that when Bill Vander Zalm’s

Socreds set out to plan their economic
blueprint for this province, their represen-
tatives paid a visit to Tory-ruled Britain.
They went looking for and found their role
model — the severe austerity measures of
Margaret Thatcher.

PEOPLE & ISSUES

at the Pacific Tribune. |
It was in Detroit that Bill; a worker
since age 12, became active in the labour
movement and eventually the U.S. Com-
munist Party, which he joined in 1935.
McCarthyism hit Bill in 1953 when he was
charged under the anti-communist Smith

Ane

Noteworthy is the fact that with the
Conservatives’ monetarist attack on social
services and labour rights, child labour has
increased dramatically. The move not
only exploits children through criminally
low wages, but undercuts the bargaining
power of trade unions as well.

We don’t think it’s stretching a point to’

note a similar development here, with the
Socred’s Youth Entrepreneur Program.
Designed to inculcate B.C.’s school-aged
residents with capitalist values,- the pro-
gram tries an end-run around high youth
unemployment by funding youthful
attempts at business ventures. It is
immaterial, the program’s officials say, if
the business launched is successful — it’s
the thought that counts.

The Socreds plug their program in the
latest issue of Provincial Report, the
government publication in which all
things Socred are presented in a rosy light.
An item on the back page praises recent
initiatives undertaken through public and
private sector contributions to a project
called Teen Job Mart in the mining com-
munity of Tumbler Ridge.

The project managed to get four busi-
nesses underway by the end of the summer
in a community that has little in the way of

_ job prospects for young people. It lacks

the fast food outlets and corner stores that
constitute low-wage ghettos for youth in
larger centres. And, ironically, the mines
are closed to teenage workers because of
legislation that prohibits hiring anyone

under 18 — a law designed to end the very
child labour the business schemes pro-
mote.

The Youth Entrepreneur Program
indoctrinates children with capitalist
creeds, much as do certain business-
funded teacher-aid packages designed for
use in B.C.’s public schools. We doubt
that such programs teach very much in the
way of labour standards, safety or decent
wages.

* * *

hen it comes to a person’s sexual

orientation, North Vancouver Tory
MP Chuck Cook has plenty to say. It’s
when issues of substance come up that the
Conservative backbencher suddenly finds
himself at a loss for words.

Cook had to be reprimanded by his
own campaign manager for remarks cast-
ing aspersions on Burnaby New Demo-
cratic MP Svend Robinson. The remarks
did nothing to harm Robinson’s reputa-
tion, but they spoke volumes about the
mentality of the person who wants to con-
tinue to represent his riding after Nov. 21.

Now Cook’s tight-lipped response to
the issue of free trade may cost his integrity
even more. We’re referring to his refusal to
accept a challenge from North Vancouver
Communist Party candidate Betty Griffin
to defend his government’s Free: Trade
Agreement at an all-candidates meeting
devoted to the issue. Cook’s response,
Griffin reports, was that national party

- policy forbid debates at single-issue meet-

ings. Griffin terms Cook’s refusal “‘com-
pletely reprehensible.”

_ She notes: “The trade deal is not a'single
issue at all. It has grave consequences for
our sovereignty, protection of our resour-
ces and environment, militarization of our
economy and loss of control over social
programs including pensions, hospitals
and education.”

Appropriate remarks. We figure Griffin
can be forgiven her pun that, “If Chuck
Cook won’t talk about these issues, then
it’s time to chuck Cook out.”

* * *

e resided a long way from British
Columbia, but William “Billy” Allan was
a respected labour journalist who made
frequent contributions to our press during
his many visits to Canada. So we note with
sadness Bill’s passing from a heart attack
in his Oakland, Calif. home Oct. 10. He
was 81. :
Although he was born in Scotland in
1907 and emigrated to the United States in
1928, Bill retained no discernable trace of
the brogue in his voice that reflected the
accent of his chosen home for many years,
Detroit. We often had occasion to hear
that voice, in person when Bill paid his
visits to the Toronto area — where he

_ would sometimes contribute articles to the

Canadian Tribune — or when it crackled
over the wires as he proposed some joint
news venture in a long-distance call to us

Act and almost deported, despite a distin-
guished record with the Army during
World War II.

For years until very recently Bill’s arti-
cles appeared in the former Daily Worker
and People’s World, and their successor
publication, the People’s Daily World. His
surviving wife and family have asked that
contributions in his memory be made to
the PDW. F

kee

he people in the Cumberland and Dis-

trict Historical Society, who co-
sponsor the Miners Memorial Day each
year, are circulating a petition to give a
local peak the name “Mount Goodwin.” It
of course refers to legendary Mine-Miil
organizer, former B.C. Federation of
Labour vice-president, and labour martyr,
Ginger Goodwin.

Goodwin was killed by a police consta-
ble while in the former coal-mining com-
munity where local trade unionists where
shielding the labour militant from con-
scription, a ruse by the government to
squelch the 1916 organizing drive at
Cominco in Trail. His death resulted in a
one-day general strike in B.C.

The society, which runs the Cumber-
land Museum of coal-mining and labour
history, hopes to dedicate the 1,140-metre
peak between Strathcona Park and
Comox Lake at the Miners Memorial Day

on June 24 next summer. The society can
be reached at P.O. Box 258, Cumberland
B.C. VOR 1S0, phone 336-2445. .

4 Pacific Tribune, October 24, 1988

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