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DOMINION-PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE

By FRANK ARNOLD

French, English Canada must have
equal voice in constitution

REMIER DUPLESSIS went to the Dominion-Provin-

. cial conference in Ottawa with a big tear in the seat

of his constitutional pants. Duplessis’ “autonomy” dema-

g0gy was ripped and exposed in a heated exchange be-

tween the Quebec dictator and provincial LPP leader Gui
Oaron. j

~The constitutional battle was joined when Caron
Wired Duplessis for an interview to place the LPP pro-
posgals on the constitution before the government. Duples-
sis reacted immediately and violently. He called a hurry-
up press conference. Admitting he hadn’t read the docu-
ment, Duplessis said the proposals were “audacious” and
“cynical”, ; :

He went on to state that “communism is not recog-

‘nized in Quebec.” Having thus withdrawn his recognition

of the legally constituted party of the French-Canadian
working class, Duplessis then argued that the LPP were
“centralizers”.

In. reply Gui Caron stated, ‘There is really no cause
for the premier to become hysterical. All we have re-
quested is that he should hear our views on a matter of
deep concern to the people of French Canada. We hoped
that, for once, the premier would listen to representatives
of French-Canadian workers, instead of listening to the
representatives of the Hollinger, Johns-Manville and
other American corporations.”
© :

The main proposals put forward by the Quebec LPP
were Summarized as follows:

® “It is the Canadian people and not a handful of in-
dividuals, as was unfortunately the case in 1867, who
must discuss and adopt a Canadian constitution. We
therefore propose that a Constituent Convention be
elected by the Canadian people with full authority to
draft and adopt a new Canadian constitution.

@ “A truly democratic Canadian constitution, must
recognize that there are two nations within the Canadian
state—French Canada which comprises Quebec, and Eng-

THE DOLLAR CURTAIN

lish Canada which comprises the other nine provinces—
two nations joined in free association on the basis of
complete. equality.

® “We affirm that neither the federal government nor
the provincial governments have the power to amend
the constitution by legislation. All amendments to the
Ganadian constitution should henceforth be made by pop-
ular referendum: and no amendment shall be adopted
unless it receives both a majority of votes in French Can-
ada and a majority of votes in English Canada. This is
the principle of the ‘double majority” which was trecog-
nized in Canada from 1840 to 1867.

@® “We demand for French Canada the right not to be
dragged into war against the wishes of the majority of
its people.

® “In order that French Canadians and all Quebec
citizens may have the démocratic liberties which exist in
other provinces, we propose the adoption of a National
Bill of Rights, guaranteeing to all Canadian citizens firee-
dom of religion, freedom of speech, press, assembly and
trade unien organization.

@® “We declare that the division of powers as between
the federal government and the provinces must be such
as to assure to the people of Quebec living standards
equal to those enjoyed by people in other provinces of
Canada. We therefore propose that social security legis-
lation (to those already in existence health insurance
should be added) and labor legislation (including mini-
mum wages, etc.) should be established on a country-wide
scale under the responsibility of the federal government.”

Despite an attempt by the press of Quebec to black
out the fact that the LPP is the only party in the proy-
ince to submit proposals on the constitution, the national-
ist French-Canadian daily Le Devoir carried the full text
of. the policy statement,

‘The LPP indicated, as well, that a detailed study of
over 50 pages on the constitution will be circulated
throughout the province to French-Canadian organiza-
ations.

By RUPERT LOCKWOOD

Here are Soviet achievements
the daily press tried to hide

O you notice how the press always drops its own

iron curtain on news of Soviet scientific progress,
and concentrates on faked stories about the “Russian
menace” and the “Red terror’? This newspaper policy is
understandable, because they do not want to report So-
viet achievements that underline Socialist construction
for peace—not war. Here, are a few items that you have-
n’t read much about in the commercial press:

® Electric tractors worked for the first time on the

‘collective farms last year. They are now being produced

tn large numbers, because the problem of picking up
electricity for power ploughing and other work has been
Solved.

@ Self-propelled combine-harvesters helped to bring in
last year’s record Soviet harvest, One self-propelled com-
bine-harvester, which takes off a huge area of crop, does
the work of more than 100 men in a working day. Com-
bine-harvesters also took off sunflower seeds, sugar-beet
and flax. The beet combine-harvesters quadrupled the

harvesting speed. :

@ A new tractor-drawn cotton-picker, with pneumatic
mechanism to suck the cotton into special bunkers, is at
work in large numbers in tHe Soviet fields. It replaces
the labor of 40 men.

@ Vastly improved television sets will soon be in Soviet
homes. They are much more simple in construction, cost
less and are easier to handle than previous models. The
Sets, according to Soviet News, provide perfect reception
and a non-fadihg, high-quality image.

@ The new Soviet “Donbas” coal-cutter, which fully
meéchanizes coal extraction, has doubled and trebled pro-
ductivity where used.

@ A special bulldozer for railway construction work is
being produced at Tula, The new machine mechanizes

ballasting and snow removal and does the work of 400
men,

@ Employees at the Stalin plant in Novo-Kramatorsk
have mastered the output of “striding excavators”, which
cut 7,357 cubic feet of coal per hour. The machine is also
used on big building sites.

@ One-cylinder semi-diesels which, working in station-
ary conditions, take the place of a tractor, are now being
mass-produced in the Ukraine.

@ A newly invented machine in the Ukraine is loading a
3-ton lorry with sugar-beets in three minutes,

@® Ivanovo flax-spinners used a special emulsion which »

protects spinners’ hands from industrial disease once
prevalent in the industry. x

@ WNew-type prefabricated houses in the Soviet Union
have double walls, with two thin layers of aluminum foil
inside. The air-gap between the layers serves as a heat
insulator. Four-inch wall, which includes the air-gap,
retains more warmth than the most massive brick wall.
Plastics are used instead of conventional face work.

@ Soviet surgeon Golosnitsky operated successfully for
the first time in medical history on a double wound of the
heart. Working at top speed, he applied four stitches to
one wound and six to the other, The injured man is about
again. | ; ‘ :

@ More durable synthetic rubber tires carry a truck
nearly 19,000 miles of highways and country roads,
whereas American tires turned out during the war lasted
only 11,000 miles in the same conditions. ©

® A Latvian linoleum factory discovered a new method

of making linoleum, which replaces expensive quick-dry- |

ing oils like linseed with other materials. The production
time for linoleum has been cut by two-thirds,

LABOR FOCUS J. B. SALSBERG

Carry petition
into union, shops

T ISN’T accidental that the World Federation of
Trade Unions, which speaks for more than 70 million
organized workers, has placed the tasks of fighting against
the menace of imperialist war in foremost place. This is
because the danger of war is very real and it is in the spirit
of the great past of organized labor to fight against imper-
jalist wars. ‘ ‘
From the moment that workers began to unite into
their most elementary class organization, the trade union,
they also began to act consciously and unitedly against the
wars which the ruling class conducted for their own en-
richment. This was so in European countries and also in
the New World when the labor movement was formed.
Read the preambles of practically all early unions and you
will find the resolve to not only fight against class exploit-
ation but also against war. ‘ ‘

Only when the rulers of the richest imperialist coun-

-tries began to bribe and corrupt small sections’ of the

working class at the expense of the majority, and when they
secured the services of labor leaders who became their
“lieutenants in the. ranks of labor’? did working class op-
position to predatory wars begin to suffer. Such leaders
lined up with their respective imperialist rulers to fight their
fellow workers in other countries. This was the role of the
corrupted “labor leaders’’ in Kaiser’s Germany, in the
Russia of the Tsars, in MacDonald’s Britain and in all
other capitalist countries.

Today the issues are sharper. Victory over fascism
and the splitting of the atom created conditions for lasting
peace and for unparalleled economic and. social progress.
Yet we are faced with alarming perspectives of the most
criminal drives to war by world reaction led by Wall Street
and with the perversion of the greatest scientific discovery
for devastation.

6.

Should the whole union movement spring to action
against these dangers? The interests of the common people
and plain decency would say that it should do just that.
Unfortunately in the U.S. the AFL and CIO chiefs sur-
rendered an independent working class position. Wall
Street and the White House speak for them. In Canada
the official union leadership repeat External Affairs Min-
ister Lester Pearson’s words on foreign affairs.

It is the left wing, the genuine progressives and the
great union rank and file, who hold up the traditional
working class banner of struggle for peace. It is they who
constitute the only articulate opposition to the war policies
of our own imperialists who attached themselves to the
war chariot of Wall Street.

At the moment the Ban the Bomb petition of the
Peace Congress is being circulated in unions and work-
shops. If I could reach the thousands of militant unionists
personally, I would say:

“Brother, don’t fear and don’t let anyone in-
timidate you. When you take the Ban the Bomb peti-
tion into your factory you are rendering a supreme
service to your family, your union, the whole working
class, your country and humanity at large. Don't
shrink from this. You will put to shame those of your
leaders who sabotage the peace fight. Y our mates and
your neighbors in due time’ will hold you in higher
esteem for what you are now doing, as they will
despise those who hinder you.”

The military mind

HEN the U.S. entered the war, Einstein—

now a life professor at the Institute for Ad-
vanced Study at Princeton, N.J.—wrote President
Roosevelt proposing that efforts be made to split the
atom. Roosevelt appointed: Henry Wallace to inves-
tigate whether taking the chance was worth going
to the immense expense involved. Wallace contacted
other refugee scientists, decided it was worth a try.

Over the objections of military men, the Man-
hattan Project was launched. Yet recently a military
man testified that the Manhattan Project considered
Einstein a poor security risk and was careful not to
let him know what was going on. (Jokesters said it
was like not telling God about the Creation.)

—wNational Guardian.

netition!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUANRY wW, Ivovu—cAGE 9

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