Fight over privatization moves
to new round in Saskatchewan

REGINA — Although Saskatchewan’s
NDP opposition has returned to the Legis-
lature after a record-breaking 17 day walk-
out, it seems the struggle over Tory attempts
to privatize SaskEnergy has a long way to

New Democratic Party leader Roy
Romanow claimed success in the first
round, predicting the government will never
proceed with the sell-off. But swift Tory
action to limit further opposition bell-
ringing tactics leaves the door open for a
Tory drive to push the privatization legisla-
tion through quickly if it so decides.

Federation of Labour and media outlets
showed just how unpopular the SaskEnergy
privatization had become. An Angus Reid
poll done for the Regina Leader Post, for
example, revealed 67 per cent opposition to
the legislation, with only 22 per cent sup-
port. Even in rural areas, where the Tories
hope to win the next election, support was
only 24 per cent. Other parts of the poll were
just as devastating for Premier Grant
Devine.

Half the respondents — 49 per cent —
supported the NDP walkout. Over half
wanted a provincial election on the issue,

Kimball Cariou

The Legislature was dramatically shut
down April 21, when legislation on Sask-
Energy, the natural gas distribution arm of
Sask Power, was introduced for first read-
ing. NDP leader Roy Romanow led his
party in a walkout, and the Devine govern-
ment had no legal method to force the
opposition to return for a vote.

For two weeks, a battle for public opin-
ion moved up and down the province, with
the NDP. emerging a clear,winner. A series

of large rallies in major cities saw crowds'’’’’

chanting to Romanow: “Don’t go back,” a
demand some feel the NDP eventually
ignored.

Polls conducted by the Saskatchewan

FROM SASKATCHEWAN

and the NDP would sweep the province if a
vote were held now — leading the Tories
by 54 to 33 per cent, with the Liberals at 11
per cent. Privatization of the Potash Corpo-
ration of Saskatchewan, also on Devine’s
agenda, was opposed by 50 to 28 per cent.

Another major campaign of the NDP
during its absence from the house was a
petition drive. Canvassers reported 70-80
per cent sign up rates on the petition against
SaskEnergy’s privatization. By May 8, over
50,000 names had been gathered. :
Desperate to get the struggle back within
the walls for the Legislature, the govern-
ment resorted to claims that the NDP was
“sabotaging the province,” and that with-
out legislative action on various bills the
cabinet would not be able to pay salaries or

social assistant recipients. Despite some
sharp internal differences, the NDP caucus
finally agreed to return May 8. ~

Soon, Devine began pushing the Sask-
Energy legislation down the Tory priority

list. The government had set up a panel to :

review the issue, consisting of University of
Regina president Lloyd Barber (a promi-
nent figure in the Institute for Saskatche-
wan Enterprise, a privatization think-tank
representing the economic elite of the pro-
vince) and others considered favourable to
the Tories. But after initial statements that
the panel would have about a month to
complete its work, Devine has changed his
tune. By May 9 he was giving the panel until
October to complete a report, although it
“could finish sooner.”

Meanwhile, the government is expected
to return to other issues, such as the Potash
Corp. privatization, and Bill 73, the
“Employment Benefits Act” which destroys
much of Saskatchewan’s labour standards.
It remains to be seen whether this struggle
has seriously hampered the Tories. While
the NDP has moved SaskEnergy to the
back burner, this may only be temporary.
Clearly, Romanow went out on a limb,
demanding on April 21 that Devine either
withdraw the legislation or call an election,
neither of which happened.

Many in the labour movement, the Coali-
tion for Social Justice, and other popular
organizations feel the NDP could have won
a more decisive victory, having mobilized
public opinion across Saskatchewan. Al-
ready, divisions between the NDP leader-

.. Ship and the wider anti-Tory movements
“are emerging over how to conduct the

struggle from this point.

The SFL has issued a call for a mass rally
at the legislature on June 17 and discussions
are beginning on how to make the rally as
large and broad as possible.

New welfare report highlights
| growth of poverty across Canada

By conservative estimates 3,535,000
Canadians — one in seven — live
below the poverty line, says a new
report by the National Council of
Welfare.

The line, based on the “low income
cut-offs” employed by Statistics Can-
ada, estimates that any family using
more than 58.5 per cent of their gross
incomes on the essentials of food, clo-
thing and shelter is living in poverty.

By contrast, the average family
spends 38.5 per cent of its income on
essentials. StatsCan figures are dis-
puted as too low by other agencies.
Health and Welfare Canada pegged
them at 10 to 20 per cent lower than
the income needed to “cover essential
needs.”

The Social Planning Council of
Metropolitan Toronto says a family
of four needs between $40-$48,000
annually to live in an “adequate but
modest” way in the city. By contrast,
StatsCan 1988 low income cutoffs
placed the figure at $23,539.

While agencies may differ about ~

how the poverty line is calculated, the
council, a government-established
advisory body, asserts such debates

contribute little to understanding the
economic situation of low-income
Canadians.

Poverty lines only establish the
upper limit of the low-income popula-
tion, the council says. Most poor
Canadians live on incomes that are
hundreds and more often thousands
of dollars under the poverty line. :

A single mother with a two-year-
old child living in Toronto receiving
provincial social benefits, plus the
refundable tax credit, child tax credit
and federal family allowance will
gross $12,311. This is 65 per cent, or
$6,500, short of the amount the SPC

’ considers necessary for her family to
maintain an adequate standard of liv-
ing.

But it is not only welfare recipients
whose incomes fail to meet basic
needs. There are thousands of work-
ing poor who also suffer.

Adult minimum wages range from
$4 an hour in the federal jurisdiction
to $5 in the Northwest Territories. A
worker in Nova Scotia receiving the
provincial minimum wage of $4.50 an
hour will earn $9,360 in 1989 from
full-time work. This wage is below the
poverty line for all communities.

Women and children tend to be

_ are not free, from the risk of poverty.

disporportionately represented among
the poor. Single elderly women still
run a very high risk of poverty: 40.3
per cent are poor. Over half — 56.6
per cent — of sole-support mothers
raise their children on incomes below
the poverty line.

Effective and progressive social
policy over the past decade has helped
to reduce poverty among Canada’s
elderly population. In 1978, 73 per
cent of elderly women lived in pov-
erty. But social policy has failed Can-
adian families with children. The
number of children living in poverty
rose in Canada by over 23 per cent
between 1980 and 1985.

The Child Poverty Action Group
cites parental unemployment as the
fundamenta: cause of child poverty,
but notes that even working families

This is attributed to inadequate
female wages coupled with the grow-
ing number of women-led families;
the growth of part-time and seasonal
employment; the large number of
workers — 67 per cent — who do
not receive the additional benefits
won by unionized workers and the '
fact that the wage system does not
reflect the cost of raising children.

6 Pacific Tribune, May 22, 1989

Arms guest
list public

After months of denial, organizers of

the largest weapons fair in the history of —

Canda have admitted what peace acti-

vists have been saying for the past 10 —

months: that representatives of such
repressive regimes as Chile, El Salvador
and South Africa will peruse the military
hardware at the arms exhibition in
Ottawa known as ARMX89.

In a Globe and Mail story last week-
end, ARMX organizer Wolfgang Schmidt
admitted those pariah states would be in
attendance, noting only that Warsaw
Pact countries were not invited.

Schmidt also claimed ARMX is not
really a weapons fair per se, although
ARMX87 featured everything from

cruise missile and nuclear blast simula-~

tors to flight simulators for the Hercules
C-130 and Bell helicopters, both popular
weapons in the war in Centra America.
Tank practice ammunition and aerial
target drones were also on display.
ARMX89 will be the cite of a large
civil disobedience action at its Lans-

downe Park site. Organizers are expect-

ing hundreds to attend.

Teacher shortage

Ontario is entering another critical
teacher shortage which will remain until
2008, says a study by the York University
education professor. The report, Pers-
pective on Teacher Supply and Demand

in Ontario, says supply and demand for

teachers follows a 20-year cycle in the
province. Ontario is just emerging froma
time when teachers were plentiful and
the jobs scarce. : :

Professor Laverne Smith reports that
about 6,000 teachers a year are due to
retire annually into the next century, yet
teaching institutions are only turning out
4,445 new teachers a year and up to 10
per cent won’t begin teaching imme-
diately.

The study predicts that urban centres,
particularly Metro Toronto, will expe-
rience the greatest demand for teachers.

Toshiba hit
for sexist ad

The Peterborough local of the Cana-
dian Union of Postal Workers won’t be
buying a Toshiba after viewing a the
company’s brochure promoting the
“BD-5110” copier.

Local 590 sent a letter to the Toshiba’s
Markham headquarters outlining their
concerns:

“Our objections ... lay in three areas.
The first is the automatic assumption of
the subordinate position of a woman in
the workplace, with the male as boss and
the female as his assistant. The second is
the comparison of the woman assistant
with the copier in conjunction with the

words, ‘My talented assistant ...’ and -

“My talented Toshiba . . . Friendly, versa-
tile, ever-responsive.’ This was followed
by samples of enlargement and reduction
copies illustrated by provocative
‘poses.’ The third, and strongest of our
objections,” says the letter, “is the picture
of the male boss sitting in the back-
ground and admiring his female assistant
under the caption, ‘The right assets to get
the job done.’ The copier isn’t even in this
picture!”

Toshiba claimed it has never received

. any complaints about the ad.

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