FRIDAY, APRIL-5, 1974

VOL. 35 No. 14

Tribune

15°

PUBLIC PROTEST DEMANDS:

Send nuclear
weapons back

to the U.S.A.

“Remove nuclear weapons
from Comox — Send them back
to the U.S. now.”

This was the overwhelming
reaction of British Columbians
following the disclosure last
Tuesday before the House of
Commons defence committee
that nuclear weapons are still

stored at Canadian military cen-

tres, including Comox.

Reacting immediately to the
annoucement, Comox MLA
Karen Sanford called on the peo-
ple of B.C. to protest ‘‘en masse”’
against the storing of nuclear
weapons at the Comox base in
her riding. She demanded the
federal government immediately
remove the weapons from the
base.

The NDP MLA said she is con-
sidering introducing a resolution

Halt gasoline price
boost, Barrett U

Na
ey. reson cnsly-worded emergen-
Convention’ Passed at the B.C
Party ae of the Communist
ay Pre Vancouver last Satur-
falleq eae Dave Barrett was
aut : 43 take action to see

Sult;
ctwegi from agreement
Cla} re ttawa and the provin-
Is py, Mlers to raise oil prices
Sumers P*8sed ou -t0, B.C con:

Char;
Wil aie that the agreement
91g, site Profit bonanza to the
Ueeg the ons, the resolution
: seu Premier Barrett
OVinces Xample of the Prairie
ex amon. cut the gasoline
nites Sty of protecting con-
Ice increases new round of
thi f

Tuesanie Barrett announced
Neetj,,” following a cabinet
SVvernme hat the provincial
a the at will announce plans
ith the ;. 2". future,” to cope

A Te Increase,
Calle Solution on energy policy

Ment t , J provincial govern-
Mediately nationalize

igher gasoline prices.

the entire natural gas industry,
including wells, Westcoast
Transmission and all means of
transporting and distributing gas
in B.C.

It also called for the creation
of an East-West power grid “‘to
provide cheap power to the en-
tire country, and protect Cana-
dian interests and in-
dependence.”’ The resolution
demanded Victoria bring in-
creasing pressure on Ottawa for
the reopening of the Columbia
River Treaty in order to
repatriate the waters of the
Columbia watershed for
Canada’s use ‘‘first and

‘foremost.”’

The comprehensive energy
resolution passed by the Com-
munist Party convention also
urged a start on planning for a
petro-chemical industry in B.C.
to make full use of natural gas
and energy resources available
in the province, ‘‘plus creating
tens of thousands of new jobs,
and laying the basis for
restoration of Canadian

rged

sovereignty over these vital and
irreplaceable resources. »

The resolution called for im-
position of heavy taxation on
private energy companies while
lowering domestic energy rates
to British Columbians in order to
allow the citizens the right to
share the fruits from their own
resources.

A resolution on housing pointed
to the serious crisis in B.C. an
charged that this crisis had been
“deliberately created by un-
scupulous big landlords and real
estate interests” in order to push
up profits. It urged a national
housing program to build 300,000
housing units each year, and ask-
ed that the provincial govern-
ment apportion 10 percent of its
annual budget each year for the
next ten years for housing.

Other measures. called for on
housing were that the present
eight percent freeze on rents be
retained for the whole of 1974;
that legislation be adopted at the
current session which would set

See GAS PRICE, pg. 12

in the legislature calling on Ot-
tawa to act, and indicated she
may also call for Canada’s
withdrawal from NORAD. That
agreement makes Canada part of
the ‘‘American military
machine’ and destroys Canada’s
credibility as a peacemaker, she
said.

Col. D.W. McNichol admitted
the nuclear warheads have been

-on the Comox base for 10 years
under direction of U.S.
technicians who instruct
Canadians in their use.

Meeting in convention in Van-
couver last Saturday, the B.C.
Communist Party adopted a
special resolution which said
that storing nuclear warheads at
Comox and other bases in
Canada “‘constitutes a threat to
our security” and contributes to
world tension. It called on
Premier Dave Barrett and the
provincial government to de-
mand that the federal govern-
ment immediately remove all
nuclear weapons from Canadian
soil.

The resolution also con-
gratulated Karen Sanford for the
stand she ‘has taken against
nuclear weapons at Comox.

The annoucement about
nuclear weapons at Canadian
bases came as William Kashtan,
Canadian Communist leader was
in Vancouver. In a statement to
the Pacific Tribune he said:

“Peace loving Canadians
should demand that nuclear
warheads on Canadian territory
be immediately withdrawn.

“The reason they are there has
nothing to do with Canadian

d’ security and peace. The presence

of nuclear weapons on Canadian
territory endangers Canada’s
security and undermines the role
Canada should play to strengthen

detente and promote world
peace. They are there as part of
Canada’s tie-up with NATO and
NORAD through which U.S. im-
perialism pursues its aggressive
aims.

‘The U.S. world-wide nuclear
alert during the Middle East
crisis which took the world to the
precipice of nuclear disaster
shows how dangerous is
Canada’s tie-up which ‘under-
mines Canada’s sovereignty and
independence.

“Canadians should not only in-
sist that the nuclear warheads be
withdrawn. They should likewise
press for Canada’s withdrawal
from NATO and NORAD and for
a curtailment in defence expen-
ditures by 50 percent. This is the
road to Canada’s security, world
peace and disarmament based on
equality of security for all coun-
tries.”

The B.C. Peace Council, in a
telegram to Prime Minister
Trudeau sent by president John
Beeching, summed up the feeling
of most people succinctly:

News reports say Canada can
return nuclear arms at any time.
We of the B.C. Peace Council, in
the name of all Canadians who
want peace and security say —
Do It Now.”

Tuesday night the Vancouver:

Labor Council adopted a resolu-
tion introduced by CUPE local
1004 commending Karen Sanford
for her action on the issue which
“thas been too long neglected.”’ It
urged the provincial government
to petition Ottawa for removal of
nuclear arms from the Comox
base and called on the federal
government to withdraw from
NATO and. NORAD and remove
anaes warheads from Canadian
soil.
See NUCLEAR, pg. 12