By WILLIAM TUOMI-

4. cut possible civ;

is € Civic corrup-

a wee by big business
re Clvic government re-
“rst into the open.

d
‘mand for a provincial
and ¢

s
} We
have been Pee

acting under

wo :
, Years in handling a pro-

City-CPR ‘redevelopment
Bary
mf Mayor Grant Mac-

re —8nnounced that the
been temporarily shely-

pe
> toward decent wage

>

Baas

Use ntario vegetable
fi Workers. They
Tst contract with

ishouse firms inthe

‘otonto «Y 40 miles north

Uggla, A 13-day strike
Me yn, Was
: a Conducted by

embers of the In-

; Brotherho
: wy Local 419, 2 e

A Year contract calls
“teases, two-weeks

; t

€ Pay after . two
pe olga vent, eight statu-
° ea 50 percent of
Ho. Welfare plan and

“Spital Insu y
MPanieg rance paid

Ore th

Ntro

@ oh Ver overtime or
te “Sfitm, st the three
f 10 cor OW an overtime
Paid fos per hour will
z all work over 48

Chi,

Per Week,

New
* the aig act, worked out
Of an official from

of 15 cents
Ww per
omen (10 cents. im-
Ce Cents next year)
10 cus, fF men (10 cents
‘ vet the life of
Wasa. ~S brings wo-
dm Up to $1 per hour

7 to $1.20-$1.30.

t

we CKinghouse
: rst organized
he pansters union a year
Farms Ing firms — Fe-
ang Uwlland River Gar-
Sa i €d Farms — re-
Claimed enize the union.

. their employees
ization Ses: not eligible
Ontar n eee the terms

10 Labor Relations
Of the ;

ati Mportant features
0d of Victory is that it
More , “tT unions into do-
Ne fn’ job of organ-
Alltoyeonized, especially
‘nh and low-wage

Signin. : *
et achievement in
by the =; the announce-
Union nited Electrical
Bain; OE) that it has
Ng rights for em-

«the form of a broad

Mvestigate if civic:

or unnamed interests’

Was taken recently by -

of labor, : calls:

hat does the

‘abouts, 9 Calgary:

~
ye

Ce ita e
inquiry

ed and a “better: plan” is in the
offing. For some time before
that, however, a redevelopment
project for downtown Calgary

: was under publie discussion.

¢

-Negotiation had» been under
way between’ the -CPR and the
city to relocate the CPR main
line because it now runs through
the heart of the business section.
The scheme ‘calls for huge land
swaps, tax deals, and city center
redevelopment over a number of
years.

Discussion of the project has
been clouded by evasiveness by
both parties and deliberately dis-
torted news by Calgary’s two

'st contract a boost
Or low-wage rural area

ployees of General Electric at

Barrie, Ont. The CGE plant has.

been unorganized for the 16
years it-has operated in Barrie.

In a vote conducted. by the
Ontario Labor Relations Board,
234 votes were cast for UE; 201
for “no union”. The vote brings
to nine the number of CGE
plants in UE. ~ :

Six plants of the company in
Toronto, one in Peterborough
and the other in Guelph are co-
vered by a master agreement
recently ‘renegotiated for a

~ three-year period. ©

© strike there was -

By C. VANCE

VERYBODY is fishing in the _

waters of nationalism in

Quebec; but chiefly the capi-
talists whose eyes glitter with
anticipation of rising profits as
they ease their way into the
upper echelons of corporate in-
dustry. Nothing illustrates this
attitude more clearly than the
supporters of the Lesage gov-
ernment, such as le Conseil d’ex-
pansion économique (CEE).

This group of French Canadian
industries has grown from 77
members in 1960 to 1,100 today.
Its double-headed drive seeks the
increased profits and economic
power of French-Canadian-con-
trolled industries, and the build-
ing of “economic council aM
among the students in the clas-
sical colleges.

Its slogan is “Buy Quebec”.
It grandly asserts that it is not
trying to displace other capital-
ists whose right in Quebec it
fully recognizes. It claims to be
seeking more purchasing power
in French-Canadian hands,
French as the language of labor
in Quebec and the advance of
French-Canadians to the leading
positions in the economy. — —

“Buy Quebec” may mean pay-
ing higher prices for a time, but
in the long run it will benefit
the consumer, it argues.

Ts

daily newspapers. A general feel-
ing has been growing that some-
how Calgary was being “taken
in” by the deal. Civic demo-
cracy and morality were coming
under question.

Events not directly connected
with the scheme occurred and
indicated all-was not well. Three
civic employees, delegates of
their union to the Calgary and
District Labor Council, argued
one evening at a labor council
meeting against a proposed in-
crease in transit fares. They were
immediately warned by the city’s
public works commissioner that
under the terms of their employ-
ment they are forbidden to dis-
cuss civic matters in public.

Then Calgary police admitted
they have been wire tapping an
undisclosed number of tele-
phones of Calgary. people for an
unknown period of time. And
provincial Telephones: Minister
Reirson stated that if wire tap-
ping of private phones is illegal,
the provincial government would
pass a law making it legal.

One of the local papers con-
ducting an opinion poll on these
matters could not get four uni-
versity professors to express an
opinion out of fear for their jobs.

Finally came the dismissal of
one of the city’s aldermen from
his job. Alderman Russell who
opposed the terms of the CPR
development scheme was asked
by his employers to resign: his
job. The architectural firm admit-
ted that clients who supported

the CPR scheme had brought
pressure on them. A shocked city
felt its worst fears were con-
firmed. ‘

The 16,000-strong Local Coun-
cil of Women instigated the call-
ing of a public meeting “to exa-
mine the state of morality in
Calgary’s public life.” Labor,
professional and community or-
ganizations turned out over 150
people to the rally. The demand
for.a public inquiry came from
this meeting. -

Alderman Russell told the as-
sembly that “the people who
don’t want an inquiry are those
who are afraid the true facts
will be brought out.” He added:
“The citizens have been led up
the garden path long enough. It
is time they knew the true
story of the CPR plan.”

“When the true details are

brought out,” Russell promised
the press in a subsequent inter-
view, “and the actions of people
are explained, some will be sur-
prised, others horrified.”

Speaking for the Calgary Fe-
deration of Community Associa-
tions, Bill Wearmouth told of his
organization’s concern about the
pressure that is being exerted by
“groups” on council and on civic
employees “to carry out only
certain decisions.”

John Long, chairman of the
Calgary branch of the Commu-
nity’ Planning Association of
Canada, charged that the whole
democratic process had. been
violated, and Adrian Berry ad-

Financial groups manoeuver in

French Canadian capital, it
is estimated, constitutes not
more than 15% of all Can-
adian capital, and is concen-
trated in companies of small

capital assets in the secon-
dary consumer industries
‘such as shoes, food and bev-
erages, furniture, etc.
1940, one writer, E. Cc;
Huges, estimated the French-
Canadian assets were in com-
panies with capitalization of
' $20,000 and less.
* * x

Of the major Canadian-
controlled corporations, banks
and insurance
fewer than 10% of the direc-
tors were French-Canadian in

French Canadian economic influence

In-

companies, -

1956, and few of these nad: 2

executive posts. A later stu-
dy declared that only 51 of
760 resident Canadian direc-
tors of corporations were
French-Canadian (6.7%),
while 23% of the directors
of these same corporations
were Americans.
oy x ye

Although French Canadians
are the largest single ethnic -
group in Canada (over 30%
of the population), of 611
directors of corporations
“controlled” by Canadians,
only 51 or 6.7% were French
Canadian in 1955.

—John Porter in Canadian
Journal of Economic and
Political Science, August
1957.

CEE does not make public the
names of all its members since
certain French-Canadian busi-
nessmen depend on customers
from abroad for 90 percent of
their business; it regrets that the
trade union movement has to
date shown no interest in it; it
is publishing brochures, that this
year it expects will deal with
some 13 Quebec industries, such
as hardware, groceries, etc., and

claims it has already circulated
300,000 copies of its first pam-
phlet “Life Insurance and the
French-Canadians” through the
agencies of associations like the
St. Jean Baptiste Society, the
Chamber of Commerce and the
Club Richelieu.

CEE estimates the buying
power of the clergy and of reli-
gious institutions in Quebec to
be around one billion dollars.

Pee ee ee en are ne

“long while.”

CPR want from Calgary?

ded the voice of the Calgary
Council of Community Services
to that protest.. :

Alderman Leslie disclosed that
two city planners who had be-
longed to the Community Plan-
ning Association of Canada were
asked to resign when the asso-

‘ciation took a stand in opposi-

tion to the agreement-on the
CPR redevelopment plan.

Harley Horne of the Calgary
Labor Council charged big-busi-
ness interference with the pro-
cesses of civic democracy.

Knowledge of specifically
which big business was claimed

‘by others at the meeting who

linked the high-pressure cam-
paign for the CPR by Calgary’s
morning newspaper to a state-
ment that the publisher of the
paper is a CPR director and re-
presents a group which owns_

- $45,000,000 worth of CPR stock.
.The group is the world’s largést
. Shareholder in the company, said

one of the speakers at the meet-
ing, a Mr. Kernahan.

So far there has been no res-
ponse to the request for a judi-
cial inquiry. As Calgary waits,
support for the inquiry has con-
tinued to grow. The Calgary Wo-
men’s Conservative Association
has endorsed the demand.

Bob Dixon, a high school

- teacher, could well have been

speaking forall Calgary’s ci-
tizens when he said: “I have
come to the point of personal
anger, as I haven’t for a good

‘The council as an inventory of
French - Canadian - controlled in-
dustries; it appears, however,
__that it classifies as “French-Can-
adian-controlled” industries the
majority of whose shares are in
. the hands of French-Canadians,

Perhaps it is on this basis that
Premier Lesage envisages
French-Canadian “control” of the
Quebec economy rough his
Société Générale de Finance,
loans and pensions premiums,
through which every French

_Canadian will be relieved of his _

last cent of savings.

Sarto Marchand, retiring pre-
sident of CEE remarks: “We
have never asked that all Quebec
enterprises be 51 percent the
property of French-Canadians.”

Another French-Canadian na-
tionalist group, more popular,
composed largely of small busi-
ness, professional, white collar
and student types, and with
more democratic undertones,
confused, influenced by terrorist
ideas, expresses this view, how-
ever: “Whether our people are
exploited by Chinese, French,
English or French-Canadians, it
remains exploitation!” This same ~
group, however, welcomed Gen-
eral Motors to St. Thérése as
Strengthening Quebec indepen-
dence.

July 17, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7