One pill Canadians won't swallow

arom

[House of Commons,
Ottawa, Ont.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

Sven more difficult.

Yours sincerely,

An open

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker

It is evident that pressure from the U.S. and some
quarters in our country is being put on your government
to accept nuclear weapons in Canada, and to equip Can-
adian ‘forces abroad with these terror weapons.

You have publicly stated that the majority of letters
You are receiving from Canadians are opposed to this.
These letters express the majority opinion of the Canadian
People. Up to now, you and the Minister of External Affairs,
Mr. Green, have taken the position that as long as there is
& possibility of disarmament, Canada will not accept nuc-
lear weapons. We earnestly request you to continue to
take this position, as being in the best interests of Canada.

The Cuban crisis brought home to Canadians the urgent
Necessity of the dismantling of, foreign nuclear bases as
& means of preventing nuclear war. By thesame token if
Canada accepts nuclear weapons, it would encourage war.

Surely the lesson that Canada musi draw is that this
Country will do nothing tos impede progress in the dis-
Mantling of foreign bases, or that would make disarmament

_ For Canada to accept nuclear weapons would be a
Sreat disservice to the cause of world peace, disarmament,
8nd peaceful coexistence. In fact it would open the door
to the spreading of nuclear weapons. :
th Your government, Mr. Prime Minister, would ‘receive

© applause of the majority of Canadians were you to:
resist new pressures upon you to accept nuclear weapons.
8nd continue to press for disarmament as the way to peace.

Leslie Morris _
Communist Party of Canada
National Executive Committee

oa

Dec. 11, 1962

Rathie engineered defeat of
Shaughnessy charges Greenwell

ee people of Vancouver
“a not vote to give Shaugh-
ee to the real estate sharks,
€y voted against paying the
gnadian Pacific Railroad an
xorbitant $214 million for
Sse Greenwall, recent
Sai ate: for Parks Board
eo Prominent east end com-
if nity worker told the Pac-
© Tribune in an interview
a Week,
ey Bill Rathie, who
inte aithfully represented the
“a of the’ CPR on City
ees Since his election as
ere man, engineered the sure
eat of the Shaughnessy
= Scite when he lumped it
necessarily with Langara.
€ fact remains, how-
» that the CPR is pres-
Y Paying taxes to the City
. pe coaver for Shaughnes-
Bate. the basis of less than
ee Million dollars. Since
ba are supposedly.

ever
ent]

Sments,
Sed ish 50

*

lof the 'trué {vals ¢ able asset gd. . « '!

ue of the land the price for
Shaughnessy should be $1
million ~

“J q@emand that the City
Council stop trying to use a
deliberately loaded plebiscite
as the one presented to the
electors most certainly was,
as an excuse to deprive the
citizens of Vancouver of much
needed Parkland.

“J @demand instead that the
City expropriate Shaughnes-
sy and pay for it at its assess-
ed value. :

“To any suggestion that
this would violate the wishes
of the voters I challenge this
assumption and point out that
the City Council in the case
of the sale of the Airport,
continually refused to accept
the decision of the people and
finally with a major cam-
paign, using taxpayers’ mon-

ey to finance it, coerced the |

voters into Jetting. this, yalu-

LEGISLATURE OPENS JAN. 24

Lahor’s rights, Columbia, taxes
to highlight Communist drive

Plans for a spirited cam-
paign around the coming
session of the B.C. Legis-
lature, which opens in Vic-

toria on Jan. 24, were laid -

by the B.C. _ Provincial
Committee of the Com-
munist Party last week-

end.

“The Communist Party will
concentrate its campaign
around. three main issues,”
Nigel Morgan, B.C. leader of
the party, told the PT this
week.

“First, replacement of the
present restrictive anti-labor
statutes by a simple ‘Charter
of Human Rights’ — includ-
ing the right to organize, to
assemble, to bargain collect-
ively, to strike and to picket.

“Secondly, substitution of
the draft Columbia _ river
treaty by a new power policy
which would provide for the
maximum generation of on-
site power in BC., develop-
ment of a national, publicly-

‘ owned grid, linked with the

utilization of B.C.’s_ vast
wood, mineral, gas and oil re-
sources to develop new metal-
lurgical, plastics and petro-
chemical industries to pro-
vide a hundred thousand new
jobs.

“Such a plan of develop-
ment, which will be accom-
panied by proposals to extend
trade across the Pacific and
with the socialist and Latin
American countries, would
mean an expansion of B.C.
port facilities and do much to
relieve the growing chronic
unemployment,” Morgan de-
clared.

“Thirdly, the Communist
Party intends to press hard
proposals for a new deal for
B.C. municipalities to relieve

municipal tax burdens,” he
“said. “We must insist that

Premier Bennett’s promise to
double the Homeowner’s

Grant becomes a reality and

that, instead of eliminating
per capita grants to the muni-
cipalities, increased allow-

- ances are made to help carry

the growing costs of improv-

XMAS GREETINGS? NEW TYPE
WALLPAPER? NO! This is a portion
of the wall in the B.C. Federation of
Labor office showing a few of the in-

ed traffic facilities, water and
sewage mains, school, park
and other needed services.”
Plans were discussed to
bring the maximum united
pressure On the government
on these and other important
issues that will be before the
legislature. A brief proposing
a new power and resources

policy (a new plan of econo-
mic development for B.C.)
will be presented to members
of the legislature; supporting
leaflets for wide distribution
before the session are being
prepared and time booked ‘for
a radio program to report
weekly on developments in
the legislature.

Brief hits labour laws,
ask action on key issues

Last Wednesday, Dec. 19, the
B.C. Federation of Labor present-
ed its annual brief to the pro-
vincial premier and his cabinet.
Representing the BCFL were
Russ St. Eloi, President and Pat
O’Neal, Secretary-Treasurer.

The brief, which was quite com-
prehensive, dealt extensively with
the drive to exterminate the trade
union movement, or, at least. to
seriously cripple it; it mentioned
the excessive use of injunctions
in order to render ineffective
many legal strikes, outlined the
development of a united front by
big business monopoly interests
and linked - these developments
with the discredited ‘‘Operation
Freedom” and other current at-
tempts to shackle the working
class.

It demanded the enactment of
what it termed a ‘‘Citizens Job
Protection Law’’ — a _ statute
which would spell out labor’s
right to organize, to strike and
picket and would outlaw scab-

~ bing. “If the government of B.C.

JOBLESS RISE

A further rise in Canadian
unemployment, up 59,600 frem
mid-October to 342,000 at mid-
November, was reported re-
cently in a joint statement by
the Deminion Bureau of
Statistics and the federal
Dept. ef Labor. ©

The statement said the rise
was in line with fhe “usual
seasonal pattern.’’

Vancouver and District Un-
employed Council met on Dec.
20 to discuss. action on the +
problems of jebless workers.

trade unions in the recent period. This
collection graphically
of labor’s chief complaints: the indis-

criminate use of injunctions by employ-_

is genuinely interested in promot-
ing labor harmony and in creat-
ing an atmosphere in which in-
dustrial peace can be maintain-
ed, then we suggest the first step
in that direction should be the
repeal of Bills 42 and 43,” the
submission further stated.

The brief also dealt with a
number of other items, including:

® Unemployment — stating ‘‘we
do not believe that a situation
whereby one out of twelve of our
wage earners is unemployed, is
acceptable or tolerable.”

® Minimum Wages and Hours
of Work — calling for a further
upward revision of the minimum
hourly wage and condemning re-
cent infringements on established
overtime practices. :

© Medicare, Hospital Financing
and Workmen’s Compensation.

® Labor Relations Act and
Taxation of Crown Lands — de-
manded that the government be
classed as an empleyer and be
bound by normal employer-em-
ployee relationships and asked
the government to pay an assess-
ed tax on. all municipal prop-
erties.

New drama group
starting work

The new labour ‘drama
group in Vancouver, which
‘held its founding conferenee
on Dec. 16, has announced
that its classes in acting and
its drama workshop will start
in earnest on Sunday, Jan. 6,
at the B.C. Peace Council of-
fice, in the canteen of the
Pender Auditorium. Starting
time is 2 p.m.

illustrates one

~junetions issued by the courts against... ers in labor disputes.

Dec. 21, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Paze 2

aca