March 27, 1989
SOF

Vol. 52, No. 11

ee
soy B

CAL 695

CUPE Local 695 members Vern Chilton (I) Alex Pappas and David Mills maintain picket line at CBC Vancouver.

Salvadorean shootings protested

Salvadorean solidarity groups called on
Canadians this week to send protests to
the government in El Salvador over the
shooting of five journalists covering that
country’s March 19 presidential election.

In three separate incidents journalists
were killed or wounded after being fired
on by government forces. The incidents
followed statements from El Salvador’s
attorney-general who warned the media
not to cover any event or publish any
information which expressed disagree-
ment with the official government position
on the elections.

According to a statement issued Tues-
day by the El Salvador Information Office
(ESIO) in Vancouver, Two Dutch journal-
ists, Cornel Laclau and Kees Elenbras,
were shot as they were filming early in the
morning on election day near the town of
Francisco Javier in Usulutan Province.
There had been clashes in the area between
government troops and FMLN guerrillas.

Following the shooting, the ESIO said,
other journalists travelling with the Dutch
correspondents put their colleagues in a
car which was clearly marked with press

credentials and rushed them to the city of
Usulutan.

But on the way “they were pursued by
military helicopter which manoeuvered
above and strafed their vehicle with
machine-gun fire, forcing them to stop
several times.” The helicopter apparently
followed the vehicle for some six kilome-
tres after they left the scene of the shoot-
ing.

Laclau died in hospital of machine-gun
wounds, Elenbras remains in hospital.

see FIVE page 11

People’s:
Budget
urged to
counter
Mulroney
govt cuts

Canadian workers and taxpayers
are about to be hit with the full force
of the neo-conservative agenda as the
federal Tories prepare to bring down
their next budget. All signs point to
Finance Minister Michael Wilson fol-
lowing up on the Tories’ free trade
deal with a corporate budget that will
slash social programs and hike taxes
for everyone but big business and the
transnationals.

Universality of social services and
benefits, another “sacred trust” which,
during the election Mulroney said
wouldn’t be touched, is now clearly
targeted for destruction.

Since the election big business
groups like the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers
Association, Business Council on
National Issues and the right wing
C.D. Howe Institute have waged a
lavish campaign to cut Canada’s
budget deficit and reduce government
debt. Even the International Mon-
etary Fund, speaking for the transna-
tional corporations whose power over
our economy is being strengthened
through the trade deal and the Tories’
economic policies, got into the act
with demands for a $9 billion cut in
the deficit.

Wilson dutifully responded to this
corporate lobbying by announcing
that a number of Tory election prom-
ises will have to be scrapped.

The transnationals and the suppor-
ters of neo-conservatism in Canada
are raising the spectre of the deficit
and government debts as the obstacle
to prosperity. Yet the Mulroney
government continues to allow the
Bank of Canada to raise interest rates
which in turn fuel much of the deficit
load. :

Cutting the deficit is being used asa
pretext to justify social program cuts
and a heavier tax burden on the aver-
age Canadian taxpayer. The Mulro-
ney government is using it as an
excuse to threaten transfer payments
to the provinces and municipalities
for health and education programs.

This focus on the deficit is aimed at
shifting public attention away from
high unemployment and the real cul-
prits behind the growing debt.

Already a direct-result of global
and North American integration,
there are daily reports of takeovers,
mergers and plant closures, all elimi-
nating jobs. Cuts to social program
will eliminate even more jobs. ~

see CAMPAIGN page 7