en ae OO LTT BISARMAMENT The Trudeau government’s decision to allow cruise missile testing over northern Canada has not diminished, as the govern- Ment claims, but has added to Canada’s in- Security, the central executive committee Of the Communist Party of Canada has Stated. ‘The air-launched variety of cruise Missiles to be tested here is part of the U.S. arsenal. They are outside of NATO control and outside of Canadian control, being Part of the U.S. military’s first-strike Strategy for waging a nuclear war. Canada has therefore become not only a Prisoner, but a participant and a launching Pad for the U.S. first-strike strategy directed against the Soviet Union, the party States, adding that there is no doubt the Soviets will respond, entailing greater peril for Canada. The statement continues: Rather than standing up to the pressures of U.S. imperialism the Trudeau govern- Ment has shamelessly acquiesced to an agreement which will do incalculable harm to the Canadian people and result in an un- Controllable arms race whose end result could be a world nuclear catasthophe. The Trudeau government has not been |_ honest with the Canadian people. It said it was bound by the ‘“‘two-track”’ policy of NATO. But nowit has decided to permit U.S. cruise missile flight testing in Alberta outside of any agreement in Geneva between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It said that the decision to go ahead with flight testing is due to Canada’s member- ship in NATO. ‘ But this is not true. The cruise missile flight testing agreement is between Canada and the U.S., not between Canada and NATO. What is being tested in Alberta is not a ground-launched (the type to be deployed in Western Europe under NATO agree- ment — ed.) but an air-launched cruise missile to be used over the Arctic and to be directed against the Soviet Union by the U.S., independently of NATO. This cynical deception must be rejected by the Canadian people. The reason for this deception is obvious. The majority of Canadians have made clear their opposi- tion to U.S. cruise missile testing in Canada in countless demonstrations. The Gallup Poll also indicated this. The refusal of the government to permit a free vote in Parlia- ment showed this as well. The government hopes that Canadians will go along with its agreement to permit U.S. cruise flight testing. It must be told in plain and simple ‘Canada now part of Ist-strike strategy’ language that the agreement it totally unac- ceptable. It must be annuled. The immediate and angry responses to the government’s decision show that the last word has not been spoken. Massive public pressure on an ever-extending scale “can compel the government to change its position. The government has not spoken for Canada. It must be made to do so. A great responsibility rests on the trade union movement, the churches and the peace movements to unite in a powerful peace coalition on an all-Canadian scale, a coalition which should include the NDP and the Communist Party, with the aim of compelling the government to annul the cruise agreement, stop U.S. weapons- testing in Canada and make Canada a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Such a powerful Canadian peace move- ment, together with massive peace actions in the U.S. andin Europe, can also stop the U.S. drive to deploy the cruise and Per- shing II missiles in Europe. The path to peace is not through the pro- duction of more nuclear weapons leading to nuclear war, but through disarmament based on equality, and equality of security for all countries. This is the policy the government must be made to pursue. Prague Peace ‘meeting praised Continued from page 1 S0vernment’s ‘‘deceitful’’ claim that testing the cruise fulfills Canada’s obligations as a Member of the NATO alliance. Like other ice activists, she pointed out. that the prety of cruise missiles to be tested here is Or the United States’ own arsenal, and has png to do with the cruise missiles slated Or deployment in Western Europe this fall. Toronto, the executive director of the anadian Peace Congress, Gordon ‘OWers, said that ‘external affairs minister is n MacEachen and the Liberal govern- i nt will regret its decision to allow the “sting of the cruise missile in Canada.”’ S Owers said the congress is urging its 30 ads — while includes the B.C, Peace Sed — and the 18 affiliates to “double : Orts”” to ensure large turnouts at the an- Nes Observances of the Hiroshima and - bombings, which take place bet- Sen Aug. 6 and Aug. 13. ae he said, the congress will continue + 40S to make the cruise test the central issue Ae Next federal election and increase sup- y Tt for demands that Canada be a nuclear- the pons-free zone and that Canada work in bled rational arena for a no-first strike ee and a nuclear freeze. b Fortunately, the people are inereasinsh g to question (U.S. president Ronald) Reagan’s first-strike nuclear one and policies for war . . . only wish ty of ernment was in tune with the majori- 1 laa and humankind . . .,’’ said iat €ral demonstrations in B.C. and other : lata have already greeted the cruise ement announcement. In Vernon, 100 Motesters organized by the Vernon World - War; v2ment Coalition marched from the the qucmorial to the post office demanding cheq eon be reversed, and 75 people mar- The Prince George. and ty Xegina-based Coalition for Peace Of h ament staged a demonstration Som, Undreds Saturday, while in Toronto Party 60 people protested outside Liberal Peag, eadquarters. More than 50 Canadian 8Toups have demonstrations planned. End the weekend. In- Ottawa, a demonstration of 100 greeted MacEachen and defence minister Gilles Lamontagne at the National Press Gallery the day of the announcement. The protesters bore cloth petitions bearing signatures of hundreds opposed to the tests. United Church moderator Rev. Clark MacDonald called the cruise decision a ‘‘backward step” in an open letter to prime minister Pierre Trudeau and urged the PM to “publicly disassociate Canada from all nuclear-fighting strategies and weapons.’ MacDonald, who is also chairman of the church-based Project Ploughshares, pledg- ed to keep up pressure to make the govern- ment reverse the decision. ; Operation Dismantle, the national peace network which initiated the peace referen- dums in Canadian municipalities, is to challenge the decision under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in court. President Jim Stark said the cruise decision means Trudeau “‘is either on the wrong side of this argument, or simply a very weak The cruise decision is ‘‘the most irrespon- sible thing the Liberal government has done Arms Race kicked off its cruise missile awareness campaign with a booth at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival last since it’s been in power,’’ Frank Kennedy, president of End the Arms Race, told a meeting of peace activists Monday. Kennedy accused the federal government of ‘“‘thoodwinking the people”’ in its claims that the cruise missile is a defensive weapon, instead of the attack missile that it is, and urged everyone to participate and promote the Saturday demonstration. “Next year, if they’re (the Reagan ad- mininstration) still blackmailing countries into war plans, our demonstrations will be _ even bigger,” he predicted. Kennedy was reporting, along with eight other B.C. delegates, on the recently-held World Festival for Peace and Life in Prague to an audience of about 150 people at the Robson Square media centre. The con- ference was divided into several workshops, one of which concerned the role of trade unions in peace work. Among western nations, the trade union movement is ‘‘just beginning involvement’’ in the peace movement, Kennedy, who is president of the Vancouver and District Labor Council and area secretary of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, told the meeting sponsored by the B.C. Peace Council. A chief concern among trade unionists is - jobs. Since in the west this might mean military-related work, a chief point under discussion was the question of converting a military-oriented economy to peacetime production, said Kennedy. Kennedy also blasted international media for its almost absent coverage of the Prague meeting and the 200,000-strong demonstra- tion in the city’s town square, as well as fail- ing to inform Europeans of the 100,000 who marched for peace in Vancouver Apr. 23. Vancouver alderman Bruce Yorke said the six-day assembly in June ‘‘united on a world scale the anti-imperialist elements in the peace movement.”’ A workshop for city officials under the chairmanship of Prague mayor Frantisek Stafa produced a declaration, on the in- itiative of the deputy mayor of Bonn, West Germany, that encouraged increased con- tact among sister cities around the world. The document recognized ‘“‘bilateral and multilateral among cities as a prerequisite for world peace,”’ said Yorke. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 22, 1983—Page 3