PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS _ : No. bot | Ss= 2° 5 Cents Vancouver, B.C., _ Friday, Dicember 14, .1945 LABOR REJECTS HOFFMEISTER CCL Council Initiates Move To Unite Workers, Vets, Left Political Parties Virtual repudiation of the fake “jobs for all’ Mayor J. W. Cornett and’ Major-General program sponsored by Bert Hoffmeister, coupled with a plan to organize a powerful unemployed organization under joint labor and veteran auspices, featured decisions of dele ing of the CCL Vancouver Labor Council. The move for a united labor effort to fight “unemployment, which lit Vote cts Non- urtisans the P.A. went to press e veek, returns for the ' polling in the civic elec- f iad not yet been com- but ail indications were | © I : | tired of elections anyway and F re membeof the Unit- vor slate. R. K. Gervin, fF :en elected to the city _ as alderman. Oser examination of the q leted election figures, . -, revealed that a substan- ek of the votes of WVan- » citizens were registered ' the Non-Partisans. A ialeulation based on the _ with 48 out of 47 polls ' & Indicated that nearly -ds- the vote © recorded ‘gainst the Non-Partisan sitive feature of the elec- far as labor was con- was the achievement of tween the two labor or- “ons in Vancouver in an 5 fight. Regardless of ‘come of the elections, = ievement stood as a clear =n that labor is prepared F) and will carry the fight _ for the institution of ive policies in Van- Civic administration. row, partisan, and vote- policies of the CCF ‘sulted in its repudiation electorate in the alder- 2ce, } _ VERNON, B.C.—The Coalition is doing its utmost to play down the election. It is hoping that Dr. MacDonald will be gently replaced by a nice man called Mr. Morrow with no worry or fuss at all. ‘So let’s get it over in a hurry so people can get on with their Christmas shopping. People are Who” wants “ta go> to political meetings over dangerous, icy roads?’ So the coalition argues, hoping that election weariness, Christ- mas pre-occupation and bad weather will aid them in their conspiracy to get the by-election over without any facing of the real issues. But the real issues ate not so easily hidden. When disquieting news comes out of B.C.’s major cities of unemployment queues beginning to form in the streets, farmers, lumber workers, can- nery workers, packinghouse werkers and townspeople gen- -erally, begin to see such develop- ments as a threat to the spend- ing power of the Okanagan. Farmers and orchardists re- member times past when men wandered in search of jobs, when food was cut to bare require- ments for thousands, when de- mand for fruit and vegetables was so limited, and when prices fell so low that the choicest of fruits and vegetables of the Yichly-endewed and _. beautiful Okanagan were left to rot on the ground. Men are coming back from overseas now, and many more in Vernon are hoping for an early discharge. They know that (Continued on page 2) See ISSUES OBSERVED Snap Election Aims To Obscure Issues (Excerpt from speech delivered in Burns Hall by Minerva Cooper, Labor-Progressive Candidate.) gates at this week’s regular meet- would bring together spokesmen for the CCL, AFL, the Canadian Legion and New Veterans, and the CCF and LPP at a mass unemployed rally, came after labor council’ representatives had ridiculed last week’s mayors conference as a “stunt to fool the people into thinking something was_ being done.”’ The three CCL labor men present at the conference were biting in their criticism. “All I can report is that the sum and substance of the meeting was a plan to find odd jobs for veterans cutting cr lawns, Council president Ed Leary termed the efforts of the jobless committee as “futile,” pointing Buck. Scores Aid To Dutch As Interference In Indonesia TORONTO, Ont.—The following statement was issued this week by Tim Buck, National Leader of the Labor-Pro- gressive party: “A few days ago Fred Rose M.P. (Labor-Progressive) from Cartier asked whether the $65,- 000,000 in credits granted to the Netherlands East Indies “would be used to purchase ammunition with which to suppress the Indo- nesian people who are striving for their independence. Mr. II- sley, Minister of Finance, as- sured him in reply that the credits were to be used “for eco- nomic reconstruction and not for munitions or anything of that kind.” However, the Globe & Mail, dated December 7, carried a dispatch stating: “Dutch authorities are equipping four divisions with _Canadian Army equipment for immediate ser- vice in the Dutch East Indies” and that Canadian Army Head- quarters announced the sale .of $11,000,000 worth of army equip- ment to European governments, the Dutch being the chief buyers. “Who is right—the Dutch gov- ernment or Mr. Isley? Are Canadian credits being misused for imperialist pur- poses? , Are Canadians to become party to the crushing of the demo- cratic right of the colonial people to independence and self-govern- ment? Shall Canada throw its weight on the side of freedom and inde- pendence, as implied in the At- lantic Charter and other agree- ments—or shall our Government make Canada a bloody partner in imperialist oppression and slav- ery? ; “Our Canadian boys did not fight and lay their lives down as pawns in the game of empire. The Canadian people therefore have the right to ask the Gov- ernment to give a thorough ac- counting of its part in the scheme to provide war materials to the Dutch with which to éguppress other peoples. More than that, the Canadian Government, rath- er than helping finance and equip Dutch troops to suppress the Indonesian people, must be made to demand that the Dutch East Indies be given its freedom. “This blot upo= Canada’s name must be wiped out!” remarked council secretary John Turner. out that the attempt to setup an apparatus for part time employ- ment of veterans “is an insult to those men who fought for jobs at good wages overseas, and ara “now offered charity.” Leary was especially caustic in his comments on the attitude of Canadian Manufacturers Associ- ation representatives at the meeting. “These people had the nerve to declare they were in favor of the 40-hour week, yet when the vote was taken on the matter, they asked to have their votes record- ed against it,” he reported. “Hoffmeister and the rest of them are only trying to lead the jobless veterans up a blind alley.’’ Harold Pritchett, secretary of the B.C. Federation of Labor, impressions of the “jobs for all” program by remarking that “the only thing the CMA representa- lives neglected to propose was to put veterans on street corners selling big red apples.” On a motion by George Home, United Packinghouse Workers of America, council unanimously endorsed a proposal to call a mass unemployment rally “ag soon as practicable,” to be ad- dressed by speakers from the. CCL and AFL unions, the vet- erans organizations. and the CCF and LPP, at which a “co- ordinating council on unemploy- (Continued on page 8 See UNEMPLOYMENT Cambie Street Grounds Get Action On Jobs! Sunday, Dec. 16 2 p.m.