Tory agenda clear in FTA ERE slightly past being one year into the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the neo-conservative sellout of Canada is clearly unfolding before our eyes. While the corporate media is unanimous in approval of the deal, the working people and working poor have become the shock absorbers who are paying for the new conservative agenda. The Mulroney Government promised job creation, access to less expensive goods and preservation of universal social programs and regional development programs. It lied to Canadians on all accounts. One year after, the Conservatives have decimated the Qo rremeroyment insurance system in order to provide Corporate Canada with a population of nomadic Canadi- ans begging for employment wherever it can be found. Regional development programs have been slashed as well. Labour and coalition groups estimate that at least 70,000 jobs have disappeared due to plant closures, downsizing, and corporate takeovers. Canadian jobs have been transferred to either the U.S. or Mexico where oppressive labour laws exist. One of the deal’s most tragic elements is that Canada and the U.S. have not yet agreed as to what constitutes an unfair subsidy. Yet the Americans have capriciously slapped punitive tariffs on Canadian pork and steel rails since the deal’s inception. And there’s every indication that the U.S. is maintain- ing and increasing its own agricultural subsidies which will make its markets impossible for Canadian producers to penetrate. Over the next 5-7 years a bunch of corporate back room boys will sit down to establish what constitutes a subsidy — albeit in the opinion of the giant south of the border. Early talks indicate little common ground on any subsidy issue. However we can expect the U.S. to take a stab at Canadian social programs during the subsidy talks. This year will provide the labour movement with some major challenges. Negotiations in the auto industry and food processing sector will take place. At risk are hun- dreds of thousands of jobs. At stake in the food processing industry primarily situated in Central Canada, is the job security of more than 250,000 workers. Labour can expect industry to ask for major conces- sions in wages and benefit packages and further threats of employment loss in the years ahead. In the Canadian forest industry, one of the few indus- trial sectors large enough to compete successfully with the U.S., companies are saddled with a discriminatory tariff which is enshrined in the F.T.A. An influential consultant to the industry in Canada has said that it has taken the Americans 25 years to get the tariff in place and that they will never give it up. Added to the Forest Industry’s woes are insanely high interest rates. Canadian producers are losing market share in the United States and many marginal opera- tions in the B.C. Interior are in jeopardy. But the Tories show no signs of easing off markedly on the high interest rate policy which is the instrument of their silent agenda of harmonizing the value of the Canadian dollar with the American buck. The proposed goods and service tax, to be imple- mented in January of 1991 is a further handout to big businesses. The GST, which replaces a tax paid for by manufacturers will create inflation and increase the chances of a full blown recession. Someone has to pay taxes, and the Mulroney Govern- @ ment has said it’s not going to be big business anymore. Last year American firms spent more than $10 billion in buyouts, mergers, and takeovers of Canadian owned companies, compared to $3 billion of such activity in 1988. Meanwhile in October of last year Canada protested new restrictive measures that limit and prohibit the takeover of U.S. companies. Mulroney is making absolutely no effort to monitor the trade deal or provide relief for Canadian workers affected by the deal as he had promised. The big sellout is just gaining momentum and Canadi- ans should prepare for a very rough ride. Wes fn paren | potusrion. WGRID RICE FOR THE LUMBERWORKER THE BAD NEWS IS: We HAVE To LIVE IN A POLLUTED ENVIRONMENT. THE GOOD NEWS |S: NOBODY [S PLANNING 70 EAT US. Green generation becoming the greed generation by Nicole Parton It is without question the single most beautiful place I have ever visited. Breathtak- ing. Spectacular. Magnificent. It is also the focus for what promises to be one of the most difficult environmental issues ever before the Social Credit government — a controversy with such emotional pull that a decision favouring multiple use will certainly provoke international furore. Carmanah: The very name is lyrical, adapted from the native Kwaabaadu, meaning “beach landing in front of the village.” The original Car- manah people lived in a vil- lage hugging a small stream just east of Carmanah Point, close to what is now Pacific Rim Park. The Carmanah is rich with hemlock, balsam and western red cedar, as well as ancient lichen and moss-draped Sitka spruce that draw moisture from the mists of the open Pacific and rich nutrients from the floodplain silt. Christopher Columbus was just beginning to explore the new world when these mighty trees were seedlings; Michel- angelo had only just con- ceived David. To stand among these towering spires is to worship in nature’s cathedral — wondrous. A place of deep tranquility, the Carmanah is also the next great battleground in the green war, because some want it all. They believe the riches of this special place are theirs to use as they wish — their own exclusive preserve. A single-minded selfish- ness has laid claim to the Carmanah Valley, but the rapaciousness is not the for- est industry's. It is the greedy hunger of B.C.’s preservation- ists. On a visit to the Carmanah in mid-February, I found trea- sures beyond delight — the unexpected imprint of a bear’s paw in fresh snow; a Sitka spruce thought to be the tall- est tree in North America; the awe-inspiring “triplets,” a tight cluster of three huge, primeval Sitkas nearly 80 metres tall; a wild emerald creek whose course on the rainforest floodplain can rise or fall 60 centimetres a day, all but disappearing to flow underground in summer’s heat. Wars are not waged only on battalion strength and the quantity of munitions. Long before the body succumbs, words and images capture souls in search of an easy solution. That is what has hap- pened with Carmanah. Brit- ish Columbians and others entranced by the Carmanah have been sucked into a pro- paganda machine so skillful that the trusting, innocent nature lover has no reason to doubt his senses. Although there are many large trees in B.C.’s coastal valleys, MacMillan Bloedel — which holds Tree Farm Li- cence 44 in which the Car- manah stands — does not intend to log the giant Sitkas that mark this special place. The big trees are safe. That cannot be repeated often enough, or clearly enough. The largest, most impres- sive spruce occupy roughly 98 hectares of the 6,731-hec- tare valley. Opinion polls show many people believe the giants cover half the valley, but that is not true. Less than two per cent of the valley is Sitka spruce. MacMillan Bloedel has pro- posed setting aside a 538-hec- tare reserve to protect the ecosystem surrounding 239 large spruce, as well as a 1,912-hectare special manage- ment area to guard against damage by wind and flooding. Hardline preservationists say that’s not enough. They want it all. The green genera- tion is also the greed genera- tion. Their agenda ignores the potential annual loss of 35 logging jobs, 70 mill jobs, $5 million in wages, and $850,000 government collects in stump- age and royalties. The preservationists want their private playground financed at taxpayer expense. In a form of squatters’ rights, they have already assigned portions of the valley seduc- tive, proprietary names such as “Paradise Pool,” “Mystic’s Hollow Spruce Grove,” “Camp Heaven,” and so on. Reprinted with the permis- sion of the Vancouver Sun. LUMBER WORKER eB prenrens 10, Official publication of IWA-CANADA NORMAN GARCIA, Editor 5th Floor, 1285 West Pender Street Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4B2 President Ast Vice-President 2nd Vice-President Grd Vice-President JACK MUNRO GERRY STONEY NEIL MENARD. FERNIE VIALA. BILL POINTON 4th Vice-President ROGER STANYER . . 5th Vice-President TERRY SMITH... . .Secretary-Treasurer LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1990/5