EDITORIAL

Labour must exercise
self discipline with NDP

ANADIAN Labour can take real satisfaction in
adding B.C. and Saskatchewan to the “NDP bloc”.
Combined with Ontario and the Yukon, this is far
greater influence for the NDP, and for Canadian
working people, than they have exercised.

After a few weeks of well-deserved and healthy celebra-
tion, however, we will have to steel ourselves for some very
stern tests. Canadian Labour will have to be able to exer-
cise far greater self discipline than it has ever been able to
muster in order to avoid another quick return to the right,
as in BC. in 1975.

The Socreds in BC. and.the PC.’s in Saskatchewan have
known for some time that they were doomed to electoral
defeat, and have in the fashion of retreating armies, liber-
ally sprinkled the territory with all kinds of land mines
and booby traps. These, as well as the general lack of
enthusiasm for larger deficits or tax increases, will severely
limit the NDP government's manoeuvring room.

Furthermore, the new administration will be taking over
at a time when capital is, throughout the world, extremely
scarce, and determined to take advantage of the opportu-
nity to secure economic and political gains over labour. All
in all, tough times.

Readers may be tempted by analyses like these to ask,
“Well, if a progressive government is going to be so limited
in what it can do, why bother electing one?”

There are several answers. The first is that it will be nice
to have progressive governments in place when the world
economy turns for the better. For Canadian forest industry
workers and their families, it will be a crucial and lasting
benefit to have four NDP heads-of-government insisting on
a return to sane monetary policies.

Another answer becomes clear when you consider how
angry the right wing is when it loses an important elec-
tion. The establishment is almost hysterical about Bob
Rae's government, and, no matter how fiscally careful and
prudent Romanow and Harcourt turn out to be, and not-
withstanding the moderate statements made so far by peo-
ple like Adam Zimmerman, it will be implacably opposed
long before the next election comes along.

BC. Socred Grace McCarthy's declaration, a day or two
after the election, and before the NDP even took office,
that the right wing had to reorganize itself to get the NDP
out, revealed not only meanness of spirit.

It revealed her understanding and determination that
the old Socred cadres of used car sellers and real estate
speculators (etc.) had to regain, among other things, the
levers of power. Even assuming, as we must that the new
government's appointments will all be from among the
most able and qualified, that its projects will all be chosen
intelligently for their long-term contribution to a strategy
genuinely dedicated to the public interest, the capacity to
make these choices from among legitimate alternatives
involves considerable power.

So if the NDP provincial government can stay in power
for just a couple of terms, that particular (Socred) section
of the right-wing will be permanently injured.

That would be a major, historic, achievement. The kind
of elite that has run B.C. for decades is especially damag-
ing. They are the kind that make shaky investments (Van-
der Zalm’s “Fantasy Gardens” is the very prototype) that
require otherwise mindless, unsustainable growth. They
need mega-boodogles like North East Coal, not just to pros-
per, but to survive. b bs

And it is not just an accident that Socred administra-
tions have been riddled by corruption. The leadership of
the Party is systematically drawn from “developers” who
live constantly on the edge of failure, who are frequently
tempted, beyond their capacity to resist, to use their pub-
lic offices to assist their private affairs.

We will have disagreements with the new NDP Ontario,
B.C., and Saskatchewan governments, but we ought to con-
duct those disagreements in such a way that makes that
historic achievement possible.

LUINBERUWORKER

Official publication of 'WA-CANADA

NORMAN GARCIA, JACK MUNRO... President
Editor GERRY STONEY . . Ist Vice-President
NEIL MENARD . . 2nd Vice-President
5th Floor, FERNIE VIALA . . 3rd Vice-President
1285 W. Pender Street ROGER STANYER.. 4th Vice-President
Vancouver, B.C. FRED MIRON .. 5th Vice-President
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TNGRID RICE FOR THE LUNGERWORKER,

O©uRce 197

North American trade deal being
negotiated in clouds of deception

In late-August B.C. Federa-
tion of Labour president Ken
Georgetti criticized Canada’s
International Trade Minister
Michael Wilson for the Tory
government’s atrocious record
of job losses since the signing
of the “free trade” deal with
the US. 3

In response to that criti-
cism, Wilson said, “I don’t
think I can tell him how many
jobs have been created any
more than he can tell me how
many jobs have been lost.”

Wilson's response was made
after he met with U.S. trade
representative Carla Hills in
the fifth meeting of the
Canada-U.S. Trade Commis-
sion, a joint body designed to
monitor the FTA since it
began nearly 3 years ago.

Obviously the Trade Com-
mission’s “monitoring” man-
date doesn’t include the moni-
toring of jobs lost in this
country. However, during the
sessions Canadian govern-
ment officials have been meet-
ing with their American coun-
terparts to accelerate tariff
removal schedules, thereby

speeding up the job losses:

Georgetti is speaking out
against.

Against this backdrop of
chicanery and deceit Wilson
and Hills met with Jaime Sier-
ra Puche, Mexico's secretary
of commerce, to mark the
“second phase” of negotia-
tions for a North American
Free Trade Agreement. The
three officials gave a sales
pitch that there will be bene-
fits for all three countries,
even though not a single item
had been negotiated.

Michael Wilson is pushing
the other sides to speed up
the talks and claims that he
won't allow Canadian labour
standards, environmental
standards, or culture to be
jeopardized in NAFTA talks.

Meanwhile, all three par-
ties have not agreed to talk
about minimum standards for
labour or legislated measures
to protect the environment.

At the same time Ms. Hills
is saying that by no means

does the United States accept
the exemption of Canadian
television, publishing, or
broadcasting from the trade
talks.

So Canadians are left won-
dering who are we supposed
to believe. Do we take warn-
ing from the U.S.’s ominous
statements or do we trust the
Mulroney government which
has made lying to the Cana-
dian public into an art form.
In early August, at their
national party convention,
the Tories passed a motion to
privatize the Canadian Broad-
casting Corporation, which
could eventually be bought
up by American investors.

In Canada we're not hear-
ing much about the NAFTA.
The public’s awareness is
nowhere near the level neces-
sary to make informed judge-
ments on the potential effects
of such an arrantement.

Although Michael Wilson
has been itching to spend mil-
lions of taxpayer dollars pub-
licizing the trade talks, the
Tory inner cabinet has forced
him to postpone a public rela-
tions campaign for the
NAFTA. Wilson has been
advised to downplay the talks
to lessen the chances of a
public backlash.

Even as the NAFTA nego-
tiations go on, U.S. energy
regulators under a National
Energy Security Bill are
about to violate the FTA by
stopping the flow of Cana-
dian gas in favour of hard
pressed American gas produc-
ers. So much for guaranteed
access to the U.S. market
under the FTA.

Ms. Hills warned Wilson
that if the Ontario NDP gov-
ernment went ahead to priva-
tize auto insurance and take
away premiums from large
U.S. insurance corporations
that there would be a grie-
vance under the FTA. In re-
sponse Wilson said he doesn’t
support public auto insur-
ance, although it already
exists in B.C., Saskatchewan,
Manitoba and, to an extent,
in Quebec.

In the United States trade
unionists and coalition acti-
vists are speaking out and
public awareness is beginning
to grow. A study by the U.S.
Department of Commerce
predicts 40% job losses in cer-
tain industrial sectors such as
steel, auto parts, shoes and
textiles. d

US. trade negotiator Julius
Katz is saying that despite
Canadian posturing, the
Canada-U.S. Auto Pact will
disappear into a NAFTA with
new rules for origin of pro-
duction.

Meanwhile, below the Rio
Grande, the fraudulently
elected Mexican president
Carlos Salinas de Gortari is
still gloating over recent elec-
tion results to the nation’s
Chamber of Deputies (Con-
gress), senate, and six state
governorships. As in his pres-
idential election of 1988 the
recent elections are tarnished
with opposition charges of
fraud.

Control of the electoral pro-
cess in Mexico is not adminis-
tered by an independent body
but is rather fully in the hand
of Gortari’s ruling Institu-
tional Revolution Party
(PRI).

The opposition Democratic
Revolution Party has brought
forth charges of stolen ballot
boxes, non-delivery of ballot
boxes, the failure to open vot-
ing booths, and the non-
identification of voters.

In the most serious allega-
tion, between 3 to 3% million
voter cards were not delivered
in areas where opposition to
the PRI is the highest.

Despite the fraud and
intimidation that exists in
Mexico's election process,
both Canada and the US.
have embraced Mexican style
democracy.

Both Mulroney and Bush
want to get the NAFTA nego-
tiations over with. They are
both wheeling and dealing -
with the Mexicans and are
keeping the public completely
in the dark. :

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1991/5