‘A vote against inequality’ urged

Continued from page 1

unity on the basis of equality of
Quebec and English Canada.
“The Quebec government cold-
ly decided that the referendum
should not give expression to the
real sentiment of the population.
Its question, its tactic, were con-
ceived to corral all those who are
. against the status quo, who want a
profound change in. the real rela-
tions between the two nations of
Canada, whether they are for or
against the independence of
Quebec, under the banner of
-sovereignty-association. The wor-
ding of the referendum question is
an example par excellence of this
Machiavellian cunning.

“Tn reality the government wants
to slip us ‘’sovereignty-as-
sociation’”’ in order to transform
small and medium French-Cana-
dian enterprises into monopolies
and even into multinationals. This
would be done at the expense of the
people of Quebec and of the unity
of the workers.

«‘As we know, the question is a
trap. For the government empha-
sizes the negotiations, the results of
which would change the political
status of Quebec, would be pre-

sented in a second referendum. The
government has not said that they
would necessarily present the posi-
tive results. Thus it leaves the door
open for a second referendum on
sovereignty, which means inde-
pendence for the Pequistes, or for
such sovereignty, coupled with the
negotiation of ‘‘economic associa-
tion” with the U.S.A. In the latter
case, even Mr. Levesque, who
speaks in favor of such an associa-
tion with the U.S.A., admits it
would not be an-association of
equals.

««,,.Quebecers who are not for
separation, independence, or
sovereignty-association...but who
want to achieve unity through
equality of Quebec and English
Canada, which does not exist now,
have a serious problem. How will
they vote on a referendum question
which gives them no direct means
to express their point of view?

“Some think they should vote
No. That’s understandable, for the
question asks if they are in favor of
mandating the government to
negotiate something they do not
want. However, in our. opinion, to
vote No would be a mistake. For
one cannot separate the options

for many gf

(May Day Greetings
| from the Tribune

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our
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Publishing Co. Ltd. and the staff.

With this edition of the Tribune we have opened our pages
eetings from the labor movement on labor's inter-
national holiday — May Day.

The expressions of solidarity demonstrated in the many
_ greetings in this issue show the need for a paper like ours. But

we rely on your support to mal
We need $48,000 by June 21 to reach our target of $65,000

in our financial drive. Frankly, we are concerned with the
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This May Day — please remember the Tribune. - :

ntain publishing.

Week five: where we stand

GREATER VANCOUVER SOUTH FRASER
Belogiannis 800 o Delta 950 ne
Bill Bennett 1,000 2,422 Fort Langley 600 395
Building Trades 3,000 320 Surrey 3,800 951
Burnaby 3,800 826 White Rock 900 - 200
Coquitlam . 2,000 140 EAST FRASER
reed spin ihe Fraser Valley 600 100
_Niilo Makela 1,000 120 id 1,600
Noth Vani. 3,200 1,218. Maple Ridge 1, 882
Nigel Morgan 600 = Mission 600 210
Olgin 600 175 | OKANAGAN
-Richmond 1,100 327. ~ Kamloops 725 143
Seamen 400 686_—Notch Hill DOD ssa
Van. East, 6,000 3,771 Penticton 400 400
N. Westminster 1,300: 5 Vernon 1,000 191
pepe mice 2.500. 87. | VANCOUVER ISEAND: ©.
N.COAST/INTERIOR ~~. Campbell River 1,200 10
Correspondence 950. 492. Comox Valley —_ 1,100 25
Creston 250 5 Nanaimo ~ 1,600 731
Powell River 450 84 Port Alberni 1,400 4)
Prince George, 150 a Victoria 1,500 405
Prince Rupert 200 = Miscellaneous - 752
Sointula 150 oi
(Trail 750 10 TOTAL: $17,045 )

from the class interests of those
who propose them. No one can
deny that the big monopolies are
stubbornly opposed not only to the
independence of Quebec, but to
any fundamental change whatever,
and above all to the recognition of
the existence of the French-
Canadian nation in Quebec and its
right to self-determination...The
seductive words of Trudeau and
the premiers of the other provinces
to the effect that a No means a Yes
for a fundamental reconstruction
of the constitution has nothing to
do with reality. :

“Then we come to the ‘‘Noui”’
camp, those who are critical of the
PQ government, or of its
sovereignty-association option, or
of both, but who respond to the call
to solidarity against the status quo.

Many trade unions are to be
found in the ranks of this
heterogeneous camp, including
those who have recently been vic-
tims of back-to-work special laws
of the PQ government — unions
who say No while underlining their
distrust of and even their hostility
to the PQ government.

“Their problem is that PQ
government spokesmen say that
they will consider a Yes as a man-
date to negotiate sovereignty-
association and nothing else. And
now, according to Claude Morin
and Rene Levesque, if. their
counterparts in ish Canada
tefuse to negotiate association,
they will propose to negotiate
“economic association” with the
United States.

“For its part the Parti Com-
muniste de Quebec has conducted a
broad campaign to have the
government present an option that
reflects the interest of the working
class, as follows:

‘* ‘The negotiations as between

equals of a new constitution for

Canada, based on the right to self-
determination for the two nations
and on the guarantee of economic,
social, cultural and _ linguistic
equality. This Constitution would

also guarantee the right of the
native peoples to self-government
on their territories, and the rights of
national minorities. This Constitu-
tion would include a Charter of
fundamental democratic rights.’ ””

“Such an option, if the trade
union movement had adopted it,
would have constituted an in-
dependent, unifying and anti-
monopolist position of the working
class. But, already disunited on
many important questions, the
trade union movement was not
ready to exert pressure on the PQ
government in order to force it to
present such an option in the
referendum.

‘When the question was decided
by the National Assembly the PCQ
suggested that under the cir-
cumstances, the best thing to do
was inscribe our option on the
ballot.

‘*But since then, two facts caus-
ed us to reconsider this tactic,
without changing our principled
position.

“First, the vast majority of the
trade union movement, while ex-
pressing its reservations and even
its criticisms of the PQ government
and its ‘‘sovereignty-association’’,
declared itself for a Yes. In the case
of the CNTU, the confederal coun-
cil called for a critical Yes. As to the
Quebec Federation of Labor, a
nine-page resolution in favor of
Yes, adopted in an extraordinary
convention with a 90 percent ma-
jority, does not mention
sovereignty-association.

‘All this indicates that the Yes of
the trade union movement is an ex-
pression of the determination of
the working class to begin the pro-
cess of ending national oppression
and inequality and is in no way an
expression of support for
sovereignty-association, nor for
the Parti Quebecois.

“The second new fact is that
recently the No forces, even more
reactionary and arrogant, seem to
be gaining ground, and may even
win the referendum.

“It is evident that a No will for a
certain time discourage the workers
and others who want a profound
change in the relations between the
two nations...A No would en-
courage the monopolies and their
political spokesmen which are
essentially for the status quo.

“In the face of such a clear-cut
polarization of classes, and the
danger of a No, the PCQ cannot
permit itself to be viewed by
workers as neutral, even if many of
them like us are also opposed to
sovereignty-association.

“Under these conditions, the
PCQin unequivocal solidarity with
the workers in the struggle for self-
determination and for national
equality calls on its members and
sympathizers to vote Yes.

‘‘After the referendum, if the
Yes wins, we will have a second
referendum. The PCQ will do
everything to counteract every ef-
fort by the government to interpret
a Yes as a vote in principal for
sovereignty-association. Our Yes,
like that of the trade union move-
ment, is a vote against national op-
pression and for equality, and we
will continue our opposition to
sovereignty-association. We will
continue to advance our option.

““We would like the trade union
movement to take advantage of the
period between the referenda to
convene a conference of the trade
union and political organizations
of the working class, in order to
work out an independent working
class strategy which would permit it
to take the leadership of the na-
tional democratic movement and
to exercise a decisive influence in
the second referendum.

“‘To resolve this question, the
PCQ and the entire Communist
Party of Canada strive to unite all
the democratic, national, anti-
monopoly and anti-imperialist
forces of Canada in a joint struggle
for self-determination and for
equality of the two nations of

EG

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oon

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12715-66th Ave., Surrey. 7 p.m. Br-
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MAY 3 — Slide tape shows on
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MAY 11 — 10 a.m. to ? Celebrate
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MAY 17 — First Ever Tribune
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JUNE 1 — Reserve this date for 4th
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JUNE 21 — Tribune Victory ban-
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COMMERCIAL

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Some knowledge of shrubs, plants
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LEGAL SERVICES

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 2, 1980—Page 19