__ By MEL DOIG
Quebec trade union move-
_ ‘alls for the immediate re-
dt! the Public Order (Tem-
4, Measures) Act. The
nian Labor Congress re-
IKE silent.
ej@an. 19 the leaders of the
© Federation of Labor
ei the Confederation of Na-
iT Trade Unions and the
yc Teachers Corporation
ided immediate repeal of
ks. mer” law, as the Public
;Act is called in Quebec.
yy ang for 500,000 Quebec
Mnionists and 67,000 teach-
heir leaders ask whether
blic Order Act “is aimed
jptecting ‘le pouvoir’ (the
of the state, of the Es-

Tevolt of 600,000 unem-
Sof Canadians rather than
‘1 the apprehended insur-
ya of some terrorists.”
demning both the federal
ys ebec governments for in-
4g in the affairs of the
‘Wy and normal processes,
¥, the joint statement of
Nuebec organized labor
; hent declares, “the judi-
giS putting our democrac
ve danger... .” :
joint statement exposes
Noral torture” of people
n td last October under the
yiecasures Act and still held
agit Charge in jail, and de-
the restoration of the
bail. :

_ Quebec trade unionists
fnounce the savage one-
ntencing. for contempt of
of Michel Chartrand,
ent of the 65,000-member
1 Central Council of the

€ Quebec trade unionists
ves have indicated, anti-
ratic legislation in Can-
today aimed at the fun-
1 rights of the Canadian
4S a whole. It is, in fact,
first of all against the
union movement, the or-
2 4 workers,
Continuing silence of the
an Labor Congress is
© understand, in face of
lormous dangers for the
ped labor movement in-
nthe Public Order Act
ne threatened permanent
™Mocratic legislation of
deau government. Sil-
mean complicity.
ays after the splendid
~ united call of Quebec’s

~Oung Communist Le
puzing a lobby to Gnaia
ie to demand jobs for
. abe YCL will present
1 federal government

FOposals for acti
Bs and action to cre-
I ?

Oung people,
of the YCL and

bus will leave from
Street, Toronto on Feb.
a.m., and will return
€ day from Ottawa.
_ young people
: In in this lobb
Facting Gordon Massie,
maelary at the above
: dress (922-8309).

ent) against the pos-

trade unionists and teachers for
immediate repeal of the Public

Order Act, the Ottawa office of.

Donald MacDonald, CLC presi-
dent, told the Canadian Tribune,
“No statement is being consi-
dered on the action of the Que-
bec Federation of Labor with
the CNTU and Quebec: Teach-
ers:

The CLC has had plenty of
time, and reason, to act.

The powerful Vancouver Labor
Council last Dec. 1 unanimously
called on the CLC “‘to launch a
Canada-wide campaign for re-
peal of the Public Order (Tem-
porary Measures) Act.”

Civil liberties associations
and unions across the country

-have demanded repeal of the

Act. On Dec. 10 the Human
Rights Conference in Ottawa,
with trade union leaders, Mem-
bers of Parliament, professors

and lawyers participating, voted

for similar action.

New Democratic Party mem-
bers of Parliament, and the
Communist Party of Canada,
have denounced the Public Or-
der Act and demanded its re-
peal.
. The Canadian Labor Congress
leadership has today the clear
responsibility to speak out for

the restoration of democratic
rights and civil liberties in
Canada.

The Ontario Federation of
Labor, as its secretary-treasurer
Terry Meagher told the Can-
adian Tribune, claims it cannot
speak for its 660,000 members
on this matter until the CLC
does. The loud and ugly silence
of the CLC is being used as an
excuse by right-wing leaders of
the OFL.

The members of the CLC,
more than 1,600,000 of them,
have before now told their lead-
ers how to act and how to fight.
They did so on the critical ques-
tions of Trudeau’s wage guide-
lines policy, on unemployment,
on trade union unity and auto-
nomy.

It can be expected now that
the example set by Quebec’s
united trade union movement on
Jan. 19 will move CLC labor
councils and provincial federa-
tions, and first, individual locals
of trade unions, to demand the
immediate repeal of the Public
Order Act. To demand justice
for their brothers and _ sisters
held without bail in Quebec
jails. To demand justice for
Michel Chartrand, and revoca-
tion of the inhuman one-year
contempt of court sentence
against him. :

To demand, above all, that the
CLC leadership do what the
Vancouver Labor Council asked
of it almost two months ago:
Stand up and lead organized
labor’s fight to restore and to
extend democratic rights in
Canada.

tifperemm

Calling for movements of
English-speaking solidarity with
French Canada in their struggle
against repression and for self-
determination, Sam Walsh, pres-
ident of the Communist Party of
Quebec, appealed to a Toronto
audience on Jan. 21 to “take
up this fight as a daily task of
everyone who stands for democ-
racy.”

Speaking to a public meeting
sponsored by the High Park Club
of the Communist Party in the
Dupont Hall, Mr. Walsh describ-
ed the impact on French Cana-
dian opinion made by the strong
rebuff recently given to Quebec
Justice Minister Jerome Cho-
quette by the English-speaking
students of Sir George Williams
University in Montreal.
meant something for the future
of our country,”—an expression
of a “joint struggle in defense of
democratic rights.”

Mr. Walsh outlined three sig-
nificant events which had taken
place in Quebec only the day be-

. fore.

First, there had been a demon-
stration of 1,500 to 2,000 people
under’ the main slogans: “Free
Chartrand, free Lemieux.”

This. demonstration, he ex-
plained, had marked the “return
to the_streets”, especially of the
students, after a period of
“shock and paralysis” following
the imposition of the War Meas-
ures Act.

He found it deeply significant
that the call to the demonstra-
tion had cut through national
and sharply-drawn political lines,
in its appeal to ‘Francophones
and Anglophones, federalists
and separatists, workers and un-
employed.”

Second, the same day, the
common front of Quebec labor’s
two trade union centres and the
teachers had once more found
its expression in the issuance of

Gov't owns plant!

2th .

luebec labor fights, Call to democratic forces in English Canada: ©
why is CLC silent? Support Quebec struggle

judicial repression.

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE

Following is the text of a resolution adopted by the public
meeting held Jan. 21 under the auspices of the High Park
(Toronto) Club of the Communist Party, and addressed by

- Sam Walsh, President of the Communist Party of Quebec:

That this meeting of Toronto citizens expresses its solidarity
with the common front of the central labor bodies of Quebec
in demanding the repeal of the War Measures Act, of the Pub-
lic Order Act, and opposition to any similar permanent legis-
lation; in denouncing the juridicial persecution of those who
have been arrested and charged for political opinions and as-
sociations having no connection with the kidnappings or the
death of Mr. Laporte. The savage and unprecedented sentences
of one year and 15 months respectively for contempt of court
because the two accused in question asked that the obviously
vindictive and prejudiced judge withdraw from the political
cases indicates that we are now in a new stage of political

We call on all democratic Canadians to unite and to par-
ticipate in solidarity meetings and demonstrations in defense
of these political prisoners who are unjustly in prison.

a strong statement against re-
pression.

Third, again on Jan. 20, Le De-
voir — the nationalist organ of
the French Canadian _intellec-
tuals — had carried an editorial
headed: “Quebec at the Moment
of Judicial Guerrilla Warfare,”
which said that the “repression
in Quebec now has a new di-
mension. The .courts are now
openly doing what the army and
the police had done in the first
days.of the War Measures Act.”
The ‘editorial then went on to
discuss the way in which the
political prisoners have turned
public attention from themselves
to an attack on the judicial sys-
tem, a trap from which the
courts seemed unable to escape.
“In such a contest” the paper
warned, “‘the court cannot come
out a victor.”

The courts have been shown
to be an open instrument .of
monopoly, Mr. Walsh emphasiz-
ed.

Act to stop shutdown

MONTREAL — The citizens

of the small -Northwest Quebec
town called Maniwaki are des-
perately fighting to save from
closing a veneer plant, the only
major employer within 125
miles, that will put about 450
men out of work.
’ The town of 6,500 has a crim-
inal unemployment rate of 50%,
not counting some 10% of the
population on social welfare.

What makes this town unique
from the hundreds of others
that find themselves in similar
straits is that the industry in
Maniwaki is owned by the prov-
ince of Quebec. The govern-
ment bought the plant in 1963
under its General Investment

Corporation, a vaunted, maneu-
ver which is now proving to be
nothing more than a futile ex-
ercise. Spokesmen for the gov-

ernment confess that business
is so bad that the plant will have
to close its doors.

The people of Maniwaki are
angry and plan to express this
anger in a mass protest. They
cannot understand why an es-
tablished company which pro-
duces not only veneer but fur-
niture as well, cannot continue
to furnish material to a world
which in no way is suffering
from a surplus of housing. The
mayor, Paul Laroque says: “It
just doesn’t make any sense at
all. The government is pumping
all sorts of money into new in-
dustries, yet here is an estab-
lished company which cannot
survive.”

The events appear to be head-
ing for an incredibly ironic
ending. The company was ori-
ginally taken over by the Que-
bec government to prevent its
purchase by an American firm.
Now it seems likely that the
plant will be sold to the highest
bidder and the new owner may
well be Ratt Lumber of New
Jersey.

Here again the Liberal Party
reveals itself as an undisguised
hypocrite. The government’s
clear and stated purpose in set-
ting up General Investment Cor-
poration was to buy companies
which would. be otherwise sold
to the U.S.

He spoke of the special char-
acter of the unemployment crisis
in Quebec, and how, particularly
among the thousands of young
people coming out of schools, the
fight for jobs is linked to the
fight for national affirmation.

Similarly, the issue of French
as the language of work com-
bines the national. struggle with
a sharp economic and class
meaning.

The elements of a whole sys-
tem of human indignity are
gathering together, the speaker
said, to bring about great chan-
ges. He told how the demonstra-
tors, jumping in the cold had
worked out the chant: “Ca va
sauter” which means “Things
will jump” but also, “Things will
explode.”

Drawing attention to the re-
cent statement of the Waffle
group of the NDP, Mr. Walsh
exclaimed: “All glory to the
Waffle which has called for self-
determination for the French-
Canadian nation including the
right to separate. Very few
social-democratic parties in the

' world have ever called for self-

determination. This was Lenin’s
principle.”

But, he continued, NDP leader-
ship candidate Jim Laxer is mak-
ing a “terrible mistake” in sug-

gesting that French Canada

faces only two choices—“Tru-
deau’s federalism or separatism.”

“It isn’t true. It is possible to
compel the establishment to

‘recognize the right to self-deter-

mination, to compel negotiations
between two sovereign nations,
and to bring about a new unity
on the basis of the free consent
of these two equal nations.”

Mr. Walsh emphasized ‘that
this argument against those who
think we have passed the point
of no return is not simply based
on theory.

While there are some in
French Canada who have lost
hope of any understanding with
English Canada since the crisis
of October, there are tens of
thousands of other French-Cana-
dians who had not paid too much
attention to the national ques-
tion in the past, but who are
now looking for an end to both
economic oppression and na-
tional oppression, but not for a
separatist solution. :

The meeting which was chair-
ed by Violet Dewhurst, unani-
mously adopted a resolution of
solidarity with the struggle in
Quebec.

TRAFFIC TOLL
Japan’s traffic death toll reach-
ed a record 16,765 last year.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 197,1—PAGE 5