"THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER AUTHORIZED AS SECOND CLASS MAIL, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OTTAWA, AND FOR PAYMENT OF POSTAGE IN CASH. WORKER Vol. XXXVI, No. 19. VANCOUVER, B.C. 5c PER COPY BROADWAY e€G=SB> PRINTERS LTO. ist Issue October, 1962 CREW OF UPPER FRASER SAWMILL Local 1-424 listening to safety talk by Regional Safety Director Andy Smith. See Page 4. SWEDISH LABOUR CELEBRATES STOCKHOLM—tThe trade union movement in Sweden looks upon the recent elec- toral victory of the Social Democratic Party as an excel- lent way to climax the cele- bration of its 70 years of ex- istence. The Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsor- ganisationen—LO) was estab- lished in 1898 and entered upon a very turbulent period of history. It was virtually wiped out during a nation- wide strike-lockout in 1909 but came back to develop what is probably the strong- est, best organized trade un- ion movement in the world. As the major supporters of the Swedish Social Demo- cratic Party, which helped to found the organized labor movement, the trade unions in this country were elated at the return of the Social Democratic government for another term after 36 con- secutive years of power. DECISIVE VICTORY The victory was as decisive as it was unexpected, News- paper accounts predicted that at best the SDP would be returned with a loss of seats in the Sayin ou 2 e, but might very well lose the gov- ae to a Liberal-Con- servative coalition. Instead what happened was that the party won 50 percent of the total vote and absolute control of the Lower House for the first time since World War II. The Social Democrats ‘See “SWEDEN”—Page 2 1969 DATE FOR NDP FEDERAL CONVENTION The New Democratic Party’s biennial convention will be held in the fall of 1969, probably in Ottawa’s new civic centre. Federal leader Tommy Douglas has indicated that he will once again consider standing for re-election this time. Among the other possible leadership candidates being mentioned are Allan O’Brien, Laurier LaPierre, Charles Taylor, Stephen Lewis, Robert Cliche, John Harney, Max See Se Saltsman, Ed Schreyer, Allan Blakeney, and Tom Berger. Parliamentary leader David Lewis didn’t rule himself out, but said he isn’t a candidate now. PUBLIC MOBILIZATION NEEDED ON HOUSING OTTAWA — Public opin- ion must be mobilized to lead governments to commit them- selves to more ambitious ob- jectives in housing programs, according to Professor D. V. Donnison, London School of Economics, a housing expert who has prepared a_ back- ground paper for the Cana- dian Conference on Housing to be held in Toronto starting October 20th. The British housing authority will also be the key note speaker at the conference. Professor Donnison be- lieves that Canada is quite capable of providing all its citizens with the kind of hous- ing they deserve. Canada, he said could set a “pioneering example in the housing field which would be an inspira- tion to others for a long time to come.” OBJECTIVES NEEDED But before the housing needs of Canadians can be met, he urged that new and more ambitious objectives be established including the fol- _ lowing: 1. Redistribution of in- come, not just through in- come maintenance measures such as family allowances and old age pensions, but through actual housing _ subsidies. Housing policies must be geared to the needs of those with “lower incomes and less to those with larger incomes” to achieve a fairer and more efficient use of public funds. “We assume all to readily,” he said, “that democracy, plus rising productivity—the holy trinity of 19th century liber- als — must in time produce justice for all. It is now tech- nically possible for the richer countries to eliminate pover- ty. Whether it is politically possible remains an open question.” 2. More rental housing, public and private, is required in order to provide enough homes for single and elderly See “HOUSING’—Page 2 ANNUAL REVIEW SHOWS CANADA'S ECONOMY IN TERRIBLE SHAPE By MARC WYMAN The country’s economy isn’t in good shape, and it’s: going to take a lot of hard work to straighten it out. That’s the gist of the Fifth Annual Review of the Econo- mic Council of Canada, the government-appointed body of experts. The Council called for both a slowdown in the rate that ‘public spending is increasing, and an all-out war on poverty. Despite the objective of a spending slowdown, more money is needed for hospitals, transportation, universities, and hard-pressed municipali- ties, the Review says. TWIN EVILS Poverty and regional dis- parities are the twin social and economic evils besetting Can- ada today, the Council point- ed out in heavily-documented sections of the Review. Disparity in incomes is so bad that one Canadian in five can’t earn enough for a decent life, and this is a “disgrace.” In particular, Eskimos, In- dians, and Metis suffer. It’s so bad that many hard- working Canadians would ac- tually be better off if they went on welfare! The national economy just isn’t meeting the goals set for over four years ago, and, what’s more, the failure hap- pened once in 1967 and this year. THE CHALLENGE The Review is titled The Challenge of Growth and Change. What’s inside is often dismal. No. fewer than four million, two hundred thousand Canadians suffer from ‘the sour atmosphere of poor health and bad housing — accumulated defeat, alienation and despair,” and “a sense of entrapment and hopelessness.” Take, for example, Metro- politan Toronto, with 100 thousand people on welfare. The fact is that twice that many — 200 thousand — don’t earn enough to live in health and decency. They’re the ones you don’t hear about. One that the public did hea about was a_ hard - working, decent man named John W. Sweeney, a labourer with a pregnant wife and four-month old son, who tossed a brick through a car window so that he’d be sent to jail, and his family would thereby be giv- en welfare assistance. ' There was no food in his house. The welfare authorities had refused help. That’s one. There are 4,199,999 others, according to the Council. We've obviously got a long way to go before we even ap- proach a “just society.” PLAN NEEDED The Review told the gov- ernment bluntly that lagging farm productivity was hurt- ing agricultural prospects. It said, too, that subsidies were a lousy way of attracting in- dustry to underdeveloped re- See “ECONOMY”—Page 2 of S. A. “Bill” Muir, Mrs. Florence Schumaker, THREE CHARMING VISITORS at the recent IWA Con- vention in Vancouver were from left, Mrs. Irene Muir, wife Financial Secretary wife of Bill Schumaker, Presi- dent of Local 1-423; and Mrs. Irene Welder, wife of Jack Welder, First Vice-President of Local 1-423, of Local 1-423;