EDMONTON — An Easter march from Cold Lake to Ed- | monton involving hundreds of marchers, culminating in what is hoped will be a huge Edmonton rally, is being organized to protest Cruise testing. As a further act of opposition to Ottawa’s agreement with the USA, leading up to testing the Pentagon’s Cruise nuclear missile in the Cold ‘Lake — Primrose Lake area Alberta organizations | are combining their efforts to: make this a demonstration the : federal government cannot ignore. While the government admits to having signed an ‘‘umbrella”’ agreement to test U.S: weapons, there is widespread suspicion that Ottawa is not fully disclosing the CANADA, distance, with others expected to join for portions of the route. The organizers hope that many Edmontonians will accompany the march on its final leg from Namao. The marchers will cover 290 km (180 miles), reaching Edmonton 12 days after the start on Easter Sunday afternoon, April 3. A pub- lic rally will greet their arrival here. Averaging 25 km a day, stop- ping overnight at towns along the route, they will attend public meetings at most stopovers. Church and other groups will provide accomodation and sup- port. The sponsoring group fro the Cold Lake Easter March was re- cently formed by: Coalition for | March from Cold Lake to Edmonton to protest Cruise agreement the Bomb, Musicians’ Associa- tion for Social Concer, Uni- versity of Alberta Disarmament Group, Youth for Peace, and others. The sponsoring group invites other peace groups in Canada, and from the USA and Europe to join the march. Several promi- nent speakers are expected to ad- dress both the vigil at Cold Lake and the final rally in Edmonton, according to Fiona McGregor, spokesperson for the Cold Lake Edmonton March committee. Interested persons and organ- izations may get more informa- tion from: Cold Lake — Ed- monton Anti-Cruise Easter March, 10765-98 St., Edmonton, TSH 2P2, or from Robin Denton commitment it has made. Starting with a vigil at Cold Lake on March 22, acore group of 100 marchers will cover the entire Nuclear Disarmament, Ed- montonians for a Non-Nuclear Future (ENNUF), Peace Council, Families Against (media relations) 436-7410 (483- 5373 evenings), or Fiona McGregor (spokesperson) 420- . 1504 (432-7051 evenings). Edmonton 7 April, 1982, demonstration at Cold Lake, Alberta. Alberta communist convention advances rational alternatives Special to the Tribune EDMONTON — ‘‘Premier Peter Lougheed and the Tory government of Alberta have broken their promises to the people of Alberta by not diversify- ing the economy,”’ charged David Wallis, Alberta organizer of the Communist Party of Canada, at the party’s provincial convention, Feb. 26-27. He said the reason is that the Tories ‘‘rely on the ‘private sector’ which has no intention of investing in Alberta without guarantees of millions of dollars in profits. “Because of this,’ Wallis said, ‘‘Premier Lougheed is responsible for the high level of un- employment and insecurity for thousands of Al- berta workers. “The only way to guarantee jobs and a secure future,” he added, ‘‘is for mass government in- vestment to build secondary industry to process our natural resources and agricultural products.”’ To this end, ‘‘the Heritage Trust Fund should be used to invest in Alberta, through publicly-owned and democratically controlled corporations, to undertake such industrialization.”’ William Kashtan, leader of the Communist Party of Canada, delivered greetings from the Central Executive and recalled for the delegates the strong positions taken when that executive held an en- larged meeting back in January. It is the Com- munist Party’s task in concert with other forces in Canadian society, to defend workers’ gains, and protect the trade union movement ‘‘in conditions of an ever-growing monopoly offensive aided by government policy,” he said. ‘‘At the same time we are called upon to strengthen the fight for nu- clear disarmament, in the first place to prevent the testing of the U.S. Cruise missile at the Cold Lake test site, and to make Canada a nuclear weapons- free zone.”’ . PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 11, 1983—Page 8 The Communist Party leader noted that, in its program for a democratic alternative to the policies of the monopoly corporations, and the Lougheed government, communists in Alberta had a viable program with which to rally support. That program includes: e Nationalization under a joint pro- vincial/federal crown corporation for the oil and natural gas industry. e A rollback of energy prices to represent the cost of production and replacement. e Undertaking of an extensive public housing program to provide affordable housing and to stimulate the forestry industry. e Rent controls and legislation guaranteeing se- curity of tenure. e Increased funding for health, education, child care and other social services. A ban on extra billing and other health-related user fees. e Introduction of a 32-hour work week for 40 hours pay, so that workers share the benefits of technological improvements. Increase in the minimum wage to $6 an hour. e No natural gas or oil exports until a 25-year supply is guaranteed for all Canada. e Maintenance of the Crowsnest Pass freight rate for grain, and nationalization of the Canadian Pacific Railway. e Complete and immediate repeal of the Public _ Service Employee Relations Act, and guarantee of the right to full collective bargaining and the right to strike for all workers. : Wallis called it a program around which the labor movement, the New Democratic Party, the Com- munist Party and other democratic and people’s organizations could unite for ‘‘a real change in the political direction in Alberta.”’ Is Manitoba Finance Minister Vic Schroeder opening the door to prosperity in Manitoba or selling out the working people of the province? ; P NDP budget taxes — people not monopoly Special to the Tribune on WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s Communist Party welcomes the decision of the New Democratic Party (NDP) government {0 : preserve current levels of health’and social service spending to make job creation a priority in the new budget. j The Communist Party says the NDP was correct not to buckle under to pressure to reduce its deficit by slashing services ignoring the jobless, but is dead wrong to increase taxes 08 working people to pay for these programs, while letting big business off the hook once again. , The recently-tabled NDP budget will pick the pockets of the working people with the one percent increase in provincial sales tax from 5 to 6%, a gasoline tax of 1.1 cents per litre, and more: The payroll tax which hits struggle small business the hardest during these tought economic times, was left intact while the ta% on large corporations was increased only minimally by 1%. . The question being asked, fairly, by working people is: HoW can the NDP, whose members vociferously fought the introduc tion of sales taxes by the Tory Roblin government, now exten this regressive measure in their own budget? Can the NDP come up with any answers to boost the flagging economy other thal” adopting typical Tory tactics? ‘ The Communist Party proposes that higher taxes on banks and corporations, still being syphoned out of Manitoba, would pro- duce much greater revenues and be much fairer than higher sales tax which government statistics show will cost each Manitobatl : an average of $64 per year. This, on top of everything else, means working people are paying once again for the costs of the present ; economic crisis, not the wheeler-and-dealer corporations which have caused it by their drive for. unlimited profits. The ‘‘knee-jerk’’ demand of Sterling Lyon and the Conserva tives for ‘‘stimulation of the private sector’’ are continually shown by the actions of big business itself to be bankrupt. The shutdown of Kimberly-Clark in Winnipeg is a good example of the ‘‘responsibility the private sector feels for Manitoba’. The company is pulling out of Manitoba and dumping 130 workers onto the unemployment roles simply because it can make a bette? profit elsewhere. Rather than support the irresponsible private. sector and its anti-worker policy, the NDP should have taken steps to put tighter controls on big business and increase revenues from the profits produced by Manitoba’s working and farming people. The so-called ‘‘super fund”’ for job creation is a mere $200-mil- lion in.a $3.3-billion budget and depends on the willingness of the federal government to join in and fully support the program. _ Why hasn’t the NDP spoken out against the inflationary mili- tary budget of federal government? The $7.8-billion being spent on the military in the next year, including $1-billion for new jet fighters, would go a long way for long-term economic develop- ment anid job creation. Instead, the emphasis will be on creating jobs which last long enough to allow workers to qualify for Unemployment Insurance once again. Permament job creation and an alternative fundamental indus- trial strategy for Manitoba are missing entirely from the budget- Many projects which the Communist Party has proposed in re- cent months — such as upgrading the port of Churchill, a crash program of housing construction and renewal, development of secondary industry in the north, road and bridge improvements © and resumption of the Limestone hydro power construction — would not only provide jobs but would bring long-lasting economic benefits. é aa These steps, combined with decisive moves against agro-busi- - ness, railways, banks, insurance companies and mining corpora-_ tions, which have not ‘‘tightened their belts’’ one iota during this economic crisis, could start to turn the economy around. The government must take a strong stand during the current Legislative session on the side of Manitoba’s working people and pass laws with teeth to deal with strike-breaking, plant shut. downs and corporate blackmail. It is crucial to have a compre- hensive law forcing companies to open their books, including those of parent corporations, in order to make them justify and ultimately stop the flow of jobs out of the province and the shut down of viable Manitoba operations. Only such laws can protect long term jobs for Manitobans. ——