THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER MAY, 1979 = NDP leader Ed Broadbent says the federal government must stop the take over of Canadian businesses by foreign multinationals. The NDP leader says that the Foreign Investment Review Agency (FIRA) created in 1974, has failed to do its job; to slow down the rate at which foreign interests were buying up Cana- dian businesses. “FIRA has become nothing but a Statistical clearing house for foreign takeovers,” the NDP leader says. “The agency operates in almost total secrecy, but it is clear from the figures available to the public that FIRA is actually hiding the continuing sell-out of Canada.” The facts are not heartening. Direct foreign investment in Canada increased from $36.2 billion in 1974, the year FIRA began Phase | of its existence, to $39.8 billion the year later, to $45.2 billion by the end of 1977. FIRA has approved 83 of 115 takeover ... A PROGRAMME Unemployment is a tragic plight for one and a half million Canadians. For working Canadians it is painfully expensive. Canada holds the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of unemployment among all industrial countries. There are 954,000 Canadians officially unemployed (Feb. 1979), as many as there were in the worst of the 1930’s depression. The national unadjusted unemployment rate now stands at 8.8 but this figure hides the toll unemployment takes in some regions. Newfoundland, last province to enter Con- federation, is first to feel the impact with . 18.8 unemployment rate; PEI has 14.3 unemployment and even Alberta, the most fortunate of the “have” provinces has a rate of almost 5. The official unemployment rate reflects the number of people who have actively . looked for work in the last four weeks. However if a person has been laid off for months and knows that there are no jobs, as in Newfoundland, parts of Quebec or eastern Ontario and British Columbia, he or she disappears from the official unem- ployment figures. These people, eager to work, are the “hidden” unemployed. If you add in these hidden unemployed, the unadjusted rate jumps to 13.2 with one and a half million people out of work. Although unemployment hits everyone, itis particularly hard on women and young people. The unemployment rate for women is 9.4, for young people 15.6. The percentage of unemployment caused by layoffs has increased, contradicting the government's assertion that most of our unemployment has been caused by these women and young people entering the labour force. Working Canadians are also hurt by unemployment. Last year each working ‘Canadian benefits,” bids in the resources sector, 42 in 1977 alone. “The FIRA mandate must be substan- tially strengthened to ensure greater Broadbent says. Among those changes the NDP leader wants to see is a provision that new invest- ment in resources must be effectively Canadian controlled. But capital inflow is only one side of the coin. Broadbent says he wants FIRA to monitor and control the outflow of capital, too. In addition, Broadbent proposes that the Canada Development Corporation curtail its overseas investment activities, to tie tax incentives to investment in Canada and to immediately review policies concerning foreign investment of the Industry, Trade and Commerce department, the Export Development Corporation and the Canadian Inter- national Development Agency. Since 1973, more Canadian investment capital has been leaving the country than has been coming in. By the time 1978 was three quarters gone, $5.1 billion had been invested outside of Canada by Canadian corporations. : According to Broadbent, the way out of our current economic plight is to elect a federal government committed to devel- oping an industrial game plan based on Canada’s wealth of resources. “Lack of commitment, lack of will and lack of policy have created Canada’s economic difficulties,’ the NDP leader says. person in Canada paid more than $1,000 in direct costs as a result of the high level of unemployment. Canadian workers pay three times for unemployment insurance; once in premiums, once in the govern- ment’s share through taxes, and finally in the amount of the employer’s share which reduces the amount available to pay workers. When unemployment is high, payout costs for UIC are also high — about $4 billion in 1978. In addition to UIC costs, the loss in pro- duction due to unemployment also hurts working Canadians. When people can’t find work, they don’t pay taxes. Because they are not working, the amount of goods we as a nation produce and sell is lower. Although there are many ways of calculat- ing what the recession of the last three. years has cost Canadians, it works out to about $5,000 per family. Behind these staggering costs is the human side of unemployment — the men and women who want paycheques not unemployment insurance cheques. They want work, self-respect and job security. They’d much rather be paying taxes than collecting unemployment benefits. In financial and social costs, we can no longer afford to have a million and a half people out of work. We must take steps to get Canadians back on the job. The NDP economic program would: — create a $1.5 billion tax credit program for Canadians earning under $20,000, with a payment directed to those not earning enough to pay taxes. This tax reduction would create at least 100,000 new jabs through increased buying power and the taking-up of unused production capacity. — reduce the manufacturer's sales tax by 4% to reduce consumer prices and TO AID THE JOBLESS create up to 75,000 new job openings as a result of increased sales of manufactured goods. — undertake a $1.7 billion public investment program in needed capital works. The program includes — a $400 million federal-provincial- municipal capital works program, urgently demanded unanimously by all ten premiers and most munici- palities, to create 60,000 new jobs. — a $500 million railway upgrading and rebuilding investment program which would create 70,000 new jobs and maintain railway branch lines with grain elevators repaired and modernized. — a $300 million urban transit program to provide needed services in urban communities and create an estimated 40,000 new jobs. — a $500 million special housing program to reverse CMHC under- spending of its 1977 capital budget by that amount and provide needed . funds for non-profit, co-operative and public housing, and neighbourhood _ improvement and residential rehabili- tation. This program could create 70,000 new jobs, particularly. in the high-unemployment construction industry. Can we afford the NDP program? These measures are designed to reduce the long- term deficit through investment now rather than following the existing economic policies of the federal govern- ment which simply increased the deficit because of the high cost of UIC, welfare and lost revenues through lost production. We can’t afford not to stimulate our — ' economy.