| ne LIAL EDI TORIAL The militarization of Canada and its military integration with the U.S. is pro- ceeding according to the hidden agenda of the Mulroney Tories. The insidious plan rests on agreements kept secret from the Canadian people, as well as on the North American Aerospace Defence agreement (NORAD), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the U.S.-Canada defence production sharing pact, the North Warning System, Star Wars. and other war-planning vehicles. One question to be asked is whether such a course by the government of Can- ada displays loyalty to this country, or its opposite. And that leads to the question of when the Canadian people can trust the government and when they cannot. Back in December, U.S. defence analyst William Arkin revealed that the 356 U.S.- Canada military agreements the parlia- mentary committee reviewing Canada’s role in NORAD was permitted to see excluded No to NORAD/Star Wars" In parallel activity, the government is at present actively encouraging the U.S.- dominated NATO to establish a Tactical Fighter Weapons Training Centre at Goose Bay, Labrador. At the same time the cabinet is consider- ing an application by West Germany’s Thyssen conglomerate, purveyor to the Nazis, to set up a war materials plant on Cape Breton Island. It would build tanks and other military vheicles for shipment to the Middle East. Some Tories see this plan as a way to pump up employment figures by a couple of hundred. If they are so bankrupt of job-creation ideas, they are unfit to govern. The Tories seem intent on selling out Canada’s sovereignty and independence, on writing this country off as a factor in the peace-making and peace-keeping pro- cess, on reducing Canada to a U.S. powder monkey and, in the long run, contributing to the threat of world nuclear war. ~ => One step in ths process would be to lock feeding time.” “The only one in the world — the Pentagon Oceanarium! The © peace-keepers in the world! Nervous taxpayers are advised not to ' eight super-secret deals. At least four of these related to nuclear weapons, their storage in Canada and so on. Liberal and New Democrat members of the all-party committee have now, once more, been slapped in the face by being forbidden to issue a minority report. The Tory majority on the committee urged the government to renew the NORAD sellout, which in current context is a functional part of Star Wars. Canada into the new Star Wars version of NORAD. The Tory government will de- cides its course in a matter of days, and Mulroney will likely give Reagan his answer when they meet later in Washington. In the short time left, the government, the prime minister, and all MPs must be told in clear terms: Canadians refuse to be part of Reagan’s Star Wars , or its NORAD component. Canada needs a policy of peace, disarmament and detente. Drawing by Vsevolod ARSE! “TRIBUNE Business & Circulation Manager — MIKE PRONIUK Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN ~ ; Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON. Graphics — ANGELA KENYON Published weekly at 2681 Eagt Hastings Str Vancouver,BC V5K 125 . Phone (604) 251-1186 Subscription Rate Canada $14 one year $8 six mounts Foreign $20 one year Second class mail registration number 1560 Sf 18th century writer Sydney Smith is not among the literary names likely to be fixed in anyone’s memory today. But the comment from one of his works, “don’t tell me of facts. . nothing is so falla- cious as facts, except figures,”’ has a par- ticularly contemporary ring to it especially when you're talking about the Social Credit government and its creative use of the figures provided by its own ministries. Statistics released by the labor ministry for January showed that although the unemployment rate was down slightly from December — a decline only achieved through “seasonal adjustment” — the actual number of unemployed was up. NDP MLA Colin Gabelmann emphasized that fact in a statement Feb. 7, noting that there were “3,000 more British Columbi- ans out of work in January than there were in December.” : But what happens to those figures in the hands of the Socred news bureau, euphe- mistically known as the Government Information Services? Here you are: “Sta- tistics showing 20,000 more British Columbians with jobs in January com- pared with December is further evidence that B.C.’s economy is improving, says Labor Minister Terry Segarty.” It’s simple, of course. Ignore the fact that the labor force has grown and any increase in the number of people working, no matter how small, would look good. The federal Tories regularly produce the same results, but unemployment remains high. That may well be why old Smith made the remarks he did two centuries ago.- People and Issues After all, he had the example of the British Tories whose latter-day example, Mar- garet Thatcher has her counterpart in both Ottawa and Victoria. <<. ee W: noted before that just as the pro- verbial groundhog is the herald of ‘spring, the bumming letters from the Social Credit Party, sent to companies all over the province, are usually the prelude to a provincial election. And since we’ve had two of them in the last five months — sent, as always, to Triburne Publishing Company — the day must be getting really close. Actually, the first letter, sent out in October,.was really coy about the date of any election. It just wondered in print about a possible vote in 1986 — just enough to make it appear imminent in order to help fill the Socred coffers. That letter also gushed about the var- ious megaprojects, including Expo, Nor- theast coal and ALRT and how they had “created new opportunities for B.C. busi- ness.” But this letter, sent out Feb. 6 leaves everything else out — after all, Northeast coal is not exactly a joyous subject these days — and gets right down to the Socreds’ favorite subject: Expo and the “thousands of jobs and the hundreds of millions of dollars that Expo will gener- ate.” ; And then there’s this tidbit: “There is only one thing that can deny the people of the province the full rewards of Expo. I’m talking about the outcome of the next pro- vincial election — an election likely to be held in 1986.” That still leaves Bennett 10 months to play with, but given all the hype on Expo, it’s a prety sure bet that he will drop the writ before the end of the world’s fair — before the deficits and the subse- _ quent economic slump turn it into another Northeast coal fiasco. * * Ses exchange of international messages for peace among children has become one of the most hopeful signs of our times, _ with the art exchange between the children of North Vancouver and Moscow being one of the most recent examples. Students, parents and educators alike have become involved in the process, a testimony to the growing influence of the peace movement. The Student Messages for Peace project by the United Nations Association, in con- junction with credit unions throughout the province, is a particularly ambitious pro- ject along similar lines, involving a special exhibit of children’s peace messages to be Peace through Communication. . the mailing. So when we heard two ‘surgery for cancer, we were anxi0O prepared for international visitors Expo. Children throughout the province being invited to submit writing, poster 4 paintings, drawings, videos, films or sli tape presentations on the general theme” audio-visual projects are intended group projects but all the others are 0 to individuals. y Entries will be collected until April with as many of the works as possible t@ displayed at Expo’s United Nations F4@ ion. There will also be a variety of aw4 supplied by corporate supporters. Entry forms for Student Messag Peace are available at credit unl throughout B.C. : eae ee a good many delegates to the couver and District Labor Cov Verna Beaudin is a regular source 0 Tribune which she has been selling o council meetings for several years also comes in frequently to help ou ago that she was to go into hospi stop by the hospital with a card and flo ers to wish her well. We did that — on Feb. 14, the © after her surgery. But barely four later, she was back at her regular outside the labor council, with last w paper. é It isn’t a therapy we would recom but it certainly demonstrates Verna’s ing spirit. We join with others in wis her a full recovery. 4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 26, 1986 eae En