Unions rap Syncrude rip-off —

Last week, shortly after the
announcement by the federal
and provincial governments that
they were backing the Syncrude
rip-off, unions and labor coun-
cils issued resolutions condemn-
ing the action and called for the
public ownership of Canadian re-
sources.

In Oshawa, Local 222 of the
United Auto Workers passed a
resolution at a general member-
ship meeting demanding “the
UAW protest the federal and

ial governments’ fund-
ing of the Syncrude Tar Sands
Development, and call on the
federal government to put Can-
ada’s energy resources under
public ownership and democratic
control.”

In Toronto, the United Elec-
trical Workers sent a protest to
Prime Minister Trudeau that
‘was highly critical of the Syn-
crude “bail out of the big oil
companies” which it described
as “just one more instance of
government connivance with the
biggest of big business to rip-
off the Canadian people.”

In a wire to the Prime Minis-
ter, UE president, C. S. Jackson
charged that the public is get-

Continued from page 5

and press reporters, and read
from the Party statement, he
was asked the difference in the
positions of the Communist and
New Democratic parties.

“We (the Communist Party)
have consistently fought for
public ownership of energy re-
sources,” he said, “including nat-
ural resources, whereas the
NDP has tried to sidestep this
issue and has taken the position
of: public ownership if neces-
sary, but not necessarily public
ownership. And even this feeble
position hasn’t been taken by
the NDP in general.

Basis for United Front
“We are happy to note that at
least in the debate in parlia-
ment on the Syncrude deal,
some NDP spokesmen have call-
ed for cancellation of the agree-
ment and for some measure of
public control with respect to
the question of natural resources

and of energy resources.”
_ The Communist Party leader
expressed gratification too, that
“the trade union movement has

taken a position which is close

to ours.”

He stressed that this was not
a new position for the Commu-
nist Party, which “has consist-
ently fought for an all-Canadian
energy policy — for oil, gas,
uranium, coal, water, all sources
of energy — based on public
ownership, and with due ac-
count taken of ecology, environ-

ting tired of the “con game that
the business-government team
continues to foist on the people
in the interest of maximizing
profit.” He said that if govern-
ment expenditures were neces-
sary to assure future oil avail-
ability, then public ownership
and control was the obvious an-
swer to protect the future of the
Canadian people and not to fur-
ther enrich the oil monopolies.
He said this could be best ac-
complished by the‘ federal gov-
ernment “taking over full con-
trol of Syncrude (and legislative
control over exploration, devel-
opment, refining and distribution
of all energy resources) to as-

sure an adequate supply at

prices in line with the incomes
of working people.”

The ‘Hamilton and District
Labor Council called for the to-
tal public control and ownership
and development of the Atha-
basca Tar Sands. A resolution
stated “that existing supplies of
fossil fuels should be brought
under public control with pro-
visions for public investment as
rapidly as possible. All new de-
velopment and in particular, the
potentially invaluable tar-sands

ment and the rights and inter-
ests of the Native peoples.”
Asked if he really expected
the Liberals and Conservatives
to favor public ownership, the
Communist leader noted that
they have generally been op-
posed, and “have taken the
viewpoint that what is good for
the multi-national oil corpora-
tions and for monopoly is good
for the Canadian people.” The
Communists, on the other hand

have “taken the position that .

«what is good for the people is
public ownership of these re-
sources. And we believe that
our position coincides with the
sentiments of the Canadian peo-

ple.
Coalition of Canadians

“At the same time we think
that there are Liberals and Con-
servatives who are more patrio-
tic and who see the need for
measures to protect Canada’s
resources and advance and de-
velop them.”

Mr. Kashtan said that what
Canada’s Communists are call-
ing for is the “establishment of
a coalition of concerned Cana-
dians for the purpose of cancell-
ing the present agreement and
achieving public ownership of
the Athabasca tar sands. We
hope that throughout the coun-
try, such coalitions of concerned
Canadians will be established,
and include all political tenden-
cies.

“The fact that there has been
a debate in parliament and that

TAKING THE ECOLOGY

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BILLION DOLLAR GOVERNMENT
ASH SPILL... AMD SBVEDTHE |

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PROFIT-TAKING ENVIRONMENT! ——

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1975—Page 10

projects should be totally con-
trolled by the people of Can-
ada.”

“The Hamilton and District
Labor Council is disturbed that
most of the information the gov-
ernment has on the Syncrude
project comes from private com-
panies. -

“This country cannot afford to
meet a growing energy crisis in
terms of both cost and supply, by
turning the problem over to pri-

vate money interests. We can’t ©

afford another give away com-
parable to that which occurred
with the railways at an earlier
period of our development.

“The Hamilton and District .

Labor Council recognizing both
the high cost. and the urgency
of the Tar Sands development
calls for immediate and total
development of the oil reserves
by co-operative federal and pro-
vincial action. We ask for the
inclusion of future marketing by
a national petroleum corpora-
tion: .*

“We request that the federal
government develop and imple-
ment a total énergy policy
NOW, or make way for a gov-
ernment that will.”

the government has the major-
ity, and it carried, does not
mean that it carried: the coun-
try,” the Communist leader said.
“The Canadian people can still
have the last word on this swin-
dle that has been perpetrated
on them.”

NDP Proposal

His Party’s attitude to the
NDP proposals that the govern-
ment take over Imperial Oil as
the basis for a nationalized oil
industry, was that, “We would
support it, providing it was con-
sidered only part of the achieve-
ment of the complete public
ownership of the energy re-
sources of Canada,” Kashtan
said. “It would have to include
their development in the inter-
ests of the Canadian people, as
part of a complete, all-sided
energy policy directed toward
public ownership of all energy
resources. These would have to
be used to further industrialize
the country, create new jobs,
raise living standards, and only
insofar as there are surpluses,
sell the surpluses at world
prices. while maintaining the
two-price system in’ Canada.

“With all the energy resources
at their disposal,’ the Commu-
nist leader said, “there is no
reason why the Canadian people
should be rooked by the multi-
national corporations to pay a
world price which is not neces-
sary and should not be carried
through in Canada.”

AC

bers: Wm. Stewart (Ont.),

A delegation of the Communist Party of Canada, made up
of Party provincial leaders is studying economic. conditions
in the Soviet Union as compared
here with Party leader, William Kashtan, are delegation mem-
W. C. Ross (Man.), Wm. Tuomi
(Alta.), Kashtan, W. C. Beeching (Sask.),
(B.C.). Delegation member Sam Walsh,
munist Party of Quebec was absent at time of photo.

with those in Canada.. Seen

and Nigel Morgan
president of the Com-

Brampton labor meets Tories

Hit do-nothing’ policy

BRAMPTON—Representatives
of the Ontario Tories, including
the Minister of Labor, John
MacBeth, spent an uncomfort-
able evening as invited guests
at the Brampton and District

©) Labor Council meeting last week.

Syncrude is a steal:

Premier Davis had promised
to be at the meeting but he was
busy spending tax-payers’ money
in Winnipeg buying into the
Syncrude Project.

Many of the delegates to the
council were laid-off workers
from the auto- aero-space and
electrical industries and they de-
manded aniwers to the question,

“What is your government doing ‘

to fight unemployment?” The
answer they received, in a word,
was “Nothing.”

The Tories. were almost em-
barrassed at their party’s lack
of program so they. elaborated
on their do-nothing policy. Mac-

‘Beth turned to the familiar side-

step and said, ‘“There’s really
very little that we can do to get
jobs for laid-off workers. After

all,” he said, “we have very lit-

tle control over the auto and
aero-space industries. That’s pri-
marily federal jurisdiction.”

Those’ comments by the labor
minister brought a murmur of
disgust from the audience and
one worker said: “That’s the
same damn thing the federal
government tells us when we
talk to them about unemploy-
ment. Only they say that the
provinces must do more. That’s
not an answer — it’s buck-pass-
ing.”

While the Tories continued to ~

maintain that it was a federal
responsibility, their real problem

Conserving

TORONTO — The Communist
Party views Energy Minister
Macdonald’s conservation. pro-
gram as a diversion, and not
preductive of a solution to the
energy problems haunting the
Canadian government.

“We don’t think that conser-
vation of energy is the way to
tackle the energy problem that
needs to be tackled,” William
Kashtan, Communist Party lead-
er said in an interview.

“We think the (Macdonald)
proposal is indicative of the
crisis of energy policy,” he said,
“in fact that it is an expression
of the crisis of energy policy, on
the part of the government. ©

“The Canadian people assum-
ed that we had enormous
amounts of energy, and now they
are told that there is only a
diminishing amount available
immediately.”

rage of criticism. Union repre-

arose when MacBeth, in his own
clumsy. manner, admitted that
the provincial government really
had no program to fight unem-
ployment. “We don’t have any
answers,” he said, “we came’ to

this meeting -in the hopes of |
getting some answers from you.”

That comment opened a Pan-

dora’s box for the minister and |
answers began to pour in from —

the audience. One worker after a

ancther mentioned ~ housing
starts, taxation on the corpora-
tions, new job-training programs,

reduced hours of work at 40

hour pay and the prevention of
plant closures. In reply to one
worker’s demands MacBeth in-
dicated that he wasn’t very

serious about hearing any an-_

swers when he said ‘‘Well, I ob-
viously don’t agree with your

social philosophy and I certainly |”
didn’t come here to hear a lec-

ture.”

MacBeth and his cohorts were
noticeably relieved when the
discussion turned from layoffs
to the Ontario Labor Relations
Act. On that subject the Tories
evidently felt they could hold
their own but they were again
immédiately faced with a bar-

sentatives who have to deal with
the Act and the Labor Board said
that it wasn’t just a question of
bureaucratic bungling by the
government that made the Act
unworkable. “It’s simply a bad
Act,” Val Bjarnason of the Unit-

ed Electrical Workers told the

minister. “Tt discriminates

against unions and workers and, |

of course, it favors the employ~
ers.”

misrepresenting
ought to be called to account b
the Canadian people,”
said. “In any case,”
“conservation of energy
the answer because if there is 4
apparent shortage of energy

the moment, what ought to

of oil and export of oil
countries, in the first place the
United States, in order to ensure
that the needs of Canadian

dustry and the Canadian con

he adde@
is not

|

—

sumer would be satisfied and |

met.

_ “The way to conserve energy: |
he said, “is by public ownershi

of energy resources of our cour” |

try, and by putting a stop to the

handing over of these resources |

to the multi-national corpora”
tions.”