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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1970

OTTAWA NEEDS NEW POLICIES

END AUSTERITY PLAN

CLC urged fo call
emergency parley

The Canadian Labor Congress was urged last week
to convene an emergency conference to reverse the
government’s austerity and anti-inflation program, and
compel it to adopt economic and social policies to meet
the real needs of the Canadian people.

JOBLESS LINES GET LONG AND LONGER. Ottawa’s austerity program has almost brought the economy to a
halt and caused widespread unemployment and suffering. Unemployed lines in B.C. are longer than in any
other province, as is illustrated by the hundreds lined up each day at unemployment insurance and welfare
offices, The above lineup is at the Vancouver welfare building on W. 8th Ave.

FISHERIES TALKS SET

Important talks between
Canadian and Soviet represen-
tatives on fisheries problems are
Set to take place in Ottawa on
September 21. Many questions
are expected to be discussed,
including conservation, the
fisheries treaty, safety
measures as well as the present
ban on Soviet fishing vessels
Picking up supplies at
Vancouver.

Last weekend Fisheries
Minister Davis met in Victoria
with representatives of fisher-
men who staged a demon-
Stration outside the Victoria
harbor. The demonstration was
held in conjunction with some
fishermen from Oregon and
Washington.

The ‘‘protest’”’? was staged
primarily as an anti-Soviet
demonstration with fishboats
carrying slogans such as ‘‘Keep
the Reds out,’’ and ‘‘Save our
salmon.’’ The demonstration
came only a few days after a
survey made by a Canadian
fisheries department vessel
reported that Soviet fishboats

off the B.C. coast were not

taking salmon and confirmed
that they were taking only hake.
Organizers of the Victoria
demonstration were not named,
except for one or two individuals
who met with Davis as
‘“‘spokesmen.”’ Significantly, the
directors of the Pacific Trollers
Association, which represents
fishermen on the west coast of

Vancouver Island, published an

advertisement in the daily press
last Saturday which said:

‘We are in no way involved or
responsible for any illegal
action on the part of any person
or persons and that no person or
persons involved in such action
may hold themselves out as a
representative of the Pacific
Trollers Association or as
having authority from this asso
ciation.”

What ‘‘organizers’’ of the
demonstration failed to point
out was that the threat to B.C.’s
salmon industry does not come
from the Soviet Union but from
fishing of salmon in the North
Pacific by Japanese and South
Korean operations. Fisheries

See FISHERIES, pg. 2

Vol. 31, No. 36

This action was urged by the
Central Executive Committee
of the Communist Party in a
letter by the party’s leader,
William Kashtan, to Donald Mac-

Donald, president of the
Canadian Labor Congress.

The letter to MacDonald said:

“The present trend in
economic development is cause
for serious concern. Instead of
economic growth, there is
stagnation. Unemployment is
continuing to rise as are prices
and profits. The extent of unem-
ployment is much higher than
the DBS figures tell us and
probably is close to the million
mark.

“‘All this is a direct con-
sequence of the government’s
austerity anti inflation policy.
Rather than beating inflation the
government has been beating
the working people and creat-
ing unemployment. These
policies have already brought
Canada into a recession.

“Faced with widespread oppo-
sition to its policies the govern-
ment now considers it expedient
to say that rising unemployment
is more serious than inflation.
However, the words of the
Prime Minister in this connec-
tion are not matched by deeds.
The proposal to increase expen-
ditures on housing, while good in
itself, is not on a scope to make a
serious dent on unemployment
which can be expected to rise
this fall and winter. Indeed,
some economists claim the
limited action of the govern-
ment is ‘too little and too late.’

“This could well bé the case.

“What is evident from this is
that governments representing
monopoly interests pursue poli-
cies in the interests of mono-
poly, and not of the people. Addi-

tional proof of this is seen in the
fact that while the Trudeau gov-
ernment refused and still refuses
to call an emergency session of
Parliament to debate rising
unemployment it is quite pre-
pared to convene such an emer-
gency session to bludgeon postal
employees into accepting its
wage guideline policy.

“With rising unemployment, a
growing agricultural crisis, and
increasing encroachments on
the rights of workers and the
trade unions, the organized
labor movement has a clear and
pressing duty to lead the fight to
reverse present government
policy. To leave it to govern-
ment is to leave it to monopoly,
the enemy of the Canadian
people. Labor must unitedly lead
that fight together with the
farmers, the young generation
and all those adversely affected
by government policy.

“Unless there is a complete
reversal of government policy
and its replacement by a policy
of expansion and growth based
on independent economic devel-
opment and expansion of trade.
purchasing power will continue
to decline, the home market will
become further restricted and
the economic situation is likely
to worsen.

“Tt is in this light that we urge
the Canadian Labor Congress to
take the initiative and to con-
vene an Emergency Conference
together with the Confederation
of National Trade Unions. the
National Farmers Union, the
NDP, Communist Party and
other interested bodies. so as to
mount effective pressure on
Parliament directed to reverse
the government's austerity and

See AUSTERITY, pg. 12