STATISTIC S CANADA \S PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE UNEMPLOY? HENT RATE 1S 7.4% GREAT STATISTICS CANADA ALSO HAS GOOD NEWS Eom THOSE WHO REeMenkEe R THE DEPRESSION. ES WE APPLIED OBvurc FOr MULA IT AND FOONP THE UNEMPLOYMENT RBIE WAS ONLY | To J c fey ba “ > their desire for some far-reaching _lish speaking people of Canada. dians who believes that French Ca- By ALD. HARRY RANKIN change in Quebec’s relationship It was a straight nationalist doc- nadians in Quebec constitute a na- The Establishment across the country is pleased with the majority “‘No”’ vote in the Quebec referen- dum on sovereignty association. Actually the vote resolves nothing. The central problem is that Que- bec is not just another province. French Canadians in Quebec con- stitute a nation, but they do not have the rights of a nation, that is the right to completely control their own destiny. Until this problem is resolved we will not have Canadian “unity. The wording of the referendum was politically contrived to bring into support of the separatists all those who believed in a new deal for Quebec. The Parti Quebecois government asked voters to give it a mandate to negotiate separatism while maintaining an economic re- lationship with Canada. And it was partially successful. According to previous polls the support for sep- aratism in Quebec never was higher than 15 or 20 percent. But many people voted yes because they felt this was the only way to bring pressure on Ottawa and express with Canada. On the other hand, many who voted No also wanted a basic change, but they wanted it within Canada. The people were not given an op- portunity to vote on the basic ques- tions which were: (a) Do you favor self determina- tion for French Canada by separat- ing and becoming an independent state, or (b) Do you favor self determina- tion for French Canada through a new made-in-Canada constitution which recognizes Quebec as a na- tion. The independent Quebec that Rene Levesque and the Parti Que- becois outlined in their 150-page White Paper did not deal with the main problems facing the people of Quebec — unemployment, infla- tion, control of the economy by big corporations (U.S., German, Can- ‘adian, British, ...). The word multinational wasn’t even men- tioned in the document. The enemy of the Quebec people was designat- ed as the ‘‘anglophones,”’ the Eng- ument. The good guys were the French Canadians, the bad guys were the English Canadians. On top of that the White Paper proposed that an independent Quebec would stay in NATO and Norad and foreign military (U.S.) bases would continue on -Quebec soil. What kind of independence is that? © It has become clear that Rene Levesque and his Parti Quebecois government are mainly concerned with providing greater business op- portunities for French Canadian businessmen, not with any sub- stantial social reform. He repre- sents the French Canadian middle class which wants to muscle in on the hold that non-French corpora- tions have on the economy of Que- bec. Naturally the present Estab- lishment, represented by the Lib- eral Party and Union Nationale provincially and the Liberals and Conservatives federally, are not prepared to let French Canadian business interests cut into their pro- fits. I’m one of those English Cana- oom PEOPLE AND ISSUES: See weeks ago Communist Party Greater Vancouver regional chairman Fred Wilson fired off a terse protest to Vancouver city council charging one alderman with slandering the party and city coun- cil as a whole for allowing the slander to take place during a council meeting. The alderman in question was the fundamentalist preacher Bernice Gerard who in debating a motion to democratize the city’s voting procedures, made wild allegations that if the city charter was amended to allow electors to be placed on the voters list by swear- ing an affidavit at the polling booth, the procedures would be abused by the Communist Party. The fact that the proposed amendment would br- ing Vancouver into line with all other municipalities in the province, none of which report any abuse at all, did not deter Gerard from looking for a convenient bogeyman, which she thought she had found in the Communist Party. The CP was not about to oblige, however, and labelling the remarks exactly as they were — slander — demanded a retraction. We waited to hear of city council’s response to the protest, but, strangely, the letter failed to appear with the other items of communication to the city at the next meeting. An inquiry to one of the aldermen revealed what had happened to the letter. It was distributed, but secretly to each alderman’s desk and carefully omitted from the list of communications on the agenda and in the packages distributed to the press a * * wr the trade union press in this province main- " tained a merciful silence on the death in January of former AFL-CIO president George Meany — silence . being the most charitable comment — we note that the Provincial, published by the B.C. Government Employees Union, not only gave a full page to his career but described him as a man who “‘came to per- sonify the American labor movement . . . with loyalty, tenacity and integrity.” Trade unionists for whom the likes of Meany have come to represent the corruption, conservatism and poisonous anti-communism that is still predominant in the top leadership of the U.S. labor movement, will probably read with some disbelief the description of the labor president as “‘generally a liberalizing force in — American life.’’That about a man who contemp- tuously dismissed the civil rights movement and with it the demands of one of his vice-presidents, A. Phillip Randolph, who pressed for an end to segrega- tion in union locals; who refused labor’s traditional support of the Democratic presidential candidate because he advocated peace in Vietnam; and who played host to Alexander Solzhenitsyn when even the U.S. president wouldn’t. But even the Provincial, despite the fulsome praise. it gives Meany, is compelled to note that, as AFL-CIO president, he sponsored “‘an unholy alliance of labor, big business and government which, in the name of anti-communism set out, in Latin America . . . to pro- mote a brand of trade unionism totally at odds with the traditions and needs of the labor movement...” It was also compelled to note that the AFL-CIO “‘has lost ground in 25 years”” — the years in which Meany was leader. * * * ustice, it seems, comes slowly — if sometimes, it comes at all. For 40 years, the Veterans of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, their ranks dwindl- ing with the passing of every one of those years, have been fighting to win recognition as war veterans — and the pension rights that go with them. That cam- paign has gained some ground in recent months with backing from many organizations and city councils. But apparently, it hasn’t moved the federal govern- ment too much — yet. However, a meeting last week with the federal vet- erans minister did win a commitment to study changes in the Act, which would pave the way for recognition. But it’s only a study — action is yet to come. BE OOO ONE PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 30, 1980—Page 2 tion, that they should have self de- termination, which means full con- trol of all their own affairs. But I am also one of those English Cana- dians who believes that the best way to achieve this would be within Canada. The ball is now in Pierre Tru- deau’s court and also in the court of the provincial premiers, all of - whom assured Quebecers that if . they would only vote No, the con- stitution would be brought home, federalism would be renewed and rejuvenated. I wouldn’t hold my breath wait- ing for them to do it. They have open mouths but closed minds. . The Establishment, the multina- tionals who run our economy, like , things the way they are. They are . not likely to make any fundament- al change until such a time as pro- . gressive forces within the national- ° ist movement in Quebec join with the labor movement in demanding substantial social change for all the people, not just for French Cana- dian business interests. GVRA hits Rentex at By. council The Greater Vancouver Renters Association this week campaign _ in Burnaby against the activities of commercial rental agencies and after manning an information picket at one of the prime offenders — Rentex on East Hastings St. — the tenants took the protest to Bul- naby municipal council Monday evening. “Our picket was joined by many angry ex-Rentex clients,” Tom Lalonde, president of the Greater Vancouver Renters Association told council. “The GVRA contends that thes¢ agencies (commercial rental age cies) are parasitical because they prey on those hardest hit by the housing crisis — single parents, seniors and those on low and fixed incomes. “It is these groups that are often desperate enough, faced with the real possibility of not securing ade- quate accomodation, to throw what may possibly be their last for- ty dollars into a service that is too often not delivered,”’ he said. — The tenants’ organization press ed Burnaby cow::