:

ee ae ee

us This trailer camp for gas pipeline workers has been moved south from Dawson Creek as

i is fini 2 f the
Wbs pork Progressed. But when the construction work is ae as de ae eae -
4 Ural gas could create will have been exported to the Unite ‘

The great

SC giveaway

= So

n

tion caine days the snap elec-

Bennett “d by Premier W.A.C.

it's ae be history. But

tion © dy clear that the elec-

Way pnee is not going the
© Socreds planned.

Signi;
ken Tucant change has ta-
lenge oct M

: S, Sre and more the
being «ted spokesmen are
{esi 9 ft on to the de-
Ahoy “snd despite an earlier
Rot. jment that he would
Stuy, y puss the Sommers-
Benet fase in the campaign,
80 in aes been forced to do

IS speéches,

Ae i
tiction Premier's earlier

€ pre-
youl aaa this election
Ith Tn his government

Ov, ° . .
“twhelming majori-

: : € the opposition
Ny, Temnant has now
by the: more
n of “maybe
Seats.”

0
e a are not as cocky
ancl Was ah when the elec-
the Show; led and now they
<MSelveq €Ss confidence in
e eee an at any time
Bex fame to power.
Crea hauilles heel of Social
fen the natural
ee ay of which the
Outgp turdy case ‘is a
wth. The sellout

By MAURICE RUSH

of B.C. resources to U.S. trusts
and the charges of “corruption
and giveaway” have severely
shaken the Bennett govern-

ment.

Some people wonder why
the Socreds allowed them-
selves to be put on the spot
over charges against one man
that he accepted $6500 in
bribes. The fact is they could
not avoid it. A public airing
of the charges against Som-
mers is bound to implicate
Bennett. and his government
in the deals whereby provin-
cial resources have been hand-
ed to the monopolies.

The Socred giveaway has
been carried out on 4a vast
scale. So far 4,800,000 acres of
public forest lands have been
handed to the big trusts
through Forest Management
Licenses, . first introduced by
the Liberals and Tories.

Shortly - after the Sloan
Commission was set up to con-
sider the future of the licens-
ing scheme, the Bennett gov-
ernment granted nearly 2 mil-
lion acres to three companies,
the joint U.S.-Canadian own-
ed MacMillan - Bloedel com-
pany, the U.S.-controlled Cel-

gar Corporation and the re-
cently U.S. acquired B.C. For-
est Products.

British Columbia’s oil re-
sources were also handed over
to a U.S. subsidiary, Trans-
Mountain Pipeline, in-a deal
which provides for two-thirds

of Peace River oil being piped
to tthe U.S. and _ processed
there.

Likewise with natural gas.
Control of this vital resource
was handed to the U.S.-financ-
ed Westcoast Transmission
Company under an agreement
which provides that 300 million
cubic feet be exported to the
U.S. while 15 million is left tap

serve B.C. and Canadian needs.
The Bennett government and

its. Public Utilities Commission
gave the B.C. Electric and In-
land Gas (a subsidiary of West-

coast Transmission) a complete
monopoly of gas distribution
with the result that customers
will be saddled with exorbi-
tant rates. Is it any wonder
Frank McMahon supports the
Bennett government and calls
for its re-election?

Similar attempts by the Ben-
nett government to give away
this province’s hydro resour-
ces have failed largely because
of the public outcry against
the proposed deal with Kaiser
which would have turned Co-
lumbia River power to the
WS:

Why, it may be asked, did
Bennett call the election at
this time—prior tQgthe Sloan
report being brought down
and just before natural gas is
due to arrive?

There may be other second-
ary reasons; it is most likely
that Bennett called the elec-
tion at this time to win a new
mandate before his govern-
ment launches‘on a new move
of giveaways, and before the
people start paying the big
gas bills in store for them.

It is known that Bennett
was .recently in Wall Street
and that he is negotiating with
U.S. interests to hand over B.C.
power resources'in return, for
concessions ‘on the Alaska pan-
handle. It- is also known that
the Socred government favors
Forest Management Licenses.

To have held an election
after the Sloan report was
down would have projected
forest policy into the centre
of the election and the Socreds
didn’t want that.

Of all the political parties
in the province, the Labor-
Progressive party has fought
most consistently against the
Bennett giveaway.

It has brought this issue
sharply before the voters and
urged the processing of nat-
ural resources in B.C, to pro-
vide thousands of new jobs,

stable employment and an ex-
panding economy based on the
new possibilities for trade
and friendship resulting from
lessening of world tensions.

While making this issue the
centre of its campaign, the
Labor-Progressive party has
put forward a four point pro-
gram - urging:

+ Public ownership of nat-
ural resources.

+ An end to Forest Man-
agement Licenses.

+ Extension of the provin-
cial health plan to inelude
full medical, dental-and dia-
gnostic services to all citizens
free of charge.

+ A new tax deal to aid
municipalities, repeal of the
Sales Tax and higher taxes
on big eorporations.

The proposal of the Labor-
Progressive party to unite
CCF, LPP and labor-farmer
voters has won wide support.

The LPP is working for re-
election of all sitting CCF
members and for return of
Labor member Tom Uphill in
Fernie. Its aim is to help elect
a progressive majority to
Victoria and bring into being
a genuine alternative to Social
Credit through . CCF,LPP,la-
bor-farmer unity.

Regardless of the outcome
of the present elections, ‘the
LPP will continue to work
for such electoral unity.

As its contribution to the
political life of the province
and to bring forward its clear-
cut program for new politics,
the LPP is running 14 candi-
dates in eight constituencies
now held by Social Crediters
or Liberals. A vote for these
candidates is the most effec-
tive way to protest the give-
away and to advance the
fight for new politics to put
the people’s interests first.

ange time you drink a
glass of milk you swal-
low a tiny portion of radio-
active strontium-90, which
has been deposited all over
the world since the big H-
bomb test at Bikini in 1954.
Each successive atomic
test is increasing the deposit,
which is laid down in
human. bone, especially in
the bones of growing chil-
dren, and may accumulate
there for years.
The level of strontium
coneentration in our bones
is rising and the full effect
of explosions already car-
ried out have not yet been
felt: an inevitable result
will be seen in years to
come, in the form of bone
cancer and other diseases.
"This terrible warning
comes from top atomic sci-

Atom risk in glass of milk

entists of many countries
who have been working to-
gether on the dangers of
atomic tests and have just
published their conclusions
simultaneously in six lang-
uages.

Unmeasured Hazards _ is
published by the World
Federation of Scientific
Workers, in English, French
Russian, Chinese, German
and Japanese: it is the work
of British, American
French, Soviet and Japan-
ese scientists.

On the cover a picture
of a dividing cell injured by
radiation the funda-
mental cause of sterility or
deformity — illustrates the
danger to the human race,
if atomic tests are allowed
to go on.

The scientists believe that
Some 80-atomic tests have
taken place in the world

so far, and in their opin-
ion the- world is nearer to
the danger limit -than is
generally realised.

“Future--generations will
reap the harvest in ‘the
form of an increased num-
ber. of still-born, mental
defectives -and_ children
born with distressing in-
capacities. Further tests
can only increase the bur-
den we are obliging poster-
ity to bear.” :

The pamphlet goes on to
discuss.an effective system
of controlling atomic
weapons, halting all tests,
prohibiting further manu-
facture of nuclear weapons
and. controlling existing
stockpiles.

Unmeasured Hazards
may be ordered through the
People’s Co-op Bookstore,
337‘ West Pender Street,
Vancouver 3, B.C.

SEPTEMBER 14, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11