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de ction FEVER: Montreal’s new mayor, Jean Dore, backed by his
as’ | CM team greets supporters at a party rally. The MCM took 55 of the 58

On council virtually wiping out Jean Drapeau’s Civic Party.

__.,

Labor moves with CPA

By FRANK GOLDSPINK

1 WINNIPEG — The recent Canadian Peace Alliance conven-
| '0n here took important steps forward of the type which the

}) ~Anadian Labor Congress hoped to see when it affiliated to the

ik PA earlier this year, says Murray Randall, the CLC’s executive
| legate to the convention.

“We came to the convention with the expectation that the

'}| Mocess (of involving the CPA more directly in Canada-wide

*ampaigns) would move ahead and that the somewhat delicate
Mature of the (CPA) coalition would be preserved,” said Randall
"a post-convention interview.

“T think basically that has happened.”” aie
ndall, the CLC’s senior researcher, was part of the negotia-
for a compromise on the ‘campaigns’ issue.

meer a little disappointed that the convention didn’t move
© CPA to campaigns ina little more high-profile, hands-on way,
d We weren’t alone in that. But (like the majority of delegates),
© Were prepared to embark on a compromise.”

hw orkshop discussions and votes in the plenary showed that
ta, Majority of organizations represented at the convention
.Oured a stronger ‘‘campaigns’’ directive but were willing to
°Mpromise to build the strength and breadth of the CPA.

fy andall said the CLC will have to determine the best way it can
into the campaign priorities set by the convention.

‘Existing Congress policy is in line with the No to Star Wars
And the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone priorities. Now we have to
to a judgment where our resources are best to be put. We have
| Obe Careful not to spread ourselves out too thinly.
the S2rding future labor involvement in the CPA, Randall said
he f€sponse from affiliates to the call for affiliation has been
\ SUraging and will continue to grow.

in the Said he expects affiliates and local will become more active
tthe

&

tions

Canadian peace movement overall, regionally and locally.
at’s their task. That’s what they could do best.’
Verall, he said the CLC and organized labor is taking up Its

itiv® \| responsibility to join fully in the peace movement, ina way which

Morces the movement's existing strengths and diversity.
| We are conscious of the fact that by numbers alone, our
| tpance could prove provocative in terms of the makeup of the

iat V° are sensitive to the fact that we are a large mass organ-
Shag and we don’t want to create the impression that we are
ay to establish a ‘trade-union’ peace movement. :

The Peace movement is a partnership. We are playing our

Dace nd playing our role and we hope that increasingly takes

_ Progressive change
sweeps Montreal vote

MONTREAL — A powerful
wind of democratic change swept
city politics here Nov. 9, as
Mayor Jean Drapeau’s ruling
Civic Party was virtually wiped
off the map to be replaced by Jean
Dore and his Montreal Citizens’
Movement.

The new 58 seat council now
counts 5S MCM members; among
them 15 women, many trade
unionists and other activists for
civic and social reform.

Some examples — Nicole
Milhmane, president of a Cana-
dian Auto Workers local: Andre
Lavalle, a leader in the co-op
housing movement; John Gard-
ner, a two-time incumbent and
leading tenant activist and Costas
Georgoulis, former president of
the Greek Labor Association.

Two members of the Civic Par-
ty, a representative of the Demo-
cratic Alliance and one indepen-
dent will form the opposition.
Drapeau’s hand-picked succes-
sor, Claude Dupras, a veteran
Tory organizer, tried hard to
maintain the stranglehold the
Civic Party wielded at City Hall
for the past 26 years. Many new
candidates were fielded in an ef-
fort to effect a ‘“‘changed”’ image
to voters, but it was too little too
late.

Montreal’s new mayor, Dore, a
41-year-old labor lawyer, sum-
med it up election night when he
told supporters, “‘this beautiful
victory is the result of work we've
done over the last 12 years.” It
was work accomplished by a di-

verse coalition of groups and
members of the Parti Quebecois,
Communists and independents.

Many present election night
were veterans of the FRAP,

which had preceded the MCM,

but had been swept away by the
War Measures Act and a red-bait-
ing campaign in 1970.

The MCM’s program centres
on democratization- of civic
government. Under Drapeau city
hall was known as one of the most
arbitrarily run governments in the
country. It also emphasizes job
creation, making city government
accessible to ethnic minorities,
affordable housing, tenant protec-
tion, expanded public trans-
portation and park land.

The day after victory Mayor
Dore recalled his promise to fight
a transit fare increase recently
announced by the last council,
and to hold a referendum on con-
dominium conversions.

Having just participated, along
with 10,000 other Montrealers in
the annual March for Peace, Dore
promised to act on MCM policy to
work in favor of disarmament.

The Montreal daily, La Presse,
carried an objective account of
the critical support given the
MCM by the Communist Party of
Quebec. The MCM has Commu-
nist Party members working in all
areas from the grassroots to
candidates.

The Civic Party had tried a
witch hunt against Dore, stressing
his party’s support from the labor
movement and the PCQ. But the

MCM didn’t fall for the bait. If
anything the campaign backfired
and cost the Civic Party votes.

The one exception was in Mon-
treal north, where MCM can-
didate Georges Darsaklin was the
victim of a red-baiting tactic. On
the eve of election day an un-
signed leaflet bearing his photo-
graph was distributed in the riding
implying that people should vote
for him as a member of the CPQ.
He had been expected to win.

**Despite the MCM’s
overwhelming claim on city hall,
smear campaigns by the right can
be expected,” predicts Claire
DaSylva, a member of the CPQ’s

. National executive. ** Big business

will act if it finds the measures
introduced by the new party are
contrary to their interests.

‘**Unfortunately at its last con-
vention there was already a cer-
tain policy shift to the right mainly
on economic issues which a large
minority of the delegates opposed
and the PCQ criticized,’ notes
DaSylva, who is also an MCM
activist. ““Only the broadest pres-
sure and cooperation of the
people within and without the
MCM will assure it will develop
democratically and in a progres-
sive direction.

“Nov. 9 was a real victory, but
we must assure that Montrealers
do not go through the same sad
experience that Quebekers went
through with the PQ government
in its second mandate.”

Conference backs test ban

EDMONTON — The Mulro-
ney government took a roasting on
foreign policy issues by 5,000 peace
activists meeting here Nov. 8-9.

Ottawa was accused of trailing
the U.S. on nuclear arms policy,
failing to take an independent
stand on the arms race and arms
negotiations, particularly the Pen-
tagon’s Strategic Defence Initiative
or Star Wars.

As the Defence Department
prepares to undertake its first
major policy review in 15 years, the
government was criticized for the
secrecy which cloaks defence agree-
ments with the United States,
including the recent renewal of the
NORAD agreement. It was also
censored for the active role it plays
in financing and facilitating research
and manufacturing for the U.S.
military. :

The meeting, organized by the
Council of Canadians and Physi-
cians for Social Responsibility,
called on government to support
the Soviet Union’s unilateral test
ban and urge the United States to
follow suit; called for an end to
Cruise missile testing and the
establishment of an independent
commission to study the possibil-
ity of Canada becoming a non-
aligned country.

‘‘There was quite a strong
unanimity on a number of points
and an overwhelming support for
the issues developed during the
course of the conference’, noted
Toronto peace activist Bob

Penner.

Originally expecting 500, or-
ganizers were delighted by the
turnout. Over 5,000 tickets were
sold for the two-day event held at
the University of Alberta sports
complex. Participants, mainly
from the province, braved —18C
temperatures, snow and_ frigid
winds to attend.

“It shows you can’t judge the
strength of the peace movement
by the size of the last demonstra-
tion’’, notes Penner who works
for the Canadian Peace Alliance,
a country-wide organization
bringing together 300 groups.

Penner who was amcng the
most widely acclaimed speakers
at The true North Strong and Free?
conference, brought cheers from
the crowd when he urged Ottawa
to ‘‘take a risk”’ and publicly sup-
port Soviet proposals in Geneva
to cut ballistic missiles by be-
tween 30 and S50 per cent, to shore
up existing arms control treaties
and to get U.S. support for a
moratorium on nuclear tests.

While Canada has phased out
its own nuclear weapons, it still
tests the Cruise for the U.S. mili-
tary, allows U.S. warships to use
our ports and plans to disperse
bombers here in the event of nu-
clear crisis, Penner said.

‘‘This country and our leaders
are keeping quiet (about Canada’s
ties with the U.S. military) at the
very moment they should be
shouting’’, he said to enthusiastic
applause.

There were those who dis-

agreed. Ralph Lysyshyn, director
of the arms control division of the
Department of External Affairs,
defended Canada’s participation
in NATO and Norad as well as the
country’s voting record on arms
issues at the United Nations and
other international gatherings.
(Canada was one of five countries
which voted against an arms
freeze in the U.N.)

He explained that if there is a

similarity between U.S. and.

Canadian stands on arms-related
matters it is “largely because we
share the same values’. This
assertion was hotly debated
as government and military
spokespersons remained on the
hot seat throughout the meeting.
The front page of the local Ed-
monton Journal summed it up in
their headline ‘‘Government
brass booed by True North
conference’’.

The defence department
brought in five of their top senior
policy analysts ‘‘who tried to
paper over difference’’, remarks
Penner.

“It is significant that the
government sent these guys, one
was flown in from Paris. (The
meeting) was a powerful force
from which the government found
it necessary to defend itself. The
three parties in Parliament all sent
senior people, a reflection of their
concern for the event.””

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 19, 1986 e 7

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