Canadian Committe came

Je

et, a number of opini
pinions
ve been advanced for and
‘Bainst it,
The

Gmarker oPos2! for a free trade

VVaringes NOt particularly new.
oo On this theme have
4 on Vanced before. In fact
ought a federal election was
Drocit Over the issue of reci-

: cee With the Liberals going
ties © resounding defeat be-

they championed it.

1 The Present proposal, how-

H camore far-reaching in its
Posed ae What is being pro-
been hat all-tariff walls be-
liminat anada and the USA be

; aay Over a stated number
' ind €xcept for the agricul-
Gn ny and that indus-
nd ayaa be rationalized

Of manufar ize in certain types
on acturing on the assump-

arket te would be a huge

in the USA for Cana-

> a an economic policy
Ould g 1 ee by Canada it
oul cll national suicide. It
es the end of the na-

e base icy which has been
politi of national economic
nt Cal development of our
onomie anges, the door to
On by the (oes absorp-

= Bs

iti 3
§ * Not accidental that those

VER since the American: -

forward with the proposal .
& Continental Free Trade -

et between Canada and the -

William
Kashtan

pressing for this policy are the
giant U.S. monopolies which
want free access to Canada’s
great natural resources, includ-
ing its water and electric power,
and those financial interests in
Canada which are bound up
with them, including those which
see the opportunity of making
a fast buck at the expense of
the true national interests of
our country.

For the Canadian people, how-
ever, including those sections
of the capitalist class basing
themselves on the home market
and on trade with the world,
it would spell disaster.

A continental free trade mar-
ket would give control over
Canadian economic development
to the USA. It would not be
an agreement between equals
but a one-sided agreement with

- all the aces in the hands of U.S.

monopoly.
A continental free trade mar-

~Siest American bombings

f/ By DaviD DENT
MONTREAL
VENTS in Viet

ae ~ last nam over the
weeks have

ys tou.
ini PNto oak Many new faces -

Picket lines all across

f hlighted Montreal they have
hich has e distinct change

it ketlines, 4Ken place on those

bi | Rece

dil ken lace MOnstrations have

OE the « me under the auspices
Rtham» amittee for Peace in

HUdes IS committee in-
it “lions fron different organiza-
sine the new socialist

In
€m eee. And it does not
Teaq 2 temporary affair.
. eeks Within legs than two
aflen props foundation, it has
vy pittes ened to put the com-
id Permanent basis

its name to
Or Peace.”

WwW
Pbee’s years ago, despite
War, 5 worical Opposition
°ntreal yy Peace movement in
og, Fe More si Primarily English.
“gy 5. VAS j a gant claimed that
sh Wa dian sible to get French
‘Mes ~S interested | 5
Sted in such is-

This opinion has been conclu-
sively disproven, Sam Walsh,
chairman of the Quebec Com-
mittee of the Communist Party,
recently pointed out.

The most obvious factor in
recent activity is the number of
those responsible who are poli-
tically active in other spheres.
There are nationalists and S0-
cialists of widely different de-
grees and combinations. There
is also a striking sense of soli-
darity among those fighting for
national self-determination at
home in Quebec toward those
fighting for it in Vietnam and
elsewhere.

A French-Canadian radical
knows very well what it means
to shout: “Le Vietnam au Viet-
namiens!”

Two demonstrations based on
a much narrower unity took
place before Christmas. The
Montreal Peace Centre, the
Montreal Peace Council, the
Movement for Nuclear Disarma-
ment, the Young Communist
League and a few others were
involved.

to genuine’

world.’

ket would mark an end to the
development of industry in Can-
ada and redirect it toward
becoming a supplier, by and
large, of raw materials and natu-
ral resources for the U.S. mar-
ket. Any advantages which

‘might accrue to this or that

sector of monopoly industry in
Canada would be at the expense
of national development in Can-
ada as a whole.

It would direct Canada not
toward an expanding. world
market but a diminishing U.S.
market.

It would enmesh Canada ever
more firmly in the U.S. military
machine. —

For the working class the
proposal for rationalization and
specialization would mean cur-
tailment of jobs and of skills.
Instead of a growing working
class arising from development
of industry. in Canada, the work-
ing class would diminish.

‘The proposal for continental
free trade has brought into the
open again the two paths which
are open to Canada—one direct-
ed to national suicide, the other

national economic

development and trade with the

For small industry it would

mean. shutdowns as the process *

of mergers and takeover pro-
ceeded apace, stimulated by ra-
tionalization and specialization.

The proposed continental free
trade market mirrors not only
the growing market difficulties
confronting the capitalist world;

it also expresses the willingness

of monopoly interests to throw
overboard the real national in-
terests of our country if it suits
their narrow, selfish interests.

Implicit in this proposal is .

the suggestion that there is no
alternative to a continental free
trade market, that it is do or
die. This‘is not true at all. There
is an alternative. That alter-
native is to build Canadian in-
dustry; providing it breaks with
the cold war and discriminatory
policies pursued by the USA;
providing it breaks with the
policy of interference with the

newly independent countries ~

Open-air speech at McGill University in Montreal.

One of these demonstrations
concerned Vietnam; the other
concerned the Congo. The Mont-
real Peace Centre did not parti-
cipate in the ‘latter because it
refused to condemn those who
had just commenced providing
the Congolese rebels with arms.

The demonstrations which oc-
curred in the last few weeks

‘have included Parti Pris, “the

Marxist Separatist monthly;
Revolution Quebecoise, another
Marxist monthly; a new social-
ist club called “Le Groupe
d’Action Populaire’; the Ras-
semblement pour 1’Indepen-
dance Nationale and others. The

Voice of Women made its first

official appearance in a long
time at one of the later demon-
stfations. :

4 continental free trade market ?
-signpost to national suicide

and continued support of U.S.
imperialist aims in South Viet-
nam, in the Congo and else-
where.

There is also a vast market in
the socialist countries,

Let Canada extend credits of
several billion dollars and open
up two-way trade with these
countries.

Here are the alternatives,
based on peaceful co-existence,
which would strengthen the Ca-
nadian identity rather than un-
dermine it and buttress the eco-
nomic and political indepen-
dence and sovereignty of our
country.

Those who call for continen-

tal free trade with the USA say, .

in effect, that there is no future

for Canada. What they should ©

really say is that there is no
future for Canada under con-
tinued monopoly control and
domination. Is it not time, in
face of mergers and takeovers,
for measures of public control,
to safeguard the public and
national interest and to elimi-
nate those hampering and res-
trictive monopoly controls
which distort the Canadian eco-
nomy?

The proposal for continental
free trade has brought into the
open again the two paths open
to Canada — one directed to
national suicide, the other to
genuine national economic deve-
lopment and trade with the
world.

New faces appearing on the picketlines

Those who have spoken or
have been invited to speak in-
clude Pierre Valieres of Revo-

lution Quebecoise, a member of

the McGill Socialist Society,
Claire. Dasylva of the Quebec
Young Communist League, and
the leader of the Groupe d’Ac-
tion Populaire.

Overall, these demonstrations
and the committee which ini-
tiated them have placed the is-
sues clearly in their political
perspective. It is only half true
to say, aS one person did, that
it takes 1,000 dead peasants to
get one extra Montrealer out on
a picketline.

These demonstrations were
anti-irmperialist and were work-
ing-class oriented in.a way
which was not true in the past.
If people were scared away by
the clear position, it was cer-
tainly not reflected in numbers.

The demonstrators were not
having things. on any other
basis; at the same time, any at-
tempts at in-fighting and “ultra-
leftism” were summarily reject-
ed by the majority.

March 19, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7