‘Regional’ robbery

People pay, rich make hay

By E. ROGERS
(Thunder Bay)

The experiment of Regional
Government introduced into On-
tario by the Robarts Tory gov-
ernment is proving to be a cost-
ly affair for the taxpayers. At-
tempting to bail Northwestern
Ontario out of the growing eco-
nomic-political crisis which has
gripped this area, the govern-
ment once more pours taxpay-
ers’ dollars into the local econ-
omy. In the latter part of Aug-
ust new schemes for releasing
public funds were announced by
Minister of Mines and Northern
Affairs Hon. Leo Bernier and by
provincial treasurer and Minis-
ter of Economics Hon. Darcy
McKeough. They. met with the
Northwestern Ontario Develop-
ment Council and with the
Northwestern Ontario Regional
Advisory Board. The outcome
was a statement that $3 million
worth of surface exploration in-
vestment would be carried out
this year in three gold mining
camp areas—Red Lake, Gerald-
ton-Beardmore and _ Kirkland
Lake. ‘

At Cobalt, Mr. Bernier an-
nounced another million dollars
will be spent on initial explora-
tion to find mineral deposits
which vy ‘wld then be handed
over to private industry at the
taxpayers’ expense.

Regional Government is an
experiment along the lines of
“technocracy” type of planning,
where the government acts the
role of “functioning technate”
and the approach to the future
development of the resources is
precisely as outlined by the
above ministers. The crown uses
the people’s money to assist ex-
isting industries and spends vast
amounts to encourage new in-
dustries. The anomaly is that we
have arrived at the stage where
our public treasury underwrites

monopolies with our own monéy’

—out of the workers’ taxes. The
monopoly industries which the
government bails out do not pay
a fair share of taxes at any time.
Therefore it is a bankrupt policy
which will do very little toward
either creating or alleviating un-
employment here. _
_ Tax Burden

What is
Crown operations looking to-
ward development of the re-
sources without tax dollars—for
the people of Ontario, not the
monopolies. It is not by ac-
cident that Thunder Bay was
singled out as guinea-pig crea-
ture for trials at controlling the
taxing authority (City Council)
so as to shift the taxation load
onto the backs of the working
class and the average citizen
while letting protected monopo-
ly get off with less and less.
This district is dominated by
United States foreign invest-

Crime keeps

required now is~

ment capital. The vast majority
of our resources are under its
direct control. Forestry, pulp
and paper, mining operations
with harbor facilities are the
basis of our economic activity.
Even if it was some other mon-
opoly or capital holding the
commanding heights of our re-
sources, the Tory approach
would be the same.

In less than three weeks after
the ministers left this area, the
taxpayers were informed by. the
Ontario Water Resources Com-
mission that City Council will
be compelled to pick up a tab
of $15 million by the year 1975
for water pollution abatement
programs. Earlier the city had
1. pped a $7 million program.
OWRC vetoed it and demanded
a doubled effort.

Lanor Challenge

In this experiment at dicta-
torial regional governing the
working people will have to
take up the challenge. This is
one of the larger trade union
centres which needs to develop
a higher level of political cons-
ciousness and participate to a
much greater degree in civic
politics.

We have a massive base of
trade unionists to compete
against the Tory policies of aid-
ing the moropolies with our tax
dollars. wh.2 putting the bur-
den.of crisis on our backs as
well.

Our construction industry is
well organized. We have rail-
way, airline and steamship, civil
service, *-tail clerks, musicians

protective local, lumber and
sawmill workers, office and pro-
fessional employees, seafarers
international, teamsters local,
united steelworkers, UAW-CIO,
grain elevator local, public em-
ployees and many more labor
organizations located in this
area.

The class nature of Regional
Government intentions is so
clearly evident that we shall
have to undertake united strug-
gle to win new policies for cre-
ation of new thousands of jobs
by ‘systematic public develop-
ment of the area and resources
for the people of the district,
not for monopoly and big busi-
ness.

Effects of Crisis

The American monetary crisis
means more than ever that the
bankrupt policies of all-out sup-
port to monopolies must be

‘challenged by the people. Elec-

tions are only part of the means
for forcing new policies. Impor-
tant as they are, we have to
have more direct action by the
working people and all those
affected by the big business
interests and their politicians.

Strong people’s action is
needed to get the burden of the
crisis off our backs and compel
governments to act on the real
needs of the Canadian people.
The sinister plans of those be-
hind Regional Government for
monopoly will have to be stop-
ped and new policies initiated
to promote workers’ and farm-
ers’ interests and general pros-

perity.

$10 billion from workers
gouged by Nixon's freeze

By VICTOR PERLO

Every day during the 90 days
of Nixon’s freeze more U.S.
workers are being cheated out
of wage increases coming due,
or which would have been nego-
tiated under fresh contracts.
Every delayed wage increase
means a loss to the worker and
a gain to his employer. And the
amount of loss for labor as a
whole, and gain for employers
as a whole, mounts every day.

For this calculation we as-
sume that wages would have
continued to increase at the re-
cent rate of 6.44% per year, or
0.522% per month.

Then during the first month
of the freeze, wage and salary
earners will lose out by $125
million, their employers gaining
an equal amount.

During the second month

{

rising in U.S.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued its
1970 uniform crime reports showing an 11% increase in serious
crimes over 1969 and a 176% increase since 1960.

Only 20% of serious crimes were solved in 1970, the same as in
1969, but down from a solution rate of 31% in 1960—and this des-
pite the enormous increase in the police forces and the funds allo-
cated for crime prevention. Of the 6.2 million persons arrested in
1970 for serious offenses, 69.9% were white, 27% black, and 3.1%
Indians, Japanese, Chinese and other non-white people. Persons
over 18 accounted for 74.7% of those arrested, 25.3% persons under
18 and 9.2% persons under 15. Men committed 85.6% of the crimes,
women 14.4%. Of the 15,180 murders committed last year, firearms
accounted for 65.4%, knives for 18.9%.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1971—PAGE 10 -

AEE NEES

workers will lose and employers
gain $377 million.

During the third month work-
ers will lose and employers gain
$632 million.

That makes a total of $1,134
million during the 90 days.

Now suppose Phase 2 keeps
everything in the proportions
reached at the end of the 90
days for the next 12 months.
During that one year period
workers will continue to lose,
and employers to gain, at the
rate reached at the end of the
90 days. This comes to $9,096
million.

That is the general perspec-
tive. Workers to lose over a bil-
lion the first 90 days, and over
nine billion during the next
year, for a total of over 10 bil-
lion. Employers, naturally, will
gain that much. However, 21.4%
of wages and salaries are paid
by governments. So private em-
ployers will gain directly “only”
$8 billion of the $10 billion lost
by workers. They stand to get
much more than the $2 billion
back from the government in
Nixon’s proposed giveaways.

Naturally, these calculations
are very rough. Many factors
can vary from the values as-
sumed for the calculations. One
thing is sure. In the absence of
real labor resistance, workers’
losses will be much more than
$10 billion, and employers’ wind-
fall profits much more than $10
billion.

Edmonton Journal?

reports of a train accident.

train accident a day.

Act.

In the latter cases inquiries or investigations are
in public, or their results are made public afterwards. In Bi
case of train wrecks, inquiries are usually held in camera
sections of the Railway Act prohibit the release

Train accidents are increasing.
and Canadian Pacific experienced 100 derailments and sin
lisions. In 1968, there were 217 derailments and 44 colli
In 1969, the derailments were 224 and the collisions 4 ‘a
the first six months of last year there were 142 derai one {h
and 27 collisions, which is getting dangerously close 10 © it

WHY THE SECRECY:

Why is there the curious distinction between train act
dents and accidents involving aircraft or ships, asks ©

either hel

of offi

In 1967, Canadian Nationtl |

Yet the public is told nothing of why the trains keep ae
ing off the tracks. It’s not given a chance to study
ings of the various investigations, nor is it given an OP!
ity to make suggestions about possible improvements. —

It is a paternalistic attitude that dates back a century, ' the.
railways were omnipotent. But it
taxpaying public, whose money subsidizes the railways
rations, is kept in the dark about dangerous acciden
cost lives and money. It’s time for changes

—Canadi:

seems incredible tha

eS

in the
in Railway

Labor supports farmel

boycott of Kraft good

By WILLIAM BEECHING

A boycott of Kraft Foods
Limited has been officially de-
clared by the National Farmers
Union.

Walter Miller, vice-president
of the NFU, announced in Lu-
can, Ontario, that the. boycott
was on. He said that the farm-
ers could no longer carry on
under existing circumstances.
He related how the farmers had

tried to bargain in the dairy in-

dustry, had spoken with gov-
ernment agencies, picketed
Kraft’s Ingelside plant. He
charged that Kraft refused to
talk with them from the start,
and that the Ontario Milk Mar-
keting Board had acted as a
strikebreaker. He said that the
union had tried to arrange a
meeting with Kraft picketing at
Ingelside, but that the company
had refused.

The NFU has set itself a goal
of winning bargaining rights
enabling the NFU to negotiate
price and marketing arrange-
ments on behalf of the farmers.

The appeal of the NFU is
“Please Don’t Buy Products of
the Kraftco Corporation.” The
people are asked not to buy
Kraft, Sealtest and Dominion
Dairies brands.

Right now, says the union,
the farmers have no say about
the price they are paid for the
milk used by the giant corpora-
tions such as Krafts.: “The re-
sult is unbelievably low  in-
comes. Farmers and their fami-
lies are being driven from the

Artic A-power stati0!

MURMANSK (APN) — In the
regional studies museum of the
Kola Peninsula in the Soviet
Arctic, a map shows mills, pits,
and mines with samples of their
products on stands — nickel,
copper, cobalt, iron concentrate,
apatite and nepheline.

Photographs show panoramas
of the young towns of Zapolar-
ny, Apatit and Olenegorsk
(Reindeer City).

The hydro-electric power sta-
tions on the rivers of the Kola
peninsula—Niva, Tuloma, Kov-
da, Kuma, Paza and the large
Kirovsk thermal power stations
are providing more energy than
such countries as Greece, Tur-
key and Portugal combined.
This energy helps to mine an-

land every day. From i
go to the cities to ad
unemployment rolls,
for scarce jobs (tending iy
wages which are alr
low) and add to thé
shortage, overcrowding
other staggering U!! ig 8
lems,” says the union”
Kraftco is the 1arB i
monopoly in North 1p?
the 32nd _ largest i: $2
with sales in 1969 © 5
lion. Its sales rank ser ces
to the huge Swift Pa afe
nopoly, but its profits jow
times as large. It pay? fi
es and is a notoriol ont?
buster. None of is”
plants are organized. (i)
Its brand names 4° wht
Barrel, Velveeta, Chee?
and Kraft. It sells Mira ad }
dressings of all sorts iq?
margarines — Miracle os,
Parkay—as well as J°7 gil!
candies, marshmallow ai
ice cream toppings
table oils. j0
Among the trade ve
ganizations that hav neu
their support of the red?
cott are the Ontarie aq
of Labor, the Winds? e 4
trict Labor Council ati
the Saskatcehwan
Labor, the Winnipes | ical
trict Labor Counch ia
Bakery and Confectl?” me

ers, the United Fist he"
Allied Workers Unl0®; of
katchewan Joint B jate”
RWDSU, A»
Wheat Pool Employ
tion, and man :

§

0
nually more than Jal
tons of apatite c”
some six million
concentrate,
aluminum ance
progress is bei?
peninsula’s min
smelting industry: , phe“ d

The directives 4
Five-Year Plan a of

siderable groWe w
power generation,

be achiev: pes gh
generating Ce” | ope
with reactors
kilowatts each.
One of these
struction in the

ae