EDITORIAL

The Sharp-WAC loan

lease forward $100-million pronto”; or words to that

effect. We don’t know whether Premier Bennett even
said “please” in his terse wire to Ottawa, or just send along
the boodle— and ask no questions,

We gather from federal minister Sharp’s ‘‘whys’’ and “what
fors” that Bennett’s brevity in his effort to heist such a “grant’’
from Ottawa to shore-up his Hydro “contingencies” was/andis
pretty much in keeping with his attitude towards B.C,’s
taxpayers, viz; to give out as little detail as possible on the finer
points of Socred finance juggling.

Knowing that Parliament had been informed by Sharp that
‘the door had not been closed to any B.C. request for a loan”,
WAC promptly stuck his foot init with his $100-million demand,
following an earlier “explanation” that Ottawa wanted ‘‘tq
muscle in on the province’s water resources and development’’,
WAC was having none of that; just a straight $100-million and
‘no strings” attached.

Even the CIA wants to know what is being done with its money,
if indeed highly secretive about who gets it or what it is spent
on, So we can’t be too critical of Sharp and his Liberal col-
leagues if they also want some few details from WAC on
that $100-million, In that respect, roundabout as it may be, the
people of B.C, may also get to know just “how much” Premier
Bennett has put them “in the hole” inhis power deals,

One “example” given by finance minister Sharp, which the
people of B,C, — and Canada would have been much better off
without, was his boast of ‘‘federal participation in Columbia
River development in B,C.”. He forgot to mention —
use of U.S, users.

Thus it doesn’t become Mitchell Sharp to act naive on Ben-
nett’s “come across” demand, His $100-million demand, plus
all his multiple slight-of-hand financing — and evasion to give
the people of B.C, the hard facts of the case, are traceable
to the joint Liberal-Socred sellout of the Columbia, and the
taking of this most valuable resource from the people of B.C.,
much as a hooligan would take candies from a child. ;

No doubt our Socred premier thinks his Liberal partners in
that gigantic “fire-sale” sellout “owes” him that and more to
help keep his Peace hydro project tolerably “solvent” — or as
solvent as such things can be under our Socred “free enter-
prise” system, in which a colossal debt can be palmed off
as a ‘‘contingent liability,” thereby providing a more ready
access to the taxpayer’s pocket, either directly or by a short
cut to the public treasury.

With WAC its just “put up the dough . . . and don’t ask ques-
tions ... I’m a busy man,”

for the sole

nen JessicaSmith publish-

ed her now famous book.
“The American Way of Death”,
exposing a gigantic racket in the
funeral business, millions of
readers in America and else-
where got the shock of their
lives,

Truly, as Karl Marx said in
the ‘Communist Manifesto’ pub-
lished 119-years ago, “The bour-
geoisie has stripped of its halo
every occupation hitherto honor-
ed and looked up to with reverent
awe ... and has left no other
bond between man and man than
naked self-interest, than callous
‘cash payment’’’,

Aside from being victimized
by ‘your friendly undertaker’,
which very few in their hour of
grief and bereavement even think
about, and on whose sorrow and
loss many of the undertaking fra-
ternity exploit to their own gain,
there’s another specie of stream-
lined ‘free enterprise’ ghouls,
who make the famed British grave
robbers Burke and Hare look
like fourth-rate pikers.

For instance there are outfits
like ‘The Dawn’ of New York
City who send out nice little
cards of ‘‘sympathy” to grieving
families, well salted with reli-
gious homilies and recommending
a nice little booklet entitled
‘Hope’, which is ‘‘free upon re-
cept of a postal card request”
—the old book salesman’s ap-
proach to a likely customer, only
in this setting loaded with “sym-
pathy”, The larger volume of
‘Hope’ comes later, with its cus-
tomary ‘please remit’.

Then there’s another branch
of this ‘free enterprise’ touch,
with a New Brunswick address
which specializes in ‘‘sealed in”
memorial obituaries. Here a
clipping bureau obviously
‘scalps’ the obituary columns of
the Canadian press, Then the obit
notice is sealed up in a plastic
covering, with “A Tribute” from
the paper from which it was
scalped, a ‘‘Rest in Peace” and
biblical quotation on the other
side, then the ‘soft touch’; — “the
cost of $1.00 is so small I am
sure you will want to keep this

B.C.’s economy hit hard
by U.S. war in Vietnam

“The Vietnam War and B.C.” was the theme of a recent radio broad-
cast by Maurice Rush on the Sunday night Communist Party program,
“The Legislature and You.” Here we present a summary of the broadcast.

The other day a columnist for
one of Vancouver’s daily news-
papers wrote on the current ses-
sion of the Legislature. He
headed his column: “B,C, feels
the Vietnam war,”

Now, what could the Vietnam
war, taking place some 10,000
miles from B,.C,, have to do with
the session of the Legislature?
The answer is plenty! Whether
we fully realize it or not — and
the columnist writing from Vic-
toria realized this fact: the war
in Vietnam is seriously affecting
the very lives and pocketbooks
of the people of this province,

It’s true — as NDP leader
Tommy Douglas said in Parlia-
ment, that the Vietnam waristhe
most serious moral issue of our
time, In his speech Douglas
gave voice to the sentiments of
most Canadians when he called on
Prime Minister Pearson to show
more courage incalling fora stop
to the U.S, bombing of North Viet-
nam and a halt to the selling of
hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of arms to: the U.S, for
use in Vietnam, .

But, entirely apart from the
injustice of the U.S. stand in
Vietnam, and the war of genocide
it is waging against this tiny
country in far-off Asia, the econ-
omic and ‘social effects of that
war on Canada and British Col-
umbia are now beginning to hit
us hard,

Let’s take an example, the
tight money situation which is
leading to rising prices and is
curbing action on such important
questions as social legislation,
housing and economic develop-
ment,

It’s a known fact that the Uni- _

clipping . . . if after ten days
you decide to keep the clipping
you find enclosed a self-addres-
sed envelope to enclose your
remittance to ensure safe, prompt
delivery’’.

That’s one source of easy
boodle to be derived from the
bereaved that Jessica Smith may
have overlooked in her “Ameri-
can Way of Death”, Probably it
wasn’t fin vogue’ then?

Some weeks ago we got another
grizzly eyeopener. A friend of
ours, and a devoted builder and
supporter of the‘ PT’ passed away
a few years ago, the victim of
cancer. Just a few weeks before
his death, and in the interests of
medical science he ‘willed’ his
body to a university, andhis good
young eyes to an ‘eye bank’.

His ‘will’ was carried out by his
devoted and grief-stricken widow.
Imagine her shock some four
weeks later when she received a
notice from a local undertaking
firm, advising that they had re-
ceived the ‘body’ of her late hus-
band, and would she please call
at their parlors to ‘identify the
body’ and make the necessary
funeral arrangments,

Naturally it was a very great
shock to this sorrowing woman,
but a greater shock was still in
store for her. When she came to
identify the body, it was that of

ted States is diverting increasing
billions of dollars to military
purposes and is discouraging the
use of American capital for
peacetime activities,

Because Canada is so closely
tied up with the U.S, financially
and economically, we are being
directly affected, There has been
a sharp drop in housing construc-
tion and in the level of economic
activity because of the lack of
capital for peacetime purposes,
The federal government has even
sidetracked medicare on the ex-
cuse ofa worsening economic sit-
uation brought on by the Viet-
nam war,

The Vietnam war is also di-
rectly affecting markets for B.C.
products, especially lumber, You
are no doubt aware that many
forest companies have cut back
production for lack of markets
and that thousands of woodwork-

‘Based on Vietnam, we’d need

‘80 billion soldiers for a total war

with Russia.”

someone else and not that of
her late husband.

Whoever was involved in this
cisgraceful episode, university
faculty or not, should have their
‘reward’, not in ‘Heaven’ but in
some penitentiary.

And yet another specie of dol-
lar carrion, We know little or
nothing about the techniques of
cremation, other than the general
idea that the human clay is
speedily reduced to a handful or
two of ashes, scarely enough to
fill a medium-sized flower pot;
so insignificant is Man when re-
turned to the elements of his
Mother Earth.

However it seems we were
wrong. A widow and family who
lost a husband and father only a
few short weeks ago, was noti-
fied by letter from some sub-

ers on the Pacific Coast i
ready jobless, The U.S.
countries in Western cn
sharply cut their imports”
ber, The U.S, has done
cause housing and civil
struction hasbeen curtaile”
the emphasis is being putan®
time production,

Because of our one-sidll
pendence on the U,S, malt
lumber, this cutback hasdit j
affected most logging and®
communities and will do
more if the war continues

Many European countrie®”
as the newspaper colUll
mentioned earlier points”
are cutting their lumber I
from B.C. The reaso?
plained by the columnistthl

“Trade Minister Lofim
mits the government i§
about the continued effec
Vietnam war on inte ic
trade, He claims some
better overseas mark
already felt the effect of
sion, Some are tryiné
themselves more self-
in case the conflict

to

“Mr, Loffmark claims
are likely to suffer #2”
nerves in the next yea! 77
there are signs that fight)
be brought to a speedy

As can oddly be 5
what I. have said: Theé
the war is ended in Vie®
better it will be for the @
world peace and for out
security and welfare.

And that is why Brit
umbians should urge thé
lature to add its W {
growing world opinio# — 7
early end to the bombine”
the war.

human $-scavenger that
small financial fee’ he
“pick up the remains *
deposit them in some PP 4)
Garden of Remembrane
it may be a fine point, ©
are not defined as ‘rel
vice versa, So what i
“cleaned up’? that req
additional fee?

It used to be said of HH
packing industry that Mm?
thing except the ‘death
went into the can. a
business in some of i
benefits’ would seem a fo
close second — in whit
facet of human grief iS ew
for a fast and easy ‘buCc**

Time the spotlight oF
condemnation was turné fi
of these by-products
mercialized ‘«sympath
‘“bereaved”.

Editor—TOM McEWEN

Associate Editor—MAURICE rush

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March 10, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUN