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CANADA

Memorial to Goodwin dedicated

Victoria Bishop Remi De Roo (I) called the exploitation of working people a moral issue during dedication of a new
memorial plaque to labour martyr Ginger Goodwin at Comox Lake June 27. The bishop, along with former Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers organizer and mines minister in Dave Barrett's NDP government, Leo Nimsick (r), Mayor Bronco
Moncreiff and Sudbury Mine-Mill president Rick Griggs helped mark Miners’ Memorial Day, an annual event marked by
labour and the former mining town of Cumberland, where Goodwin was killed by a conscription officer in 1918.

PHOTO — STEPHEN LEAREY

Thousands hit Devine’s people-bashing

By KIMBALL CARIOU

“It’s a historic day’’ — that was the view of
National Farmers Union activist Victor Berezow-
ski as Saskatchewan’s biggest demonstration in
Many years drew to a close June 20. It was a
judgement shared by most of the estimated 7,000
who rallied at the provincial legislature to protest
the Tory government’s budget cuts and tax in-
creases.

It was a protest which kept growing as marchers
Wound their way through Regina’s downtown,
Stretching for fifteen blocks along Albert Street.
Busloads of participants kept arriving from across
the province, from Prince Albert in the north to
Swift Current in the south. Large banners headed
Contingents from a dozen different sectors of the
Population represented in the Interim Planning
Group which called the rally. ae

The largest numbers marched with their union
banners in the labour sector, not surprisingly as the
Tories have axed about 2,600 public sector jobs
this spring, or more than 7 per cent of Saskat-
Chewan’s total non-agricultural workforce. Hun-
dreds of dental therapists, recently fired, marched
In the health sector. é

The rally also drew large numbers of Native
People, behind a banner calling for aboriginal self-
80vernment. Despite the diversity of participants,
the Overwhelming sentiment was the feeling of
Unity and strength in such a massive rejection of
the Devine government’s policies.

At the legislature itself, the crowd heard a series
Of speakers and anti-cutback music from Regina
Performers. Speakers included Keith Philander for
the Interim Planning Group, Sean Caragata of the
U of R Students Union, Nadine Hunt of the Sas-

tchewan Federation of Labour, and Saskat-
Chewan NFU leader Gil Pederson. :

The success of June 20 raises new questions for
the popular movement against the Tories. Premier

Vine no doubt calculated that it may be more
difficult to call more mass rallies during July and
August. But such experiences as the struggle
against the B.C. Socreds in 1983 and the campaign
to support Gainers strikers last year show that
Mass actions can be carried out during the summer,
8iven determined leadership and public support.

any of the organizations active in the Interim

lanning Group favour new actions and a formal
launching of the coalition it represents sooner rath-

er than later, rather than giving the government

- time to manoeuvre.

The question of a general strike or other job
actions by labour is still open. Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store Union delegates issued a
call for strike action at their recent convention, but
the SFL executive has indicated this would be
impossible over the summer. Such an assessment
may be accurate, but there is no sign yet that the
SFL leadership is looking for ways to prepare or-
ganized labour for job action this fall.

Clearly a strong desire for change, beginning
with the defeat of the Devine government, is build-
ing up in Saskatchewan. The realisation is growing
that budget cuts here are linked with many other
issues, from the free trade sellout and wasteful
military spending.

It’s time to keep the heat on the Tories, and to do
everything possible to build the unity expressed on
June 20. Extraparliamentary action, carried out by
the labour and progressive movements which
represent a genuine majority outside the Legis-
lature, remains the key to victory over Devine and
his neo-conservative backers.

Realization is growing
that extraparliamentary
action is key in the battle
against Devine’s Tories.
Equally, people know that
budget cuts are linked
with other issues, like
free trade, as this banner
indicates. Labour, Native
people, students, farm-
ers, womens groups,
fired dental therapists,
pensioners and young
people made up the 7,000
who confronted the gov-
ernment on June 20.
Drivers honked in support
as the march made its
way through the streets
to the provincial legisla-
ture. The Tories chose to
escape for a weekend
golf tournament.

Peace walk
in Regina

Nearly 1,000 joined the 1987
Regina Walk for Peace last
week. Sponsored by the Re-
gina Coalition for Peac: and

* Disarmament, the Walk won

the active support of City
Council, which donated $2,100
towards advertising the event.
Many other groups helped
mobilize their members to
participate.

Coalition spokesperson Jo
Dufay told the crowd the Walk
was intended to help win sup-
port for a Nuclear Weapons
Free Zone Saskatchewan, for
an end to Star Wars and all nu-
clear weapons tests, and for
the removal of missiles from
Europe. Also, the Walk was
used to kick off Regina parti-
cipation in the Canadian Peace
Pledge Campaign; most of the
walkers received pledge cards
and many were filled out dur-
ing the walk.

Women unite
against Accord

A coalition of national wom-
en’s groups is mobilizing to
ensure that women’s and mi-.
nority rights are not under-
mined by the Meech Lake Ac-
cord. ,

The national Association of
Women and the Law and the
Women’s Legal, Educational
and Action Fund question
whether the ‘‘special status”’
provision could be used to dis-
criminate against disadvan-
taged groups.

The Federation des Femmes
du Quebec and the National
Action Committee on the Stat-
us of Women are concerned
that the accord, which was
made public June 3, could im-
pede the implementation of so-
cial programs. Both have
urged that the first ministers
hold extensive public hearings
before ratification.

Drug bill
to cost jobs

TORONTO — Changes to
the Patent Act will cost Cana-
dians 9,000 jobs, Communist
Party Ontario leader Gordon
Massie told a Senate hearing
here last week.

Bill C-22 which will give
pharmaceutical companies a
monopoly on all new drugs for
10 years, will extend foreign
control of the Canadian drug
market to almost 100 per cent,
Massie said.

“Inevitably monopoly con-
trol drugs will lead to higher
prices despite the claim of the
Government that it would set
up a Price Review Board,”
Massie charged, noting that
review boards have never pre-
vented price increases in the
past.

The party’s submission ac-
cuses the government of hold-
ing Canadian interests ransom
to their aim of establishing a
bilateral trade agreement with
the United States. ‘‘Is Bill C-22
another giveaway to the U.S. it
asks?”

The two-paged brief calls for
rejection of Bill C-22 and the
nationalization of the
pharmaceutical industry.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 1, 1987 e 3