CANADA Parliament should endorse zero option TORONTO — Canada’s sup- Port for the Soviet proposal to eliminate medium-range nuclear Missiles in Europe is welcome News to peace forces but follow- Up action is needed Communist Party leader William Kashtan Said last week. External Affairs Minister Joe Clark put Canada on the record in favor of European disarma- Ment in Baden-Baden May 10, Where he wound up an eight day Visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democra- tic Republic, Poland, and Hun- gary. The USSR’s so-called ‘*zero- Zero’? proposal to eliminate European nuclear missiles with a Tange of 1,000-1,500 kilometres has been met with a similar U.S. Proposal. Negotiators are trying to hammer out a deal in Geneva, but as Clark acknowledged, Zero-zero has exposed divisions Within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with Britain, France and the FRG fight- Ing such an agreement. Expressing Canada’s concern for NATO unity and calling for the linkage of nuclear weapons Teduction to cuts in conventional forces, he stated Canada’s *‘pref- erence — for a zero-zero option.” Underscoring remarks he in- tends to make at the CP’s forth- coming central committee meet- ing, May 15-17, Kashtan said Clark’s welcome declaration needs to be followed up three ways. ‘Parliament and the govern- ment of Canada should publicly declare their support for ending intermediate range nuclear weap- ons in Europe; Canada should call on the U.S. government to come to an agreement with the Soviet Union on this matter; and Clark should follow up Canada’s declaration by ending U.S. Cruise missile testing in this country’, Kashtan said. He went on to say that Canada should urge the NATO member countries to withdraw their op- position to an agreement being reached between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Kashtan emphasized the need for Canada to do this in light of the Reagan administration’s con- tradictory stance of rhetorically welcoming the Gorbachev peace initiatives, ‘‘while in deeds throw- ing monkey wrenches at it with Clark needs to follow up words of support for Soviet Euro-missile offer with deeds, says CP leader Kashtan. the goal of preventing any agree- ment. “Tt raises a question: Does the U.S. administration and its NATO allies really want to elim- inate nuclear weapons from that part of the world?’’ he asked. The Canadian peace move+ ment, he concluded, has a special responsibility to combine its ef- forts at making Canada a nuclear weapons free zone with support for eliminating intermediary nu- clear weapons in Europe. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Art- ists (ACTRA) has voiced alarm about a shift in the federal gov- - ernment’s-policy. .of.,cepatriating, film,.distribution in..Canada. Garry Neil, general secretary of ACTRA, says the federal gov- ernment is caving in to the U.S. attempt to Canadianize film distribution in this country. An unprecedented number of film organizations and unions in English Canada and Quebec have sent a telegram to Mulroney expressing fear that Canadian film is being ‘‘sold down the river”’ as part of the free trade negotiations — despite the Tories’ as- surances that culture is not on the bargaining table. Coming. at atime when Canadian film is garnering world-wide recognition, the policy shift of the Mulroney government endan- film lobby and is backing off any Tories backing off film promise gers future growth of the industry. Currently Canadian films occupy only three per cent of screen time in Canada’s cinemas. Film distribution is primarily controlled from outside of Canada, 95 per cent of Canadian films are distributed by Canadian-owned = [ distributors while foreign-owned distributors handle only five per cent of Canadian films. Total annual theatrical and video cassette receipts in Canada now exceed $1-billion but almost all of that profit flows to the United States. In order to begin to correct that imbalance, the federal government had announced its intention to introduce distribution controls to repatriate 12 per cent of the revenue of foreign distributors. The Tories’ apparent wavering on this policy has raised the concern of the entire Canadian film industry. Special to the Tribune OTTAWA — The Soviet embassy threw open its doors May 2, serving tea and cookies and discussing disarmament with hundreds of area resi- dents on a ‘“‘Walk Around the World for Peace’. The embassies of the United States, France, Great Britain and China were also visited during the walkathon but re- mained closed to the marchers. The Chinese embassy did serve tea however outside on the sidewalk. Several Soviet embassy of- ficials met with the marchers discussing the latest efforts of their government around test ban agreements, arms control and the denuclearization of Europe. Geoff Bickerton, speaking for the Ottawa Disarmament Coalition which sponsored the walk said the invitation gave people a ‘‘wonderful oppor- tunity”? to have first hand dis- cussions with the Soviets about their concerns. The Coalition had contacted each embassy before-hand with a list of questions con- cerning their respective arms policy. The United States and the Soviets answered the ques- tionnaire. The remainder sent general information. The Soviets issued an open letter to the marchers. ‘‘We consider your visit to our em- bassy as an appeal to our gov- ernment and our people to con- tinue the efforts to eliminate nuclear danger and to establish security and peace in the world. You represent the most significant feature of our times — the world-wide and power- ful public concern and move- ment for the peaceful life of humankind. “The Soviet people strongly believe that the only natural environment for life is peace. Since they’ve lost 20 million lives in World War II, they know it by their own e€X- nee Having tea and peace with Soviets Annual walkathon visits Ottawa embassies. perience. The Soviet society is peaceful by its own social, political and economic or- ganization: there is not a single individual or a group of individuals deriving any profit from military production. For this reason, expenses on de- fence production have a nega- tive effect on the well-being of the Soviet population. The USSR expects to nearly dou- ble the well-being of the Soviet people by the end of the cur- rent century and this task re- quires disarmament too.” Eye on MCM say unions MONTREAL — Area labor will be keeping a close eye on the newly elected Montreal Citizens Movement says the leader of the city’s 90,000- member labor council. Emerging out of a three day conference, council president Fernand Boudreau, told re- porters his group had sup- ported the MCM during last November’s elections but would closely monitor the ac- tions and progress of the civic party. Boudreau said labor did not want to repeat the same mis- take it did with the Parti Quebecois. ‘‘We are going to watch them carefully. We want to try to avoid duplicating the mistake we might have made with the PQ.” The MCM ‘has started the process of public consultation, said Boudreau. ‘‘For us, that’s a good sign. Obviously, we don’t expect them to do every- thing they’ve promised in six months’’. g City becomes a bad landlord TORONTO — The former mayor of Toronto has strongly criticized the Metro Toronto Housing Authority for its shoddy practices and bad rela- tions with tenants. Just five months after taking over as head of the public hous- ing corporation, Sewell says the “authority discriminates against working families, does not provide good household appliances and common areas for tenants, is slow to make re- pairs and does not com- municate well with its 125,000 tenants. ‘‘We leave much to be de- -siced’’, he says in a letter cir- culated to the press and em- ployees. Sewell who has a history of fighting for tenants’ rights, says the authority reflects a ‘“‘society that doesn’t care much for people at the bottom of the heap’’. He is recommending annual inspections of units to check for needed repairs and re- examining the criteria for mov- ing people up for eligibility on the 6,000 name waiting list. Manitoba: more to child care WINNIPEG — The Mani- toba government has increased its funding for child care to $29-million this year, up 21 per cent over last year’s budget. The new money will create an additional 625 spaces during the year, giving the province 11,180 funded spaces by March 1988. During the last election campaign the ruling New Democrats promised to add 4,000 spaces to the Manitoba system. It is the only province which has pressured the fed- eral government to reserve public funding for non-profit child care when it comes out with its recommendations in June. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 20, 1987 e 7