2 SOCIAL SERVICES
meee Family allowances cut 15%, .
Family planning budget cut 50%
INFLATION Children’s aid budget cut 4.5%*

Funds to mental health institutions
cut 9.2%*
Daycare serves less than 5% of those
who need it.

Inflation rose 9.2% in the past
year, while wages rose on aver-
age only 7%. That means & 2.2%
drop in real. income. With less
money we paid 17.4% more for
food and bought mortgages at
14.75% interest rate.

HEALTH CARE

Health costs have risen 118% in
the past eight years, meanwhile
;] government grants have been cut

. from 25.7% to 22.9%. Hospital beds
have been cut to 3.2 per 1,000
population, the -lowest in the
Western world.

UNEMPLOYMENT

779,000 Canadians are officially
unemployed. 12.3% of young
People under 24 can’t find work.
Meanwhile $1.3-billion has been
Cut from the Unemployment in-
| surance Commission, over one-
quarter million have been
disqualified and Ul payments
have been cut by 62/3%.

EDUCATION

Grants to schools cut 4.9%.* Tui-
tion fees up 17%. Programs for the
retarded, handicapped, children
with learning disabilities and chil-
dren needing English .-
language training cut. ‘J
French language schools ~
cut. =

POVERTY
25% of Canadians live below the
government determined poverty
line. 80,000 children are in institu-

tions because of family poverty.
Welfare recipients exist on in-

CULTURE

Grants to the

arms budget by 50% and using the money in socially come families. _
. : The Communist Party stands for guaranteed
The fundamental social needs of the people of ety and neces) a the need he a agen employment for all, with ies to Sache a COLA
vn Canada are a vital issue in this election, and the most ‘8 SPOW by evidence too extensive fo mention. adjusted every three months; a 32-hour week at 40
eS significant obstacle to ending cutbacks in social pro- For example, a recent poll (Jan. 3-5) found 49% of ours pay; training and jobs for the young: equal pay
Ww grams, and beginning to rebuild battered living stan- Canadians vugih inflation as the ee most anporsant for work of. equal value for women. With these and
ja sands spendingon war preparations. This spending AE SONNE RoE Set ba Communist. policies. on. energy resources, the
131 KS social benefits. ae : economic would quicken. Instead of auto
r | _ Military spending, demanded by the U.S. military- _ Tollback of prices on foods, Pastas foe a production andes aWnehae: auto workers would be
st industrial complex, the NATO generals and by Cana- __ interest rates and taxes, and for bringing the big fo in demand, for example.
‘a ae ovat rus et will, if cased tne gouiiine ts Gis under age HS ele -eofinaiet The Communist Party takes equally strong stands
to slash medicare, low-cost housing, education, hos- news report of reb. 6 reveals housing s are on education, on pensions (75% of average industrial
7 pital beds, daycare, and jobs. 14.2% from a year ago. Not because people don’t —_ wage for men at 60 and Gatien at 55), on the right to
| Military spending is not only the least productive of _ want houses, but because they can’t afford them. unemployment insurance benefits (at 90% for dura-
1S jobs, it is the single most inflationary element in the Tory housing schemes, as in Ontario, favor the well- tion of unemployment), and on all pressing social
od whole federal budget. The Canadian Government to-do, as does Joe Clark’s tax rebate on mortgages —_ issues. The chief obstacle to achieving these ad-
a now spends nearly $5-billiona yearonarmamentsand __ Plan for higher income home owners. vances is the war budget and the cold war political
F | is committed to enormous expenditures for equip- The Communist Party would, first of all, redistri- parties which support it.
nt
1c
1 a
ta ’
: Democracy for whom & for what BEE
ar <i bag
id :
i We have just learned from an official i = ini ‘ 2 above all democracy is concrete.
A source who decides the rules of national Marxism Leninism in Today = World On the eve of the First World War
TV election debates. It is the CBC, CTV tional radio advertising costs in the perhaps the most important aspect of Lenin wrote: ‘‘Whoever wants to reach.
A and Global networks and the TVA. That neighborhood of $800 per minute and na- parliamentary democracy as PnCiKe’ pate ee any other pa than ‘hat of
of _ is: One state-owned and three privately- tional TV $11,000 a minute for prime under the conditions of state-monopoly political democracy, will inevitably ar-
| owned TV and radio caipotationis: This time. capitalism, vividly validates the truth of rive at conclusions that are absurd, and
communications quartet decided the yes Ais Lenin: that under the multitude of forms reactionary, both in the economic and
ds basis of elegibility for participating in These two examples are sufficient to in which democracy is practiced in a political sense’’. Recognition of the real-
ui} _ such debates is 12 elected members in demonstrate that such costs effectively class-divided society ‘‘is domination of ity of democracy was always embodied
ig ~—Ssthee last parliament. This ruling bars the prohibit workers’ parties from utilizing one part of the population by another’’. in Lenin’s consistent emphasis upon the
C- Communist Party and four other parties this prime form of electioneering. This In Canada the part which dominates is necessity for the working class in
n- Ee ere: ; flagrant discriminatory practice is mul- monies in support y unperialist and se sorely to oem and ag
in question naturally arises wh tiplied many times over when account is capitalist interests and aims. This is so urgeois democracy its parlia-
__ these communication corporations ave uk of the fact that all the main facilities even though the capitalist class main- mentary form. ‘
nil been invested with such power in-a for information production and dis- tains more than one political party. In 1916 he wrote: “It would. be a radi-
Oo parliamentary democracy, and who gave semination are owned and controlled However, these various parties repre- cal mistake to think that the struggle for
g _—st to them? either by giant capitalist monopolies or senting sectional capitalist interests, democracy was capable of diverting the
si A ee the capitalist state monopoly. have no differences on the principal proletariat from the socialist revolution
a Because Canadians will be going to the It is without fear of contradiction that question, namely, the maintenance of _ or of hiding, overshadowing it, etc. On
le polls on February 18 to elect a new we can state that the working-class and capitalism. It is through the medium of the contrary, the proletariat cannot
1g parliament this question is very much to democratic point of view is almost totally parliamentary democracy that capitalism prepare for its victory over the bour-
‘a a peat As all of us very well know, blacked out by the monopoly-controlled Bole and ees ne reality of its os mithont and et jae
at ._—-@lections in our times mainly take on the ress, TV and radio. This crime against class power, while, at the same time and revolutionary struggle for democ-
»-  formofamass mediacontest. All aspects emmscrisy is particularly noticeable dur- masking it. racy.” :
nt Of the media are involved: press, radio _ing election campaigns. But it must be bie ee 3 padre ce bes sie :
a. and television. It is true that all forms of emphasized that this blackout of infor- It was Lenin, more than any other rev- It is from this class standpoint that the
e- mass media advertising are open to all mation from the standpoint of truth and olutionary figure, who taught the work- Canadian working class and all dem-
mn .-—«« CONtesting parties — providing they have verification is the hallmark of the mass ers and in particular their revolutionary ocrats need to actively challenge the cor-
nt the money to pay for newspaper space, media in our times. In this way the ordi- vanguard, the real meaning and content ._ porate _Strangle-hold over the mass in-
id radio or TV time. It. might interest nary people are the prisoners of of democracy. He treated parliamentary formation media. To break the suffocat-
e! Tribune readers to learn that advertising monopoly capitalist misinformation and democracy as just one of the many forms ing blackout imposed by the monopoly-

When the war
budget climbs

ment. Clark has vowed to raise it another 17%!
Besides the military budget, Ottawa handed over in
the 1977-78 fiscal year $43 ,034,614, to *‘develop tech-
nological ability’’, to the likes of Pratt and Whitney,
DeHavilland, Litton Systems, etc.
Communist Party candidates stand for cutting the

= a NN comes 50% below the poverty line.
fi tr hes sf s Pension payments are 20% below ae ae
a the poverty line of $5,300. Wek Gur duet niiaian peek .

bute the country’s income by tax cuts on incomes
below $20,000, wiping out taxes on earnings, below
$15,000. It would boost corporation taxes. It would
institute public ownership of land earmarked for
urban development, establish a public housing utility,
and build 400,000 units annually for low- and middle-

space in the Toronto dailies costs around
$12,000 for a full page, $6,400 for a half
page and $3,200 for a quarter page. Na-

propaganda.

ei a
This damning example of what is

of democracy. He emphasized that there
is no such thing as pure democracy, no
such thing as abstract democracy. That

controlled media is a major task of the
working-class and democratic move-
ment.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 15, 1980—Page 5