A

~~

Trudeau policy blamed

Protest

reflects
anger

The slogans expressed

€ sentiments of the
People: “Public corpora-
tions should be for
People!” “‘Let there be
light — But who can afford
it?” “Qpen the books —
they’re ours!”

The protest demonstration in

front of the Hydro building on the~

€ve of the hydro rate increase,
uesday night was an active
Teflection of the very real anger
Of the public at this latest
onslaught on their pocketbooks.

Speakers at the rally included
Ichmond alderman Harold
£eves and Simon Fraser
economist Mike Liebowitz who
Sharged that low income groups

Would bear the brunt of the
Mcrease.

Why, after years and years of
Profit-taking, is Hydro now
sing money? The speakers

Stressed that the public can only ~

Now the truth by having

Ydro’s books opened to the
Public. new

Liebowitz said the Bennett
Sovernment had subsidized the
Ree States, through the
Olumbia River deal, to an
tnt which it is estimated
se reach $100 million at a
A uzun, At the same time, he
inte the deal had cheated
~ adian workers out of jobs and
wae The interest on Hydro’s

t and proposed borrowing is a
Tihs amount — over $82
10n in the current year.

a

os th Mong the demonstrators at

Wesday night march were
ite unionists,
a ty members,
nl ves, young people, unem-
yed and women workers.
i latter group, who make up
‘bus 8€ proportion of rush hour
Users are particularly
Sed at the increase.
Woman commuter said. “It’s
aa thing my husband works
jobi V8e I couldn’t afford my

Communist
NDPers,

incen

eats meantime, if Premier
Tue Was plugged into God on
blug ay, he definitely wasn’t
ie ae the voice of the
~.  tydro’s transit infor-
sation Phone was “not in
“T¥ice”’

e

FIGHTING HYDRO AND BUS BOOST. Photo shows Nigel Morgan, B.C.
Communist leader, heading a protest picket before the B.C. Legislature
recently. Tuesday night Communists, NDPers, trade unionists and
others joined in a public protest before the B.C. Hydro Building in

VOL. 31 No. 14

in the next few weeks.

The latest figures released
from Ottawa for February
showed 526,000 jobless in
Canada, (57,000 in B.C.). This is
about 6.5 percent of Canada’s
labor force. Since February the
jobless picture has deteriorated
sharply and will soon be swelled
by tens of thousands of students
leaving universities and high
schools, who face the prospect of
not being able to find jobs.

The official figures do not
reveal the full extent of
unemployment nor do they tell
the story in terms of human
suffering, hardships and blasted
hopes for hundreds of thousands
of working people and youth.

A survey made this week by
the Pacific Tribune shows that
lay-offs .are widespread and
growing in B.C.’s_ major
industries. Most union officials
say the situation is grim and they
expect it to get worse under the
impact of Trudeau’s austerity

Vancouver against the boost which comes into effect this week.

Candlelight march, teach-in
to urge end of Vietnam war

Plans for a Candlelight March and Teach-In to
help mobilize public opinion for an ‘‘end to the
war in Vietnam now” was announced by Mrs.
Irene Foulks, executive secretary of the
Vancouver Moratorium Committee this week.

The March will start at the Court House
(Georgia and Hornby) at 8 p.m. on Friday April
17. A trade union representative has been asked
to speak to the rally, and after a short address,
those assembled will march off with lighted
candles to the Queen Elizabeth Playhouse where
a “teach-in’’ will take place.

In addition to three introductory papers
(“Since Vietnamization — Obstacles to Peace,”
by Dr. Bill Wilmott, UBC Department of
Anthrepology; ‘‘Defoliation — Its Ecological
Effects,”’ with slides, Prof. Jan de Vries; and
“Canada’s Role in Vietnam’”’, which Mrs. Grace
McInnis, NDP MP for Vancouver-Kingsway, has
been invited to take). Microphones for audience
participation will be arranged.

Meanwhiile, despite a cold March wind several
hundred adults, children and young people
marched with banners and flowers last Saturday
from the courthouse square. Sponsored by the
Peace Action League, the Easter march was a re-
affirmation of solidarity with the besieged people
of Vietnam and the determination to win peace.

A leaflet distributed by the League urged
others to add their voice to the swelling chorus
for peace in Vietnam, by writing to Prime
Minister Trudeau and External Affairs Minister
Sharp, urging them to inform the U.S.
government that Canada, like Sweden, will ship
no more weapons of any kind for use in this brutal
war.

At Crescent Beach, where the community holds
an Faster kite-flying contest, the Fraser Valley
Peace Committee drew much attention with their
entries. ‘‘Stop Amchitka Tests’, and ‘Stop the
war in Vietnam!”’ were the eye-catching slogans
on the kites.

Tribun

SS

LAYOFFS SPREAD

- Thousands jobless
in B.C. industries

By MAURICE RUSH
While Prime Minister Trudeau was basking in the
B.C. sun atop Whistler Mountain enjoying a skiing
holiday, his austerity program was causing widespread
unemployment throughout the country and in B.C. with
tens of thousands of workers being laid-off and many
more scheduled to join the growing army of unemployed

program, which aims to promote
mass unemployment as a means
of shifting the burden of the
country’s growing economic diffi-
culties onto the backs of work-
ing people.

The grim jobless situation in a
nutshell in B.C. is as follows:

e@ CONSTRUCTION: The car-
penters union reports that 25
percent of their membership in
the Lower Mainland are
unemployed. ‘‘There is no sign of
improvement,’’ one official told
the PT. The same situation is
prevalent among other con-
struction unions. There is no
prospect of improvemént as
long as present government
policies of high interest rates,
curbs on construction and

’ higher taxes prevail.

e SHIPBUILDING: Over 300
workers have been laid-off at
Burrard Drydock, and ‘‘more
are coming”’ we were told by an
official of the union. He said it’s
expected that within the next
week there will be some 400 off
work.

e WOODWORKING: Lay-offs
are scattered. throughout the
industry, with reports reaching
the PT office of cutbacks in
logging camps on the Queen
Charlottes and Harrison Lake
areas. The shingle industry is
completely shut down with about
500 men affected, and no
prospect of reopening. Union
officials inform the PT that quite
a few mills have cut back from
two to one shifts.

Most union leaders point out
that what is aggravating the
situation in B.C. are the tactics
of the employers who are taking
advantage of the austerity propa-
ganda of the government to lay-
off workers as part of their drive
to defeat union attempts at
winning substantial wage
demands this year.

Most major unions in B.C. are
now involved in contract nego-
tiations and the big monopolies
are obviously using the present
government policy in their war
against the workers.

See JOBLESS, pg. 12