EDITORIAL

Tories weak record

Continued from-page 1

show the federal government has slipped from its
record high of enjoying 60 per cent of voters’ support,
to a low of 40 per cent. Small wonder.

When this government hasn’t been reactionary —
as with a federal budget rich in tax giveaways to corp-
orations while robbing seniors, families and home-
owners — it’s been simply incompetent. Mulroney’s
electoral plank of paying more attention to the west
has seen the energy minister, Pat Carney, do little but
strike the “Western Accord” sellout to the oil corpora-
tions, at auto owners’ expense.

The Vancouver visit of Mulroney and cabinet can
be seen in this light. It’s the first since the Tories’
election last September, and it’s designed for show
purposes.

But there’s a chance to put content into the prime
minister's visit. On Thursday, Aug. 22, a rally spon-

sored by the Southern Africa Action Coalition will
demand External Affairs Minister Joe Clark put
actions behind his words opposing the South African
regime’s racial segregation known as apartheid, and
impose economic, cultural and trade sanctions against
its government.

The next day, in recognition of the fact that the
cabinet will receive the report of the special all-party
committee on the issues of joining the U.S. Strategic
Defence Initiative, and free trade with the U.S., End
the Arms Race and End Legislated Poverty will gather
at noon in Robson Square in a double-barrelled pro-
test linking the demand for jobs with a rebuttal of the
economically wasteful and militarily dangerous Star
Wars scheme.

It’s a reactionary government, but also a nervous
one. Let’s give them the message that British Colum-
bians, along with other Canadians, want jobs, peace
and an end to sanctioned racism.

Challenging labor’s rights

The struggle to ensure the rights of the working
class was not won with the enactment of the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. On the contrary, the Charter as
it stands could well be misused to undermine tradi-
tional rights of labor and the trade union movement.

That was well recognized when the Communist
Party of Canada, at its April 1985 convention,
included in its policy resolution The Road Ahead its
long-held view that, “A Labor Bill of Rights to include
the right to collective bargaining, to organize, to strike,
should be enshrined in the Constituion.”

The resolution noted: “In the coming period the
struggle to defend and extend the hard-won demo-
cratic nights of the people will assume increasing

This is called to mind by the case of Mervyn
Lavigne, a teacher at one of Ontario’s community
colleges. (For the record, Lavigne refuses to join the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the union
- of his fellow workers, and last fall he crossed the picket
lines of the 7,600 striking teachers, counsellors and
librarians who were out for a month at 22 colleges.)

Lavigne is now using the charter to challenge the
purposes for which Union dues may be used. (He is
required to pay them although refusing membership.)

Since some portion of dues goes to the Ontario
_ Federation of Labor and to the Canadian Labor

- Congress, a drastic curtailment of the activities and
_. program of these organizations would result if
_ Lavigne’s objections were to carry weight in court.

He wants to put a stop to the expenditure of any
part of dues money (by his union or the OFL or CLC)
for financial support to any political party (meaning in
this case the New Democrats), disarmament cam-
paigns, free choice in the matter of abortion, opposi-
tion to civic expenditures for a domed stadium in
Toronto, contributions to the British coal miners’
strike, support for the Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion, and donations to Nicaragua.

An entirely new light is shed on the case when it is
added that bankrolling what may be long and expen-
sive court proceedings for Lavigne, is none other than
the notorious right-wing lobby group, the National
Citizen’s Coalition. Given the track record of this
group it is a certainty that any project they pour
money into is not meant to benefit working people,
but is meant to turn back the clock, strengthen
monopoly control and assist neo-conservatism. Their
advertising campaigns have denounced trade unions,
Petro-Canada, health care, control on foreign
takeovers — and they called loudly for election of a
Conservative government.

Now they want to intervene directly in the affairs of
the labor movement. It is evident that labor needs to
conduct a united struggle on all fronts in defence of its
hard-won rights. Specifically, it should be quick off the
mark to make sure the Charter of Rights and Free-
doms is not used to deprive it of the gains it has made
and the positions it has established in long ears of

Struggle.

REAG ANS PRAYERS
Neato e's [ZOGEe Lee

AM ONGC TFGSe
GIVING

See date 060,000 Tees
CON TRAS

§ ARIS 7 [° fyemien

MC

Unicorp Canada Corp., Ltd., reported a six-month after-tax profit
(as of June 30) of $21.9-million. With an extraordinary tax recovery
item, this hit $31.4-million. In the same period in 1984 the after-tax
total was $9.2-million. That comes of management and investment

in real estate, energy, etc.

___ TRIBUNE

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON
Business & Circulation Manager — DONALDA VIAUD
Graphics — ANGELA KENYON

Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Stre:
Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5
Phone (604) 251-1186

Subscription Rate: Canada — $14 one year; $8 six months
Foreign — $20 one year;

Second class mail registration number 1560

or four years now, British Columbians

-@ and Canadians from every province
have been raising desperately-needed med-
ical supplies, and other necessary items,

People and Issues

some unfriendly elements within the local
government as well. So we know there’ll
be a spontaneous ‘air Of jubilation to the
celebration hosted by the Create a Real

for our Latin American neighbor to the
south. And each year the Vancouver-
based Tools for Peace campaign has sent
more than $1 million worth of goods, it
has been met with the resounding grati-
tude of the government and people of
Nicaragua.

Just how desperate the Central Ameri-
can nation is for aid can be gleaned from a
recent item in the Financial Post. Canada’s
big business weekly spells out in stark per-
centage points and dollar figures the crip-
pling national debt Nicaragua faces, a

| legacy from the decades its people suffered
under the U.S. installed and supported
Somoza family.
| __ Readers will recall that when genera-
tions of the peoples’ wrath spilled over
into the successful revolution of the San-
dinistas back in 1979, the fleeing dictator,
_ Anastasio Somoza, as a final crime sacked
the national treasury prior to his hasty
_ departure. That left the new government
| with virtually nothing to defray an already
ee ee $1.6 bil-

weiskaaithow dakacaietetiial auc

to several factors. One fact, the Post notes

frankly, is that international monetary aid

and “soft” loans have been ploughed by

the popular Sandinista government into

: _ long-term economic projects, “as well as
| in public health and education.”

. Another key factor, the negative one, is
the loans boycott of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The
latter has been prevented from giving
loans by the United States, and U.S. Secre-
tary of State George Shultz recently
recommended against a $58-million loan
for agricultural production by the Intera-
merican Development Bank.

One only has to probe recent memory
to recall the $28-million aid package
browbeat by the Reagan administration

. out of an initially reluctant Congress, to

finance the counter-revolutionary “con-
tra” bands in their internationally-
condemned reign of terror and death
along Nicaragua’s borders.

Fortunately, Nicaragua has many
international friends — both states and
individuals grouped into organizations to
help the struggling socialist country
through the rough years.

Doing its valued part is the Tools for
Peace campaign, which, organizers inform
us, is again gearing up for action this fall.
To launch that campaign, the sponsor,
Coalition for Aid to Nicarauga, has pro-
duced a calendar, replete with color pho-
tos and information about Nicaragua.

The calendar, which runs 16 months
from this September to December, 1986, is
avilable for $10 from the coalition, 2524

Cypress St., Vancouver, V6J 3N2, phone
733-1021.

i Re

e have a note that the folks at the

Nanoose Bay Peace Camp have
moved from their former location at
Rumming Road to just across from the
rest stop on Island Highway at Nanoose
Bay. The group, which each summer
parks a “peace truck” at the rest stop,
distributes peace literature to motorists
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

The camp, formed to draw attention to,
and call for the removal of, nuclear-
weapons carrying vessels at the Canadian
Forces weapons testing range in the bay,
notes that several area town councils have
added their voices to the group’s call for a
public inquiry into the renewal of the
agreement with the U.S. military regard-
ing the use of the range.

.The Nanoose Conversion Campaign,
which runs the camp, is also establishing a
committee to examine ways to convert the
base from military to peaceful uses, while
avoiding undermining the community’s
economic base. They can be reached at
P.O. Box 1981, Parksville, B.C.

* ca *

Vier is sweet, particularly when.

you’ve fought a long hard battle
against federal government agencies and

Available Beach (CRAB) organization on
Sunday, Aug. 25.

CRAB, a gorup of residents in Van-
couver’s downtown eastside, finally won
the waterfront park for which they had
fought several years, against a reluctant
Vancouver Ports Corporation, the federal
agency that runs and is redeveloping the
city’s waterfront. “CRAB park,” as it is
commonly known, is located immediately
to the west of the north foot of Main
Street.

The celebration, with free admission,
begins at 2 p.m. at the future park’s loca-
tion.

* * *

e’ve just received copies of the UE

News, the monthly paper of the Uni-
ted Electrical Workers Union. There’s
nothing new in that, except this issue came
with an accompanying note from Elias
Stavrides, former assistant editor of the
UFAWU’s The Fisherman, informing us
that he’s the new News editor.

When Elias left Vancouver two years
ago, he was intending to head for his
native Greece. While we’re sure his friends
would welcome him there, we’re pelased
that his considerable skills are being put to
good use in Canada, and, judging from his
first issue, Greece’s (perhaps temporary)
loss is the UE’s gain.

_ 4e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 21, 1985