FILIBUSTER
RAISED PUBLIC
ATTENTION

A filibuster is what an opposition party
does to force Parliamentary debate — and
public attention — on a particularly sorry
government decision. And that is exactly
what the NDP caucus was up to in the
closing days of the first session of the 32nd
Parliament.

The protest was over the cabinet’s deci-
sion to proceed with the building of a new
Alberta gas pipeline, despite the fact that
Canada should be preserving its non-
renewable energy resources for future use by
Canadians.

The NDP action extending the session,
and the debate it forced, helped Canadians
to become aware of the vital issues at stake
in this complex pipeline project and of the
flagrant disregard for our energy future.

Under the Northern Pipeline Act passed
by Parliament two years ago, approval was
given to allow the U.S. to build a pipeline
through Canada to transport Canadian
natural gas south to U.S. markets.

But the cabinet’s July 17 decision in
favour of the “pre-build” section of the line
simply allows more Canadian gas to be
exported to the U.S. and might even jeopar-
dize the building of the rest of the line.

Ed Broadbent called the cabinet decision
“fundamentally disastrous, both legally
and morally’, charging that the Liberals
were once again selling out Canadian
resources to give the economy a “quick-fix”’.

Returning to one of the main themes of the
past election campaign, he characterized
the decision as another attempt to grab fast
bucks in exchange for our non-renewable
resources — “sacrificing long-range needs
to short-term gains”.

Recalling that the NDP supported the
original pipeline proposal to assist our U.S.
neighbours in getting their northern gas to
their markets, he said the NDP flatly rejects
the idea of building a new line designed
simply to get more of our gas out of our
markets.

Not only has the principle objective of the
line been changed and the legislation
violated, but the end result may be that the
whole line may never be built and any
advantage to Canada from the project
nullified, he said.

If the whole line was built, we would get
access to our own Arctic gas supplies and
any Canadian gas exported to the U.S. could
be exchanged at a later date for U.S. nor-
thern gas at an equivalent price.

But without the northern leg of the line,
there would be no access to Canadian gas or
to U.S. swaps and no benefit to Canada.
Broadbent said the NDP would go for the
“pre-build” of our section only if the financ-
ing commitments for the whole line and the
swaps were guaranteed before we start
construction.

In fact, the financing guarantees are
mandatory under the Pipeline Act and the
government’s decision to go ahead without
them is likely illegal, the NDP leader told
the Commons.

More important, however, is that the
decision is a foolish but massive gamble in
light of signs from the U.S. that the north-
ern section might never be built. He noted
that the financial community, the U.S.
congress and even the President have
serious doubts about the ultimate end of the

project.

Financing study
The Comptroller General of the U.S.
Congress prepared a feasibility report on

the project which estimated that there was a

Lumber Worker/September, 1980

one in three chance in 1979 that the pipeline
will be abandoned. The estimate is almost
three times higher than the 1978 estimate.

“The risks have gone up by some 300 per
cent,” said Broadbent, “‘and it is scaring off
potential investors.”

Broadbent noted that only $500 million
has been put up by private companies for a
pipeline slated to cost $22-24 billion.

Moreover, since 1978 the Americans have
been discovering a lot of relatively inexpen-
sive natural gas in their own country. With
the additional reserves in Mexico and
Canada, said Broadbent, the Americans
might have no need to pipe gas from Alaska
or they might choose to transport it some
other way.

“The more we provide the Americans with
good, cheap Canadian gas, the less interest
they will have in extending the pipeline to
the North to get access to their own much
more expensive gas,” he said.

In answer to Liberal claims that there is
plenty of natural gas and the exports will
not risk our future, Broadbent pointed to
similar claims in the early 70’s, when the
public was told Canada had 390 years
supply of oil. The Liberals then sold more
than 1,700 million barrels of Canadian oil,
while Canada must now import oil to meet
domestic needs.

“What they did with oilin the 70’s they are
about to do with gas in the 80’s,”’ said
Broadbent. “The Liberals are masters of the
short-run, quick buck solution, which
always ignores the long-range interests of

the people in Canada.”

The NDP prolonged the debate until after
midnight on July 22. When it came to the
vote, many Conservatives left the chambers
rather than have it placed on record that
they supported the Liberal sell-out. In all,
the Conservatives mustered barely 43 votes
to total 153 against the NDP amendment.
There were 28 votes for the amendment, all

New Democrats.
OTTAWA REPORT

LIFE INSURANGE
NOW CHEAPER
FOR LOGGERS

It seems that everything today costs too
much money. That’s why most people look
for a way to save at every opportunity. You
may have thought it unfair that certain
insurance companies have rated loggers in
the past when it comes to buying life
insurance. They have said that you must
pay a higher premium than the average
man on the street for the same coverage.
They cite the danger element involved in
your work as the reason.

Christy Insurance Agencies does not
subscribe to this philosophy. They do not
believe in rating one industry over another
because they know that an accident could
happen in the bathtub as easily as it could
on the job. They have been accepting people
at standard rates to date and intend to do so
in the future.

The life insurance offered is a Term 100.
Today’s inflationary tendencies make this
one of the best policies today if you intend on
putting your hard earned money to good use.
You might have postponed buying insu-
rance in the past because of the cost and the
discriminatory practices by some in the
business, but now you can take advantage
of this proposal and reap the benefits offered
by Christy Insurance Agencies, one of the
leaders in the industry. Premiums for this
yearly renewable term plan are guaranteed
for 20 years.

Term 100’s are especially attractive to
young people who have growing families to

care for and protect. Very few group insur-
ance plans offer any more than about
$23,000 and that, you must agree, does not
go very far when you consider the cost of
housing, clothing, food, and education.
Would you like to have to make the decision
on which of the preceding amenities your
family would have to live without? Of
course, the answer is “no”, because not one
of them is expendable.

Experts agree that there is no end in sight
to inflation. Putting off the purchase of
necessities until tomorrow will only further
drain your pocketbook. Life insurance is
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may just be one of the wisest purchases you

will ever make.
Anyone wishing further information

about this insurance should contact Christy
Insurance Agencies Ltd., 200 - 575 Richard
Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 227.

JOBLESS
SITUATION
UNCHANGED

The Canadian Labour Congress, in an
economic publication, recently warned the
drop in the “officially counted” unemploy-
ment rate for July should not be mistaken
for an improvement in the jobless situation.

The Economic Bulletin, prepared by the
Congress’ Research and Legislation Depart-
ment, notes that the July seasonally ad-
justed jobless rate of 7.6 per cent was down
from 7.8 per cent recorded in the previous

two months.
But the document charges that “while the

‘official’ unemployment rate did drop over
the month, the drop was entirely the result
of thousands of unemployed Canadians
who were so discouraged that they did not
bother to continue looking for workin July.”

“If anything,” the Bulletin says, “that
situation is worsening. At a time of year
when jobs should be opening up, total
employment (seasonally adjusted) is falling
as massive layoffs and plant closures are
being announced almost daily.”

Noting that those who stopped looking for

work were considered to “have withdrawn
from the workforce”’ and were not counted
by Statistics Canada, the document says
without them the “official” unemployment
level fell.
_ “Sn times of high unemployment — as the
job outlook worsens, the official unemploy-
ment statistics move further away from
reality as workers who have been unem-
ployed for many months become discour-
Besoin their lack of success in finding
jobs.

The Bulletin says that these discouraged

workers “give up job hunting because they
know jobs just aren’t available and are not
counted as being unemployed even though
they are in fact still unemployed.”
; Although unemployment appears to have
improved in several provinces in July, the
Bulletin contends that “nowhere were the
so-called improvements the result of unem-
ployed workers finding jobs.”

Ontario is noted as an example whereby
the number of jobs there remained un-
changed from June to July. But 32,000 of the
unemployed did not look for work in July,

causing the official rate to drop for Ontario
the Bulletin says. Stig aig Sea