A report a the LPP brief to Gordon Commission

By JOHN STEWART :
PICTURE this Canada of ours tomorrow—a land of 25 million

or more people:

Living in great and beautiful slum-cieared cities, in quiet
towns and villages, on farmlands lush with wanted food-

growth .;.

Proud of our national independence, our heritage and our
achievements and at peace with all nations and all peoples...
freed fr6m present fears of thermonuclear catastrophe .. ..

Building great industries, changing the courses of rivers
and developing the power of water, oil, natural gas, coal and
uranium to turn the wheels of an ever expanding economy...

Living in security from cradle to grave—health insurance
to cover the cost of being born and end the worry of illness;
decent wages to ensure a full and happy’maturity with incomes
protected in periods of unemployment; pensions high enough to

make old age a joy...

Working a 30-hour week with modern machinery’ that
bears the stamp “Made in Canada”...

Sending the ships of our rebuilt Merchant Marine to the
)markets of the world loaded with the products of our factories
and our farms, our mines and our mills; welcoming to our
ports ships that bring us the merchandise of many foreign
lands . .-. trading as equals with equals .. .

Masters in our own house —.the dream of the Fathers
of Confederation as a true North strong and free — come
at last to realization: the will and action of our people
ending forever the domination of our country by a foreign
power so that we may choose our Canadian way of life as

we wish ... ¢
: .

*

HIS is the vivid mural, the forecast of our national destiny
over the next 50 years; being presented to the Royal Com-
mission on Canada’s Economic Prospects in Ottawa March 2
in a 20,000-word brief by the leaders of the Labor-Progressive

Population and
social reforms

“Canada can no longer in the
main, depend upon the immi-
gration of peoples from other
countries to expand its popula-
tion. As the countries of Eu-
rope and Asia win their national
independence and economically
develop, the forced migration
of ‘surplus people’. will come
to an end-. .. ;

“The primary solution to the
problem of increasing the Can-
adian population, therefore, is
one of increasing the birth rate

Party.
Almost like a word picture

_ of a socialist Canada. But it

isn’t, for it concludes with
this paragraph:

“Socialist opinions on the ulti-
mate solution of our national and
social problems must not divide
Canadians in their desire to pro-
tect Canada from the consequences
of the foreign domination of our
economy. The main issue of today

‘that is unifying Canadians of many

different opinions is the replace-
ment of present policies by the
democratic alternative—the strug-
gle for a fully national economy
and the control of all aspects. of
Canadian life by Canadians.”

We Are Proud

by a dream of transforming a
young country into a good place
to live, we have grown from a
pioneer, frontier Jand into one of
the most developed industriai-
agricultural countries in the world.

“Canadian national conscious-
ness and pride are growing among
all our citizens. It is the most
hopeful sign and stands in ever

clearer contrast to the interference —

of the U.S.A. in our affairs.”
What, in essence, does the
Labor-Progressive Party propose
for Canada? ‘
“New national , policies in
keeping with new conditions can
guarantee that Canada’s econo-
mic development during the next
50 years will make our country
a truly great nation. The possi-

$ ; :
“IYPATERIAL prosperity, which still has a lon
is not the only measure of the livin
Physiological exhaustion in modern indu

the stupid practise of regarding workers as “old at 40” (the time

when their labor skills; often reach t

“THE main issue of today that is unify
of present policies by the democratic
the control of all aspects of Canadian life lj

bilities exist for the Canadian
people to completely fulfill the
dreams and aims of the Fathers
of Confederation.”

It notes that the Royal Commis-
Sion meets “at an historic time,”
when the Geneva conference dem-
onstrated that the world could
echieve peaceful coexistence,

~ friendship and trade, the abandon-

ment of war, the prohibition of
atomic weapons and step by step
disarmament with its consequent
vast reduction of arms budgets.

“With such a. prospect Canada
could make enormous economic
advances.”

PECULIARITY OF CANADIAN DEVELOPM

"THE capitalist development of

Canada is traced to show the
decline in British-capital<and the
growth of U.S. investment, which
has now. reached 76.9 percent of
the total foreign investment, or
$9,500 million.

“The influence of the U.S.A.,”.

the brief notes, “has entered deep-
ly into ‘the very structure of the

~ Canadian economy.”

A handful of monopolies con-
tro] all the important industrial en-
terprises and all major decisions
today are made in the direct in-
terest of these monopolies.

“But in Canada, the peculiarity
is that the dominant monopolies
are U.S.-controlled; that Canadian
monopoly capital has’ no indepen-
dent national existence but is a
junior partner of U.S. capital and
is under its domination.”

With very few exceptions, native
Canadian manufacturers and bank-
ers “have lost the capacity for in-
dependent decision in th national
interest (and) the concentration and
centralization of capital in Canada
proceeds under the domination of
USS. capital. This cannot but react
upon the Canadian state and sap
its independence.”

What has the Canadian gov-.
ernment done about ,this situa-

§ Way to go in Canada,
g conditions of the people.
stry, premature aging and

heir maximum), poor housing

Canadians are becom
of two dangers: a third W
and another economic %

And they are aware ©
thing else that threatens”

“There is a growilg.
among Canadians of ate
— the danger of iruculél
can expansionism, Vil
look upon as the cause 0}
of war and one 9° the mé
of the economic crisis.
' “Canadians want
with the Americans;
terms of equality and
benefit.. Cooperation ©
mination Never!”

tion? How did it |
changes in U.S. polid
set as its aim “to win !
domination, with the
world as a supplier of
terials’?
Back in those years ol
— 1945-47 — what dee
made at Ottawa? The
this answer: :
“The Canadian govelll)
Pitulated to the U.S. POs
pansionist policy and tht
rendered the cause of 10

‘INTEGRATION

HIS “integration” of
dian economy wW!
has left its scars. Indee
tegration with the U.S”
the. disintegration of OC”

In foreign trade, fot
where the dependence
U.S. is ‘“alarming.”
shows that in 1953, 83.6F
Canada’s imports from
were fully manufactl!
while at the same tim”
cent of Canada’s expo.
country were raw matetl@
partially processed.

The LPP presentatio?
question: a
“Can Canada pursue
pendent foreign policy #7
an independent trade P
signed to build up Cat’
U.S. control and owner
marked?

“The answer is: Yes:
“The Canadian peo
support government poll
lead in this new diregt
is a politically independ’ My
with full power to ©) fi

i
0

National po
developm

“1) A’ vast nation®l
development, whic
clude a_publicly-ow™
Canada natural ga,
public development ott
potential of the Colum.
Grand Falls, South
wan River, the Fun Y
Our uranium resource
ulous value in !
atomic age, should be",
for Canadian industty
for the U.S. Atom
Commission and its '
short through: an ar
as a federal-provinclt
energy committee,
er ,resources of ©
be'surveyed, develo (io
to build Canada’s 9%”
OMV:\a3

and reducing the death rate by
raising living standards and in-
stituting sweeping social reforms
such’as health insurance, mater-
nity grants, higher old age pen-
: sions. This will be assisted by

which is rampant across Canada, the insufficient j ;
foods, nervous strain brought about by urban Rasa ce “the
time needed to go to and from work—which must be considered ;
part of the working time—the burden jof sickness and the absence .
a national health insurance plan—these and other factors enter j fe
the computation of the degree of impoverishment which un eas

“2) ‘The Bank %
should be used, this
ization of Canada!
resources, private

itall
to develop vite y a

HERE is throughout this thor- —

oughly documented brief the
assertion of pride in the achieve-
ments of Canadians since Confed-
eration. At one point it describes

F : 5 ES it this way: : ‘ h : MPa re | V |
actively industrializing Canada, . : the seeming high living standards now enjoyd ” branches of Cat pe
cinccdie the arg of oppor- By the labors of the Canfitiian ‘ * * e i Pest —such as steel, ma
‘ tunities for employment and people who came from many lands “The relative number of worke i

rs engaged in Canadian manufac- ane ate acnmanned

turing declines when compared with the econo
1947 to 1954 the drop was 11.5 percent”) * Whole: From basis.”

=

to a hard and strenuous life in the
early days, and who were seized

acsicnoeanit

winning higher technical skills.”

iY

MARCH 2, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 6

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