LI woul, Whe Se a A | LL The first shipment of Soviet- built Ladas arrived in Montreal only three weeks ago but already buyers in Toronto where the cars were first put on sale, have snapped them up. Another shipment was. ex- pected to arrive in Montreal this week and although it was to be smaller than the first — 470 cars as compared to the initial shipment of 485 — many of them have also been actounted for. The initial response to the Soviet import has been “fan- tastic’’, according to Arthur Beatty, technical director for Lada Cars of Canada, the im- port agency which is bringing the cars into Canada. He said that scores of buyers were sending in deposits ‘without even having seen the car’’. The low sticker price of $3,495 plus standard freight and pre- delivery charges is the main factor in the car’s popularity but reliability has also won the Lada many adherents. Built in the modern Togliatti plant on the Volga, Ladas have been exported to several SOVIET-BUILT LADA . ee ‘ Toronto buyers snap up first of Soviet Ladas - . expected in Vancouver within 18 mon-| S countries throughout the world including Angola where they have earned a reputation for ruggedness under severe conditions. The car is modelled after the Fiat 128 on which the Togliatti plant’s production was initially based, but the new Ladas feature several refinements and mofifications including the engine which is of Soviet design. According to Beatty, some 3,250 cars will have been brought into this country by the end of 1978 but, for the moment at least, they’ll only be on sale in Toronto and parts of southern Ontario. : “We’re looking at cross- country sales over the longer term,” he said, adding that Vancouver should be getting the cars within a year and a half. A parts warehouse as well as a service training school have been established to provide the necessary back-up to retail sales. The network of dealer- ships — now based only in southern Ontario — will also be extended as more cars become available. z ie ee Gov't queried on visa for S. African golfer The Manitoba Anti-Apartheid Movement has~called on federal minister of state for fitness and amateur sport Iona Campagnolo to ensure that the federal govern- ment’s policy barring South African athletes is “rigidly en- forced’’. The call followed reports that South African Don Hayes was among the competitors at last month’s Canadian Professional Golfers Association championship — in contradicticn of the govern- ment’s stated policy not to provide visas for South African athletes. Campagnolo announced July 14 that under newly-established criteria, the federal government would disallow visas for ‘South African citizens who wish to come to Canada to participate in sports competitions or associated congresses as representatives of their country. “They also apply to represen- tatives of South African national sport federations, to represen- tatives of a constituent body of South African national sport federations and to South African executive members of an_ in- ternational sport governing body,”’ she said. The restrictions were part of the agreement reached by Com- monwealth governments at a meeting in Scotland in June, 1977, aimed at discouraging sporting . links with South Africa because of that country’s official policy of apartheid. - In her letter to Campagnolo, Karin Pampallis said that the Anti- Apartheid Movement was “ex- tremely gratified’ to hear of the federal government’s stand on sporting links with South Africa but noted that it was ‘“‘disturbed”’ by Hayes’ participation in the golf championship. “Such incidents can only give the impression that the Canadian government is flouting its own policy, or that the announcement of such a policy was merely a ploy to appease the nations of Africa prior to the Commonwealth Games,’’ her letter stated. “We trust that this is not so and that the government will in future rigidly enforce the policy that was announced last month,” she said. Ali interview An exclusive interview with Muhammed Ali following his four to the Soviet Union is featured in the September-October issue of New World Review, now off the press. Ali and his wife Veronica, invited to the USSR by the Soviet Sports Federation, spent 12 days in that country, visiting various centres and. holding meetings with a number of sports and government officials including Soviet president now available and Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev. The September-October issue is devoted to his impressions from the tour, about sports, religion, race relations and, particularly, peace. A series of photos from the tour is also included. Single copies are available at $1 from the People’s’ Co-operative Bookstore, 353 West Pender St. in Vancouver. Subscriptions are also available at $5 for one year. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 15, 1978—Page 10 ‘money, a eee Cutbacks hit the arts, CBC Federal government cost-cutting is expected to take a multi-million- dollar bite. out of budgets for Canadian cultural agencies, with the National Museums Cor- poration, the National film Board and the Canadian Broadcasting Company — all key agencies — facing the worst cutbacks. For CBC, the cost-cutting will be most severe — amounting to some $71 million — much of which is expected to come out of programming despite requests from secretary of state John Roberts that administrative budgets be trimmed first. Reductions in the National Museums Corporation which will lose some $5.5 million in federal and the National Film Board which will be chopped by $3.9 million will also result. in serious setbacks for Canadian cultural development, however. Both agencies had begun to establish substantial reputations in , recent years, with the National Film Board producing in- ternationally-acclaimed films and the Museums’ Corporation managing to assemble such exhibitions as the Discovery Train. For Canadian film development, the cost-cutting follows earlier action by the federal Liberal cabinet in emasculating a film policy developed by secretary of state Roberts. In April, Roberts had called for increased assistance to Canadian filmmakers and suggested that a 10 percent tax on foreign film distributors be in- stituted but his proposals were reportedly shot down by finance minister Jean Chretien, the principal author of the present cuts. Canadian programming is seen as the first target in the changes that budget reductions will force on the CBC, the hardest hit by the federal program. Jack Gray, president of the -. Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) warned that the budget reductions were ‘‘a challenge to the existence”’ of Canadian programming and charged that the government had “‘no priorities” in the area of developing the arts in Canada. Gray pointed out in an interview on CBC radio that the budget cuts would affect more than just programming since such groups as the Atlantic Symphony, if it were to lose its CBC contract because of the cutbacks, would probably: cease to exist. “Tt means that much of the Canadian talent will be forced to leave the country,” he said. ‘“‘It’s cultural suicide.”’ Gray said that ACTRA was not opposed to all cost-cutting but declared: ‘We cannot afford any cuts in programming across the country.” In Victoria, the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) which was completing a national meeting this week, was pondering what form of action to take to oppose any further cuts in Canada Council grants. Although Council grant reductions have so far been relatively minor, more cuts have been anticipated for the future. TAMAHNOUS’ LIQUID GOLD. punch. : .. music, energy and political “Liquid Gold’ opening | tour of 17 communities Tamahnous Theatre Company’s popular production of Liquid Gold will be going on tour across the province this month and next, visiting seventeen British Columbia communities in addition to a second run at City Stage in Vancouver. Written by B.C. writers Glen Thompson and Bruce Ruddell, Liquid Gold was first produced in April at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre where it won wide acclaim. Tribune reviewer Fred Wilson described the musical as “packed with humor, energy — and political punch’’. Set in the fictional Envers Inlet, somewhere on the _ Sechelt Peninsula around the year 1921, the play is about rum-running and the domination of the small com- munity by fish baron Mort Wheeler and his monopoly ‘‘credit plan’’. The touring cast will include the cast of the original production with the addition of Jackie Crossland who takes over the role of Susannah. The show is directed by Jeremy Long. : In Vancouver there will be two showings at City- Stage, on Sep- tember 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at $4.50 by phoning 688-7013. The theatre is at 751 Thurlow Street in Vancouver. Shows on September 13 and 14 in Victoria will open the tour through the province with McPherson Playhouse providing -the stage. Then it moves on to Nanaimo September 15 and 16; Vancouver September 17 and 18; Gibsons September 20; Powell River September 21; Courtenay Sep- tember 22 and 23; Quadra Island September 25; Gold River Sep- tember 26; Port Hardy September 27; Terrace September 30; Kitimat October 2; Hazelton October 3; Burns Lake October 4; Vanderhoof October 5; Prince George October 6, 7,8 and 9; Williams Lake October 11; and Quesnel October 12, the final stop. ~ One of the world’s most éx- traordinary exhibitions — made up of art objects made by prisoners in Chile’s concentration camps — is | currently on tour in the German Democratic Republic. It coincides with the fifth anniversary of the fascist coup which overthrew the democratically elected govern- ment of Salvador Allende. The exhibition, a testament to the courage and strength of Chilean patriots, is made up of some 80 pieces, each of which was produced in one of Pinochet’s concentration camps — at Dawson Island, Tres Alamos, Santiago and the women’s prison at Valparaiso. The pieces were collected by Chileans who, thanks to ternational solidarity, escaped from Chile and are now living in the GDR. The various exhibits are made of wood, leather, stone, wool and old silver coins, and include a tiny chess board and chess pieces fashioned from a wooden bunk and produced in an isolation ward where @ny activity is_ strictly eechibited: in-’ { Art tribute to Chileans’ courage the messages includes is by Luis Corvalan Women imprisoned in the women’s prison, “‘Buen Pastor”’ in Valparaiso, crocheted children’s clothes while prisoners in other camps made medallions from old coins. Communist Party leader Luis Corvalan, imprisoned for four years on Dawson Island engraved one such medallion for his wife. Notable among the collection are stone engravings by Oswaldo Puccio, former private secretary to president Allende and now vice- | president of the committee ‘‘Chile Antifascista’’. Although the junta does allow some handicraft work to be done in the camps — holding it up as an example of the military rulers’ “‘broadmindedness’’—it provides only old wool and used leather for the work. At the same time, the production of handicrafts is often the only way for some prisoners to earn a living for their families. Also among the exhibits is an exercise book filled with en- couraging messages written by prisoners at Dawson Island to the son of Oswaldo Puccio on the oc- Stone engravings made by- Island y, prisoners in. Dawson concentration camp.