PHOTO — GARY MacDONNELL ~

HANDSHAKE OR
SHAKEDOWN?

What did this handshake cost the
Canadian people?

tronics and, of course, recruiting ads —
the ‘‘Post’’ also makes money.

AIRCRAFT

Called the “biggest deal in Canada’s
history’’, we plan to purchase 120-130
new fighter aircraft costing more than
$2-billion. Here the infighting gets dirty.
There are eight choices listed with five
being considered serious. They include
all the traditional big multi-nationals —
Grumman, McDonnell-Douglas, and
Some European firms selling some

pretty hot’. items. The ‘‘Post”’ drools
Over their fine points, but they all have
One or two things in common— they are
all priced right up there and they alll kill
efficiently, - ,

In addition, other aircraft (a fleet of
Boeing 707’s at $10-million apiece carry-
ing $90-million in electronic gear) are be-

Ing built for the U.S. airforce and .

NATO. Danson has been told that a
Canadian ‘‘contribution”’ of $200-million
Would be ‘‘adequate’’. And who can
forget the famous Lockheed deal we

Signed for 18 Auroras last year at a mere
$1-dillion?

NAVAL CRAFT

The navy is not to be outdone. Billed
as “the biggest defence contract Canada
has ever considered’, navy brass plan to
Confront Cabinet soon with their shop-
Ping list — 20 new warships carrying a
Price tag of $3.4-billion. ‘‘After all,”’ says
Vice-admiral Douglas Boyle, ‘“‘we’re re-

- SPonsible for 1/33rd of the world’s sur-

face,” Along with the ships comes new
helicopters and electronic equipment
Shoving the price up many more millions,
and these are at 1977 dollar levels.

ARMY

Speculating that Trudeau was grateful
'o the army for its support during the
970**FLQ crisis’, the ‘‘Post"’ sets out a

| Whole bevy of new equipment demanded

Y this branch. Led by retired chief of
Defence staff General James Dextraze

WADEX to his close friends) the army is

demanding 5,000 more troops. They will

ride in style: $200-million for 128 West
German Leopard tanks; $300-million for
700 armored cars; 489 new five-ton
trucks; 2,848 new 1-ton trucks; 41 CF-
10 air droppable vehicles. They will sport
new 155mm self-propelled howitzers and
all sorts of sophisticated, exotic things
including laser beam rangefinders.
There’s a large list of strange equipment
adding up to hundreds of millions more
dollars — each item in the ‘‘Post’’ in-
cludes a hustle to business to get right in
there on the ground floor.

AIR ‘DEFENCE’

The many critics of the DEW Line and
Pine Line systems built. in the 1950s to
watch the North Pole will see that the
government’s plan includes a new, mod-
ern NATO radar system. ‘‘Canadians
will control their own airspace for the
first time’, says the ‘*‘Post’’. The fact
that this is a new version of an old joke
comes out in a quote from Lieutenant-
General William Carr: ‘‘Quite frankly, it
is an image problem,”’ he says, “‘if the
other side knows it can get through ...
the temptation becomes that much grea-
ter.’’ It escapes Carr’s thought process
that the ‘‘other side’’ has no interest in
“getting through’. If it had, the DEW
and Pine Lines were certainly no dete-
rent for the past 25 years.

* * *

Everything is wrong with this new
policy of arms spending. The $3.4-
billion, with its yearly 12% increase and
the additional sum to cover inflation is an
enormous sum of money. Given today’s

| Post SPECIAL REPORT

king a high-speed turn, HMCS

Clive Razer

What Canada’s new Defense.

policy means for business.

Come eee Panadote

troquois tires a Sea Sparrow surface-to-ait missile during exercises in the Caribbean. The lroquois is one of Canada’s most modern ships.

lew fighters to cost more than $2 billion -

Multi-billion dollar order book open again

vwtrle ‘Defense was cui 12 the hone, the Defense Montreal changed Trudcaa’s mi
i oven though every othst

Trudeau has changed his approach and Is displaying areal Interest In Canada’s
defence. The corporations are jubilant, everyone Is after a piece of the multi-billion dollar
ple. The Financial Post devoted an entire section to keeping their corporate friends

informed of the deals that could be made.

economic crisis, it is a criminal waste of
valuable funds which are urgently re-
quired to provide jobs and stimulate
economic growth.

The new policy runs exactly counter
to the process of détente that has inexor-
ably begun to operate. Countless calls by’
the socialist world, the United Nations
and other forces, for disarmament indi-
cate that the world’s majority desires a
reduction, not expansion of arms build-
up. The process of political détente, the
normalization of state relations which
has had dramatic successes in recent
years requires that the world’s arsenals
be cut back.

Recent moves by NATO, especially in
rejecting the call of the Warsaw Pact
states to.abolish both military blocs, in-
dicate that powerful forces still exert
pressure on governments in the West.
Canada’s decision to accede to this pres-
sure is a dangerous indication that
Trudeau has caved in to this pressure.
He talks about peace and prepares for
war

Internally, the beefing up of the mili-
tary has serious implications. Several
‘items (the armored personnel carriers,
the additional troops) are obviously
aimed at dealing with internal problems.
The political climate in Quebec, the labor
picture, the masses of unemployed are
potential danger points in the eyes of the
government. Not-so-subtle hints that the
army must be strengthened to meet these
situations have been appearing in
speeches by government spokesmen in
recent months.

This spending program is accom-
panied by something equally ominous >
and dangerous — the stepped-up anti- .
Communist, anti-Soviet campaign.
Without a public atmosphere of fear;
without the imminent ‘‘Soviet threat”
such programs of military build-up would
be unacceptable to Canadians. :

It's not accidental that this campaign,
in all its forms, has been increased. We
have the ‘‘human rights’’ barrage, de-
signed to paint the socialist states in cold

war colors. We have statements by gen-
erals, admirals and politicians warning of
a Soviet military build-up. A spate of
speeches and articles, television ‘‘spe-
cials’’ are aimed-at trying to mobilize
public opinion for this arms program. We
are told the West “‘gave away”’ every-
thing at Helsinki and received nothing in
return. .

A jacked-up military program has trad-
itionally been accompanied by a rise in
public ‘uneasiness. An ‘“‘enemy’’ is
needed and he is required to be ‘‘visible”’
and threatening. Instead of accepting and
welcoming the many offers for develop-
ing the process of détente, of trade and
exchanges on all levels which lead to
mutual understanding and peace, Ottawa

is re-introducing the cold war which——

blocks this process.

The scenario we are witnessing in Ot- ©

tawa, conducted by NATO and acted out
by Trudeau is harmful and dangerous on
all counts — unless you happen to be in
the armaments business.

The F-18 on the design board of
McDonnell-Douglas. It’s one of five fighter
planes the Cabinet has to choose from.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 1, 1977—Page 7