MORE ANTI-LABOR INJUNCTIONS

Interior

*

Photo

dreds of woodwork-

shows hun-

ers staging a protest

march in Nelson last

week against employ-

er attempts to use
strikebreakers. A
court injunction has
been issued against
the union . . . See
Story Pg. 12.

SAME OLD “TEAM”: Photo shows men long associated with big business civic
politics at Tuesday nights meeting at which the new NPA — “TEAM” — was
formed to retain control over civic politics for the establishment. Left is Tom
Ingledow, former vice president of the B.C. Electric and a leading figure in the
NPA. Right is forestry tycoon Bert Hoffmeister.

IWA fights strikeb

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1968

VOL. 29, NO. 11

| Huge giveaway looms

Behind the
of Roberts

By NIGEL MORGAN
The real issue behind the hassle over who is going to build
Roberts Bank superport — the interests of working people and
the development of job-creating industries in B.C. — is being
completely ignored by both Federal and provincial

authorities.

’ The Bennett government (which:

has called a halt to school
construction pleading capital is not
available) now says it has so many

- millions it is ready to proceed on its

own to develop the superport to
serve the Kaiser-Nippon steel trust.

Last week the Provincial
government rushed through its own
“‘superport authority’.

Sharp's ‘new’ budget

“Finance Minister Sharp’s ‘new
proposals’ on tax Changes do not
differ fundamentally from the ill-
fated Bill C-193 which was defeated
by parliament,’’ says a statement
issued last week by Alfred Dewhurst,
executive secretary, Communist
Party of Canada. The statement
says:

‘“‘The concessions are more
apparent than real. In essence they
constitute political fence-mending to
placate the opposition parties, pacify
an aroused public opinion, restore
some of the lost confidence in the
government and gain acceptance by
parliament.

will only be taxed an extra $45
million but will receive a refund on
taxes collected two years ago to the
extent of five times this amount.

“In other words, the tax burden

“The fact is that Mr. Sharp still
insists upon a surcharge on personal
income tax, which is a tax upon a tax
and which wiil hit the working people
the hardest. An additional $105
million will be taken away from
consumers buying power this year.

“The big corporations, which
fleece the public through monopoly
price gouging and exorbitant rents,

hits poor

continues to be shifted from the rich
to the poor, at a time when the
opposite direction ought to be taken
to relieve the pressure on living
costs, reverse the slow down of the
economy and prevent the spread of
poverty and unemployment.

“The proposed review board ‘to
watch prices, wages, costs and
incomes’ is a meaningless gesture
directed to increase the pressure on
labor while leaving the powerful
monopoly interests free to continue
their nefarious game of rent and
price gouging. SZ

“Tt is precisely the accumulation

See SHARP, pg. 2

Ottawa, not to be outdone, and to
help cut the CPR monopoly in on the
gravy train, announced taxpayers
money would be available and
started drill-testing on Roberts
Bank.

Bennett wants to see facilities
built which would turn Roberts Bank
into a huge funnel for shipping away
B.C. raw materials. The Socreds
don’t want Ottawa to be in a position
to exercise any control over their
plans for massive export of raw
materials.

If Robert’s Bank is developed
purely as a Provincial project, it
could easily become a rival complex
to existing port facilities at the
expense of Greater Vancouver
taxpayers. It would create vast new
windfall revenues for the Socred
administration, and transform the
Delta into a bonanza development
(the Gaglardi way) for those on the
inside track.

The Socred cabinet has expressed
preference for hauling Crow’s Nest
coal from Fernie over the U.S. Great
Northern system through the United
States. On the other hand the Ottawa
Liberals have stipulated that

battle
Bank

shipments must be made via a
“‘Canadian’’ route, which would cut
the CPR in on the massive 15-year
shipment.

A year ago, CPR president Ian
Sinclair, wired the government:
“Since CPR is shortest mileage to
any B.C. port, if your government
authorizes building of railway to
divert Canadian coal to U.S. railway
result will be to deprive Canadian
transportation workers and

‘Canadian suppliers of railway

equipment and Canadian industries
and merchants providing support for
transportation through Canada of
millions of dollars annually’’.

But the same CPR, which
expresses such deep concern about
the Canadian economy where its rail
lines are concerned, cynically
betrays our interests on the shipping
end which it hopes Ottawa’s help will
cut it in on. The CPR has already
built three bulk carriers and has five
more on order to garner the Pacific
trade: But not one of these ships has
been built in Canada, employs
Canadian seamen, or pays Canadian
taxes.

Built in Japan (probably using
some of B.C.’s iron ore smelted in
Japan) they have been registered in
Bermuda under the ownership of
‘CPR—Bermuda Ltd.’’ — a wholly-
owned CPR subsidiary — to cash in
on the low annual corporation tax of

See PORT, pg. 12

ate