fi sat be dyti My, yah Ayer da ul Pear cba Fe Vol. 10, No. 31 ee 13 TEAR re. : AN PME ee oS Se? oe Ch4l ahitin ed RICE FIVE P CENTS OTTAWA Four men, sitting in secret con- Clave, now have the power to Ictate to, 14 million Canadians: On July 26 it was quietly an- Nounced that the St. Laurent cab- et had invoked its powers to Pass an Order-in-Council which *xempts them from publishing’ in the Canada Gazette, or informing arliament of certain orders is Sued under the far-reaching Emer- Stncy Powers Act. Tagged on was the statement that from now on “certain orders Of the-Canadian WheareBoard Will be exempt from publication.” This means that a quorum of he St. Laurent cabinet, which is ‘et at four men, can now meet in Secret and pass orders having the effect of law, affecting the lives; liberties, rights and properties of 14 million Canadians. It means that Prime Minister St. Laurent has broken the pledge he made in parliament on Febru- ary 20, on the first reading of the Emergency Powers Act: ‘‘There is no desire to by-pass _parlia- ment.”” He emphasized: “The legislation . . . if- it~ passes,_ will provide that whatever exercise is made will have to be immediately communicated to parliament.” Again on March |y answering opposition criticism, St. Laurent stressed; ““We want to bring these things to parliament. . . We must table all these regula- tions.” © The new Order-in-Council means that the cabinet—and this could be a meeting of St. Laurent, Howe, Gardiner and Abbott— can prescribe penalties up to five years imprisonment and, an un- limited fine for any Canadian who violated one of the secret orders- in-council. And the' citizen, con- ceivably might never know that such an order-in-council had been passed. In Toronto last week, Thomas C. Roberts, national secretary of the League for Democratic Rights, urged the sending of protests im- mediately to the government. He characterized the action as of a piece with the recent Garson amendments to the Criminal Code. “Tt is important,’ Roberts said, “that people realize what is taking place and take action to put a stop to it before it is too late. Strong protests to the government and to MP’s are more than ever necessary.” The action is further evidence of the warnings given by LPP leader Tim Buck that the trend towards fascist-like suppression and dictatorship at Ottawa was proceeding rapidly. The governmeni order-in-coun- cil constitutes a most serious chal- lenge and encroachment against every principle of British parlia-, mentary government and_ respon- sibility. F King Charles of England lost his throne and his head in 1649 because he denied and trampled upon such inalienable rights . of mde. « dian The call, issued. under the~ signature of Con- 8tess secretary Agnes Jackson and addressed to ‘‘all °rganizations and individuals’ announces that reso-- ‘Utions on the following matters will be submitted ‘© the conference by the organizing committee: 1. Producer subsidies on essentials such as milk. 2. 100 percent Excess Profits Tax: take the profit ut of high prices: provide the money for subsidies. 3. Revision of -the basis of the cost-of-living 4. Removal of 20 percent Income Surtax. 5. Embargo on beef to the U.S.—no meat out the country until our needs are met. Organizations and individuals desiring to sub- tt further resolutions are requested to send them ts.. Agnes Jackson, Secretary, Congress of Can- Women, 319 East 38th Avenue, Vancouver, 29 later than August 25. Women call conference to act against high prices Aimed at. giving united expression to growing Protests of organizations and individuals against the high cost of living, the Vancouver branch of Ongress of Canadian Women this week issued a fall to a prices conference to be held Friday, August 1, at Pender Auditorium. BYPASSED. 4 MEN TATE. 10 14. MILLION the elected parliament of England. In Canada William Lyon Mac- kenzie and Louis Joseph Papineau led revolutionary struggles to over- throw the Family Compact which denied the rights of our fore- fathers to democratic liberties, The order-in-council wauld wipe out principles and rights of democratic parliamentary govern- ment established through hundreds of years of struggle. There has never been ‘such an edict adopted outside of a fascist- dominated country. The fact that the St. Laurent government has adopted such a dangerous edict is proof that it in- tends to use it, that it has some plans up its sleeve that it is afraid to present to public view or to parliamentary scrutiny and de- bate. TORONTO “Government by’ order-in-coun- cil instead of by parliament is bad enough, but government by secret order-in-council is much declared Thomas C. Roberts, national secretary of the League’ for Democratic Rights last week. He was commenting on the July 26 report from Ot- tawa that the federal government will not have to publish any orders passed under the Emergency Powers Act, if their publication is deemed “prejudicial to the se- urity or defense of Canada.” worse,” “This latest cabinet edict is of the same arbitrary, undemocrati¢ pattern as the amendments to the Criminal Code: and the amend- ments made in the Canadian Citi- zenship Act during the last ses- sion,” Roberts declared. “The powers given the govern- ment by the Emergency Powers Act were much too broad and sweeping and could not be justi- fied by such fine-sounding general- ities as the ‘security or defense or interests of Canada’,” he added. “The night of the Canadian people to democratic government is being slowly undermined by such Acts. It is important that the people realize what is taking place and take action to put a stop to it before it is too late.”