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EDITORIAL

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Controlling the snoops

It’s hard to say which is more incredible and sleazy, the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service, or the behaviour of Solicitor-General James Kelleher
and the prime minister.

Only three years old, CSIS has been caught lying to a federal judge in
order to obtain a wiretap warrant. Its director has resigned in disgrace and
one of its agents, posing as a Quebec union official, has pleaded guilty to
charges of conspiracy to blow up four hotels.

In response, the solicitor-general tells Parliament things are basically
okay, the wiretap debacle only means ‘“‘an adjournment” of proceedings
initiated by illegally-gathered information, and the CSIS stoolpigeon

planted in the Quebec union was “‘only” a paid informer, “not a full-time |

CSIS agent.”

That drivel from the lips of Canada’s top law enforcement officer, the
minister in charge of the CSIS, is then sanctified by Prime Minister
Mulroney who insults everyone’s intelligence by saying Kelleher “has
adequately and faithfully discharged his duties.”

Perhaps so, by Tory standards.

So what has changed here?

The snooping, harassment, wiretapping, bombings, arson, entrapment
and infiltrations carried on by the RCMP for decades have simply been
transfered to CSIS. The agency, the Tribune has learned, also spends its
time harassing Young Communist League members in Alberta.

Quebec stoolpigeon Marc Boivin was on RCMP payroll 12 years
before cashing CSIS cheques. Former RCMP dirty tricks experts simply
changed from Mountie scarlet to suit-and-tie. They brought to CSIS their
racist, anti-left, anti-union, anti-people mentality.

Changing the letterhead didn’t (it couldn’t) change an agency whose -

main task is to ferret out, monitor and stifle dissent. An RCMP clone,
CSIS also views dissent as subversive. Alternate media, unions, immi-
grant groups, left political organizations, Native peoples groups, peace
groups, routinely fall under CSIS scrutiny. Recently Parliament learned
the 600,000 Canadians were on RCMP/CSIS lists.

It’s fine that the Security Review Committee is looking into the latest
mess. But that will change little. We need a parliamentary inquiry not
only to examine CSIS criminal acts, but to prevent more abuses of power.

It’s not enough for the Tories to jettison their CSIS “Oliver Norths.”
It’s not enough to fire the clowns. Let’s point out who the circus owners
are.

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EDITOR
Sean Griffin

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Dan Keeton

BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER
Mike Proniuk

GRAPHICS
Angela Kenyon

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S omeone recently suggested that if the
sick, the elderly and the poor of this
province were to form’ themselves into a
human highway, they would stand a far
better chance of getting the funds they :
need from the Social Credit government.
The only thing missing from that equa-

tion is a Socred construction contractor to
skew the government’s priorities even
more than the Socreds have already done.

Over the past several weeks, one hospi-
tal in the province after another has been
forced to cut the number of beds or other-
wise reduce service because of a shortfall
in funding from the provincial ministry of
health. Three weeks ago, a number of doc-
tors expressed fears that some women may
die unnecessarily waiting for breast cancer
surgery delayed by the shortage of beds.

And last week, we learned from the
chairman of Children’s Hospital that
because of a lack of government funding,
the hospital is being forced to divert many
cases requiring special care, including
premature babies, to hospitals in Calgary
and Edmonton. At stake is about $2 mil-
lion.

Almost the same day, we learned of a
highway contract in Richmond which has
cost taxpayers an estimated $1 million
extra because the contractor, Maximum
Contractors Ltd. — a joint venture be-
tween Ike Unger of Unger Construction
and Sonny Zappone of Sonny’s Excavat-
ing Ltd. — failed to meet the deadlines
laid out in his initial contract with the
highways ministry. The project was stalled

because the company refused to pay
truckers the going rate.
In fact, according to documents

obtained from the ministry by CBC News, »

officials from the highways department
were about to take over the road-building
contract, as is the normal procedure is
cases of default. But then Socred MLA
and Tourism Minister Bill Reid went to bat
for Unger —a man he described on
camera as “the best Social Credit suppor-
ter in south Surrey” — and before long

’ the contractor was granted a nine-month

extension. In addition, some of the high-
ways ministry staff who had been insisting
that he live up to his contractual obliga-
tions were transferred.

So how much is the delay likely to cost.
_ us? It’s estimated to be in the neighbour-

hood of $1 million. But hell — isn’t a
great Social Credit supporter worth more
than a few hospital beds?

Actually, on the Coquihalla Highway,
it appears that they’re worth more than a
few hospitals, let alone beds. The cost for
the three-phase project is now pushing
hard on the $1 billion mark — about $500
million more than it was budgeted to cost.

A commission of inquiry has begun to
probe the causes of that massive overrun

People and Issues

although it’s uncertain if we'll ever know
the full details. But we do know, from
affidavits filed by construction workers
last week with the highways ministry, that
one contractor, ALC Construction —
which is distinguishable from Kerkhoff
Construction only at the registrar of com-
panies, (and guess whom those two sup-
port in provincial elections) — was paying
its workers considerably less than it
claimed in bills to the ministry.

On that highway, too, according to the
B.C. Government Employees Union, min-
istry staff who tried to get contractors to
live up to their contracts were compelled
to back off when those same contractors
got their friends in government to inter-
vene. And according to the ministry’s own
estimate, conservative though its sounds,
taxpayers paid at least $15 million extra.
just so the first phase of the project could
be completed in time for Expo — so the
Socreds could have an asphalt monument
to show the world.

We hope thousands of British Colum-.

bians will think about that monument
— and the Socred contractors who pro-
fited from its construction — when they
are waiting for hospital care and are told,
as Finance Minister Mel Couvelier stated

last month, that “health care costs are
spiralling out of control.”

* * *

hat do Bavarian sausage and the
Tribune have in common? The
question would no doubt prompt a variety

of answers (some more complimentary
than others) but in Port Alberni, the two
have gone together for a number of years
during the annual Alberni Fall Fair. Once
again this year, Tribune supporters had a
booth on the grounds, selling Bavarian
smokies to fairgoers and promoting the
Tribune at the same time. It’s the fifth
consecutive year that they've had the
booth and apart from helping to promote

~ the paper, it’s provided a financial boost as _

well.

TRIBS AND SAUSAGES ... Dan
Cebulak and Reg Boucher.

4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 23, 1987