oe Provin cial slection imminent ss CP leader Resource sellout aim of election call B.C. Telephone, he said, and has instead developed an unreal With a declaration of a fall Provincial election imminent, Communist Party. provincial leader Maurice Rush _ said Saturday that the CP will field at least 14 candidates for the election and campaign on a program of a new economic policy for the Province. Rush was the feature speaker fore the Greater Vancouver Regional convention of the CP last Weekend at the Britannia Centre in vancouver and used the occasion to outline the party’s approach to’ the election, which he said could be- called any day. Citing premier Bennett’s public statements that the business community want an assurance of anuiuer three years of safe in- vestment, Rush purpose of the election will be to give the major multinational ~ corporations the “green light” to proceed with a large scale sellout of coal and hydro resources to the US. “We can at least be thankful to the premier for having stated the issue so clearly,’”’ he said, “Seldom said that the - in this province’s history has a premier so blatently stated that an election is being contemplated to meet the demands of big business for a safe government.” Rush was critical of the NDP as well which he said, “has been shifting to the right in the hope that by adopting a low profile and avoiding controversial issues it will gather up all the dissident voters and get back into office.” The NDP leadership has studiously avoided demands for nationalization, particularly with regard to MacMillan Bloedel and “economic strategy”’ recom- mending the establishment of “economic councils”? which would be made up of business, labor, government and local community groups. It’s a completely unrealistic and unworkable idea, Rush said, “which completely ignores the reality of life in B.C. — that the province is dominated -by large multinational corportations.’’ There isn’t a hint of curbing the power of the large corporations in the NDP’s plan, he charged. ‘What we are faced with is the prospect of a no-issue and no- program election by the NDP leadership,”’ Rush said, ‘‘Certainly the working class cannot expect that the real issues of this provincial election will be brought before the electorate. That would be a tragedy which the Communist Party does not intend to let hap- pen.” The CP program for the election will include calls for the establish- See HYDRO page 11 Walkout on CNR looms over west A shutdown of the Canadian National Railway across western Canada loomed large this week as Members of the United Tran- Sportation Union threatened to Walk out in support of Thunder Bay rail workers, now in the second week of a wildcat strik against the CNR. UTU members in Rainy River | and — held emergency ® LABOR: As a spokesman for public employers, Graham Leslie has plans for concerted action against the wages and Conditions of public | employees, page 12. And }| the governments of the western provinces have similar ideas, page 2. ® SUMMIT: Despite an in- tense media campaign the Camp David accords Offer no solution to Mid- East peace and are unac- ceptabie to the Arab world, page 10. © NEXT WEEK: We'll look at a proposal to raise taxes on Vancouver homes and profile the byelection race in : Dae Richmond- E Delta. ] CURRED eT meetings Wednesday evening as the Tribune went to press to con- sider taking action against the CNR, including a general work stoppage. “We'll likely be meeting in Vancouver shortly after to talk about going out with the rest of the country,’’ UTU Local 422 spokesman Paul Lawrence.told the Tribune Tuesday. Lower Mainland UTU members met last Sunday in New West- minister, Lawrence said, and sent a cable to CNR president R.A. Bandeen and the federal minister of labor calling for a quick solution to the Thunder Bay dispute — and a similar dispute at Roberts Banks in B.C. — ‘‘in ordér to maintain continuous service to the people of Canada.” About 235 UTU members walked out of the Thunder Bay yards September 15 to protest arbitrary company actions in re-routing coal trains, lengthening hours of work for running crews and a reduction of work for yard crews. The CNR has refused to negotiate the issue and instead slapped a million dollar legal suit against the union and its individual members. If convicted, each member could face penalties of $65,000. “There is a lot of politics in- volved in this,’ Lawrence ex- plained, “‘It’s obvious federal government policy to take a run at every union it has to deal with. In our case the CNR is leading the attack against union rights and benefits, while the CPR waits in the backgound until the dirty work is done.” UTU western region chairman H. Burnett attempted to open negotiations with the CNR last week, Lawrence reported, but he was met with a vicious, hard nosed - company stance. A CNR vice- president reportedly told Burnett, “We're going to trim their asses. We'll take their homes, their money and the works.” UTU delegations from union locals across Canada have been to Thunder Bay to get a first: hand look at the dispute and have unanimously thrown their solidarity behind the Thunder Bay workers. The issue in Thunder Bay is very — similar to one in the Lower Mainland at Roberts Banks. : “See SHUTDOWN page 12 i iyxic Provincial Communist Party leader Maurice Rush told delegates to D the party’s greater Vancouver regional convention that they could expect a snap provincial election as the Socreds press for a man- date to step up the sellout of coal and water resources. (See story). —Sean Griffin photo Issuing of dept. lists to strikebreakers hit The United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union has blasted the regional management of the federal fisheries department for turning over copies of depart- mental mailing lists to the Pacific Gillnetters Association, an organization which UFAWU president Jack Nichol described as “nothing more _ than a strikebreaking front and an organization to divide fishermen.” Worse yet, the lists — of salmon gillnetters and herring fishermen — were given out in violation of a stated departmental policy in force for more than two years. ~ The PGA used the salmon gillnetters list which it obtained earlier this year to send out copies of its flyer which was to be signed and sent back to fisheries regional manager Wally Johnson in promotion of PGA policy. The list of herring fishermen, also obtained from fisheries earlier this year, was used to send out PGA membership forms. -That the PGA had fisheries lists came to light when UFAWU members compared address label on material sent *out by the fisheries department with those on the PGA mail. They proved to be identical with both including the‘ fishermen’s licence number. - Contacted. by the Fisherman, Johnson said that, at the time, he thought the PGA request ‘‘seemed ‘logical’ and argued that he was not familiar with the department’s policy forbidding the issuing of mailing lists. “Tt doesn’t matter whether or not Johnson was ignorant of the regulations,’”» UFAWU president Nichol declared. “That organization (the PGA) is a splinter group and he was trying to assist that group. He has taken an anti-UFAWU stance. “Tf those are the people Johnson wants to support, he won’t get the confidence of legimately organized fishermen in this industry,” he said. Bill Kashtan barred from entry to U.S. Communist Party general secretary William Kashtan has protested to U.S: government officials over the refusal of U.S. immigration department to grant him a visa to enter the U.S. Kashtan had been refused permission to enter the U.S. for meetings with leaders of the Communist Party of the United States and instructed to supply the RCMP and FBI with fingerprints before another application would be considered. Last week, Kashtan was in- formed that he was barred from the U.S. unger the terms of the Nationality and Immigration Act which provides that anyone with past or present membership in a Communist Party is ineligible to enter the country, unless the section is waived by the com- missioner of immigration or the attorney-general. “Notwithstanding the Helsinki eclaration on the ‘free movement of peoples’, the laws of the U.S.A. are so formulated as to negate such free movement,’’ Kashtan protested in a letter to the U.S. immigration department, calling the measures “clearly discriminatory and a carryover of cold war positions.” The CP leader rejected the suggestion that he should apply for a waiver of the regulation by supplying fingerprints to the FBI. “This is not only discriminatory but also suggests that I am some kind of criminal,” Kashtan said. Fed clears Guild of scab charges The B.C. Federation of Labor has agreed not to take any action against the Prince Rupert Co- Operative Fishermen’s Guild, Local 80, which had been charged with strikebreaking against the Prince Rupert Amalgamated Shoreworkers and Clerks Union during its seven week lockout this summer. “While the Shoreworkers believed their charges against the Fishermen’s Guild to be true, no evidence could be found to sub- stantiate the charges,”’ Federation secretary Dave Macintyre said in reporting the decision of the executive council.