the province. nee again we are very pleased to present an outline of the Communist Party’s program on education. Since our last letter to your Association, in August 1960, a number of major develop- ments have taken place which have kept education in the forefront of B.C. affairs. Through all of these devel- _ opments the Communist Par- ty has continued to approach the educational problems from the viewpoint that our young people are our most - valuable resource. Therefore, _it is our opinion that the edu- must be placed first on the agenda and that all require- ments must be met. In these days of the space age, the. importance of education can- not be overestimated and all necessary steps must be tak- _ en to make sure that the edu- cational system is fitted to _ meet the requirements of our In spite of the attention ed- -ucation has been _ receiving (ie... Chant and MacDonald Reports) in recent years, it is obvious that while there have been improvements, the basic immediate problem re- mains. That is the problem of educational finance. All the effort and valuable time ex- pended by school boards in _ trying to keep up and devel- op further the educational _ standards in their districts is a losing battle as the munici- Palities and districts cannot raise the necessary funds without steadily raising the already too heavy tax bur- den. The rising opposition to such increases is seen in the increased opposition to school bylaws. The cost of sound ed-_ - ‘ucational programs has been —a key factor in the financial_ -erisis of the municipalities. For a number of _ years, since before the Rowell-Sirois Commission, the Communist Party has held that federal aid to education’ is essential to solve the educational fin- ance problem. In recent years more and more _ interested people have also come to sup-_ port this position and the _ cational needs of our youth _ _ The party’s reply to the request, which has been mailed out to approxi _ mately 750 school boards across the province, is published below. 1957 Conference of the Cana- dian Federation of Mayors and Municipalities held at Murray Bay, Quebec, passed a resolution in line with’ the federal aid proposal. The Communist Party holds — that the youth are the future of the nation and are there- ~ fore the responsibility of the nation. The Communist Party holds that the youth of the nation will be better served by money for education than money for obsolete weapons of defence in a world where the only defence is peace and that therefore money spent now on such weapons should — be used on education. Communist Party represen- tatives in the Legislature will. work for the implementation of the following: EDUCATIONAL FINANCE 1. Federal government ito assume full responsibility for” the cost of elementary educa- tion. 2. Provincial government to assume at least 50 per cent ‘of the balance of education costs. 3. The remaining educa- tional costs at the municipal level to be shifted to lighten the burden on home owners - by increasing the educational taxation rate on _ industrial and business properties. 4. The provincial govern- ment to pay for the full cost, including construction and op-: eration, of all community and junior colleges. Determina- _tion of curriculum and stand- ‘ards would be the just re- sponsibility of the Depart- ment of Education and the local school board. 5. Where senior matricula- ' tion courseg are offered the: provincial government should : pay the full cost. LOCAL AUTONOMY 1. The provincial govern- ment to establish a basic pro- gram for the highest stand- ard of education. Local school boards should have full aut- onomy in administering and carrying out such a program to achieve maximum results. GENERAL - PROGRAM FOR EDUCATION 1. As a solution to the shor- tage of teachers the provin- ‘cial government should im- mediately establish a plan to provide 3,000 Scholarships of $1,000 each for students en- tering the College of Educa- _ tion. Those receiving such a scholarship would be requir- ed to have and maintain a * high academic standing . _ 2. The Department of Edu- cation should continue to re- duce the: pupil-teacher ratio, ~ which this year has remained static at 38:1, until a figure of 30:1 is reached with a 25:1 ratio for elementary classes ~ OUNTING election activity is reported from. the six Ontario constituencies being con- _ tested by the Communist Party. — Osmo Lahti in Scarborough- West has been hitting hard on, the peace theme, calling for: social needs such as_ hospitals, education and industry instead of _ “atomic death bases’. Youth candidate Rae Murphy is’ calling for free textbooks, label- ing Tory educational plans “the tion’. He is contesting St. Pat- _ rick’s. Charles Weir, running in St. David’s, is basing his struggle around the need to stop the run- away shop. ‘“‘The province has the power” to prevent shops from deserting areas and dumping workers on the scrap heap, Weir is charging. In a TV broadcast in Port Ar- snob system for public educa-_. = ‘thur where he is-running as a : candidate, Bruce Magnuson, On- tario CP leader, delivered a Strong indictment of the Tory regime in Queen’s Park for “its complete failure—after 20 years in power to bring manufacturing - industry to Northwestern On- tario. & - “Millions of tons of rich iron _ BRUCE MAGNUSON > ' thousands of jobs are being ex- domestic market.” Glance at Ontario election ore pass through the Lakehead cities annually,” he declared, “but not a single smelter has been built in this area. “Our young people must go™ elsewhere begging for work while ported along with our raw materials.”’ Citing the example of the Poly- mer Corporation in Sarnia, built by the federal government dur- ing the war, Magnuson said ‘‘the Ontario .government could de- velop much new manufacturing ‘ industry way.” He said ‘‘we cannot plead any | - lack of markets when two-thirds of the world’s population lives in- | under-developed areas that cry for manufactured goods,’’ add- ing that “a growth of manufac- turing would also expand the Ontario voters go to the polls: t é f iA. ‘ ( in exactly the same ) |. | on Wednesday, September 25. | asic educational need: finance The Communist Party of B C recently received a request from the B C. School Trustees Association for the CP’s position on the question of educa tion for our youth. A similar request was mailed out to all political parties in and classes for retarded child- ren. 3. In order to provide our children with texts which have a Canadian character and a Canadian outlook the Department of Education in_ consultation with local boards should commission outstand- ing teachers to write texts for use in B.C. 4. A full re-examination should be made of the facili-: ties for provision of vocation- al and technical training in- the province. New centres on Vancouver Island and in the- Interior should be construct- ed immediately. 5. Every young person in this Hiovance has the right to