Editorial

_ Meech Lake hypocrisy

As thousands of Canadians saw on national television, Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney’s reaction to Bill Vander Zalm’s new proposals on the Meech Lake accord
was a loud guffaw in the corridors of Parliament. And it might well be left at that were it
not for the fact that the premier’s proposal is so ominously full of chauvinism and
hypocrisy.

Vander Zalm proposes to divide up the process of ratification to break the provincial
logjams blocking the accord and to ease passage of the stalled accord. As the June
deadline approaches for ratification, the Tories have become increasingly troubled
about the accord for it is their companion piece to the Free Trade Agreement, a
document which is intended to balkanize the country and push the door open wider
toward political and economic integration with the RES:

But the guts of Vander Zalm’s initiative is to recognize all of the provinces and
territories as “distinct societies” — a proposal which completely discards even the
vague recognition of French Canada that exists in the current accord’s language. It
embeds even deeper into the constitution the breakup of Canada into a series of
separate — and “distinct”” — provinces, each with its own political and economic
agenda.

What’s worse is the hypocrisy which surrounded the introduction of the premier’s
proposals.

He first indicated they were coming during his televised speech when he declared:
“The Meech Lake accord is unacceptable to the people of British Columbia (who)
insist it must be changed.” It was an apparent about-face for Vander Zalm who had
been among the first to introduce a resolution into a provincial legislature endorsing the
accord.

But he wasn’t suddenly listening to British Columbians — he was playing to the
worst anti-French sentiment, particularly among members of his own party who reject

any notion of national rights for Quebec. Tragically, it is that sentiment which has"

become the hallmark of western Tory opposition to the accord — and it is that
sentiment which prompted Vander Zalm’s proposals in the first place.

This, after all, is the same man who complained during a previous Socred adminis-
tration that he had to endure French as well as English on his corn flakes box — and
the same man who composed chauvinist ditties about former Quebec premier Rene

Levesque. It is the man who now wants to present his proposals as “innovative
statesmanship.”

There is indeed widespread opposition to the Meech Lake accord in this province, .

as there was when the motion endorsing the accord was adopted in Victoria. That
opposition is based on the fact that the accord fails to enshrine aboriginal rights, it fails
to enshrine women’s rights or the right of territories to attain provincial status, it gives
up vital federal rights to the provinces, threatening the economic and political integrity
of the country. And although this may bea minority view, many oppose the accord for
its most fundamental flaw — its failure to speak to the inequality of confederation and
to redress that by granting national rights to Quebec.

That opposition will continue to demand the scrapping of the accord and the
establishment of a new constitutional deal for the country. But Vander Zalm’s propos-
als won’t be part of that process. If anything, his phony sales pitch only emphasizes how
urgent it has become that British Columbians get rid of both him and his government.

TRIBUNE |

EDITOR
Sean Griffin

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Dan Keeton

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| na way, it’s part of the nuclear issue. In
another sense, we're talking environ-
ment, and also the health of human
beings. But there’s no denying it’s an
important, if underrated, concern.

We mean the question of irradiated

food. While there doesn’t appear to be Food Irradiation Alert makes the

much of it on Canadian store shelves as
yet, one group of Canadians is keeping an
eye out for its appearance. And they’re
ready to blow the whistle.

The group is the Burnaby based Food
Irradiation Alert, part of the Health Action
Network Society. And since it was founded
in 1984 to warn about the attempt to build
an irradiation plant in the Lower Main-
land, it’s been active warning about the
dangers of radiation exposure to workers
and the deleterious affects on consumers,
says spokesperson Lila Parker.

Irradiation is supposed to prolong the
shelf life of fruits, fish, poultry and other
foodstuffs. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, and Consumer and Cor-
porate Affairs Canada allow the process,
but Parker reports that animals tested to
back up the case for food irradiation have
subsequently become sterile or have been
destroyed.

The process kills moulds, but not all of
them, Parker says, pointing out it has
proven ineffective against deadly bacteria

destroys essential nutrients such as vitam-
ins A, E, K, C, Bl and B2, and certain
amino acids.

like salmonella. Meanwhile, irradiation :

charge that “‘nuking” food is not really
effective as a preservation method. It has
more to do with Atomic Energy Canada’s
desire to get rid of its waste from Candu
reactors. “Cobalt 59 when processed
becomes cobalt 60, and that’s the sub-
stance they use in food irradiation,” says
Parker. In the U.S., it’s Cesium 137, she
says.

While a plant in B.C. failed in 1986
from lack of funds and legal problems,
there are irradiation centres in Lavalle and
St. Hyacinth, Que., and White Cliff, Man.,
where chickens fed with irradiated pellets
had to be destroyed, Parker reports. And
it may be difficult to detect irradiated pro-
ducts in stores because Consumer and
Corporate Affairs Canada does not
require labelling of such products, she
warns,

The group’s campaign to ban irradiated
foods has received a recent boost with
both the municipal councils of Surrey and
the city of North Vancouver voting last fall
to support the effort. Surrey council sub-
sequently wrote Health and Welfare Min-
ister Perrin Beatty and Consumer and
Corporate Affairs Minister Bernard Val-
court calling for a federal ban.

People and Issues

Meanwhile, several U.S. cities have

banned irradiated products, and a coali-
tion of trade unions is active on the cam-
paign in California. The governments of
West Germany, Sweden, Israel, Austria,
Switzerland and Australia also ban the
process.

fee Kk

ne of the longer and more productive

lives in the progressive movement
came to an end Jan. 18 with the death of
Alex McKitch, a former logger organizer
and community activist. He was 88 when
he died at the seniors’ home in which had
lived since the early Eighties.

Alex came to Canada at an early age
from his birthplace in Russia, eventually
moving to British Columbia where, during
the Thirties and Forties, he was a wood-
worker who organized loggers for the
International Woodworkers on Van-
couver Island, including the Yubou Lake
camp. When he retired, he and his wife
Elizabeth, who predeceased him, settled in
Vancouver.

Alex was long-time member of the Fed-
eration of Russian Canadians anda gen-
erous supporter of the Russian People’s

Home on Campbell Avenue and the pro-
gressive Russian language newspaper,
Vestnik. He was also a supporter of the
Communist Party, donating more than
$1,000 annually through the party’s Van-
couver East club. In east Vancouver, he
was a member of the former Cedar Cot-
tage Ratepayers Association, one of the
predecessors of the Committee of Progres-
sive Electors.

He is survived by two sons.

Following his wishes, no memorial is
planned.

* *

VW: extend our condolences to the
family and friends of Alex Muryn,

who died Jan. 21 from heart complica-

tions at Royal Columbian hospital in New
Westminster.

_ Alex, 78 at the time of his death, was
born in Byelorussia in 1911. He came to
Canada asa child and was raised mainly in
the Prince George area.

For the majority of his working life,
Alex was a logger, although he worked the
last 20 years until retirement as a machi-
nist at Canada Machine Works.

Alex was a member of the Communist
Party in Coquitlam and a lifelong suppor-
ter and member of the Federation of Rus-
sian Canadians. He is survived by his
stepson.

A memorial is planned for | p.m., Feb.
3 at the Russian People’s Home, 600
Campbell Ave. in Vancouver.

4 « Pacific Tribune, January 29, 1990