Canada

“We know the Devine government
must go, and we know that this coalition
must continue under any government that
follows.” These words from Saskatche-
wan Federation of Labour president Barb
Byers won a roar of approval at the Sas-
katchewan Coalition for Social Justice’s

(SCSJ) second =
“People’s Con-
gress,” held in Re-
gina April 7-9.
Over 250 dele-
gates, up from 170
last year, made it

clear to Tory poli-
ticians that every
aspect of the right-
wing agenda will
meet with stiff res-
istance in Saskat-
chewan. And while most delegates saw the
New Democratic Party as the only elec-
toral alternative to Devine, the phrase
most often heard was “critical support”
for the New Democrats.

Activist Jack Warnock, author of the
book, Free Trade and the New Right
Agenda, kicked off the congress with a
hard hitting analysis of Canadians and
international developments. Contending
that “neo-conservatism has begun to run
its course; its’ popular support is declin-
ing,” he also warned that the right wing
remains powerful and well-organized
around its agenda.

On the other hand, he predicted that
North America faces a “‘deep recession on
top of historically high unemployment...,
providing a political opening for a new
kind of democracy and politics.”

Warnock was optimistic about the
prospects for popular coalitions like the
SCSJ, and also about international
developments — reform in the USSR,
reduction of the arms race and the staying
power of the Sandinista revolution.

Other major speakers at the gathering
were Lubicon Nation chief Bernard Omi-
nayak and Metis activist Maria Campbell,
who both spoke of the importance of
community activism, and the need for
unity and broad alliances in the struggle
for social change.

It’s increasingly obvious that Saskat-
chewan is becoming a focus of world
attention. The “Institute for Saskatche-
wan Enterprise,” representing every ele-
ment of the ruling elite in the province, is
holding a huge international conference in
Saskatoon, May 13-16, 1990. In the words
of conference organizers, the meeting is
intended to celebrate the fact that Saskat-
chewan has gone further than almost
anywhere else towards privatization.

While the privatization issue is at the
centre of the vast attack on working peo-
ple here, other problems were also widely
debated at the congress — racism, envir-
onmental destruction, changes to labour
standards, and harassment of government

Sask. coalition challenging Devine

Kimball Cariou

employees and welfare recipients by the
Tories.

Still, delegates took heart from the
growing strength and unity of the SCSJ,
which takes in virtually every important
people’s movement in the province, with
active local coalitions in Regina, Saska-
toon, Yorkton, Swift Current, Moose Jaw
and Prince Albert. The selection of Regina
for a major conference called by the “Time
for Social Solidarity” working group, in
June 1990, is also seen as an indication
that the SCSJ has made a strong impact.

High on the agenda coming out of the
congress will be fight against privatization,
the campaign against the Employment
Benefits Act, which would threaten the
whole concept of minimum, labour
stands, the formation of committees to
defend those who speak out against the
Tories, and of course the defeat of Grant
Devine. The Tory premier is seen to be

FROM SASKATCHEWAN.

‘lawbreakers. “I don’t believe there’s any-
‘thing wrong with our movements or our

increasingly vulnerable as the next provin-
cial election approaches, likely in 1990.

Closing the congress, Byers lashed at
media attempts to demean the coalition as

actions. We don’t have to apologize for
people who stand up in a strike or a lock-
out!”

She emphasized that building the SCSJ
is “a growing process ... there will be no
easy wins, and no action is too small or
insignificant” in the struggle.

Just as important as stopping the
Tories, delegates agreed, is the need to
continue working towards a popular
vision of the future of the province, where
the needs of people will come before cor-
porations. The second SCSJ “People’s
Congress” undoubtedly brought that pro-°
cess a few steps nearer to reality.

It's time to re-assess NATO after 40 years

On this 40th anniversary of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, all those con-
cerned with Canada’s future need critically
to examine the government’s foreign policy.

It is a policy based in essence on conti-
nuation of the cold war. That foreign policy
has taken Canada to a dead end.

Despite all the rhetoric about combatting
apartheid in South Africa and trying to
create the impression it is leading that cam-
paign in the Commonwealth and outside it
for action, we have the ugly fact that Cana-
da’s trade with South Africa has increased,
not decreased. A Canadian bank recently
made a $600-million loan to a South Afri-

can company.

will
Kashtan

i: SOMMENTARY

At a time when the U.S. and other coun-
tries that have refused to recognize the
Palestine Liberation Organization have
been compelled to sit down and conduct top
levet discussions with that body, we have
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Exter-
nal Affairs Minister Joe Clark at sixes and
sevens about what to do. It is only due to
great pressure that Canada finally upgraded
its contact level with the PLO.

At a time when other countries are
responding positively to-the various peace
initiatives of the USSR, what has been the
response of the Mulroney government?
How has it reacted to the USSR’s unilateral
disarmament measures, its initiatives that
resulted in the scrapping of intermediate
missiles or its pledge to destroy its chemical
weapons? How has Ottawa reacted to the
USSR’s reductions in troop strength and
military spending, its withdrawal of forces

The Mulroney government continues to make Canada
part of U.S. military strategy as seen in the White paper
on defence... Is it not time to replace it with a policy of

peaceful co-existence?

ae SE GE CD TON TEED T

from Afghanistan and its acceptance of on-
site verification of arms cuts?

The Mulroney government has responded
to the USSR’s peace and disarmament initi-
atives by allowing the testing of the U.S.
stealth cruise missile, a first strike weapon,
over Canada and refusing to cancel its pur-
chase of nuclear-powered submarines.

What conclusion can be drawn?

One is that the government’s policy is
oriented on cold war positions, the core of
which is the alleged Soviet threat. Here
Ottawa is in line with the thinking and
actions of the Bush administration.

President George Bush made no bones
about it: after Gorbachev’s powerful speech
to the UN, he had nothing better to say than
“the cold war is not over. The Soviet threat
continues.” In fact, the U.S., by continuing
to supply modern weapons to the rebels in
Afghanistan and aid to the Nicaraguan con-
tras, continues to fan the flames of milita-
rism and war.

This alleged Soviet military threat is the
main line of the Mulroney government.
Instead of playing the role of peacemaker, it
has made Canada a part of U.S. military
strategy, as seen in the government’s white
paper on defence.

This Mulroney government position is
meeting with increasing opposition from
wide circles of Canadians. As well as peace
forces in Canada, business interests and
others including the mass media are begin-
ning to question the present orientation of
the government. More and more of them

ask: why is there no positive response to the

changes taking place in the Soviet Union ©

and to it various unilateral disarmament
measures? Why is Canada out of step with
world-wide public opinion?

These questions are being asked on
NATO?’s 40 anniversary. Is it not time to

.sum up the results of NATO’s existence and

its policy of nuclear deterrence and first-
strike? The arms race has endangered world
peace and the survival of humanity. It has
distorted our ecology. It has not enhanced
the security of either the capitalist or social-
ist world and it has made the U.S. a debtor
nation.

Is it not time to dismantle both NATO
and the Warsaw Treaty Organization in
their military aspects, to end the arms race
and work for a nuclear weapons-free world?
Shouldn’t the so-called defence program be
cancelled and the social needs of Canadians
be made our number one priority?

The peace initiatives by the USSR and
other socialist countries are helping to push
back the cold war, undermining the phoney
argument of a Soviet military threat and
creating new hope that a nuclear weapons-
free world can be won by the year 2000.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact have been in

‘discussions which could open the door to

further arms control and disarmament
measures, including conventional arms and
troop reductions.

The Canadian government should assist
this process. Mulroney should visit the
USSR and use the occasion to further

ps ee CHALLENGE
AND COMMITMENT

§ Pigteave Policy for Canada

strengthen economic, scientific and cultural
ties. We should come to an agreement with
the USSR on making the Arctic a nuclear-
free weapons zone.

The cold war never served Canada’s real
interests. It’s more than time to replace it
with policies of genuine peaceful coexist-
ence. This would be helped were Canada to
pursue a truly independent foreign policy.

The door in that direction could be
opened by a new alignment embracing the
peace forces, the Liberals, NDP, Tories,
Communists and others working for such a
policy. The neo-conservative policy and
militarization program should be dis-
carded. Canada too needs new thinking in
‘ts foreign policy and international rela-
ions.

William Kashtan is chair of the Commu-
nist Party and heads the CPC committee on
international affairs.

Pacific Tribune, April 24, 1984 « 7