im

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS .

ARK well the day! Monday, March 28, 1949—
Vee ts the tragic day when Canada’s*House of Commons
Popa 149° to 2 far the Atlantic war pact.
ae I It was rammed through-the House in a few hours.
's dire consequences will be felt for years to come. Un-
less the Peoples of the world act swiftly and_ strongly
vr peace, this Atlantic pact will toll out blood, tears,
eath and destruction for scores of millions who want
to live.
_ Only Solon Low, the Social Credit leader had a
Whisper of criticism——there is too much rushing. But
ow lined up with St. Laurent, the corporation lawyer,
with Colonel Drew, the Bay Street frontman, and with
ol Well, the Pseudo-socialist, to vote yes for this Wall
"reet-inspired War pact.’ :
Sige Everyone seemed happy,” says the 7 oronto Daily
Lae referring to the handshakes and greetings St.

went give Drew, [low and Coldwell after the shot-
Sun debate and vote.
ug, Certain MP’, in the weeks past had privately said:
Cham rent and his Atlantic pact remind me of Neville
amberlain returning from Munich in 1938 waving his
train Paper and shouting: ‘It means peace in our
a h is Atlantic pact is as bad, or worse than the
x betrayal—no more morally defensible.”
eds his Atlantic pact follows the virtual Anglo-
U tican blockade of Eastern Europe and the Soviet
Nion, € economics of Anglo-American imperialism
fad to war.” ia
i A CCF MP declared: “It’s the economic relations
is lees that lie at the root of ‘this Atlantic pact
f the danger of war. Instead of this we should fight
or trade with Europe, for a strong United Nations.”

the

Rumbles of threat and counterthreat filtered out of
parliamentary caucus. The question was:

h y CCF MP who dares to speak in the House against

the Atlantic pact faces immediate: expulsion! ~The:
WIP was cracked by Coldwell and the men who know

ae BL ot us_pact really means were gagged. a
th t is significant that 91 MP’s stayed away from
a Commons when the vote was taken. Some were
wee at country clubs, other kept away and dodged
ee Vote because’ they know that thousands of their
oe are solidly against the Atlantic pact.
¢

What a change might have been wrought in parlia-
ee if one of the MP’s had shown the sense of
— Genator Arthur Watkins of Utah. He-told: the truth

one the ‘S. Senate when he said: :

» “The U.S. state department and the press have
munived to force approval of the Atlantic pact by
“Making jt almost impdssible for a senator to ‘study, sug-
Sst revisions or oppose one of the most delicate and

pees treaties ever put before the Senate. seo
eee Atlantic pact is aimed at Russia, a view that is
— “Sntrary to official U.S. explanations.”” 5
thee €nator’s Watkins’ criticisms were blacked out by
© press, : of
angie fierce drum fire has been developed in Canada,
oe Utt the United States to brand everyone who even
Th, *S a word for peace as a foreign agent and traitor.

4 ne Was the atmosphere at Ottawa when the Atlantic
* Was rammed through, ee

- igh “March 28 marked the end of one round in this
aa for fale but. not the last ae by any Se ;
wil) ,.& Mier implications of this dangerous war pact —
OE ea roe to ta
ting ut: and days pass. e USS. sear
of ri ‘Fanco Spain into the pact through the good offices
ah a P ortugal; the St. Laurent plan to spend
the dette?! millions on A-bomb war bases up Nene
 Nationg te Anglo-U.S, scheme to. break up the United -
Sal these plots are unfolding. = be
Progra evatly with the guns-no-butter and eee ee
Canny of St. Laurent—the Wall c Street pressure for .
The cannon fodder and materials intensifies.

harg. © Second round js starting. It will be tough and
i lection fl likely merge into the coming federal
le.
§ ofa i in that, one main thing is clear: it is the task
Trinity & im Buck to the House of Commons from —
o an I » instead of the Tory warmonger Skey, we |

2h

h

'

REE

eT

ar pact rammed through House
in face of popular opposition

less, bold representation ‘in the House of Commons.

_ inspired labor code and Bill 60, which applies the

ale majority but also by the Liberal-dominated legis-

two small church halls in the suburbs. ~

THE NATION By TIM BUCK

=n

Election budget
still favors rich

He ii HE budget presented to the House of Commons last
month is quite evidently an election budget. This
fact was recognized in the comment of almost every daily
paper—and in weeklies which have commented upon
it. There have been exceptions: for example, the
Toronto Daily Star suggested that the budget excluded
an early election because it so staggered the Tories that
they won’t dare force an election for some time. That
argument is about as worthy of serious consideration as
is the Star’s other argumens that St. Laurent is signing
the Atlantic pact because, really he wants to keep
_Canada out of war.

had had Tim Buck in that Tninity seat, the Atlantic
pact would never have been rammed through the House
in such a’ disgraceful way. Tim Buck would haye
told the truth. He would never permit them to gag
him. _He would have voiced the real thoughts of millions
of Canadians—for peace, -for the United Nations,
against the suicide pact. And that would have lent
new strength to the great peace movement that is inevit-
ably arising in our country.
The Commons Atlantic pact debate, above all
indicates how imperative the working class needs fear-

Convincing evidence that the budget was designed
to bring votes to the Liberal party in an early election
is to be seen in the extremely careful manner in which
the tax reductions were distributed so as to impress the
largest number of working class voters favorably while
still granting the most substantial favors to . the big
taxpayers.

For example, mcreasing the amount of personal in-

for a. single person and $2,000 for a married couple

means that almost three quarters of a million of the

Canadians who must pay: taxes on their persona] incomes

for 1948 will not have to pay any income tax if their
* mcomes are the same in 1949..

e need Tim Buck up there on Parliament Hill to
battle for peace,

CIVIL RIGHTS By G. McCUTCHEON

: ands of people whose incomes are barely enough to live

; : a , upon anyway. That is good, but not good enough.

a OC aw C its A $1,000 for single persons and $2,000 for married

* : couples is, precisely the amount of income that was

milk, fuel, rent, clothing, medical and dental service

and recreation, it is equivalent to only about half of the

~ MONTREAL . complying with the principle that taxes upon incomes

[HE revival of fascist tendencies in the political life should start only at the level of income which is adequate
legislation as the Padlock Law and the notorious La- : :

Croix’ Bill which Prime Minister St. Laurent said his In contrast to the very modest concession made

come tax levied _upon _ people with big incomes 7 was

generosity exemplified. On big incomes the reduction in

| : : ; exempted before the war. In terms of groceries, meat,
at ab aa Canadians ‘pre-war exemptions. Certainly it falls far short of

of Canada can be seen on all sides today. Such to maintain a decent and healthy standard of life.
legal experts were studying with a view to its Possible py raising the exemptions, Abbott’s reduction of the in-
the rate of taxation will cut the amount to be paid

main provisions of this code to civic employees, includ-

by anybody whose incomes is below the new exemption
level. A man with an incomes of $20,000 per year will
pay $630 less than in 1948. Furthermore Abbott has
introduced in this budget the iniquitous practice of col-
lecting a bigger income tax from earned incomes than
from incomes which come from dividends or investments.

op A married man, without dependents other than
his wife, who earns an income of $5,000 during 1949
will pay $510 in’income tax. A married man, without
dependents other than his wife,.who has an _Income
of $5,000 during- 1949 derived entirely as dividends
on common stock will pay only $10. That's a nice
little gift from the government to the investing “public.
Each person whose income from dividends totals $25,000

R i 3 . Pee:
attack on the labor and progressive movement in per years will receive such “‘enco agement to mvest’’

Sei Phils ne ae ne sree to the tune of $25,000 plus the general a
although it was not applied during this period. On other words the budget la es Diane : in-
February ,16, 1948 Duplessis ordered the padlocking of | Come tax to be paid by eac such “investor”’' by an
offices of COMBAT,* fighting French Canadian labor amount greater than the average total income of working
weekly, thereby signalizing a stepping-up of reaction’s men. : }

new offensive against democratic rights and political \
liberty as part of its drive ‘to war and fascism in
North America, ie

lative council (Quebec’s senate), are further instances
of this drive to put fascist “teeth in the law.”

Legal action to test the constitutionality of the
Padlock Law has been started by the Committee for
Democratic Rights in Montreal. But legal action alone
is not enough. Strong public protest demanding the
repeal of this evil law m be aroused not only in
Quebec, but across the whole country. The defense of
democracy in Canada requires the defeat of the Pad-
lock Law in Quebec. :

It is just a little over a year since Duplessis
again began to use his Padlock Law, enacted. shortly
after he first came to power in 1936, to ‘bolster his

taxpayers was made to appear mainly a favor to people
with small incomes is evident throughout the budget.
Instead of abolishing or reducing the eight percent, sales
tax, a measure which would have reduced the cost of
living for everybody—but somewhat unobtrusively—the
penny tax was removed from soft drinks. Millions of
people: will buy soft drinks between now and the election
and the probabilities are that the election will be soon

ty ee
__ Since then Duplessis has maintained a constant
drive on the rights of the trade union and progressive
movements, eth . : :
Many raids have been carried out under the Pad-
lock Law and on the pretense of searching for raffle _
tickets on the halls of the AUUC and other cufural
organizations as well as on the\ homes of scores of
their members. Biss OY WER Stave Cth te RN ian Seabed ect not have worn off. Several other and
oa has oon almost ee ke halls Pap . similar examples could be quoted.
ublic meetings on | e, democratic ri and o mee 7 vue ; ss :
aie questions. rohit true not pac the LPP. It A sap icaet, feaute of the budget that was ae
applies also to other organizations, For example, the ally ignoréd- : : :
group of ministers who sponsored the Dean of Canter- acknowledgement that the boom is over. This acknow-
bury’s visit to Montreal were unable to rent any hall :
for a public meeting. The Dean was forced to speak in language but it was unmistakeable for those who studied
as the words. A typical example was the following: ‘The
_ Freedom of the press, like freedom of.speech no present économie situation is such that it is more ap-
longer exists in Quebec. Not only do the Police seize propriate this year to encourage expenditures by con-
ie pei eA armen i Rapes rk ane! on sumers, rather than capital expenditures by business.”
er a variety of municipal by-laws for selli . : aia é
aes ox ele careying ome dela me sige et conveyed a hint of the sombre economic prospect ahead.
Here again, it is only against the progressive press It is, also, an indication of why the St. Laurent govern-
that these by-laws are used. ih ta: _ ment is planning to call a federal election this year.
e Gordon McCutcheon is secretary of Montreal Com. It points to the possibility that, other things being
_ mittee for Democratic Rights, 1229 McKay Street, equal, St. Laurent may dissolve the House and call]
Mortreal (P88 2 OS aS Wy '_ an election ‘right after the Easter recess. =

come exempted from payment of income tax to $1,000 ©

This provides welcome relief for hundreds of thous-_

by a great deal more than the cut to be enjoyed ze

The technique by which big favors to big mcome

enough so that’ the novelty of getting a soft drink for
by the capitalist press was its veiled.

ent was always suggested in carefully guarded

In those words from the minister of finance there is

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 8, 1919 — PAGE 9