Ban y Bt B.C.: OVER 61,000 VOL. 31, NO. 8 CANADA: NEAR HALF MILLION UNEMPLOYMENT RISE NEARS CRISIS LEVEL Prime Minister Trudeau’s austerity program has pushed unemployment in Canada and B.C. up to the near- crisis level, and threatens to get much worse in the next few months. According to the latest figures released in Ottawa for January there were 485,000 jobless in BC Hydro Rates HIGHEST bus Fare Boost in Canada oy RUINS Pensioners ... Students | b BC Hydro Rates ' in Canada Bennetts US Hydro Sel Out * 2k o COMMUNISTS LOBBY LEGISLATURE. Photo shows members of the lobby on steps of Legislative building COMMUNIST LOBBY DEMANDS: ‘No boost in VICTORIA, B.C. — A friendly Teception and words of encouragement 8reeted the Communist Party demon- Stration which gathered Tuesday after- Noon on the steps of the Parliament Building. ti Carrying colorful banners expressing opposi- 10n to the projected Hydro light rate, and bus = € Increase, 38 demonstrators some of whom ame for the day from Vancouver, Chilliwack, aa Westminster, and Duncan to join*members ae Victoria Club of the CPC in an effort to Pu licize their cause and strengthen opposition in Hiss eeislature to the highly unpopular Hydro St. ae demonstration underscored a 3-page brief oe to Premier Bennett and all MLAs incre” on the government to disallow the €ase, to insist on a complete review of Ydro’s light and gas rate structure, and develop System of subsidizing transit services as an Sential public service. he Communist Party brief condemned the €s, -William A. Boucher photo Hydro rates’ increase, pointing out that present rates are the highest for the ten largest cities across the country. In press and radio interviews, Nigel Morgan, Provincial leader of the Party, placed the reason for the increase on three main factors: First, the $109 million, and may reach $200 million by 1973. Secondly, subsidizing of U.S. natural gas rates which provides gas to El] Paso for California cheaper than it can be bought here at its source. And thirdly, inflated interest rates which are the result of the U.S. agression in Vietnam. “It’s time the government of B.C. put the peoples interest first’’, Morgan told reporters on the Legislative steps. ‘“‘There is no reason why hydro users of B.C. should have to suffer to subsidize big U.S. monopoly interests in the Pacific Northwest. We should insist the Columbia River Treaty, which was forced upon us, and the natural gas deal be reopened. Today we have.no other course, unless we want to continue to have the highest rates on the continent.” improvident provisions of the Columbia River giveaway which has produced a deficit that is already admitted to be in excess of Canada; and 61,000 in B.C. These are ‘‘official’’ figures which always lag far behind the actual jobless totals. It represents those persons registered as looking for work and does not include large numbers not officially listed or part-time workers. British ‘Columbia, with 7.3 percent of the labor force jobless in January, is the third highest in Canada, lagging behind only the Atlantic region and Quebec. B.C. with its primary industries is always one of the hardest hit regions in periods of mass unemployment. At the end of 1969 the PT ina front page story reported that unemployment in November stood at 354,000 in Canada, or 4.4 of the labor force, and warned that unless the austerity program was abandoned it could well jump to 6 percent or more and reach the half million mark by early 1970. The national average in January stood at 6.1 percent and is only 15,000 below the half million mark, and _ probably exceeds half a million. B.C.’s_ jobless figure in November stood at 5.6 percent. The PT warned at that time that Trudeau’s: policy could push unemployment in B.C. up to 7 or 8 percent early in 1970. B.C.’s average now stands at 7.2 percent, and is rising rapidly. In one month - between December and January - the number of unemployed in Canada rose by 102,000! In a “get tough’’ statement in December, just before he left for a holiday in a sunnier climate, Trudeau said he was prepared to see unemployment in Canada rise to 6 percent to cool off the economy and compel labor to accept a wage freeze. He now has had his wish. Unemployment has passed the six percent mark. But it has not halted inflation, prices are rising more sharply than ever, profits continue to zoom upward, while unemployment keeps spiralling. It becomes clearer every day that the austerity program is a complete flop. It’s main aim was to safeguard rising monopoly profits by increasing unemployment and shifting the main burden of rising economic difficulties onto the backs of the working people. Instead of lessening ‘‘infla- tionary pressures’ it has worsened them and brought us dangerously close to a recession. It has opened a “‘Pandora’s Box’’ and released uncontrollable forces which could push Canada into deeper crisis. Lessons of the waterfront strike — Pg. 11— This week the Communist Party of Canada took its fight against the austerity program to . the Federal - Provincial conference in Ottawa. On Monday scores of pickets, led by national leader William Kashtan, demonstrated outside the conference demanding curbs on the monopolies, action to bring down prices and rents, and policies to promote employ ment. See page 5. Nigel Morgan, provincial leader of the Communist Party, sent a wire to the Federal - Pro- vincial conference demanding a halt to the government’s austerity program. The wire said that ‘““Trudeau’s economic slowdown, wage restraint and tax - the - poor policies, instead of bringing down prices is increasing unemployment. Simultaneous inflation and recession constitutes serious danger signal.”’ The wire urged ‘‘immediate action to reverse the trend, end monopoly profiteering, provide full employment and taxation based on ability to pay.’’ The B.C. action was in support of the demonstration staged by the Communist Party at the Federal - Provincial conference.