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THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

MARCHAND SUGGESTS:
FORESTERS NEED POLITICAL CLOUT

Editor’s note: The following
is a short excerpt from the
speech made by federal Envir-
onment Minister Len March-
and to the Canadian Institute of
Forestry in Vancouver.

“The forest industry and the
forestry profession must
create a constituency, as other
economic sector groups have
aes done. Frankly I
think most foresters are far too
naive about the political
process and how it affects
them.

“But to get down to brass
tacks, the federal Department
of Fisheries and the Environ-
ment spends some $135 million
on fisheries management and
research and only $34 million
on the forest resource. In
terms of jobs and balance of
payments statistics, which do
you think is the most important
resource? The forests, of
course. So why the difference?
To say that fisheries are en-
tirely a federal responsibility
and forests are not doesn’t give
the whole answer. .

By LORNE NYSTROM
Co-operative
Press Associates
There wasn’t much. to cheer
about in, the annual Agricul-
tural Outlook conference held
in Ottawa in mid-December.
The agriculture depart-
ment’s experts are predicting
the next year will be the third
consecutive one to see a drop in
farm incomes. While farmers
may have a little more cash
coming in, the economists say,
the rising cost of inputs will
leave them with about six
percent less income in 1978
‘than in 1977.
Income for 1977 was down

“Now compare the well-
earned success of the fisheries
constituency to the forestry
sector. There are more than
300,000 Canadians earning:
their living in the forest in-
dustry, but how many of them
think of themselves as part of a
forestry constituency?

“Why are there more
graduate students in a single,
large university chemistry
department than in all our
forestry schools combined?

“Why, in British Columbia,
where forest industries con-
tribute 50 per cent of the value
of production, do we have a
forestry school half the size of
the school of agriculture, when
farming produces only 15 per
cent?

“Why does the UBC School of
Business Administration — one
of Canada’s best — virtually
ignore the problems of market-
ing forest products, the
products which pay for this
province’s bread and butter?

11% from 1976, which was
already 20% below 1975 in-
come.

The effects of the cost-price

- Squeeze are now spreading off

the farm into other sectors of
the economy. Farmers’ pur-
chases of new machinery
dropped sharply in 1977. Most-
of the decline in sales was on
the Prairies but agricultural
implement factories from
Yorkton to Toronto have been
affected, with hundreds of
workers laid off.

The slowdown in the machin-
ery industry is worsened by
heavy imports from the U.S.
Imports account for 85% of the

A Quebec Superior Court
jury has acquitted two security
guards charged with causing
bodily harm by criminal negli-
gence in the shooting of eight
striking workers at the Robin
Hood Flour Mills here ‘last
summer. —

The two men acquitted had
been employed by the Bureau
des Detectives Industriels
Enrg. by the company to
protect scab workers. The
Robin Hood millworkers,
members of the Confederation
of National Trade Unions, were
on strike against an AIB roll-

back of negotiated wage in-

creases.
The acquittal means nothing

less than ‘‘calling open hunting ©
season against workers,’’ com-

mented CNTU president
Norbert Rodrigue.

“They used 12 gauge guns at
Robin Hood, What kind of arms
will employers use in the

future? ;
“How can workers believe in

a judicial system that, on one
hand, can find no guilty party
when eight workers were shot
and, on the other hand, send 22

strikers at the Commonwealth
Plywood Co. (the scene of
another strike) to jail for
having picketed their plant?”
he asked.

A film shown as evidence in
the trial did not show either of
the two guards firing their
weapons. The film had shown
the guards levelling their shot-
guns at the strikers, but the
camera then shifted to show
the picketing strikers.

A third guard who was also
charged in the incident was
acquitted in October after a
preliminary hearing.

PENSIONS
INCREASE

A record 3.9 million workers
were covered by private pen-
sien plans in Canada at the
beginning of -1976, Statistics
Canada Says.

-The government agency says
the number represents a
significant increase from the
3.4 million covered by pension
plans in operation two years
earlier.

“The answer to all these
questions and more is simply
that the forestry sector has yet
to establish itself as a political
constituency in Canada.

“You have to get involved
with the political process and
make it work for you. Make
sure representatives of labour
and environmental groups are
invited to your meetings. Make
sure you include your local
MPs and MLAs in your plans.
Let the media know what
you’re doing, and make sure
you get your points across.

“A unified forestry constit-
uency in Canada would,
frankly, carry a lot of political
clout. I strongly suggest that

you go about the proper demo-.

cratic process of establishing
that constituency. Get your
hands on that clout, and then
use it for the betterment of the
forest resource and our
economy for the people of
Canada, who need to be made
aware of how much the forest
means to their prosperity.”

machinery sold to Canadian
farmers .and the declining
value of our dollar will make
imported machinery even
more expensive.

The fact that machinery
prices continue to rise despite
falling sales has also been
blamed on the obligopoly
position enjoyed by the major
manufacturers.. The Barber
Royal Commission found in
1971 that all the major com-
panies had the same pricing
policy: high, in relation to
manufacturing costs.

While farmers can put off
buying new machines, they
must do repairs if they’re to
stay in business. Machinery
repair costs are expected to
continue to rise and the gov-
ernment’s inaction on legisla-
tion to standardize replace-
ment parts gives them no
prospect of relief.

The picture painted at the
Outlook Conference wasn’t
totally bleak, though.. Wheat
prices are expected to rise a
little bit, particularly if an
international wheat agreement
can be negotiated soon. The
recovery in the beef industry
will continue, say the experts.

* * *%

Consumer and corporate
affairs minister Warren All-
mand has agreed to an NDP
request to investigate adver-
tising claims that liquid
protein diets are ‘the safest
weight loss systems ever
devised.’’ Liquid protein has
been linked to 39 deaths in the
US. j

Experts say the’ diet is
dangerous even under strict
medical supervision, A new
labelling regulation, which ithe

government said it would

announce by ‘mid-January,
seems an inadequate response;
it won’t force dieters to consult
doctors regularly. But media
death reports have led to a
drastic drop in liquid protein
sales.

(Lorne Nystrom is NDP Commons food and agricul-
ture critic.)

Weyerhaeuser Co. Canada Ltd., Vancouver, wy
British Columbia white wood chips to Japan over a fi
the terms of a capi i be sig: :

hortly by its parent firm in the U.S., an Paper Co,
The cobra calls for delivery of 50,000 BDUs (bone dry
units) of chips annually for processing into lightweigi
newsprint at Jujo’s Kushiro, Hokkaido pulp mill.

CHIPS FOR JAPAN

year period under

WRITER CHOOSES
ALL-STAR CABINET

Geoffrey Stevens, columnist
for the Toronto Globe and Mail,
came up with what he con-
sidered would be an All-Star
Cabinet for Canada and neither
Pierre Trudeau nor Joe Clark

- were given top key posts.

For Prime Minister Stevens
chose NDP National Leader
Ed Broadbent, for the steadiest
overall performer among the
party leaders.

. For Deputy Prime Minister:
Jean Chretien (Liberal) who
Stevens believes would do a
good job of promoting Canada.

For Minister of Justice:
Robert Stanfield (P.C.) whose
honesty is unquestioned.

For Solicitor-General:
Stuart Leggatt (NDP) for his
honesty also.

For Minister of Finance:
James Gillies (P.C.) for his
sound financial depth.

For President of the Privy
Council and Government
House Leader: John Reid
(Liberal) because he has been
denied the job too long because
of Liberal rivalries.

Minister of External Affairs:
Doug Roche (P.C.) because he
is a person who believes that
diplomacy and morality are
not mutually exclusive.

Minister of Transport:

BROADBENT CALLS FOR

ey

Pierre Trudeau (Liberal)
because he likes to travel,

Minister of Agriculture:
Jack Horner (Liberal) because
he’s tough and energetic even
if he does have two left feet, —

Minister of Energy, Mines
and Resources: Joe Clark
(P.C.) because he has promise —
and wants to be Prime
Minister. 3

Minister of Indian Affairs
and Northern Development; —
Iona Campagnola (Liberal) ~
because she knows the
problems and is tough and ©
ambitious. Ny,

Minister of Commerce: John |
Fraser (P.C.) because he is —
both sympathetic to business —
and sensitive to the public.

Minister of Consumer Af-
fairs: Flora MacDonald (P.C.)
because the consumers of
Canada need a friend. 4

President of the Treasury
Board: Tom Cossitt (P.C.)
because he hates government
spending, particularly the
Prime Minister’s spending. «5

Government Leader in the
Senate: Stanley Knowles —
(NDP) because this would give
him a chance to attack the /
Senate from within and
perhaps see it abolished — his
dearest wish.

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CAPITAL WORKS PROGRAM

NDP leader Ed Broadbent
called upon the federal govern-
ment to take steps immed-
iately to establish an emer-
gency capital works program
so that municipalities could
help reduce unemployment in
their communities.

Broadbent released the
partial results of a survey of
180 Canadian municipalities
showing strong support for an
emergency works program
along the lines of the program
set up in 1971 when unemploy-
ment was just over six per
cent.

“I was not only delighted
with the positive response but
also impressed with the readi-
ness with which the majority of
municipalities indicated they
could begin job intensive
projects,’’ he said.

“My survey of municipali-
ties was prompted by a resolu-
tion from the Borough of Etobi-
coke in Toronto which called
for a flexible capital works
program. It was so much of a
contrast to the Liberal govern-
ment’s do-nothing attitude that
I felt it deserved national
circulation. :

“Unlike the federal govern-
ment which has thrown up its
hands as if to say we are
unable to reduce unemploy-
ment, municipalities across
Canada have shown they can

do something and with federal /
assistance are prepared to
begin immediately.”

Mr. Broadbent said the
majority of municipalities
wanted the program to begin
as soon as possible so that jobs -
could be offered both this
winter and through the Spring
and early summer.

“The federal government
itself has admitted unemploy-
ment will continue at well over
eight per cent of the entire
year. To do nothing in the face
of this reality is to ignore their
responsibility. :

“I first proposed such an
emergency works p: on
September 9, three weeks after
Provincial premiers unanim-—
ously called for a similar
program at their St. Andrews, —
N.B., conference.”

Mr. Broadbent estimated
that an emergency works pro-
gram based on funding of $40
million could employ s
60,000 people in municipalliti
across Canada.

“‘It makes much more se
to re-direct government spend- —
ing in this positive manner —
rather than to spend millions —
on unemployment insurance —
and welfare handouts. bom

“The program would not
solve unemployment bu
sufely it would help. ©

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