FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1968

What does Trude
to do about jobl

—G. Legebokoff photos

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VOL. 29, NO. 19

Pea

10¢

U propose
Ss crisis?

Must give answer
while in Vancouver

By MAURICE RUSH

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who is in Vancouver this
Friday to address the Forestry Association in the Bayshore
Inn, will probably never see the long lines of destitute
unemployed shown in the photos on this page. These scenes
can be seen every day outside the many missions which hand
out food to young and old who are without jobs in Vancouver.

The lines are getting longer and
the destitute are getting more
destitute as unemployment passed
the 51,000 mark in B.C., according to
the Dominion Bureau of Statistics.
The figure continues to climb with
some 20,000 students expected to be
dumped on the labor market shortly
with few jobs in sight.

The ranks of the unemployed are
growing as hundreds of jobless
woodworkers join the ranks of the
unemployed in the steel fabricating,
shipbuilding and other industries.

Canada’s new prime minister and
leader of the Liberal Party has a
golden opportunity to show where he
stands Friday when he speaks to the
heads of B.C.’s giant forest
companies — because among them
are some of the main culprits in the
unemployment picture on the Pacific
Coast.

The large scale export of

‘unprocessed forest products,

particularly the huge export of raw
logs to Japan, is robbing B.C.
workers of thousands of jobs if these
materials were processed in B.C.

An example of the problems to
which he can address himself is the
fact that despite warnings against
log exports by the late Chief Justice
Gordon Sloan, the companies he will
be speaking to have recently broken
all records in exporting such logs.
Only a few days ago the US.
government ordered a halt in U.S.
log exports to Japan, claiming it was
contrary to their national interest.

Canada’s prime minister should be
made aware that on Vancouver
Island a large and long-established
sawmill at Hillcrest, which gave
employment for years to hundreds of
millworkers, will be closing down for

lack of logs, while not far away
Japanese freighters are loading logs
for Japan.

Chief Justice Sloan said in his
report on forestry that this was an
issue with which the Federal
government should be concerned
because it involves international
trade. He urged Ottawa to use its
authority to negotiate with the
province the imposition of quotas
limiting the export of raw logs.
Prime Minister Trudeau should act
on this matter at once.

But will he? Is there anything in
what he has said up to now to
indicate he will stand up to the big
corporations? Is there anything to
indicate that he will halt the
giveaway of Canada’s resources and
insist upon policies to process them
in Canada for Canadians?
Apparently not.

Trudeau could also take action to
stimulate the construction industry
in Canada by immediately launching
a massive public housing program
and by taking action to bring down
interest rates. These measures
would be a step toward. meeting the

“needs of tens of thousands who are

without decent homes and would
stimulate employment.

He must be made aware of these
demands during his short stay in
Vancouver.

A REPLY TO

J.V. CLYNE

— See Page 12 —