a ee i et tt ithe tt Anon — _—

— page 12 —

January 28, 1987
40°

Vol. 50, No. 3
€ai>

Socreds proposing
orest privatization

| : — page 3
Representatives of environmental,

trade union, Native and other groups
were meeting this week to plan a cam-
paign to fight the provincial govern-

Ls) ej ke 4
“ohn || Picket vigil remains at Slades
moratorium on uranium mining. The
————

moratorium, imposed in 1980, expires
Feb, 27.

Rob Rainer, co-ordinator of the
uranium mining campaign for the
Society Promoting Environmental Con-
servation (SPEC), said this week that
some 12 groups would be meeting Jan.
27 to co-ordinate their efforts to compel
the provincial government to re-impose
the moratorium or, better still, to
impose an outright ban on uranium
mining in the province.

The groups involved include SPEC,
the B.C. Medical Association, the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Canadian
Association of Industrial, Mechanical
and Allied Workers (CAIMAW), Uni-
ted Church, New Democratic Party,
Greenpeace and Earth Embassy, an
environmental group.

“There are already demonstrations
planned in Victoria and Vancouver and
probably in the Interior on Feb. 27, the
day the moratorium is to be lifted,”
Rainer said. “But we also want to
develop a long-term strategy of how we
can work together against uranium
Mining in this province.”

The seven-year moratorium was
Originally imposed suddenly in Febru-
ary, 1980 by then Premier Bill Bennett
Just as the Royal Commission into
Uranium Mining, headed by University
of B.C. professor Dr. David Bates, was
completing a year of public hearings.

Close to 60 groups, most of them
Opposed to mining, were still to be
heard by the three-member commis-
Sion when its proceedings were cut
Short. But even by that time, the evi-
dence against mining — the high lung
cancer rate among miners, the incidents
of radioactive contamination of water
near existing mine sites and the enor-
Mous, unresolved problems of radioac-
live waste disposal — presented a
convincing case for blocking any ura-
nium mine development.

in ee : ao tee ache a Members of the Retail Wholesale Union maintain information picket in front of the site of the former Slade and Stewart

- ba bs roduce sales warehouse in Vancouver. U.S.-owned corporate giant closed its doors after a lengthy lockout almost two
ite sie Sear Rene han ke ago imposed when workers refused to accept concession demands. The dispute drew the support of the province's
Critic, t i a a “ i ee and trade union movement and the company, which operates elsewhere in B.C.., is still under boycott. The pickets, doubled ;
Bicomplete. sae pi RE: since the slaying of lone picket Ron Pankoski last month, remain unnamed due to safety concerns. A trial date for the

suspect in Pakoski’s murder has still not been announced.
see CAMPAIGN page 12

SSR! =

RETAIL-WHOLESALE
iNON =

AFoflL-CLo