November 19,

1986

40°

Vol. 49, No. 42
ISSN 0030-896X

Furore over container clause ‘a
smokescreen, ILWU tells MPs

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“The fight goes on,’’ was Harry Rankin’s message to COPE supporters who saw the Committee of Progressive Electors

Nd its unity partners, the Civic Independents, surrender the city council and school board majorities to the right-wing
Non-Partisan Association Saturday night. COPE leaders point to a polarized election in which Vancouver's political centre

ters swung their crucial votes to the NPA.

conte ¢lection results in Saturday’s Van-
Wi Yer civic elections that saw the right-

it Ss ‘Weep into power is a setback — but

Or the progressive civic forces.

the at’s the word from Harry Rankin,
of pr avoral candidate for the Committee
Igy Stessive Electors, and other COPE
Mal Sentatives in assessing the loss of sev-
H 6; OPE and Civic Independent seats
Noy, council, school and parks board

the of; Will continue on. This is simply
Ons the battles in the war. That war goes
the os2hkin told an emotional crowd at
‘eet PE election rally in acknowledging
ae defeat to Civic Non-Partisan

Gimp” mayoral contender Gordon

tea. . have built one of the finest civic
*Oun ations that has been seen in this
Opt » and that organization will stay

“t, will work together and we will be

Uefa “mMporary and does not constitute a.

back on the scene with victory,” Rankin
asserted to cheers.

Despite that electoral sweep, COPE
maintains two seats on council —those of
aldermen Libby Davies and_ Bruce
Eriksen, who placed seventh and tenth,
respectively — and Phil Rankin held his
seat on school board.

In an interview later, COPE president
Jim Quail also stressed the continued
future of the labor-backed civic alliance
that came into its own with impressive
electoral victories in the 80s. poe

“We have the biggest organization
we've ever had, and organizationally,
we're stronger than we've ever been,
Quail asserted. ;

“Our job now is to involve ourselves in
the communities and community groups,
to take an advocacy role on behalf of the
poor, seniors, and working people —_
COPE’s traditional bases of support,” he
said,

And, Quail stressed, “We've got to

expose the political nature of the NPA and
defeat them in the next election.”

COPE campaign manager Fred Wilson
cited the “‘solid base of supporters” the
election revealed, noting that COPE can-
didates for all three electoral bodies gar-
nered an average 45,000-50,000 votes.

Wilson also pledged renewed activity in
the “grassroots struggle” and praised the
high degree of organization the alliance
has achieved.

There was no doubt that the sweeping
victory by highly organized and united
right-wing forces, which saw Campbell
take the mayoralty with more than 77,000
votes and the NPA as a whole take 23 of
the 27 available seats, shocked and
stunned many COPE supporters and
workers gathered at the election rally.

Early in the evening, the polls returns
flashed on a gigantic screen erected at one
end of the cavernous hall showed strong
leads by the NPA candidates. But few

see RIGHT page 2

— page 12

MOSCOW — What, exactly, is going
on in the inner circles of the Reagan admin-
istration?

This question has grown increasingly
acute since the mini-summit at Reykjavik
appeared to come within a hair’s breadth of
achieving the most sweeping disarmament
pact in history, then snagged on the issue of
Star Wars.

On Nov. 10, at an extraordinary press
conference here, Soviet Foreign Minister
Eduard Shevardnadze recounted with some
dismay the results of his last meeting — in
Vienna — with U.S. Secretary of State
George Shultz. Shevardnadze charged that
far from displaying any willingness to over-
come the last hurdle on the road to a
nuclear-free world, Shultz clearly stalled
progress in Vienna, and in several instances
reneged on agreements that had already
been framed at Reykjavik.

In uncharacteristically bitter language,
Shevardnadze described his Vienna encoun-
ter with the Americans as “like attending a
political theatre of the absurd. The song
they sang had only refrain: there may have
been Reykjavik, but it wasn’t the Reykjviak
you knew.”

The Soviets arrived in Vienna, Shevard-
nadze said, with a draft set of proposals
based upon what they understood to have
been mutally agreed in Iceland, but also
taking into account the one key disagree-
ment between the two sides. It outlined four
basic steps to global disarmament which,
Shevardnadze stressed, the USSR views as a
single package, to be taken as a whole and
not, under any circumstances, to be dis-
membered.

In all four areas, Shevardnadze indicated,
disagreements not apparent at Reykjavik
came into the open in Vienna:

1. Strategic offensive nuclear weapons:
The Soviets proposed, based upon Ameri-
can agreements at Reykjavik, that the two
sides completely eliminate these weapons in
two five-year stages. The first stage would
involve a 50 per cent cut in all types of
offensive strategic weapons, including
Soviet heavy land-based missiles (a major
U.S. concern).

The second stage, to the end of 1996,
would see the removal of all remainin g stra-
tegic nuclear weapons.

Shevardnadze repeatedly emphasized
that face-to-face accord had been reached
between Reagan and Gorbachev in Iceland
on the principle of eliminating all nuclear
weapons within 10 years.

see UNITED page 8