Poll candidates on Vie fies war

ling all candidates in the forth-
coming federal election to seek
commitment
Canada’s complicity in this war
and the sale of war material to

HAMILTON — The Hamilton
Peace Council, affiliated to the
Canadian Peace Congress, stag-
ed a Vigil in Gore Park, Sept.
29 and 30, asking people to
sign peace cards against the
war in Vietnam. Copies of the
7-Point Peace Plan of the Viet-
namese People, was distributed.

This is part of the country-

war.

The fee-hike at Ontario’s universities,
$100-150 for undergraduates and $390
for graduates, is only one aspect of the
financial onslaught on students in 1972.

This is the year when new federal
tax policies have made bursaries and
fellowships .axable. This is the year
when Ontario has reduced the grant
portion and increased the loan portion
of the Ontario Student Aid Program
(OSAP) by $200.

This is the year of further cuts in
the amount available for the Ontario
Graduate Fellowship Program — down
from $5 million to $3 million.

. 1972 is also the year of the Wright
Report, which projects ever higher tui-
tion fees (up to $1,500 for graduates)
with no commensurate increase in real
student aid.

In a document prepared by the On-
tario Treasury Board Secretariat late
last year, which played a decisive role
for the Wright Commission recommen-
dations, proposals were made to reduce
expenditures: “(1) reduce student as-

- sistance, (2) increase tuition fees, (3)
curtail capital expenditure, (4) limit
graduate enrolment.”

The result is obvious. The children
of the rich will have no problems con-
tinuing at university, while those from
working class homes will be increasing-
ly excluded. This in spite of the fact,
as research for the Wright Commission
disclosed, that even with the great ex-
pansion of the universities in recent
years, the percentage of those from
working class families remains far be-
low their relationship to the population
as a whole.

Continentalist policy

Why is the state putting the cap on
university expansion and in fact setting
the stage for an extended program of
cutbacks?

Provincial and federal policy on edu-
cation is only an extension of the eco-
nomic policies of the monopoly cor-

porations. The dominant section of the
PACIFIC TRIBUNE —FRIDAY,,OCT.OBER: 1:3; 197%2—-PAGE 8

IQA ~ ONG 44 SS a Stet eee

wide campaign sponsored by
the Canadian Peace Congress.
Mrs.
man, stated the response has
been overwhelming and it is not
surprising that Hamilton citi-
zens are realizing that part of
the inflationary: spiral in’ our
country can be attributed to this

Further to this the members
of the Peace Council will be pol-

ve

Issued by the

Mary Kaludjer, chair- their

the USA.

naire.

“Canadian capitalist class emphasizes
extraction and export of raw materials
rather than industrial development. You
don’t need a BA, much less a PhD, to
hew wood and draw water. The Eco-
nomic Council of Canada predicts that
2/3 of PhDs won’t be able to get work
in their fields in the next five years
(Globe and Mail Aug. 31).

This policy of underdevelopment re- —

sults from the acquiescence of Canada’s
monopoly capitalists to the require-
ments of U.S. imperialism. Multi-
national corporations are moving their
research to the U.S., thus removing
jobs for graduates.

The government speaks of the over-
abundance of highly educated people.
In fact, there’s too few jobs, arising
from teo little industrial development.

Big Business gets free ride.

Big business does require education
in step with technological change. But
given the present policy, this can be
provided by the existing community
college programs. Working class stu-
dents are streamed into these institu-
tions, where they get a cheaper, nar-
rower education than they would at a
university, which they -will more and
more be unable to afford.

Thus, under the guise of easing ‘the
burden on the small taxpayer and home-
owner, the Tory government is ensuring
that the right kind of workforce is
available for the corporations. And en-
suring at the same time, by maintain-
ing the present tax laws, that these
corporations will not have to pay for
the service.

An example: Ontario’s net general
revenue for 1968-9 amounted to ap-
proximately $2,821,000,000. Of this 80%
was raised from taxation and 9% from
mining and business fees imposed
mainly on companies exploiting our nat-
ural resources. (Charles Hanley, Who
Pays? University Financing in Ontario,
p. 68). If this source of revenue had
been increased by only 50% the amount
of money received would have equalled

a

Members of the Council will
continue these Peace Vigils in
the community and will pub-
lisize the candidates reactions
and answers to the question-

Canadian Peace Congress
2239 Yonge St., Suite 403
Toronto 315, Canada.

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regarding

the 1968-9 Ontario expenditure for all
post-secondary education, plus student
fees, plus the assurance of a $1,000
stipend for almost all full-time students.

Immediate danger

Higher education must be changed in
many ways.. The Communist Party has
a program for the democratization of
higher education.

But right now, there is an immediate
threat to any kind of change. Students
must defend themselves against cut-
backs in educational financing.

To do this will require the utmost
unity in action. Past campus struggles
have mainly counterposed students and
university administrators. Now we are
facing the provincial government.

Student councils across the province
must be pressed to unite around the
demands and actions proposed by the
Ontario Federation of Students and the
Ontario Union of Graduate Students.

Other levels of the education system
are also under attack. We must win
support from teachers and students
throughout the system, especially the
public schools, where teachers are
fighting against increases in the student-
teacher ratio.

Also essential to winning this fight
is the support of community groups,
progressive political groups and parties
and, especially, trade unions. The On-
tario Federation of Labor has already
expressed its opposition to the educa-
tion policy contained in the Wright
Report.

Reject Wright Report

If we act in large numbers in a united
way it may be possible not only to
stop the fee increase but to go beyond
this and force the government to reject
the Wright Report. The final version is
unlikely to show any but minor changes.
When it is released, the immediate
demands on fees and OSAP should be
tied in to an exposure of the reaction-
ary essence of this report.

ape

Candidates of various parties are asking for your vote. They
talk, as they should, of the evils affecting us—inflation,
unemployment, increasing drug addiction, crime and high taxes.
However, few of them dare speak of the main cause of these €
which are spilling over into Canada from our southern neighboul,
the United States. The U.S.A. is plunging into economic, financl@
political and moral bankruptcy as a result of its mad pursuit
of the criminal, genocidal war in Southeast Asia.

The Canadian government must clearly and openly condemn
this war, and call for the immediate end of the military
intervention of the U.S.A. in Southeast Asia.

All candidates speak about our national integrity and
independence. But Canada cannot be truly independent as long
as we are tied to the Pentagon by NATO, NORAD and the
Defence Production Sharing Agreements.

Ask your candidate these questions:

—Will you demand that the U.S.A. get out of Vietnam

immediately?

—Will you vote to terminate the treaties tying Canada to

the U.S. war machine?

—Will you pledge yourself to work for these demands?

F(a) Demand that the |

from Indochina

Irn

A challenge to every federal candidate for a forthright statemen!
on the U.S. war against Indochina describes this Canadian Peas

Under the heading of “integratife

living and learning” the Commiss!
seeks to reduce formal learning

those who can’t pay. They say ve

less formal learning will help
“bureaucratization.. . . one of the b
dangers of our society,” and “depe
sonalization.”

oe re
The commissioners propose nce
j

part-time education instead of full-ti
courses taught in other instituti?

(libraries, public schools); expan.

Opportunities for Youth and cu F
type programs; more Ontario Ma
power retraining programs.

The “Univerity of Ontario” envisall

by the Commission would integ

mass media and other cultural and t

search institutions. But when wé i ¢,
asked to put off universal higher ©

cation now for these future prospe 7

the answer must be NO.

Work not alternative
to education

Work should be integrated ™
learning but not as an alternative
education. The goal must be a full pl
tical and intellectual education pefo
entering the work force. Then we Be,
talk about education as a life-long

perience. dl

[axa

The report boils down to recomme?

ing that more 18-year-olds be sent nel

onto the job market unskilled. T
call it saving people from “the

scription of sequential education.” fi

A new policy must be demand
without the financial conditions >
predetermined by the Treasury Boal! a

The Communist Party believes om
only corporate taxation, notably 4 f 4
corporate gains tax, not higher
vidual taxation and tuition fees, 4»
finance an education policy serving “+
public interest, that is, the interest ©
the working people, teachers and §
dents.

Stop the cutbacks. Expand’ hig
education.

by evnd ¥ ota SA i ae Ea Bes |

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