April 24, 1989 50" UGENE CARROLL of Centre for Defence Information. : Vol. 52, No. 15 Federal officials in Vancouver April 14 admitted that there is nothing Canada can do to contain a major oil spill such as that which is fouling coastline in Alaska, a press conference at Canada Har- bour Place was told. Dr. Andrew Thompson, spo- kesperson for some 170 leading B.C. residents who met with Environment Minister Lucien Bou- chard, Fisheries Minister —Tom Siddon, and other federal cabinet members from B.C., said nothing less than a full public inquiry into the oil industry and marine envir- onment willdo. - Bouchard and Siddon, accompan- ied by junior cabinet ministers Kim Campbell and Mary Collins, pledged to take the public inquiry call back to cabinet this week. Thompson said his group expects a response to the Bouchard said he had flown out specifically to meet with the indi- viduals, who included environ- mentalist and biologist David Suzuki, Native leader Saul Terry, artist Toni Onley and several other prominent B.C. residents. The meeting followed a press confer- ence held two days earlier in whi: the individuals launched the de- mand for a full public inquiry. call for the inquiry soon. see IMMEDIATE: age Free trade hit outside corporate Conference UI cuts and future attacks on social services came under fire at rally outside government-funded business conference sponsored by Canadian Manufacturers Association and other corporate groups April 19. Inside, Canada’s business elite gathered to hear External Affairs Minister Joe Clark and other corporate speakers plug the profits to be made under free trade. Outside, workers and others adversely affected by the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement warned of the cutbacks in Unemployment Insurance and in other social programs to come. Demonstrators, several carrying small placards listing companies which have closed their Canadian plants and fled south of the border since the deal was. ratified Jan. 1, chanted “No free trade” outside the Opportunities and Challenge conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront April 19. “The conscience of Canadians is insulted, scorned by a federal government which has a very short-term memory about its promises of not cutting social benefits, which they now plan to do,” Father Jim Roberts told the rally. Roberts warned that Canada’s social programs will be brought into line with those of the United States, where states pay minimum wages as low as $1.40 per hour, if the deal is not opposed. He noted the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has declared it “an ethi- cal imperative that a new system of taxa- tion be developed to ensure that corpora- tions and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of taxes.” Office and Technical Employees Union leader Anne Harvey, whose members include B.C. Hydro workers, charged that the provincial government is using the Crown corporation’ s definition under free trade as an “extra regional utility” to pri- vatize hydro operations for export of power to the United States. Calling for “new forms of public ownership” with planning and decision making powers involving public participa- tion, she said: ““We have the resources to develop an alternative economic and social future to the one offered by free trade and privatization.” Wendy Holm, president of the B.C. Institute of Agrologists and a delegate to the conference, said Canadians must ensure that the deal does not entail the massive sellout of Canada’s water resource. Liam Grayer of the Canadians Concerned About Free Trade and Blair Redlin of the Coalition Against “Free” Trade also spoke. Inside, Clark brushed aside suggestions that the UI cutbacks were linked to the free trade deal, during a brief press confer- ence. ““We’re into a world now that depends more on markets of scale,” he said. UFCW head now says cut-rate contract acceptable By SEAN GRIFFIN In an apparent about-face, the national director of the United Food and Commer- cial Workers — backed by the union’s international president — this week declared the cut-rate collective agreement signed between the union’s newly-chartered Local 777 and the Westfair-owned Real Canadian Superstore was “acceptable” and had the complete endorsement of the union’s inter- national office. Speaking to reporters at a news confer- ence Wednesday, UFCW Canadian direc- tor Clifford Evans also made it clear that the international had been instrumental in set- ting up the local in the first place and had full confidence in its officers, despite Local 777 business agent Hugh Finnamore’s par- ticipation in a raid against the union’s long- established Local 1518. The contract at the Superstores “is not perfect,” Evans told the news conference, “but I find — and (international) president (Bill) Wynn concurs — that the agreement is acceptable.’» Evans’ report came as something of a surprise since the last formal communica- tion from the union’s head office was that Local 777 had been given until April 11 to bring its contract into conformity with the union’s constitution and current labour standards “or further action (would) be taken against the local.” Wynn issued that statement March 29, after receiving the complaint from Sundin and Hansen, who told the international office that the contract between Local 777 and Superstore undermined prevailing wages and conditions in the retail food industry in B.C. The two locals are currently in bargaining with Safeway and Overwai- tea, Superstore’s main competitors, who both demanded similar concessions follow- ing publication of the Superstore cut-rate contract. It was following Sundin’s and Hansen’s letter that Evans was sent by the interna- tional to investigate the complaint. But far from ordering any changes to the agreement, Evans defended the agreement ‘before reporters, emphasizing that it was a see UFCW page 12