Ontario Tory regime

under growing fire

By NELSON CLARKE

The nght continued last week
against cutbacks in education
imposed on the Metro Toronto
school system by the Ontario
government.

Setting an example which
might well be followed through-
out the metropolitan area, the
Board of Education in the Bor-
ough of Etobicoke has called a
series of ten public meetings to
inform people as to the effects of
the cutbacks.

Board Chairman Keith Kiddell
said, “I can see dire’results from
this not only in the quality of

education, but in the quality of

life that develops.” He challeng-
ed the Department of Education
“to send a task force in here
and tell us we’re spending too
much.”

Under the mounting pressure,
the provincial government has
begun to manoeuvre. They have
allowed the spending of $6.3 mil-
lion dollars more than was pre-
viously permitted. This of
course is not an increase in pro-
vincial grants. It is simply a

_ cynical device which permits the

local boards to extract another
mill ($5.00 per $5,000 worth of
assessment) from the hard press-
ed homeowner.

Teachers were quick to con-
demn this ‘‘concession” as inade-
quate, but there were signs from
some _ conservative elements
among the trustees may be satis-
fied to accept it.

At the same time, Metro
Chairman Albert Campbell has
told the taxpayers that even the

‘ruthless slashing of educational

standards will not save them
from still higher taxation this
year. The average homeowner
can expect a $100 tax rise.

Of this $60 to $70.is to result

from the cancellation by the
province of its policy of directly
rebating approximately _ that
amount to homeowners and ten-
ants.

This tax rebate is to be re-
placed by a system under which
the homeowner or tenant will be
able to claim a credit on his in-
come tax.

The details of this scheme are
not announced yet. It is suppos-
ed to bring greater benefits to
those in low income tax bra-
ckets.

But there is danger that this
will turn out to be more fiction
than fact. There are a million
people in Cntario who don’t earn
enough to pay income tax and
therefore have never bothered to
file forms. To get any benefit
from the new plan, they will
have to make out these forms.
So far it appears that the onus
of keeping rent receipts in or-
der to claim: the credit will fall
on the individual tenant, where-
as in the past it was the land-
lord who was compelled to see
that the correct rebate was paid.

In any case, whereas the pre-
vious rebate came through in
December, the new credits will
not be forthcoming until some-
time in 1973.

Through all of this, the Tory
government continues to evade
its responsibility to remove the
full cost of education from real
estate, and put it on the big
monopolies.

120 MILLION BOOKS

Over 120 million books are
printed every year in the Ger-
man Democratic Republic.
Every 7th book published in the
GDR has been translated from
a foreign language.

By BERT WHYTE
MOSCOW — If health is
wealth, then the Soviet Union
is the wealthiest country in the
world. —

“A key task of society is to
keep people in the prime of
health and to increase longe-
vity,” Boris Petrovsky, USSR
Minister of Health told a press
conference recently. “At present
the average longevity of our
citizens is twice what it was in
pre-revolutionary Russia, while

the mortality rate has de-
creased.”
Few government ministers

are better qualified to cope with
the responsibilities of their of-
fice. A gifted surgeon and the
author of some 200 scientific
works, Boris Petrovsky, who is
62, before assuming his present
post was director of the Scien-
tific Research Institute of Clini-
cal and Experimental Surgery,
and editor-in-chief of the jour-
nal Surgery. During the Second
World War he was a chief
surgeon in a number of military
hospitals. In 1960 he was award-
ed the Lenin Prize for introduc-
ing certain operations for heart
defects.

Heart disease is the No. 1
Killer in the Soviet Union, and
cancer is No. 2. Intensive re-
search is being carried on in
both these fields.

The largest .cardiological
center in the world is being
built in Moscow. “It is known
that radical changes in the car-
diovascular system are linked
with excessive physical and
mental strain,” says Petrovsky.
“Early detection of a cardio-
vascular -disease and _ regular
checkup are especially import-
ant.” : :

Malignant tumors account for
15-20% of the mortality rate
and are the second greatest
cause of death. But in recent
years the number of patients
has not increased and the mor-
tality rate is slightly down.
Soviet doctors have recorded
one million cured cases. “Even

‘| if the causes are still unknown,

the number of cured patients

ister stressed.
Petrovsky quoted some im-
pressive figures:
“We have over 2,600,000 hos-
pital beds today — about 11

can increase,” the health min- -

Health is society's care |

BORIS PETROVSKY

per 1,000 population. During
the current five-year plan period
we will increase the number of
beds by nearly 350,000. Already
the USSR is ahead of the United
States, Britain, the Federal Re-
public of Germany and France
in the amount of facilities for
hospital treatment. And more
large multi-purpose and special-
ized hospitals will be built.

“There will be 839,000 doctors
in the Soviet Union by 1975.
Incidentally, more than 70% of
the medical doctors and about
60% of the chief physicians of
hospitals and prophylactic insti-
tutions are women.

“More than 100 clinics per-
form operations on the heart
and vessels. There are success-
ful -transplations of kidneys,
bones and joints. A technique
has been evolved to use ultra-
sound in surgery.”

Answering a reporter’s ques-
tion about cholera, Petrovsky
said that in 1970 there were
cholera cases in Odessa, Kerch
and Astrakhan. Strict measures
were taken to control the
disease from spreading. In 1971
cholera hit Spain and some
Asian countries, but the Soviet
Union recorded no cases.

Article 120 of the Constitu-
tion of the USSR reads: ‘“Citiz-
ens of the USSR have the right
to maintenance in old age and
also in case of sickness or dis-
ability. This right is ensured by
the extensive development of
social insurarfte of industrial,
office, and professional workers
at state expense, free medical
service for the working people,

tions at industrial enterPp'

‘tect the health of the p@ rt

ar tis
ee £

RE

and the provision of @ wide |
network of health resorts 1
the use of the working people:
In one of his popular pamph
lets, Boris Petrovsky writes:
“The health of the people hit
always been a basic concern 0
the Soviet state. Medical i.
sistance in the USSR is qual _
fied, free and accessible. L
health service is based on cel |
ralized guidance, planning ®
financing; its main features
as follows: it is state-run, th
are close connections betwee
research and practice, emphas
is placed on the prevention = |
disease and the active particip®
tion of the population in Me
ing out measures to prol
their health...
“Public health in the USS
is the concern of not mee le
institutions alone. The wi
socialist system, its legislatie
and institutions are design ce
serve man. The health servi

It

improvement of working COM

bad
=
>

=<

emeten

construction of sanatoria
holiday homes, and reduction
the working time. tro!
“Achievements in the com af?
of tuberculosis in the USSR “a
primarily the result of imp 18
working and living condit®
and of better nutrition. toy"
“The liquidation of unemP
ment and the eradication af
prostitution resulted in the s
reduction in incidence of V®
ral disease. tatié
“Successful control of mal# |
is associated with planned df
age of marshland and °
reclamation work on tens
thousands of square kilomerr
“The policy of the 9?
state is one of satisfying the
growing requirements of vind
Soviet people and of sol e
major medical problems,
ultimate aim of which is toP,

of

—

and to enhance their mate”
and spiritual welfare ..- od 8
“The Soviet Union initiate),
fundamentally new attitu ni!
the health of the people 4 vi
new concept of health sé¢ thal
The health of an individual rel
had previously been consid@
his own private affair, has A
come the concern of the s# :

_ They scorch the very earth

Senator Gaylord Nelson (D.-
Wis.) has introduced a bill call-
ing for the U.S. National Aca-
demy of Sciences (NAS) to un-
dertake a comprehensive study
of the ecological havoc the
United States has wrought in
South Vietnam, Laos, and Cam-
bodia, and to recommend some
ways this country (the USA)
can rectify some of the damage.

One of the first things would
be is stop it, and get out.

_ When- Nelson introduced the
bill he said: “The cold, hard,
and cruel irony of it all is that
South Vietnam would have been
better off losing to Hanoi than
winning with us .. . I am unable
adequately to describe the hor-
ror of what we have done there.
There is nothing in the history
of warfare to compare with it.
A ‘scorched earth’ policy has
been a tactic of warfare
throughout history, but never
before has a land been so mas-
sively altered and mutilated
that vast areas can never be
used again or even inhabited by

man or animal.”

U.S. imperialism chalks up
another “first.”

The Nelson bill was prompted
by a report of two scientists
who have recently returned
from Vietnam. In a statement
to members of the United States
Congress in January this year,
they stated that the damage
done to Vietnam through bull-
dozing and bombing far exceeds
what has been done by the U.S.
herbicide spraying program,
which it is claimed was halted
in May, 1971.

The two scientists are Arthur
H. Westing of Windham College
in Vermont, and E. W. Pfeiffer
of the University of Montana.
The reason why military activity
on this scale has escaped public
attention, said Westing, is be-
cause it comes under the cate-
gory of “conventional warfare.”

The bulldozing, carried out by
private U.S. companies, with
huge “Rome Plows” was step-
ped up “with a vengeance” after
the hebricides were phased out.
Bulldozers strip the land down

to the naked soil at the rate

of 1,000 acres a day, uti
destroying the wildlife ha? ‘0
and leaving the land ope? its
erosion and_ leaching of ws
mineral nutrients. These ne
have already destroyed one
800,000 acres compared 10. 4y
5.5 million acres cleaned oUt 4 |
the American herbicide prostat 7
Westing says that evel
destruction is modest compé Gi
with the bombing. He oe
that “carpet” bombing by B i
has left some 23 million ™) i
like craters averaging 25 1€ 4
depth and 40 feet in diamé i.)
Ten percent of South Vieth? 4
rice lands have been destt?r
by these bombings. With sea
like that, who needs enem i
Thus, step-by-step the U2 9
ized savagery of America? (aj)
perialism is being expose*: ves

this goes on, while Us ne

dent Nixon tells the worl
travelling around the worl¢
“search” for peace. W! p08

leaving Washington, it 15 hya]

sible for the president se 5€ jp

halt to this gigantic exe!
total destruction of people
and resources. (W.C.B.)