EDITORIAL

Tories play sell-out game

The incessant talking in the House of
Commons by the Joe Clark Tories reve-
als their well-known purposes in the con-
stitutional discussion. They are playing a
sell-out game. (Now there is the addi-
tional purpose of creating a furor from
which Clark hopes to emerge as unchal-
lenged leader of the Tories.)

In trying to maintain the status quo of
the British North America Act, the To-
ries refuse to recognize the French

Canadian nation, refuse regional self-'

government to Native peoples while en-
suring them the same rights as all Cana-
dians, and aggravate and worsen the re-
gional disparity under which some parts
of the country suffer.

By keeping the BNA Act ensconced in
Westminster (England) as pretender to

Canadian constitution status, the Tories —

would succeed not only in. blocking na-
tional and democratic progress, but in
splitting Canada into helpless parcels.
And this is where the Tory sell-out to
foreign interests is evident. A frag-
mented Canada would simply facilitate
the plundering of the country by the
multi-nationals, in whose interest the
Tories work both in and out of power.
It is easy enough to remember how
“prime minister” Joe Clark set in motion
plans to dismantle Petrocan, Air Canada
and other entities with intent to hand
them to the multi-nationals.
Today, the Clark Tories, the mutli-na-
tional oil giants, the right-wing Citizens’
Coalition and other reactionary forces

stand together to sabotage a Canadian
constitution, and promote a divided
country, subservient to the U.S. mili-
tary-industrial complex and the U.S.-
controlled multi-nationals.

Not that the Liberals and their gang of
corporate backers favor such a genuine
Canadian constitution. The Liberals,
propped up by the federal New Demo-
crats of Broadbent, are also smug in their
denial of French Canadian self-deter-

‘mination, their dismissal of representa-

tion in constitutional discussions by the

- widest spectrum of Canadians.

The Communist Party has made
known for years its call for a made-in-
Canada constitution. It has taken its

stand in favor of a bi-national state of

French and English-speaking nations, of
regional self-government by the Native
peoples, and for an end to the grinding
regional disparity.

None of these goals representing the

best interests of all Canadians can be
realized in a Tory-fragmented Canada.
Their filibuster in the Commons should
not be allowed to mislead working
people. The Tory push is for narrow,
partisan political capital. The fight for a
united Canada, the only guarantee of an
independent Canada, the fight for a
democratic, made-in-Canada constitu-
tion, which the Tories would prohibit,
demands in the first place the outright

‘defeat of the false manoeuvres of the

Tories inside and outside parliament.

Violence bred of policies

U.S. president Reagan’s would-be as-
sassin, it turns out, was a one-time
member of the National Socialist (Nazi)
Party. He also has a history of psychiatric
illness. John Hinckley, 26, was also ar-
rested last year and fined for attempting
to take handguns aboard a civilian air-
craft.

The powerful National Rifle Associa-
tion with its $20-million annual bu iget
opposes any form of gun control. Rea-
gan has always taken the same position.
And so in the United States you can buy a
gun with ease and millions of Americans
own and carry them.

Little wonder a violence-filled society
which idolizes the cowboy, the private
eye and the vigilante at home produces
assassins with such a stunning regularity.

It can’t be forgotten either that U.S.

policy abroad is based on threats of force
and force itself with a history of toppling
governments with whom they disagree.

- That violence is embedded in the fab-

ric of present America can be seen also in
the numbers of paramilitary groups
which train with sophisticated weapons
every weekend, unhindered by
authorities.

The Klan and nazis and countless
other super patriotic, racist, anti-com-
munist outfits operate and practice their
violence every day — and John Hinckley
is one of them.

Take a good dose of right-wing
hatred, add readily-available weapons,
wrap it all up in the flag, and you have
the recipe for just what- happened in
Washington last week.

Shun Latin military moves

If Prime Minister Trudeau’s recent
remarks separating Canada from the
USA’s military provocations in Latin
America and the Caribbean reflect a
more realistic government policy in Ot-
tawa, the change is to be welcomed. Not
so long ago, with U.S. President Reagan
in Ottawa, the PM gave the uncomforta-
ble impression that the two governments
were hand in hand.

But Trudeau told a press conference,
March 26: “I don’t see us in any way
getting involved in that,” referring to
military security in Central or South
America.

In no circumstances should Canada go
along with U.S. military interference,
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 10, 1981—Page 4

destabilization, and subversion in Latin
America or anywhere else. On the con-

trary, if the federal government has any ~

intention of reflecting the will of most
Canadians it should do all in its power to
deter the USA from its misguided for-
eign policy.

It was El Salvador which prompted the
PM’s remarks; and on El Salvador speci-
fically, Canada should continue to make
it clear to the USA that the Caribbean
and the Latin American countries are
our neighbors too. We have a stake in
peace in the area, and that comes by
trade and assistance — not by supplying
arms to fascist and militarist oppressors,
or sending the loathsome Green Berets
to teach civilian slaughter, as in Vietnam.

Flashbacks

25 yearsago...

U.S. FLOUTS
SOVEREIGNTY

The Yukon Territory is pro-
testing to the St. Laurent
government in Ottawa that

‘American contractors and milit-

ary personnel in charge of build-
ing the DEW line across the
Arctic circle are flouting Cana-
dian sovereign control over the
area.

The Board of Trade at
Whitehorse charged that there
is a disregard of Canadian
sovereignty.

On March 8 the Whitehorse
Star published an editorial dec-
laring that Canadian. airlines
and surface carriers were being
squeezed out of jobs by U.S. con-
tractors despite the official
agreement between the two
‘countries; that Canadian cus-
toms regulations are ignored by

U.S. aircraft flying in from Alas-

ka; and that the Air Transport

Board regulations are being by-

passed by U.S. airlines flying in
supplies to the DEW Line.

Tribune,

April 2,:1956

50 years ago...

LABOR DEFENDS
FOREIGN BORN

In its attacks upon the foreigt
born workers and their organi:
zations, the Canadian capitalist
state is aided by immigrant white
guardist from such countries as
Poland (including the Western
Ukraine), Finland, Hungary,
Italy and Yugoslavia, who aré
acting as agents provocateurs
for the government, reporting
on the activities of the foreign
born workers and their organi-
zations.

The Canadian Labor Defensé
League has taken up the fight
for the defense of the foreign
born workers. Besides defend-
ing workers in court and
fighting many deportation cases,
special “councils for the defense
of the foreign born” have been
set up in certain district such as
Vancouver, Montreal and To-
ronto. Councils for the defense
of the foreign born should be set
up all across the country.

The Worker,
April 4, 1931

Bramalea Ltd., of Toronto, does those grande plan “total commu-/
nities” — houses, apartments, townhouses, shopping centres, and
office and industrial buildings. It made an after-tax profit at that of
$9,173,000 for the year ended Jan. 31/81. The previous year it was
$6,950,000. Maybe there’s a clue there about the high prices being paid

by the rest of us. -

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
S Associate Editor — FRED WILSON
Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR

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