Peace wave
begins in
Parksville

The first to get off the mark in what
will be a week of peace action
across the country, disarmament ac-
tivists in Parksville begin their ‘walk
for peace’ in the mid-Island com-
munity Saturday. Organized by the

Oount Arrowsmith Disarmament
Coalition, the march drew more
than 300 people who stopped briefly
at the war memorial before continu-
Ng along the parade route. It was
ne of several events held during the
day, including an afternoon rally
With speakers from local disarma-
Ment organizations, and an evening
Showing of the Oscar-winning ‘If

You Love This Planet’ and other
films.

Defeat of Socreds is essential, a
Victory for workers,” CP

There is no doubt that the Socreds, if re-
Rod the government of B.C., will increase
% €r ruinous cutbacks in social services and
fee up their attack on working people

Tough wage restraint and union-bashing
“sislation,.. Communist Party candidate

aurice Rush told an election rally Apr. 14.
tie ‘Premier Bennett is five days into his elec-
'On campaign, and it took him no time at all
to engage in his favorite sport — bashing the
Working people of B.C.,” said Rush, party
fader and candidate in Vancouver Centre.

Another four-year term of office for the
Socreds would be “disastrous”, said Rush,

d the election of the NDP — which the
‘mmunist Party acknowledges as the

alternative”? — would be a victory for the

Orking class.
th ut, he cautioned, working people and

2€ Poor will still have to struggle for their
i‘ ts, and ensure that the NDP as govern-
ifr does not succumb to the “‘pressure”’ of
€business sector controlling the province’s

Onomy.
aon’ Communist Party is running five can-

ates because only Communists have a
oer am that reflects the interests of the

Orking class, said Rush.
thous outlined the “‘four main pillars” of

Socred program. The first, he said, is .

ak restraint, layoffs and wage cutting,”

Seryj

of at Socreds will also step up the sellout

Vol -C.’s natural resources, which will in-

ve far more than just the northeast coal
»” he warned.

Number four will be an attack on the

48es and union rights of workers through
U-labor legislation, in order to attract

a tinational corporations to invest in the
Vince, said Rush.

| Rush drew particular attention to theanti-
= Or heart of the Socred campaign, as ex-
pessed by labor minister Bob McClelland’s
«Posed changes to the labor code and the
NO-strike’? statements Bennett has recently
Made,
McClelland has recently promised
b Ployers changes to the code including the
Menus of strike votes among unior
“mbers before termination of contract
lage? While Bennett in a speech in Revelstoke
tin, “eek promised to makeit easier to decer-
Y union locals.
a uch recommendations were contained in
th Nef from the B.C. Employers Council to
© government one year ago. McClelland

r :
“Sntly echoed the same proposals in a

OWed by a “‘stepped-up attack on social -
Ces,

CP candidates pose during a break in campaign meeting Saturday. L to r, Bert

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Ogden, Vancouver East; Gary Swann, Alberni; Maurice Rush, Vancouver Centre;
Miguel Figueroa, Burnaby-Willingdon; Viola Swann, Surrey.

speech before the Manufacturers Associa-
tion, Rush noted.

“Tt is clear that the scriptwriters for these
proposed amendments to the labor code is
none other than Bill Hamilton (president)
of the Employers Council,”’ Rush charged.

The party leader also attacked the Socred
restraint program, under which unemploy-
ment has doubled to include more than 14
percent of the workforce, and cuts to schools
and health care. The Socreds have also axed
denticare and the tax credits which benefited
seniors and the poor, without even the
benefit of legislation, while engaging in cost-
ly and needless megaprojects, he charged.

‘Those are the priorities of this govern-
ment. But what is needed is not restraint but
a program of expansion,” Rush declared.

The Communist Party has a nine-point
program that calls for nationalization of key
resources, public housing construction and
the development of manufacturing — pro-
posals which would put B.C. back to work,
Rush said.

For example, the program includes the
cancellation of the contentious northeast
coal project at Tumbler Ridge, and its
replacement by a home-grown, publicly
owned steel industry. Additionally, Com-
munists call for the establishment of a cop-
per smelting industry: “B.C. has the capaci-

ty for two world-scale copper smelting
operations, which would add $3 billion to
the economic activity of this province,”’ said
Rush.

‘“‘We have a 10-year plan to turn this
economy around from raw material
resource extraction to: a manufacturing
base,’’ he declared, ‘‘otherwise we’ll con-
tinue with an economy that suffers a depres-
sion every six or seven years.”

““We recognize that the only alternative to
the Socreds now is an NDP government. It is
terrible to contemplate another four years of
the Socreds,”’ he said.

Rush said Communists ‘‘will be working
in every riding asking people to vote the
Socreds out of office.’’

The Communist Party has a number of
‘differences’ with NDP policy which are
“4mportant for a working class audience to
understand,”’ said Rush.

Rush said the issues raised in the election
campaign ‘‘will not go away after May 5”
but will continue irrespective of which party

‘becomes the government.

The NDP ‘‘will open up the possibility for
working people to get better policies,”’ he
said, ‘‘but working people must still fight to
force the government not to knuckle under
to the pressure of big business.”’

—E PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN

TR

‘Arms curbs
are the
key issue’

‘‘Nothing today is more important,
more noble than the cause of peace and
disarmament,’’ Communist candidates
in the provincial election declared Tues-
day.

In wishing the organizers of Satur-
day’s Walk for Peace “‘the greatest of
success,” the candidates noted that
“never before has the danger of nuclear
annihilation been so real for the people
of Canada and the world.”

The remarks were contained in a
joint statement by the Communist Par-
ty’s five candidates — Vi Swann (Sur-
rey), Maurice Rush (Vancouver
Centre), Miguel Figueroa (Burnaby
Willingdon), Bert Ogden (Vancouver
East) and Gary Swann (Alberni).

“The arms race not only terrorizes, it
alos impoverishes. By taking needed
revenue out of the economy, arms spen-
ding is responsible for inflation, and in
turn, the present staggering levels of
unemployment,’ the candidates stated.

“Instead of cutting vital social ser-
vices, the $8 billion-plus arms budget
should be slashed in half, with these,
funds used to create productive jobs for
thousands of our unemployed and to
fund social needs,’’ they declared.

The arms race is fueled ‘‘by the conti-
nuing U.S. drive for military superiori-
ty’ and a demand from Canadians that
the federal government refuse cruise
testing here is an important ‘‘first step”’
in ending arms buildup, said the Com-
munists.

“Especially disturbing’’ is the an-
nouncement that B.C. airspace will be
involved in the proposed cruise tests,
and the provincial government must not
permit this, the candidates said.

Canada should also establish itself as
a nuclear weapons-free zone, and
declarations by schools, municipalities
and the province would contribute
significantly to that policy. Additional-
ly, Canada should withdraw from “‘all
aggressive military pacts’? such as
NATO and Norad, the Communist
candidates urged.< =» sop rs a)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 22, 1983—Page 3