Overhaul needed

_ AT may be remembered that
immediately prior to the $8,000
plus boost to M.P. stipends, there
were no “notes of alarm” sounded
in Parliament that such a wage
hike would raise hob with the

“economy.”

Not a word on the “hold-the-
line” theme on wages and salaries.
_Nary a peep about the need to
“curb” our spending, to practice
“austerity, to “live within our in-
comes’, etc., etc.

None of that. The need to hoist
taxes to meet the cost of this par-
liamentary grand larceny wasn’t

- even hinted at. Nor did the pocket-
ing of an extra $8,000-plus by our
MP’s contravene the British North
American Act with its handy “fed-
eral-provincial rights” obstructions
to genuinely progressive measures.
The big steal went through Parlia-
ment with scarcely a murmur.
True, a small handful of assorted
MP’s did give voice to a brief
Shakespearian “protest”, then
quietly pocketed their parliamen-

> tary windfall.

Contrary-wise so to speak, a
meagre $10 increase to a sub-
standard old age pension, what a
‘dither that causes? Wrapped up
in a larger national pension
scheme, the BNA is now waved -

EDITORIAL PAGE

aloft with its ‘‘federal -provincial
rights” obstruction blowing in the
wind, with the big “insurance”
magnates doing their best to tor-
pedo the idea.

The “welfare state” claptrap is
pushed to the fore with its moth-

eaten dictum that if people de-

mand decent OAP pensions or
other social progress, they’ll have
to submit to higher taxation to pay
for such “increases.” The “‘econ-
omy” just can’t stand such a
“drain.”

Thus we have the sorry spec-
tacle andstartling parallel of a pro-
U.S. minority Liberal regime,
which manages an $8,000 per
capita boost to MP’s without
batting an eyelash, but tries des-
perately to welsh on its pre-elec-
tion $10 OAP bribe with all the
frothy rhetoric of a’short-change
artist.

With a billion and-a-half dollars
down the arms drain annually, the
“economy” managed to survive an
$8,000. M.P. stipend boost. But an
extra ten bucks for the senior citi-
zens who built Canada — that in

Liberal jargon spells “ruin” or
higher taxes or both.

It would seem that an overhaul
of this standard of “weights and
measures” in our “economy”’ is
long overdue?

Editorial comment...

WHEN the Canadian Broad-
casting Corporation (CBC) denies
the Communist Party the appor-
tioned free time allowed all other
political parties it usually dredges
up some office understrapper to

“explain” the reasons for its gag
rule.

Not so in “democratic”? New
Zealand. There Prime Minister
Holyoake applies the gag himself,
with of course a little “moral” aid.
Here’s a bit of the Prime Mini-
sters’ letter to the National Com-
mittee, C.P. of New Zealand:

“Your request has now been.
considered but it is not the inten -
tion to alter the practice followed
on the occasion of previous general
elections, and there will be no allo-
cation of speaking time to candi-
dates of the Communist Party...

“T might add that the Labour
Party and the Social Credit Politi-
cal League concur in this de-
cision.”

. So different, yet so similar?

Perhaps we'd better use this
space to remind ourselves that the
‘PT’ has a circulation drive on.
From the scoreboard to date there |
is not too much evidence of any
“drive’’.

Pacific Tribune

Editor — TOM McEWEN
Associate Editor—MAURICE RUSE
‘Business Mgr.—OXANA BIGELOV.

Published weekly at:

Room 6 — 426 Main Street

Vancouver 4, B.C.

Phone MUtual 5-5288
Subscription Rates:
Canadian and Commonwealth coun:
tries (except Australia): $4.00 one
year. Australia, United States and
all other countries: $5.00 one year
Authorized as second class taail by
the Post Office Department, Ottawa
and for payment of postage in Gash’

A letter from a reader this week,
commenting on the high standard
of recent editions of the ‘PT’ says
in part: “I believe most readers
would agree that if this standard
can be maintained, it would help
a great deal to increase circula-
tion.”

It can be done — if we a get

“crackin’.”’

Belly-Robbers Inc.

THE Gill Commission, headed
al Mr. E. C. Gill of Toronto
president of the Canada Life As-
surance Company, had one specific
purpose and intent; to provide
“solvency” for the national unem-
ployment insurance fund, to “‘lift
it out of the red.” To achieve this
its recommendations were all
wrapped in a simple “package
deal,’’ aimed at penalizing the un-
employed for being unemployed.

If the UIC fund is now “deplet -
ed’’ it is not because of the “‘bene-
fits” claimed by the unemployed,
but because of the policies of Tory,
Liberal and Socred monopoly-
dominated governments, which
have sold out Canadian jobs along
with Canadian resources to the
U.S. trusts. Policies which in the
short space of seven years have
reduced the UIC fund from $900-
million to $7-million, and doubled
unemployment in Canada during
the same period. ,

With winter drawing nearer,
this week we find Mr. C. Murchi-
son, commissioner of UIC going to
bat for the Gill commission recom-
mendations by “‘enlightening”’
Chamber-of-Commerce audience

oe AB
z RY =}: RUSSIAN ASN MG
* Da ORDER P py

< pm, Actee. :

&ccles in the London Daily Worker

“Well gentlemen, either we trade with

the East or the firm goes West .. .”

Comment

on how a UIC annual deficit of —

$102-million can be TURNED
INTO a “surplus.”

Simple as rolling off a log. The
old R. B. Bennett “belly robbing”
technique. As per the Gill ‘“‘pack-
age deal” just extend per capita
coverage for UIC “benefits” into
areas where unemployment is less
rife, teachers, professionals, etc.,

and deprive others such as fisher- ©

men, etc., of UIC coverage, and by

reducing the duration of maximum

benefits from 52 to 26 weeks.
Mr. Murchison would also re-

. duce “seasonal”’ benefits to ‘‘sea-'

sonal” workers, whose periods of —
unemployment
sea-

“seasonable”
grows longer while their “
sonal” benefits get shorter. This

~ UIC “ Wizard of Oz’’ would also

cut down on “allowable earnings’
as another method of cutting
down on “benefits.”’ With innum-

erable other “cuts” in his 6-point _

“saving” plan Mr. Murchison

charmed his C-of-C tycoons with —

the prospect of an overall “saving”
of some $126 -million, all extracted
from the backs and bellies of Can-
ada’s growing army of unemploy-
ed and their families.

It should now be crystal clear to —

all just what the recommended

“ackage deal” of the Gill commis-
sion and its Murchison boosters
aim to achieve. Not the solvency of
a UIC fund with corresponding
government policies to alleviate
and lessen the menace and hard-
ship. of unemployment, but to
doubly rob the unemployed; first
by depriving them of the right of
a job, and secondly by depriving
them of a meagre insurance “‘bene-
fit” in lieu of the job reactionary
government policies don’t provide.

Who said the “‘sources”’ of our

national wealth is running out?

Tom
McEwen

here are quite a number of cor-

respondents across this country to
whom this column is very largely in-
debted for many of the ideas it pro-
jects. By and through their valued
aid in keeping us well supplied with
“news’’ bon nots, it actually be-
comes a *‘collective effort’’ inthe field
of progressive labor journalism.

A Toronto correspondent sent us a
clipping from the ‘‘Globe & Mail’* of
that citywhich reports the Los Angeles
**Fire and Police Association’’ for-
warding a resolution for the House
Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) to sniff at.-The gist of this
resolution is that folk singing, ‘*hoot-

,

- enanies’’ and all such youthful musi-

cal expression, is a Comminist plot
to ‘*subvert’’ young people; to enable
the youth to ‘‘sing’’ what they prob-
ably would hesitate to say about free-
dom, peace, democracy and so forth,
So the ‘‘Communists’’ being subtle
people, have them sing it instead.

However, a doughty republican sena-
tor from New York, Kenneth B. Keat-
ing, urged HUAC to ‘go slow’? on
this alleged Communist ‘‘cybernetic
warfare’ in case it backfired with
a whole volume of new hootenany ‘‘hit

parades’’ lampooning HUAC. The

’ senator cited a number of popular folk

songs presently being sung by a wide-
spread circle of talented folk song
groups in which the Un-American
witch-hunters could sniff at some ‘‘sub-
versive influences,’’ but cautioned
HUAC to keep its schnozzle out of
folk music—unless it wanted to encour
age a flood of new parodies on *‘con-
gressional folkways.”’

But don’t get the idea that HUAC
doesn’t like ‘‘singing’’. It does, but
only when the ‘‘singing’’ is done by
professional stoolpigeons or similar
specie of human rodents. Meantime
we await the advent of some youth-
ful genius who can set ‘‘Are you now
or have you ever been a member of
the Communist Party’’ to music—with
a rollicking hillbilly swing?

* * *

In days long gone by a lot of folks
including ourselves used to harbor
some illusions (old-fashioned notions if
you will), that old-tline politicians held
strongly to ‘‘party’’ convictions. That
is, a Tory would be a stalwart sup-
port of tory platforms, programs, or
“principles”, etc., whatever these
might be. Similarily with a Liberal
politico, Whatever ‘‘differences’’ (if
any) may have existed, these have now —
been erased by the ‘‘march of Time”.
The prime ‘‘difference’’ now can be
summed up in two words paeeet
elected’’. Convictions, ‘*principles”’
ideals are of less moment than the
disposal of last week’s garbage. The
main thing is ‘‘get elected.’’

‘The new Socred MLA for Point Grey,

Professor R,R. Loffmark is our latest

authority on this. It would appear from. .

the prof’s own testimony that he man-
aged to swallow the whole course of
Socred policies, creeds, convictions,
**principles’’? and. salesmanship in one
short easy lesson, and thereby attain
the prime end,—‘‘get elected.”’

**T was asked bythe British Columbia
government, Mr. Bonner in par-
ticular,’’ says Prof. Loffmark, ‘‘if I
would consider standing. I pointed out —
my non-partisan position and he (Bon-
ner)said he did not think this would
stand intheway of my nomination.”’

Here, there was no ‘articles of
faith’’ standing in the way, no necessity
to know what the ‘‘party’’ stood for
(if it stood for anything except sell-
out). No need to masterthe cork screw
**theory and practice’’ of Social Cre-
dit. Just the simple opportunist pro-
cedure of *‘get elected’’ with limit-
less slush funds to reach that objective.

In days of yore, despite the handicap _
of Tory or Liberal labels, there were —
politicos who stood out as men of
conviction, repute and principle. Today
they are as rare as the proverbial
hen’s teeth. The politician of today,
Liberal Tory of Socred has one prime
end in mind, not convictions, party
‘principles’ or ‘‘differences’’, butthe —
public porkbarrel, the ‘‘emoluments”

of office.

Yes sir, I am a candidate. If you
don’t like my ‘principles I'll change
them. My ‘nonpartisan position’ is
to ‘get elected’ on the most promising
ballyhoo ticket.’’

é

October 11, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 4