FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1967

The ugly face of monopoly

cooseey Af mmemencue sero oe wre Re RE

WHO IS PACIFIC PRESS? ©

\_STEVE STAVENES

Most severe sentences ever
handed out to union leaders

The B.C. Appeal Court have
upheld the one year sentences
against Homer Stevens and Steve
Stavenes and the $25,000 fine on
the union. Last week UFAWU
defence laywer Harry Rankin
told the Court the sentences
imposed were the most severe
handed out on a contempt of court
charge of this type anywhere in
the Commonwealth.

Tuesday night the Vancouver
Labor Council acted on a wire
from the UFAWU and decided to
petition Attorney General Bonner
not to oppose leave to appeal to
the Supreme Court of Canada and
not to oppose application for bail.

(See fuller story on page 12.)

oo

¥
HOMER STEVENS

ti raterence of federal
iitisters wn Cial finance
laws Which Opened’ at
sitng, ~% November 16
ing mt Banded as
“St the ‘ae conspiracy
Was the “ adian people.

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eg! ft the Communist
ae Statement this

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Parties to ¢
Cy beg,
ae on to fasten the
ty, tity oF cs €d inflation on the
= es — workers,
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he conference

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. Nce Convened hard on

pantice Minister

A nhouncement that
Ncome tax increase
Ovember.

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ng and § vernments on the
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Be Sts. levels must
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r 200, medicare

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am quick favorable

t
Income tax boost,
IN social spending wrong

response among the provincial
premiers.

The conference has clearly
indicated that the federal-provincial
cost-charing medicare plan due to
become effective on July 1, 1968 will
be stillborn if these government
spokesmen have their way.

Not satisfied with torpedoing the
medicare plan, Mr. Sharp directed
the attention of the conference to
other items on his list for cost
pruning. These items are the federal-
provincial cost-sharing hospital
insurance plan~ and the Canada
Assistance Plan.

The real effects of these policies
will be a slowdown of the economy,
growth of unemployment, and a
lower standard of living for most
Canadians.

The Communist Party of Canada
unequivocally condemns the policy
of abandoning medicare and of
cutting other essential social
services, such as, hospital insurance
and pension plans as being morally
wrong and economically unjustified.

We condemn in equally strong
terms and for the same reasons the

cuts

stated intent of the federal
government to increase income

taxes.

The Communist Party charges
that the government of Canada,
federal and provincial, are standing
the question of inflation on its head in
attacking wages and incomes as the
source of inflation. When every
economist worthy of the name knows
that inflation is a general rise in
prices resulting in a decline in the
purchasing power of the dollar.

It is equally well-known that in a
monopoly society such as Canada’s,
the law of supply and demand as a
regulator of prices around the value
of products is gravely distorted

through price-fixing practices. —

Monopoly profiteering is the main
cause of spiralling prices:

Another well-known important
contributing factor to inflation at
this time is the U.S. war in Vietnam
which has tied up a major part of
that country’s economy in producing
for war, paid for by the people but
not delivering any products for sale
to the consumer market. As
Canada’s economy is linked to the
US. economy by innumerable ties,

See CONSPIRACY, pg. 11

VOL. 28, NO. 47

By MAURICE RUSH
In the last few days the B.C. public have had an insight
into how a powerful newspaper monopoly carries out an anti-
labor policy of preparation for strike breaking — such as

bringing instructors from the U.S. to train scabs, organizing ©

dormitories to house scabs, setting up TV cameras to spy on
worker’s picket lines, and other forms of intimidation.

This attempt at union busting
comes natural to monopolies like
Pacific Press. The tendency of all
monopolies is to use their great
economic power to dominate and
have their way. They are thoroughly
undemocratic and a threat to the
public’s interests.

Pacific Press a few years ago
brought together the two Vancouver
dailies into one company to dominate
the newspaper media and to mould
public opinion in their image. Pacific
Press has foisted itself on Vancouver
life, and hangs like an albatross
around the neck of the city, blocking
the door to any competition and
making a mockery of the ‘‘free
press’’ about which both papers
claim to be the champions.

Pacific Press came into being asa
merger of the Vancouver Sun and
Province to consolidate their
businesses, dominate the advertising
field, and jointly operate facilities.
While they ostensibly are supposed
to be free to determine their own
editorial policy — in fact they are
both tied in with some of the most
powerful financial institutions in
Canada and advocate similar
reactionary policies with only slight
shadings of difference. One is to the
far right, the other right of centre,
but on major issues they have a
common interest and common
policy.

Pacific Press was one of the
primary movers behind the setting
up of the multi-billion dollar big
business organization last year, the
Commercial & Industrial Research

Foundation (CIRF), which the PT

exposed. Ed Benson, vice-president
and general manager of Pacific
Press, is on the Board of Governors
of CIRF. He is the man behind the
company’s anti-union line.

A look at the set-up of Pacific
Press and the men who run it reveals
some interesting tie-ins with the big
corporate structure in Canada.
Pacific Press is supposed to be
equally owned by the Sun Publishing
Co. and Southam Press. Max Bell,
who controls the F.P. Publications
chain, has control of the voting stock
of the Sun. Bell owns many
newspapers across Canada such as
the Winnipeg Free Press, the
Calgary Albertan, and other
publications. In addition he is a
director of the Canadian Pacific
Railway and the Bank of Nova
Scotia.

The Southam chain, which controls

the Province, has 7 dailies — the
Hamilton Spectator, the North Bay
Nugget, the Ottawa Citizen, the
Calgary Herald, the Edmonton
Journal, the Winnipeg Tribune and
the Medicine Hat News.

A glance at some of the directors
of the Sun and their big business
tieup reveals the extent to which the
tentacles of monopoly reach out and
link together in a vast network of
control all vital aspects of Canadian
life.

Chairman of Pacific Press, for
example, is Sun Director F. B.
Brown. He is chairman of Kelly

See PACIFIC PRESS, pg. 12