ORDON REPORT—2

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“a
q

Ph Months of public hearings
) ee Study, the royal commis-
On on Canada’s economic
e'rospects sets down 77,000
qd! (i, ords of advice on things that
¢Mught to be done and includes
Ome crystal-gazing on what
yn anada may expect by 1980.
ore One of its main recommen-
ations is a series of proposals
ally which Canadians can gain
ts # éreater share of control over
méeir economic destiny, noting
IS it does that many Canadians
nse worried about “the large
peiPcasure of economic decision-
asMaking being in the hands of
exfon-residents.”
1# The report, and the more
momplete studies to follow
ter, will undoubtedly be sub-
a for national debate not
i @nly in the’ coming election
ol far beyond. Already the
woarst report has stirred up the
ge TOS and cons over this or that
wSpect,
ot One impression seems to
itand Out above all others in
tithe minds of the commission-
plets—an abounding faith in the
exPidility of Canadian, given the
ee Meht kind of national policies,
12 build one of the world’s
ge Bcine industrial nations in
Ich living standards would
Je immeasurably higher than
P, are today. Chairman
. alter Gordon put it this way:
4 No matter how we felt
Mout things when we started
pir Studies, We ended up op-
Muistic about Canada’s future.”
€ contrasted the situation
pith Commission found: today
sy What he called “the dis-
fal, discouraging and fright-
ee outlook” for Canada pre-
lomnices. the Rowell-Sirois
+ Mission 20 years ago.
| - far as we can see, there
i : Major problem facing
; hat we can’t deal with if
© want to,” he declared.
id he report reflects this con-
ence, Its concluding words

re

ee Shall have our dull

Ods in the future, as well

E our bright ones. But given

adership, flexible policies, a

Villingness

4 Scoslon demands, and a

as luck, Canadians have

Hi Y reason to look forward

optimism and confidence

3 the continued economic

: «velopment of. our country

Ad to a rising standard of liv-
4 in the years to come.”

: . there’s a large-sized “if”

cc which the whole forecast

S. It is found in the last

laragraph:

i q It should be stressed that
7° very considerable economic
(pansion which is forecast
“Pr the next 25 years is con-
sent on assumptions . . »
7° key assumption must be
jp14t global war will be avoid-

9 F
a If this can be accomplish-

Gh

to change policies _

_ into

ed and if the other assumptions
are substantiated by events
there should be a remarkable
increase in living standards
and in net per capita disposable

income of Canadians over the

period of the next 25 years.”

The report does not delve
into required advances in so-
cial welfare measures required
to raise living standards —
such as health insurance, pub-
lice low-rental or low-cost
housing, etc. Nor does it touch
on the heavy cost to Canadians
of the present defense budget.

It does, however, reflect the
demand expressed in many
briefs presented to the com-
mission, that steps be taken to
guard against increasing U.S.
control of Canadian industry
and resources. It proposed
measures which it said would
help “Canadianize” the oper-
ations of foreign-owned cor-
poration in Canada. Among
the proposals were:

@ Foreign-owned companies
or subsidiaries should be
called upon to sell 20 or
25 percent of equity shares
to Canadians.

@ “Independent” Canadians
should serve on _ their
boards of directors.

@ Canadians should be em-
ployed in senior manage-
ment, technical and engin-
eering posts.

@ Supplies should be pur-
chased in Canada.

@ Special tax concessions
should be denied if Cana-
dianization was refused.
Or penalize them by rais-
ing the withholding taxes
levied on payments to non-
Canadians.

@ Provinces should require
that firms to which leases
on oil, timber or mining
rights are being issued,
incorporate under Cana-
dian laws and take Cana-
dian partners.

© Warning of the danger of
foreign control of insur-
ance companies and banks,
the commission recom-
mended that shares in
these institutions acquired
by non-residents should
be non-voting shares,

It added, however, that it
favored foreign capital coming
Canada. Our growth
would have been much slower
without it, the report said.

It notes the worry of many
Canadians over foreign con-
trol which ‘tends to create
problems,” observing:

“Many Canadian are worried
about such a large measure of
economic decision-making be-
ing in the hands of non-resi-
dents or in the hands of Cana-

dian companies controlled by”

non-residents.”
It would be unfair, how-

Provided we aré spared a world atomic war and another depression such as
e knew in the 1930's, and provided we make some far-reaching changes in national
Policy, Canadians 25 years hence can achieve a standard of living considerably higher
ghan today’s, according to the prognostications of the Gordon commission.

In its preliminary report tabled in the House of Commons on January 10 after

ever, to say that Canada has
been “hurt” by this situation.
“But if the present trend con-

tinues under which foreign in-
vestment is heavily concen-
trated in the resources and
manufacturting _ industries, + it
seems probable that this will
continue to be the case, it
could lead to actions of an ex-
treme kind being taken at

- some future time.” ;
The report also adds here,

in one of its few reference to
the labor movement, ‘that al-
though Canadian unions are
usually linked with USS.
unions, “the trend in organ-
ized labor in Canada would
seem to be moving in the di-
rection of more independence
and more autonomy.”

The report also advocated
measures to relieve municipali-
ties of present tax burdens—
but at the same time recom-

mended higher taxes on autos
and trucks and higher assess-
ments or tax rates in some
cities. (It predicted that 80
percent of Canadians would be
urbanized by 1980 as compared
with the present 62 percent.)

Among measures proposed
(in addition to raising taxes)
are:

@ That provincial govern-
ments should assume costs
of hospital and other social
services now borne largely
by municipalities.

@ Ottawa should pay taxes
on its property in every
municipality.

vf)

The need for a new defi-
nition of what services
municipalities should be
responsible for. It said:

“But the majority of Cana-

eace essential to forecasts

dians will be increasingly con-
cerned in the years to come

with the problems of urban
living and if the financial dif-
ficulties of the municipalities
are not dealt with satisfactor-
ily, these problems undoubted-
ly will become more acute.”

It recommended that hous-
ing should be regarded as an
integral part of the provision
of services. Slum districts
must undergo “more radical
surgery.”

The main advice offered on
this was that urban areas
should be permitted to bor-
row more money to finance
needed expansion of social
services, on a long-term basis.

Among its controversial re-
commendations is for a nation-
al energy policy covering oil,
natural gas and electricity. It
favors Canadian export of
electric power — a sharp de-
parture from past’. practices
and policy.

WHAT'S NEEDED

depression.”

An economic system which
is based on private ownership
and the drive for maximum
profits, but whose methods
of production are so social
that the labor of the whole of
society is needed nowadays
to make-a pin, is constantly
prone to economic crisis.

People can look forward
confidently to life witout ec-
onomic crises only when the
ownership of the means of
production corresponds to the
nature of production itself —
that is, when both are social,
and when the drive for pri-
vate profit is removed.

That great change to social-
ism will come about, in Can-
da, as elsewhere in the world.
It is inevitable.

Which is not to say that
workers and farmers should
sit back and await another
depression. _

Anyhow, people are not like
that. The workers and farm-
ers of Canada, having by their
labor ‘made possible the big
advances our country has
made, are naturally determin-
ed that the economic strength
and national policy of Canada
must serve the people’s wel-
fare and security — not the
selfish aims of Canadian and
U.S. monopolies.

But the present national Lib-
eral policy is not such as to
make another depression im-
possible. To the contrary, The
government more than ever
is the organ of the big private
monopolies and is woven in
with them.

The Gordon commission ack-
nowledges a number of facts
in this connection, especially
the growing domination of
Cariadian industries and raw
materials resources by the

_U.S. and the St. Laurent gov-

ernment’s concessions to Am-

erican big business.

The commission proposes
some modest reforms such as
a larger share of Canadian par-
ticipation in U.S. companies
that do business in Canada and
makes the good proposal that
these companies be asked to
publish the details of their ac-
tivities in this country, which
they do not now do.

But as far as my reading of
press reports goes, the report
fails to emphasize a vital point
which the Labor-Progressive
party’s brief to the commission
argued for a year ago.

That point is that a new na-
tional policy should be such
as to insist upon the growth
of the manufacture in Cana-
da of a greater share of our
raw materials and to build up
machine-tool and machine-
construction
would develop Canadian skills
and further industrialize Can-
ada so thiat our dependence on
U.S, imported goods could be
cut down and our economy
could assist the industrializa-
tion of under-developed
countries. :

The one-sided growth of the
Canadian economy and its in-
creasing dependence on ship-
ping raw and_ semi-finished
goods to the U.S., while im-
porting American finished
goods at high prices, is a stub-
born policy of the St. Laurent
government. And that is a
factor for making for depres-
sion and not for our balanced
and continued industrial
growth.

% at beg

The glowing picture painted
of Canada in 1980 really is a
tribute to the skills and talent
of the Canadian people. We are
proud of our country’s econ-
omic advance.

But the continuation of that
advance in a world in which

industries that

imperialism is in crisis and
decline, and the forces of col-
onial freedom, national .lib-
eration and socialism are ris-
ing apace, depends on wheth-
er or not the Canadian people
join in this mighty world
movement to end war, pov-
erty, national oppression and
the exploitation of workers by
the capitalists.

The good things for 1980 des-
cribed by the commission can
come true if Canadian labor,
joined by the farmers, and
supported by all whose patrio-
tic and humanitarian feelings
are strong, =join together in
new political movements to
win seats and ultimately a
majority, in parliament, and
form a labor-farmer govern-
ment which would lead the
country to socialism.

If labor and the farmers
are to win a ‘two-thirds in-
crease in their living standards
in the next 25 years, if the
working day is to be cut down,
if the new electronic automa-

tion devices are to work for:

man and not make man their
slave, then labor and the far-
mers must unite to take poli-
tical control of Canada and
turn the dream into reality.
We are confident. that the
working people of our country
will take up the challenge of
the Gordon commission and
make its forecasts their own
political cause.
As the “Wobblies” used to
sing, many years ago:
But we have a glowing dream
Of how fair the world will
seem,
When each man can live his
life secure and free,
When the earth is owned by
labor
And there’s a joy and peace
for all
In the Commonwealth of Toil
that is to be.

JANUARY 25, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 8

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