uae *

THOUSANDS PROTEST CRUISE

This was the scene in Ottawa Sunday, Oct. 30 as 15,000 people
gathered to protest federal permission for the testing of the
Cruise missile in Canada. It was the largest of several nation-
wide demonstrations on the weekend.

Ontario and Sask.
say yes to peace

The peace referendum’ has
scored its first impressive victories,
with civic voters in Saskatchewan
and Ontario giving the Canadian
government a strong mandate to
seriously negotiate an end to the
arms race.

In Ontario municipal elections
Monday citizens in 78
municipalities voted 75.8 percent in
favor of disarmament, according
to figures compiled by Operation
Dismantle, the national peace
group which initiated the referen-
dum idea.

Their ‘‘yes’’ vote added a strong
voice to that of Saskatchewan
voters, who in five municipalities
Oct. 27 voted three to one for im-
plementation of the ‘balanced
steps that would lead to general
disarmament.”’ Of particular note
was a 70 percent vote to reject the
planned testing of Cruise missiles in
a special referendum in Meadow
Lake, a town close to the Primrose
Lake Air Weapons Rangein Alber-
ta where the first-strike weapon is
slated to be tested in 1984.

Toronto voters said ‘‘yes’’ to
disarmament by a four to one
margin, or 78.8 percent, said
Operation Dismantle’s assistant
director Robert Brown in an inter-
view from the organization’s Ot-
tawa office.

In Ottawa, where mayor Marion
Dewar was a strong advocate of the
referendum, the vote was 76.6 per-
cent in favor. A sampling of other
Ontario centres showed a ‘‘yes’’
vote of 78.9 percent in Windsor, a
powerful 81 percent in Thunder
Bay, 72 percent in Hamilton and 70
percent in London.

The referendums faced opposi+
tion from reactionary groups in
some civic centres. Brown said an
‘extreme right-wing’’ agency call-

ing itself the Association of
Organizations of Citizens of East
European States succeeded in
squelching referendums in the cities
of Niagara Falls and nearby Ste.
Catherines.

Another soul-mate of ultra-right
syndicated columnist Lubor Zink
(who railed against the peace vote
as a kind of socialist plot) called the
Canadian Coalition of Peace
Through Strength, was unsuc-
cessful in its attempt to promote a
“no” vote in Toronto, said Brown.
He said the organizations “‘seem to
have sprung up in response to the
peace referendums.”’

While Ontario municipalities
did not face the running in-
terference experienced in B.C.
from provincial government of-
ficials, some city solicitors ‘‘erring
on the side of caution’? warned
their councils that peace votes
might be declared illegal, and the
results of civic elections would
therefore be invalidated.

These fears were put to rest last
June, when attorney-general Roy
McMurtry announced in the
legislature that peace votes would
not invalidate election results. Pro-
vincial Liberal leader David Peter-
son sent letters to city councils en-
couraging the vote, and former
Ontario NDP leader Michael
Cassidy initiated a petition for
world disarmament that was sign-
ed by a majority of Ontario MPs.

In Regina, the first major Cana-
dian city to conduct the peace vote,
73 percent, or 35,586 citizens voted
“tyes”? for world disarmament.
Other Saskatchewan results includ-
ed an 81 percent affirmative vote in
Wynyard, 74 percent in Meadow
Lake, a 72 percent ‘‘yes’’ vote in,
Langenbury, and 71 percent in
Estevan.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 12, 1982—Page 10

Vancouver, B.C. V5K1Z5

Seminar raises fear of B.C.
doing research for Pentagon)

Continued from page 1

Scheduled for Nov. 22 and 23
in Vancouver’s Robson Square, it
is co-sponsored by the federal
department of external affairs,
the department of industry, trade
and commerce, the U.S. depart-
ment of defence and the provin-
cial ministry of universities,
science and communications.

According to Michael Clark,
who is co-ordinating the seminar
for the B.C. ministry of industry,
it ‘evolved over the last year or so

. . . when representatives of our
ministry were in touch with the
department of defence in
Washington.”’

Heacknowledged that the U.S.
arms build-up ‘‘opened up large
opportunities to supply products
and services’, adding that the
U.S. military ‘‘is one sector of the
economy that is not going
through a recession.”’

Clark denied that it was-

anything more than an ‘‘infor-
tunate coincidence’’ that the
conference was timed to open on-
ly two days after voters in several
centres throughout the province
cast their ballots in disarmament
referendums. He argued that he
“‘wasn’t even aware of the
referendums until about a week
ago.””

Healso admitted some concern
over the protest raised, noting
that if there was ‘‘so strong a reac-
tion, it might make it difficult to
put the program on.”’

The ministry could hardly ex-
pect to stage such a conference
without vehement protest,
however. The discussion over the
two days is scheduled to include
top officials of the U.S. depart-
ment of defence and the U.S. ar-
my, navy and air force.

Following opening remarks by
provincial industry ministry of-
ficials and George Ogg, U.S.
consul-general, conference par-
ticipants are slated to hear an ad-
dress by Tom Chell, an external
affairs department undersecre-

tary on-‘‘U.S.-Canada defence
economic relationship’’ and Mar-
vin Stearn, from the directorate
of international acquisition, in
the U.S. defence department’s of-
fice of undersecretary of defence,
research and engineering.

Later sessions are to deal with
subcontracting opportunities for
Canadian industry, defence con-
tract procurement and marketing
and contract support. In addi-
tion, special workshops will focus
on specific military equipment in-
cluding ships and ship com-
ponents, electronics and com-

munication devices, specialized .

vehicles and electrical power
systems.

Asked if this type of con-

ference was ‘‘unprecedented”’ in -

‘the province, Clark said: ‘‘I guess
it is.””

According to the ministry, the
conference has been tailored to
the three areas in which B.C. in-
dustries have expertise and are
competitive: marine industries,
electronics and communications
and custom fabrication of special
vehicles.

“You have to look at it
pragmatically,’ he insisted.
Someone is going to supply these
products and services and if there
is an opportunity for B.C. com-
panies to sell, then they should use
it. :
Ever since 1978 when NATO
ministers voted to increase
military spending over and above
inflation, there has been pressure
in some government circles to get
more U.S. defence dollars in
British Columbia. In 1979, for ex-
ample, Conservative defence
critic Allan MacKinnon, MP for
Victoria, deplored the fact that
B.C. got only one-third of one
percent of the U.S. defence con-
tracts that accrued to Canadian
purchase of the Aurora patrol air-
craft.

But the conference this month
is the first direct move towards in-
creased involvement of B.C.

companies with the Pentagon.
Clark said that some 50 to 60
companies have already indicated
interest.

Asked if there was a danger
that such contracts might tend to
lead to increased militarization of
the economy and greater involve-
ment with U.S. defence contac-
tors, Clark acknowledged that
“there might be a danger.”’

He also confirmed that the
conference might mean a role for
B.C. Research, the brainchild of
Pat McGeer, the minister respon-
sible for universities, science and
technology which is co-
sponsoring the conference.

“If there is a possibility for get-
ting research and development
contracts, they would certainly be
candidates,”’ be said.

Fears were raised more than a
year ago that the new research
parks, working under the aegis of
B.C. Research, might become in-
volved in defence research and the
ministry’s participation in the
seminar has given substance to
those fears.

The scheduling of the con-
ference, coupled with the federal
government’s plans to allow U.S.
testing ofthe Cruise missile in
Alberta has heightened fears that
Canada is increasing its involve- }
ment with the U.S. military build- |
up.

“There are more than enough
weapons now to kill every person | -
on earth many times,’’ Frank Ken- |
nedy, chairman of End the Arms
Race, said in calling for cancella-
tion of the defence seminar. ‘‘We
don’t need to spend more money
and resources on developing new
and better ways to kill.’’

He emphasized that money
spent on military production
“creates far fewer jobs than if the
same amount were spent in non-
military production.”

The B.C. Peace Council also ex-
pressed its shock by the propost
conference and has called for its
immediate cancellation.

= a) |