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DANIEL JOHNSON

The death of Daniel Johnson
Gs caused consternation in
the government at Quebec and
ttawa. In his hands had been
eld all the reins of power of
peeoec's governing Union Na-
; nale party. Who is to gather
ne up, if at all, is the ques-
; N Now rending that party. As
or Trudeau's Federal govern-
ment, the late Mr. Johnson had
qe a “known factor” whose
™mness on stated basic posi-
‘ns involving Quebec's par-
oration in Canada’s federa-
wpa and French Canadians
: fancophone” identity he
Sud be counted on to ad-
seete with flexibility and con-
Ummate political adroitness.
or Ottawa, this known factor
Gs become a matter for ago-
"zing conjecture.

eis consternation is not
Gred by organized labor, by
i Workers in general and
©r democratic forces of
Uebec. Instead, statements
Y some of Quebec's leading
"ade unionists, indicate there
the een quick recognition
ae Quebec labor must now
\ Solutely strengthen its efforts
) efend the workers and their
. auuilies against the mounting
paxits of monopoly, assaults
| “hich the Union Nationale
. $0vernment itself aided and is
| Wtively promoting.

Consternation had_ been
'dely felt among workers,
OWever, in 1966 when Daniel
2hnson became the leader of
ae €c’s government. At that
iss he was “Danny Boy’
“ig son the politician who had
of th to power as the protege
Pr N€ notorious Maurice Dup-
sti tradition of the uncon-
Q Utional padlock law, of
Gon Pec police brutalities
| “S9inst workers, of the whole
crud of political corruption
repression. 5

ihe “Premier Ministre du
rol @bec” he never altered the
© of his party as the instru-
Role in government of mono-
Ren Johnson himself represen-
© interests of the French-
“Nadian bourgeoisie in their
Orts to win a larger share of
SNadian monoply’s power

os

“2

From some of the vicious

views In

A PLACE TO STAND AND ‘A PLACE TO GROW

anti-democratic practices of
the Union Nationale of the
Duplessis era, he did make
significant departures, however
briefly only the strength or
weakness of Quebec’s workers
will determine.

Daniel Johnson’s period in
office was unmarked by red-
baiting. He showed reluctance
to allow the use of force by
Quebec's
against the workers. In Wind-
sor Mills, a few days before his
death, these police on the ad-
vice of the municipal authori-

~ ties were withdrawn from that

mill town where the workers are
striking against DomTar, affi-
liate of the Argus Corporation.
Undoubtedly the Union Natio-
nale government ordered: this
withdrawal because these
French-Canadian Quebec
workers are battling against a
giant Anglo-Canadian mono-
poly whose seat of control is
in Ontario. But Johnson‘s men-
tor Duplessis would have act-
ed otherwise, as he did in the
strike of the Asbestos workers
against the American mono-
poly, Johns-Manville.

Maurice Duplessis must
have burned still more fiercely
when Johnson on two seperate
occasions last year cited as an
example for Canada the con-
stitutional relationships of the
nations of the Soviet Union.

Daniel Johnson did much to
prove the need for a new con-
stitution for Canada that must
recognize the existetice of the
French-Canadians as a nation,
and that Quebec is the state
of that nation. His final words
declared his belief in the de-
mocratic rights of minorities in
Quebec, as they did his wish
to defend the cultural, educa-
tional and linguistic rights of
French-Canadians against as-
similation.

It is also true he had plan-
ned to sleep in the sumptuous
bed of the ‘Grande Trianon”
in Versailles, not only for sen-
timental reasons of “‘franco-
phonie”’, but also in his pursuit
of hard French francs for in-
vestment in Quebec. Less glory
had accompanied the loans he
had previously obtained from

West Germany and the United

States.

Provincial — Police:

rg comment...

Before he could make his last
speech, Johnson had to face
the demonstration in Quebec
of 700 angry Quebec Liquor
Board strikers, bearing 50,000
signatures demanding ap-
pointment of an impartial me-
diator in their strike. He re-
fused, while admitting that his
government's wage policy had
been established unilaterally.
Before his death the Union Na-
tionale government was pre-
paring to introduce amend-
ments to the Quebec Labor
code which are reliably report-
ed to be aimed at severely
limiting the rights of organized
labor. Quebec’s workers ex-
pect the Union Nationale to
continue its anti-labor, pro-
monopoly policies regardless
of whom it may choose as its
new leader.

Daniel Johnson’s death has
thrown open a struggle within
the Union Nationale, a strug-
gle he had been able to con-
:trol, between the ‘‘moderates”
and __ultra-nationalists, like
Tremblay and Masse. At this
moment it appears the new
Quebec premier will be Jean-
Jacques Bertrand, the former
Minister of Justice. He is known

_to share many of the opinions

of the late Mr. Johnson con-
cerning Quebec and the need
for a new constitution fer Can-
‘ada. He has, like Johnson,
publicly attacked expressions
of extreme French-Canadian
nationalism made by certain
hotheads in the former cabinet.

Within the next six months
the Union Nationale will
choose a new party leader. It is
in this critical period ahead
that unity in Quebec of the
forces of the left and of orga-
nized workers must be forged.
This is essential for the build-
ing of a mass labor political
party that alone can bring last-
ing consternation to monopoly
and to its political parties, at
the same time that it moves to
the realization of the full rights
of the French-Canadian na-
tion.

YEA—HOW COME?

Overheard in a Montreal: milk
bar:

“How come it only costs $1
for me to supply a child in In-
dia with milk for a month, but
| have to pay 15c for a measly
plastic cupful for myself?”

Financial Post

CALLING DR. CASEY

“A young man who would
like to have a high paying job
should seriously consider be-
coming a cardiac surgeon. It’s
estimated that by 1975, a thou-
sand of these highly skilled
specialists will be required to
perform about 15,000 artificial
heart implants each year. The
cost per operation will be
about $5,000."

Forbes Magazine

Travelling circus

According to one long time resident of the
Trefann Court area in Toronto, the people have
been walking over broken sidewalks and road
pot-holes for 15 years. This week all has been re-
paired and resurfaced. Coincidentally the Hell-
yer road show on housing is in town seeing how
the other half lives. The roads were probably
repaired so the television equipment which ac-
companies the show could get through, but any-
way they are being fixed — which is something.
Never let it be said therefore, that the Hellyer
task force on housing is a complete fraud of
which nothing good will come.

Hellyer’s foray from the posh Sutton Place
into darkest Toronto came after the task force
rejected public hearings for many of the briefs
submitted because the was no time. Thus we
have the latest example of government horse
play on the housing crisis — three days in the
city with the worst housing situation in Can-
ada, no time to hear many briefs but plenty of
time for cruel propaganda stunts.

One Toronto newspaper reports the following
exchange that developed from Hellyer’s game
with the residents of Regent Park. (Hellyer):
ey any people would settle for a nice town

ouse?” .

“About a third put up their hands. ‘I’m glad
to ae you're nice normal people,’ Mr. Hellyer
said.

“Nice normal people be Goddammed. The nice,
normal people of Canada need decent housing
not gratuitous insults from slumming Cabinet
Ministers. Millions of Canadians are forced to
live in sub-standard housing and forced into
fantastic rents for the privilege. Urban land in
Canada has been plundered by speculators until
nobody ean afford to build. Public housing in
Canada is all but non-existent. The government
has built less than 60,000-units since the end of
the war. Hellyer knows all these things because
he was once in the house construction racket
and no doubt he could wise-up his panel of
“experts” on all the angles.

The housing crisis in Canada is such that only
massive diversion of public funds from the
highest level of government will meet the situa-
tion. Only radical steps to take over land now
being held for speculative purposes to end the
ea? in rents and mortgages can be mean-
ingful. ~

The federal government to this day refuses to
recognize or accept its responsibility; it refuses
to adopt even a capital gains tax on the specu-
lator’s profits, much less a program of rent and
price controls.

As a substitute for action, Canadians have
been getting the runaround for years, and the
Hellyer task force appears to be merely the
latest charade. Such gimmicks in effect become
part of the problem rather than pointing to any
solution, even though Sumach and Sackville
streets in Toronto were repaired.

THE “WAR” ON. POVERTY

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 4, 1968—Paqe 3