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FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1969 .

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ALL-CANADIAN WATER RESOURCES PLAN. The above plan for the use of Canadian water resources for the

nefit of all Canadians instead of diverting it to the U.S. as is now being proposed, has been put forward by
the Canadian Communist Party. Instead of allowing water from the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and
B.C. to be diverted southward to the U.S., it outlines an East-West plan by which water would be distributed
across Canada serving Canadian needs.

Pull Out of NATO Drive
Launched Across Canada

The Communist Party is kicking off a Canada-wide campaign to pull our country
Out of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, Nelson Clarke, the party’s organizer,

announced last week.

The Communist campaign,
Which will feature post cards,
Public meetings, stickers, a
Special pamphlet written by
William Kashtan, and a
delegation to Ottawa early in the
ate year, aims to end Canada’s
7 ee _association with
fee O which is up for renewal in

Clarke said that the request of
xternal Affairs Minister
itchell Sharp for an expression
Opinion by the Canadian
People should be answered bya
aes _Teply by Canadians
ie & him to cut Canada free
m NATO,
Sharp had stated that Canada
Se comudered the possibility of
A Tict policy of neutrality but
Fejected it because it was too
eive and ‘“‘the sort of
. ance we have now is superior
otter defense methods
oN Use it leaves Canada
ee Pendent of the United States
<= Pen hecessary,”’

i

of

Nelson Clarke branded this
statement as utter deception.
“NATO is an American military
alliance,” he said. ‘It was
sponsored by the United States
and is run by the United States
and to suggest that there is any
independence for Canada within
such a military framework is
utterly irresponsible.

‘“‘Besides,’’ Mr. Clarke
continued, “‘the question is not
one of expense but of defense.
The only defense for Canada in
the modern thermonuclear age is
the pursuance of policies of
peace and peaceful co-existence
of states with different social
systems. Contrary to Sharp, a
policy of neutrality of non-
alignment for Canada accords
with the, real needs of our
country, both from the point of
expense and the very future of
our people.”’

He urged all Canadians to sign
the post card being issued by the
Communists calling for Canada

to withdraw from NATO, or to
write a letter, send a wire,
organize their own petition, get
their union local or community
organization to pass a resolution,
but in some way or other use the
next few months to build up an
irresistible Canada-wide demand
for withdrawal from NATO.

A major campaign is also
shaping up in Britain for
withdrawal from NATO. The
Campaign for Nuclear Disarma-
ment announced recently that a
four-day nationwide peace
demonstration will start on
April 4 next year. That date is
the 20th anniversary of the
signing of the NATO Treaty and
the day when Britain has the
right to. give notice of
withdrawal.

The demonstration will involve
several cities and towns,
military bases, and installations,
and will culminate in a march
from Hampstead Heath to
Trafalgar Square.

VOL. 30, NO. 1

— oa

LL 69 BE YEAR

Tribune

10¢

By MAURICE RUSH

Unless the people of British Columbia wake up to
the gigantic schemes underway for the sellout of the
province’s natural resources, 1969 may well go down in
history as the ‘“‘Year of the big giveaway.” A case in
point was an announcement from Ottawa last week.

Coming only two weeks after
the tabling in the U.S. Congress
of the report on water resources
by President Johnson advocating
increased pressure on Canada to
enter into continental
arrangements for diverting
Canadian water to the U.S., the
Ottawa report is particularly
disturbing. ¥

Hidden away in the inside
pages of the daily press was the
announcement from the external
affairs department that Canada
and the U.S. had agreed to
éxchange information and start
a joint study of schemes
involving possible hydro

development and water
diversion to Alaska of the waters
of the Yukon River.

For many years the U.S.
government has been trying to
get Canada to agree to joint
dévelopment of the Yukon River,
most of whose waters, along
with its tributaries, lie in the
Canadian north. No small prize
is involved in these negotiations
and joint studies.

The Yukon River is considered
by hydro engineer® as one of the
greatest potential sources of
power in the world, far
surpassing in potential the Peace
River. The U.S. government has
sought arrangements similar to
that on the Columbia River,
which would see Canadian
waters stored and diverted to
Alaska for a_ vast hydro
development.

Many Canadians, including the
late General A. G. L.
McNaughton, opposed such
scheme as a betrayal of
Canadian’ interests. The most
disturbing feature of the Ottawa
announcement is the great

Six Months Of
Pierre Elliott
Trudeau’s

‘JUST
SOCIETY’

—See Page 12

OF BIG GIVEAWAY?

-secrecy surrounding the talks.

with the U.S. Entering into such
talks when Canada has never yet
spelled out a water resources
policy, should be a sign of
danger.

It is known that the waters of
the Yukon River are considered
by the U.S. promoters of the
Parsons Plan as part of the giant
scheme to collect B.C. waters
for diversion to the US.
Whatever discussions take place
between Canadian and U.S.
officials on the Yukon River will
undoubtedly be related to long
range plans by the U.S. for
gaining control over massive
quantities of Canadian water for
diversion to the U.S. as well as
for cheap hydro development.

The secrecy surrounding the
latest talks undoubtedly spring
from a desire on the part of
Canadian officials to prevent
public protest against any sellout
scheme developing, such as
arose around the Columbia River
Treaty. Top government circles
in Ottawa, the U.S. and B.C. are
now anxious to carry through
their selout schemes _ behind
closed doors ‘‘by experts,’’ and
presented to the public as a fait
accompli.

This was borne out by a
statement of B.C. resources
minister Ray Williston early in
1968 in which he disclosed that
the B.C. government is in
negotiations with Alaska for a
vast development on the Iskut
River north of Prince Rupert.
The significant thing about his
announcement was that both the
B.C. and Alaska government
have decided to go ahead with

_ the proposed development by

sidestepping federal law to avoid
public controversy.

The scheme would involve a
huge development which would
dam the waters of the Iskut and
Stikine Rivers, both of which lie
almost entirely in B.C., and
using these waters for a large
hydro project which would feed
the Alaska panhandle, Alaska,

and big mining and forest

monopolies in northwestern B.C.

Such a scheme involving .the
crossing of an_ international
boundary would, under Canadian

See GIVEAWAY, pg. 11

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