By A, E. DAL GRAUER President, B.C. Electric ‘B.C. NOW SE POWER DEMANDS EXCEED FORECAST naturally reflected on the fin- ancial side. To date we have® raised $44 million of new] money, all of which is. going: y into the production of basic} i utility. services for the areas we ion Thus unit were Rive athe p successio ger of power shorta Kour Tower mainland system a stable history; and this is sset which has ever-greater in am increasingly unsta- orld. ht confidence is a tricky jurces of capital now despite talk from certain local ters. We could lose that con- . But the fact is that) | Body can do. harm to the ople of B.C, except themselves. is only by their own unwise luld dry up the ‘confidence the outside world has in our ince, and with it 4% of funds whic, SOut reso! panies in Canada and the States in. the capital mi for funds with which to fi the new and improved We have the Commission ‘could quickly jeopardise the po: pressure groups which that British Columbians into action which would precisely that eff; 4 ow "Catastrophic! cold spell hits workers’ wages The need for public ownership of all provincial hydro- ~ electric «resources is being demonstrated by the current critical power shortage. Like Hon. Herbert Anscomb, who last spring attempted to absolve the Coalition gov- ernment of all responsibility for flood control by dis- missing the floods as an “act of God,’ the BCElectric would no doubt be content to solve the situation with prayers for rain. " ‘ But the headline above, flaunted in the Vancouver News-Herald last October, tells its own story. amid all the fanfare accompanying delivery of the first tried to rush the Commis ee ent THIS IS AN historical day’ for all those who’ live in the] i great area we serve. To labor-; ers, merchants, fishermen, busi- , ness men, school teachers, Jum-_ bermen, clerical workers,. in-j dustrialists . . . in short, every; person who earns a living andy | who has a stake in our many! ies’ and municipalities, Ji ling. which has t ine other units hen the power house valve bpened..water will pour into tunnel through Mission untain, then from the Portal bugh the 2,200-foot steel! one one-thousands of a secorid. stocks to set the generators: ower from Bridge | River then race into Horne Payne tion in Burnaby at the d of light — 186,000 miles second. ¢ hundred and thirty miles of transmission line buiit .after months of arduous. toil over mountains, rivers.and muskeg will be spanned in: less. than New impetus will be added 'to the expansion of the lower mainiand and the province’ as a whole... and 1 better way of life will be assured to those of us who live fn this wonder- ful part of the Dominion of Canada. q y which will meet and 4 plentiful electrical living for many years to come. e Then, shortages. 7 See power from Bridge River, a project it took the BCElectric 20 years to develop, A. E. Grauer, BCElectric president, made a grandiose speech assuring workers and business- men alike they would suffer no losses because of power Today, industrial curtailments are costing workers an estimated $275,000 a week in wages. SUICIDE PACT will mean: That the decision as to war or peace will be made, as St. Laurent has publicly said, not by Canadians but by the United States. ‘That the burden of armaments tax- ation, drawn from the people via | the sales tax, wage taxes, high prices, will increase, while public funds for housing, public works, health, etc., will decrease. That ‘the | economy of Canada will be hitch- | ed to the U.S. plan for world dom-_ ination, in which this country will be nothing but a glorified aircraft base, and in which, if the instigat- ors of war have their way, Canad- ians will die for Yankee dollars. Without any reference to the people of Canada, but by,means of a wholesale, lying anti-Soviet prop- | agenda which spreads the slander _ that the Soviet Union is an ag- gressor, the real aggressors — the | power behind the beaten Chiang | and the protectors of the Nazi war criminals in German industry—are | receiving the full cooperation of the St. Laurent government, the Drew Tories and the CCF and So- cial Credit leaders in this diabolical plot to smash world peace. To sign such a pact, to hand our national ‘birthright to the Wall Street buccaneers, is an act of be- trayal of the true interests of the Canadian people, which are: peace, friendship and trade with the peo- ples of the world who are gaining their freedom, social security. low- er taxes and lower prices, good wages and a job for every worker. The St. Laurent government and | the parties which support its crim- | inal foreign policy, must be told | plainly that to sign the North At- |lantic Pact would be an anti-Can- /adian act, a warlike move which could’ earn for Canada only the scorn of the democratic people of the world who are fighting for and building a new life for themselves. The pact is a breach of world peace, a menacing gesture of ag- gression, and also a grim threat to the people of North America, who are wrong if they ‘think for a mo- ment that the sccialist and demo- eratic world will. be blackmailed | into submission by bullying of this | kind. The alternative path for Canada is to declare loudly for the whole world to hear that war is not in- evitable, that peace can be main- tained if the UN Charter is lived up to, that it is possible for the new world and the old to live side by side without war; that the U.S. bully boys cap be checked by dem- |ocratic public opposition to their | attempt to domineer the rest of the world. The St. Laurent government must be told by the labor move- ment and all friends of world peace that it must not sign the North Atlantic Pact, that it must cease jumping whenever Uncle Sam cracks the whip. Canadians must keep Canada independent, they must stop the government signing Canada’s death warrant. Keep Canada out of the North Atlantic Pact! WIUC advances proposals to offset unemployment Concerned over widespread unemployment among woodworkers and the prospect that many of those now unemployed will be unable to find work in an industry forced to curtail operations by loss of markets in Britain and elsewhere—a ditect outcome of the Marshall _ Plan — the .Woodworkers’ Indus- trial Union of Canada is submitting 2 brief to the provincial govern- ment outlining a number of pro- posals to provide work. : that “such an im- -pertant matter as markets for ‘B.C. lumber need not be affect- ed by any shortage of American dollars,” the WIUC proposes that barter agreements be concluded with Britain to exchange lumber for y, autos, textiles, | Noting that a big obstacle to un- ‘dertaking of a comprehensive hous- ing program is the high cost of lumber, the brief concludes that a necessary step to expanding the home market, providing a greater _ outlet for lumber and increased employment in construction, “would be some kind of government action to force lumber prices down to more reasonable levels.” _ On the broader issue of unem- ployment, the WIUC calls for a large-scale public works program and “immediate putting into effect of projects already in the planning stage, with specific attention to such projects as will absorb jobless woodworkers.” : It divides such projects into two categories, those which will provide employment on more or less a long- term basis and those which will provide only brief ‘employment, suitable “as stop-gaps in providing employment for those workers af- fected by seasonal shutdowns of industry.” The brief raises a sharp demand that the Unemployment Insurance Act “be brought into line with present day needs,’ and asks: ° e@ An immediate increase of at least 50 percent over existing ent insurance bene- e@ Action to place all the popula- tion under the Unemployment Insurance Act. ® Provision for extending bene- fits in all cases where benefits have been exhausted but the need for coverage remains. Ottawa reluctant to discuss case of former Nazi living on N.S. farm —OTTAWA The strange case of Otto Strasser is in the headlines again. Brother of the late Gregor Strasser, big-wig in the Nazi party, Strasser has been living for the past five years on an Annapolis Valley farm near Bridgetown, N.S. How Otto, who represented a splinter-group in the Nazi Party, along with his brother, came to live freely in Canada is something of Abe Karme, 75, celebrates ~ Fifty-nine years in the labor paying member but in many active and leading positions! something to be proud of and it \ 59 years in labor movement movement! Not just as a dues- That is vas fittingly celebrated last Sunday in the Clinton Hall on the 75th birthday of Abe Karme. He was born in Lueaborg, Fin- land, in 1874. By the time he was 16 he was a member of the cabinet- makers’ union in Terrioki and in 1896 was a delegate to his first con- vention, a convention of workers held in Tammerfors. Political parties had little oppor- tunity to flourish in Finland un- der tsarism but a Workers’ party was formed of which Abe was a member and he was a delegate to its convention in 1889. This was the party that preceded the Social De- mocratic party of Finland and the main discussion at that conven- tion was the Erfurt Program. He left Finland in 1901 and after a. year in the U.S., came to B.C. as one of the members of the Mal- colm Island colony... Two years later he came to Vancouver and has been here since. He has ben active in both the political and industrial organiza- tions of the Canadian movement. He was a member of the Dominion executive of the Socialist party in 1907 and 1908 and when a split took place among the Finns and the majority pulled out of the SP to form a Social Democratic Party, Abe Karme was one of the minor- ity who staved with the SP. When the’ Communist party was formed he decided he belonged in it. He is now a member of the LPP. During these years he was active ; also in the trade union movement on the coast. He was in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters until the founding of the OBU and from then on in the Wooden Shipbuild- ers’ section of the Amalgamated. In 1929, when the fishermen be- gan organizing the forces that had been dissipated after the 1901 strike on the Fraser River, he took part in the launching of the Pa- cific Coast Fishermen’s Union, be- ing its first treasurer. He has been with the fishermen’s unions ever since until advancing years made the work too arduous for him. At Sunday's gathering, with Nurmi acting as chairman, Abe was presented with a comfortable chair. Short addresses were de- ABE KARME livered by several old friends: Mrs. Strom, who knew him in Terrioki; Mrs. Bell; George Mutta; Bill Ben- nett and others, and a musical pro- gram was provided by members of the Finnish community, VETERANS OF Outstanding Columnist a mystery which only government cco THE MACKENZIE-PAPINEAU BATTALION, INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE are presenting TWO FILMS “SPAIN—A FIGHT FOR FREEDOM” and “SPAIN IN EXILE” HEAR ELMORE PHILPOTT on, International Affairs tobe held WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 8 P.M. PENDER AUDITORIUM, 339 W. Pender COLLE! AHA TA experts. on spiriting former Nazis and war criminals into the country can ex- plain. Top officels here explain that Strasser is seking a certificate of identity, which will permit his ex- it and return to Germany to organ- ize what he terms “a rally of the German democratic people.” U.S. occupation authorities are refus- ing Strasser’s entry on the ground that his “infamous Black Front” is in fact resurgent fascism in Ger- many. ; : The critical question is: “Why is a man, considered absolutely ‘undesirable in Western Germany, giving encouragement as it is to Nazis, now finding sanctuary on a Nova Scotian farm?” One leading government, man told newsmen here that “Strasser - is net the only case,’ there are others seeking exit. On each occa- sion that Strasser applied for en- trance to another country, this re- quest was refused by the country concerned, said this authoritative person. This constant activity on the part of Strasser has been going on since the war’s end with the help of government departments, he revealed. When it is recalled that these same government officials find it difficult to issue deportation orders in the case of notorious Vichy collaborators now residing in Quebec and wanted by French authorities, the anxiety of gov- ernment officials to expedite Strasser’s exit is to be wondered at. . & Radio Commentator Mn CTAMUALNUTATAESHAIIY