OR FRONT By WILLIAM KASHTAN BILL The key to the outcome of the coming election could well be the working class and the position taken by the trade union movement. One and a quarter million workers and their families, if united, could well tip the balance. In a formal sense, the Canadian La- bor Congress and its affiliates support the New Democratic Party, which they helped to bring into existence and to which 651 union locals, with a membership of about 200,000 throughout the country, have affil- iated. There is an obvious difference, how- ever, between formal and active support. The five cents per member from those : locals which have affiliated is useful financially in waging the election campaign. : But finances alone will not decide its outcome. Much more important, in fact decisive, is the extent to which the union membership is rallied, on a constituency basis, to go all out in support of NDP candidates, particularly where there are real opportunities of election. Nor is it only a matter of union locals which are affili- ated. The fact is, as shown in past elections, that thousands of workers whose union locals were not affiliated to the NDP, worked and voted for NDP candidates. In both kinds of locals — those that have affiliated and those which have not yet done so — there is a vast potential of volunteers who could become the backborie of the cam- paign. Imagine what 5,000 or 10,000 volunteers could do in Toronto! And what could be done in all the other industrial centres throughout the country! * * * What is lacking as yet, unfortunately, is the kind of lead which ought to be forthcoming from the various union offices. There seems to be a view held in some trade union quarters that one should not go all out in this election. William Dodge, CLC executive vice-president, is quoted as saying that “the unions and the Congress cannot cripple their trade union activities by diverting all staff to the political campaign.” No one would suggest, of course, that trade union activ- ities be crippled in the course of the present election. But in view of the extraordinary character of this election, the importance of the issues being fought out—in the first place, that of nuclear arms and U.S. interference—which directly affects the present and the future of the working class, the trade union movement could in truth be crippled if the out- come of the election is negative. - * * * In these circumstances half measures are not enough. One cannot be half in and half out when the situation calls for an all out effort. True enough the trade union movement must continue to service its members. But the best service it could give its members today is to win all of them to active support of the position of the Congress and of the NDP — “No nuclear arms in Canada or for her armed forces overseas.” If a real job is done on this score from now until April 8 and if, alongside this, all the staffs of the trade union move- ment, apart from a skeleton force, were really made available to’build up volunteer teams for the various constituencies, the outcome could well be a massive turnout of workers and their families that could, make it possible for the NDP to displace Social Credit as the balance of power in the next Parliament and thus prevent nuclear arms from being imposed on our country. It all depends upon the effort, and this is as true in Quebec as everywhere else. The Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU) has taken the position that it will not support any political party in this election. It has also declared that it will outline its attitude on what it considers the main problems at stake in the election — bi-culturalism, economic planning, nuclear arms and Canadian-U.S. rela- tions — so that the “workers and other citizens who will want to take the CNTU’s opinion into account will easily identify the political party or parties whose programs more ey reflect our viewpoint.” The door thus appears to be open for united action be- tween members of various unions affiliated to the Quebec | Federation of Labor and to the CNTU — united action of a kind which could bring a positive outcome to the pase ag in that province. To help the working class tip the scales for peace and against nuclear arms — this ought to be at the centre of attention of all sections of the trade union movement from now until April 8. Jobless at city hall The Vancouver and Dist- rict Unemployed Council Tuesday sent a delegation of thirty to city council to ask support for its fight against objectionable | recommenda- tions in the Gill Commission ‘Report on the Unemploy- but agreed to at its con- ‘ment Insurance Act. } tents); ci. dat _ 15, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2. Four unions were repres- Carpenters, Seamen, Fisher- men and Oil Workers. City council would not commit itself: on the brief ented on the delegation: the SHOULD QUIT NATO, NORAD CARON PUTS FORWARD PEACE OLICY AT ALL-PARTY RALLY The all-candidate meeting held in Vancouver last Thurs- day under the sponsorship of the Junior Chamber of Com- merce was highlighted by the forthright position for a pol- icy of peaceful co-existence put forth by the Communist can- didate ‘in Coast - Capilano, Charles Caron. ‘Caron made it quite clear that this policy, and this pol- icy alone, was the urgent need of the Canadian people. NOMINATED IN ONTARIO PETER BOYCHUCK was nominated as Communist can- didate in the Sudbury riding last week. Boychuck has a long record in the labor move- ment, and was active in the drive to build trade unions in Ontario. NOMINATED FRANK MAR E, an expert on Alberta farming, and lead- ing spokesman for the Com- munist Party, was named last — to run in Vegreville rid- FRANK HALSAM was nom- inated as standard bearer of the Communist Party in the important industrial riding of Welland last week. He was a candidate last. year and his nomination was ‘widely re- ported in the local press. IN ALBERTA WILLIAM TUOMI, Communi- ist Party leader in Alberta, was last week nominated to contest the riding of Edmon- ton East. Tuomi is a World War 2 veteran. Air brass help drive to win public for A-arms Evidence that Canada’s top- ranking military are conduct- ing a well-organized propa- ganda campaign to win accept- ance of nuclear arms for Can- ada is contained in a recent report from NORAD _head- quarters at Colorado Springs by Jim Lucas, a _ Scripps- Howard staff writer. Lucas wrote there are 75 Canadians at the NORAD headquarters and without ex- ception they favor nuclear arms. Workers Benevolent Assn. Canada Progressive Fraternal Society Caters to all your needs in the Life Insurance field Life Insurance Endowments Pension Plans | Weekly Benefits a ae § to: B.C. office ai 8 ast Pender St. or National Office at 595 Pritchard Ave., innipeg 4, Manitoba “Thus, at least once a week — and sometimes oftener — groups of influential Cana- dians are flown here for day-: long briefings on NORAD’s mission,”’ Lucas stated. “What they are told boils down to this: Canada must have nuclear warheads if she is to survive. ‘Directly in charge of NORAD’s briefing campaign is its No. 2 man, Canadian Air Marshal C. Roy Slemon.” Election issue set for Mar. 29 The March 29 issue of the PT will be devoted to special elec- tion features — an analysis. of the campaign, special articles, etc. It will be run in two colors and will be printed in 10,000 copies, in addition to our regular press run. Each press club will receive a certain amount of copies for dis- tribution; any additional bundles will have to be ordered by Mon- day, March 25, at the latest. Press clubs should place their orders immediately. pee oe Shs ate Se oterst y Explaining his party’s op- position to nuclear arms, Car- on pointed out that rejection of nuclear arms needs to be followed up by Canadian — withdrawal from the aggres- sive NATO and NORAD war | alliances and the adoption of a Canadian policy of positive | neutrality. i Both the NDP and Tory ~ spokesmen, Robert Prittie — and John Taylor, though ‘| pledging their opposition to nuclear arms, were not pre- — pared to extend their opposi- | tion to include the kind of a ~ program that would once and for all take Canada out of the war camp. The position of the Liberal | party spokesman, Ron Bas- | ford, came in for very sharp attack from the audience and particularly from the modera- tor, Doug Collins. It is quite clear that the Liberal flip-flop on the question of nuclear arms is causing that party great difficulty. Even the young businessmen of the city of Vancouver were unimpress- ed by the line of the Liberal spokesman. es On March il, Caron point- ed out in a press release that “the former supporters of Lib- eral (Jack) Davis are reject- ing the U.S.-styled campaign he is attempting to mount.” The proof of this changed attitude was to be found in the fact that the $25 a plate a dinner, patterned after the big U.S. political parties, flop- ped; a jazzed up car parade featuring beautiful young women also fizzled; Davis ; outraged labor by walking \ through a PWA picket line. : HITS DAVIS ’ Caron went on to state that this year, at Davis’ nomina- — tion meeting, only a fifth of those who showed up a year ago were back. And this time they had to cross a picket line of constituents protesting against the Liberal Party pol- icy of acceptance of the hated — U.S. nuclear arms. At the Chamber of Com: merce meeting last week, Caron was asked by modera- | tor Collins why his party fav- ored nuclear arms for Cuba but opposed them for Canada. Caron answered by stating | that his party stood for com plete disarmament and the elimination of nuclear arms everywhere. E. However, “disarmament has still not been achieved — and the U.S. has placed mis- sile bases in many countries: — We therefore believe that other countries have the right to defend themselves whet threatened.” He explained that Cuba had been under threat of in vasion last fall and had re quested aid from the Soviet Union. As soon as the U.S: pledged that it would not in- vade Cuba, the missiles were withdrawn. Canada, on the other hand, was not in danger of immin- ent attack and has not re quested nuclear arms for he! protection, but is having them thrust upon her by a foreig® power — the US. : Obviously, concluded Car- on, there is a difference 1! the two situations.