RDITORLAL
COMMENT

A claim to
our resources

Any concept of the resources in the
Canadian earth being the private prop-
erty of, and to be sold for profit by, either
transnationals based in USA or home-
grown monopolies, is out of tune with
the times.

Canadian resources rightfully belong
to the people of Canada which is the
point made by the Communist Party and
other groups who call for public owner-
ship of such resources — including oil
and natural gas. Let democratically con-
trolled bodies representative of the
Canadian people — possibly joint
federal-provincial Crown corporations
— control this wealth on our behalf.

Under widespread pressure from
Communists, New Democrats, trade
unions, many defenders of Canadian in-
dependence, the former Liberal gov-
ernment established Petro-Canada. This
was a step in the proper direction. Petro-
can’s role should now be expanded.

But the current negotiations between
Federal Energy Minister Marc Lalonde
and Tory Alberta and Socred British
Columbia are something else. Alberta
Premier Peter Lougheed, heading the
greatest oil-producing province in the
country, clutches provincial rights about
him like a heroine of old protecting her
ankles from crude glances. In reality,

‘Lougheed-;manoeuvres, hand. in, hand...
‘with the beard rooms of the transna-°

tional and the home-grown oil profiteers
to fatten their profit at the expense of the
Canadian people as a whole. At the same
time, he sees to it that his Tory regime
gets all the advantages of enriching itself.
The pretense is that these riches flow
because of toryism; the riches indeed
flow into the coffers of Tories and their
friends in the corporate elite, but only
because they are perched on top of a lot
of Canada’s wealth.

Ontario Tories under Davis and his
predecessors take’ the same position.
While they and “their” corporations
were getting the gravy they saw nothing
wrong with hogging the wealth. Today
they are crying over energy costs set by
their fellow Tories.

It is indeed an outrage for Canadians,

and the industries at which Canadians
earn their living, to be forced to pay
world prices for their own oil, simply to
enrich the monopolies, and their Tory
agents. .

Certainly when “Canada” (Ontario
and Quebec), Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick formed one Dominion in

1867, their provincial rights were not

foreseen as something by which to divide
a country. But until such time as a made-
in-Canada Constitution is drawn up to,
among other things, recognize the two-
nation character of the country, means
have to be found for a united Canada to

develop, free from U.S. domination,.and

free’ from pirating of our resources by
the transnationals and their Canadian
cohorts. —

Pressure has to be brought to bear, not
in toryism’s way, but by trade unions and
all working people, to see to it that no set
of reactionaries is able to block the rise in
living standards of some sections of the
country through their grip on resources.

The pressure has to exact: a well dif-
ferentiated two-price system for energy
— Canadians should refuse to pay world
prices for their own resources; one oil,
and one gas, pipeline coast to coast to
serve all Canadians whichever way the
flow; extension of Petrocan’s respon-
sibilities; and public ownership of the re-
sources and their means of transport.
That is the kind of energy policy Canada
needs to hold its own in today’s world.

Tracy and a lot of others

In a way Tracy Wainman is symbolic,
along with being an individual of re-
markable achievement. The 12-year-old

member of Canada’s team at the world |

figure skating championships in Dort-
mund, West Germany, this month as-
tounded everyone by placing 14th in a
field of 29 in her first try.

She is symbolic because there are so
many more young people who train
doggedly and enthusiastically to com-
pete with the world’s best, in the best
atmosphere of international friendship.
(There are many more who would com-
pete from Canada if funding were
adequate.)

So while we applaud Tracy, and her

neration around the world, we can

nd only condemnation for the wreckers
of the international spirit exemplified by
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 28, 1980—Page 4

the Olympics. What can there be but
scorn — and the young generation has
an especial right to express it — for a
man like U.S. President Carter, the in-
stigator of the campaign to wreck the
Olympics?

Evidently Carter believes cold war ac-
tions will re-elect him, hence his slanders

of the USSR and his anti-Olympics tan-
trum.

To the credit of the Canadian Gov-.

ernment it has not joined the crusade. It
is up to Canadians of all ages (and with
the same determination displayed by the
young competitors) to make sure our
athletes do participate in the Summer
Games in Moscow, despite Carter’s
cheap election-time attempt to squelch
the Olympic flame. —

25 years ago...

U.S. FIRM KILLS
PIPELINE DEAL

A U.S. corporation which has
a stranglehold on Alberta’s rich-
est source of natural gas has re-
fused to sell it to Canadian con-
sumers in easter Canada via a
trans-Canada pipeline.

- This, was-revealed: by Trans
Canada Pipelines Ltd., (U.S.-
owned) after it had reached an
agreement with the federal gov-
ernment’s Industrial Develop-
ment Bank for $50-million
financial aid through the pur-
chase of debentures. The Gulf
Oil Corporation of Pittsburgh,
which was to have supplied the
gas, refused to sell if Canadian
taxpayers’ money was invested
in the firm. The company’s presi-
dent said: “It was a case of prin-
ciple. They're opposed to any-
thing with leads to statism.”

The Tribune,
March 28, 1955

Profiteer of the week:

50 years ago...

HAMILTON UNEMPLOYED ©
IN ACTIVE FIGHT __
The Unemployed Association
of Hamilton is rallying the ™4°
ses of unemployed workers for
the struggle for work or
maintenance. More and more
workers are joining the assoc
tion, realizing that the only Way”
to force the capitalist class to"
support the workers it has dis
carded, was to organize and
fight! ee |
Despite police intimidatio?
the unemployed workers af
carrying on a militant struggle
to force the . government
grant relief. One of the active
unemployed workers was kept
locked up for an afternoo?
then taken under police escot
to one of the plants. He spoke
some of the bosses there and 45
a result some of the jobless
leaders were offered jobs.
attempt to buy them off was
rebuked by the men. |
The Worker, March 29, 1930

Figures used are from the company's financial statements. f

BP Canada Ltd., which is 65% owned by BP
Canadian Holdings., which is wholly owned by
British Petroleum Co. Ltd. of England, had an —
after-tax profit on exploration, refining and re-
tailing oil and gasoline, in 1979, of $63,100,000.
As gasoline prices climb, so does the living
standard of the major shareholders. Profit in
1978 was $32,700,000.

PACIFIC

RiBUNE

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
; ’ Associate Editor — FRED WILSON
Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O’CONNOR

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