WINDSOR—Something new in strike assistance, at least in this area, has been dreamed up by members of the Barbers Union Local 624. The assistance, in the form of free haircuts, has been given to 3,000 striking hourly rated employees at Chrysler -_ of Canada, Ltd. here. * * TORONTO—A revised bill on portable pensions has been introduced into the Ontario legislature but progress will be postponed for this session. Premier Robarts said the new bill will go to a legislature committee for full study. & * LONDON—Four former leaders of the Electrical Trades Union, who were Communists at the time of the ETU ballot-rigging case in the High Court Iast summer, have now been expelled from the union by the new- non-Communist National Executive Council. * Ba TORONTO—Operation Freedom, the national campaign launched by the, Canadian Chamber of Commerce to promote private enterprise, has been rejected by the chamber’s largest member, the 9,700-member Metropolitan Toronto Board of Trade. * * LONDON—Labour doubled its majority in the Stockton by-election, and the result was a slap in the face for Prime Minister Macmillan, who per- sonally intervened in the constituency on behalf of the Conservative candidate. Welfare State Antagonists Raise Old Cry BY RUSSELL IRVINE Are people happy in the welfare state? Conservative, Liberal and Socred spokesmen say “No!” and have resurrected an old argument in an effort to prove their case. Sweden, they say, has the highest suicide rate in the world and Sweden, as everyone knows, is a wel- fare state. Alcoholism is also supposed to be rampant in this show- case of social democracy. The moral is clear: elect a New Democratic government in Canada and you get a welfare state; get a welfare state and hundreds of thous- ands will jump out of windows, gorge themselves on poisoned smorg- asbord, and drink themselves soggy to escape the incalculable horrors of health insurance, low-cost housing and full employment. Greater Scorn “Nothing inspires greater scorn”, goes an old proverb, “than a theory routed by the facts” and the facts clobber handily, the theory that sui- cide and alcoholism go hand in hand with the welfare state. The World Health Organization has carried out extensive research into this question of suicide rates. In their Epidemiological and Vital Statistics report of 1959, it was shown that Sweden does, in fact, have a rather high suicide rate. The average in 1955, 1956 and 1957 was about 19 people out of every 100,000. - Sweden’s rate is not the highest, however. Japan, West Berlin, Den- mark, Finland, Hungary, Austria, and Switzerland were consistently higher on the list than Sweden. West Germany’s rate was about equal to Sweden’s and France was only slightly lower. Another Table Another table, with suicide rates for the period 1933 to 1954 shows a similar pattern, with Switzerland 1-80 Sub-Local Elections / Officers and Committees elected at the Annual Meeting of the Na- naimo Sub-Local of Local 1-80, IWA, are as follows: : Chairman, Alistair MacLeod; Vice-Chairman, Eric Marzinzik; Fin- ancial Secretary, W. Hunt; Record- ing Secretary, Clare Reed; One Year Trustee, C. Rouleau. Balloting Committee: W. Bal- dassi, J. D. Hutchinson, H. Robin- son, W. Cebryk, W. Hunt. Safety Representative, M. Mikus. Hospital Committee: T. Couzens, W. Hunt, J. Wagnor. Woman Gets Top Post Women trade union general secretaries are not very numer- ous, but Britain now has another one with the appointment of Dr. Patricia Elliott as General Sec- retary of the Medical Practition- ers’ Union—the doctors’ union, which is affiliated to the TUC. She qualified at University Col- lege Hospital in 1943, has an M.D. and has obtained diplomas in public and industrial health. She is also a barrister at law. Her husband, the late Dr. Evans, was a former Assistant General Secretary of the union and full-time medical adviser to the TUC. leading the field for European coun- tries. The most important point to be noted, however, is not that several other countries have higher suicide rates than Sweden, but rather the great variety of social, economic, and political systems represented by the countries that stand toward the top of the list. There are totalitarian states and democratic states; there are “capitalist”, “communist” and “welfare” states. There is no clear co-relation at all between a country’s social, economic, and political sys- tem on the one hand and its rate of suicide on the other. This Lack This lack of co-relation persists as we proceed farther down the list. Norway, in some respects a more advanced welfare state than Sweden, has a suicide rate less than half of Sweden’s and about equal to that of Canada. Austria and New Zealand, which are also welfare states in North America’s eyes, have rates about equal to those of the United States. Where then, is the connection between the welfare state and suicide? The Yale University Centre on Alcohol Studies provides us with some interesting comparisons of al- coholism among various countries. A table prepared by this institution in 1955 and published by the Quar- terly Journal of Studies gn Alcohol- ism in December of thdt year, puts the United States—that champion of rugged individualism—at the top of the list. The United States leads Sweden by 70 per cent, Norway by nearly 200 per cent, and Australia by over 200 per cent—all three of which are welfare states. Ernie Boulet Transferred To Edmonton Ernie Boulet, IWA Regional Or- ganizer in the Nelson area for a number of years, has been trans- ferred to the Edmonton office of Local 1-207. Well known as a strong trade unionist, Ernie was instrumental in setting up the Nelson-Trail Labour Council during his early years there and was for a time the Council President. The Interior Local Unions wish Ernie the best of luck in his new job. Elmer Atwood, Financial Secre- tary of Local 1-405, IWA, was elec- ted President of the Nelson-Trail & District Labour Council at the Coun- cil’s Annual Meeting held March 18. Other Council officers elected were Vice-President, Jack Whitfield; Sec- retary-Treasurer, George Turner; Re- cording Secretary, Joe Palesch; Sgt.- at-Arms, M. Parkin. Executive Com- mittee Members: Jack Munro, H. Lehrke, Harold Chernenkoff. Audit- ing Committee: Stan Grill, H. Lehrke, Harold Chernenkoff. Em- ployment Advisory Committee, Jack Whitfield. WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER MAX SWERDLOW, CLC Director of Education with three Malayan students who are in Canada under the Colombo Plan to study the Canadian labour movement. ACES IN Sl By FRANK HOWARD, M.P. OTTAWA "Cuba No More A Threat Than Spain Or China” We have just completed the sixth meeting of the Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group which was held this time in Ottawa. Meetings of this group are held twice a year, once in Ottawa and once in Washington. The purpose of the Group is to discuss matters of mutual concern to our two Countries in order that each of us may have a better under- standing of the attitudes of the other. The participants in the meetings are Senators and Congressmen from the U.S. and senators and Members of Parliament. from Canada, equally divided as to number. Held in Secret The discussions are held in secret and off the record insofar as any in- dividual is concerned. That is, the so-called “ground rules” provide that no one can attribute to another delegate anything which that dele- gate may have said or proposed. One of the matters of great in- terest to the people from the U.S. was the question of Canada’s trade with Cuba. It is no secret that the U.S. has been unhappy with the fact that we do trade with Cuba, especially since the U.S. has im- posed an almost complete prohibi- tion itself. We were told about this unhappiness in the meetings too, although it is safe to say that none of us was influenced to the point of agreeing that we also should insti- tute a trade embargo. No Threat With the United States govern- ment the entire question of Cuba is - more an emotional one than any- thing else. They are disturbed about having a country with the political attitudes of Cuba so close to the United States shores. For my money, though, I think that there is no more to fear, militarily, from Cuba than there is from an attack from sub- marines off the coast of the U.S. In these days of advanced military techniques and rocketry I think that Cuba is no more a threat than is Spain or China, perhaps even less so. The real reason for the attitude of the United States toward Cuba is one based upon economic questions. Inevitably this comes out when the matter is pressed. The usual answer given, after the military ones have. been exhausted and put aside, is that Fidel Castro expropriated millions of dollars worth of United States corporate wealth when he took over the government from Batista. I don’t want to get into the argu- ment as to whether or not he felt justified in so doing, I merely want to re-emphasize that this is the true and real reason for the intense U.S. desire to regain control in Cuba. China Question We discussed the question of China also both from a diplomatic point of view and from the point of Safety Report Provides Penalties The Ontario government has taken the second step toward implementing the report of a Royal Commission on Industrial Safety whose recom- mendations constituted a sweeping indictment of the province’s record in safety legislation. The government introduced a new Construction Safety Act which will replace the ancient and outmoded Building Trades Protection Act. 7-Man Council Earlier in the legislative session, the government set up a seven-mem- ber safety council and named two trade union representatives to sit on that body. Creation of the council was recommended by the Royal Commission. The new Construction Safety Act imposes stiffer penalties for viola- tions by employers and workers than previous legislation, but it leaves enforcement in the hands of the municipalities. Labour Minister W. K. Warrender said the Labour De- partment would have inspectors in unorganized territories and these in- spectors would be available to advise municipalities, view of trade. We sell, among other things, wheat to Communist China. The U.S. sells nothing. There was no great objection to the fact that we are carrying on some sort of trade with China, and, in fact there was the point of view ex- pressed that perhaps the U.S. should attempt to do the same thing. After all it is a well known fact that economic forces and attitudes are more important than purely politi- cal ones. All in all I think that the dis- cussions were beneficial to all of us, even though they were on the non-governmental! level. This a iv’s LUCKY WHEN YOU DO WHAT YOU LIKE dvertisement is not published or displayed by the Liquor Control Board or by the Government of British Columbia.