Secrel _ Yrdnapye > Police PA 0 ie We - The NSS 5 3 ae ba ies ay Declaring his support for their demand, Vancouver alderman Harry Rankin (centre) joined eleven hunger strikers in Vancouver who began a fast Saturday to demand that the Chilean junta release information about the 2,500 disappeared prisoners. The Vancouver action was in solidarity with a hunger strike in Chile, begun May 22 by elatives of the disappeared (see story). , Hunger strike in Santiago sparks solidarity actions Eleven people — nine Chileans and two Canadians — began a hunger strike in Vancouver Saturday, joining others taking Similar action in major centres all across the country in solidarity’ With 90 people occupying the UNICEF Building in Santiago, lle in a second, dramatic bid to force Chilean dictator Augusto Nochet to releasé information about the 2,500 disappeared Prisoners, Sixty-six people, most of them relatives of the disappeared, began the hunger strike in Chile May 22, occupying the UNICEF Building and three churches in Santiago. They were joined several days later by 20 priests and four nuns, following Pinochet’s refusal to meet with an official Church dele- gation which had sought the meeting to demand the where- abouts of the disappeared. The hunger strike, a monumental act of courage in fascist Chile, was the second such — Fred Wilson photo action in less than a year. In June, 1977, thirty people — 28 men and two women — occupied the UN Building demanding information about their missing relatives. That action ended six days later after world solidarity compelled Pinochet to promise that no repris- als would be taken against the hunger strikers and that in- formation about missing relatives would be released within 90 days. At the end of the 90-day period, see ELEVEN pg. 10 ‘Compliant’ NEB accedes to bid by Westcoast for new rate hike Despite major opposition from a8 diverse interests as the at- Tney-general of B.C. and the Mmunist Party, a compliant ‘ational Energy Board acceded to “irtually all of Westcoast Trans- 'Ssion’s demands for tax con- Sessions as the Board completed Alberni opposes heutron bomb City councillors in Port Alberni and trade unionists in New West- Minster have added their voices to housands in this country who Ve voiced their opposition to the Neutron bomb. Port Alberni city council voted @nimously May 1 to put the thou on record in opposition to © bomb. Delegates to the New Westmins- es Labor Council noted that in- : “national security must be pre- “tved by agreed disarmament by . Countries and called on prime Ninister Trudeau to oppose the de- Dloyment of the neutron bomb and Sto €d on U.S. president Carter to P its production. Phase One of the hearings into the natural gas monopoly’s application for increased rates. In a decision announced May 24, the NEB allowed Westcoast an increase in depreciation and tax allowances estimated at $64.5 million. The company had only sought $66.5 million. For natural gas consumers, the decision will mean an additional $20 a year — an estimate based on actual increases of 13 cents per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) — which will be compounded with another increase of 10 per cent imposed March 1 as well as an earlier 16 per cent increase. which users were compelled to pay March 1, 1977. For Westcoast, the decision was “everything we asked for,” ac- cording to executive vice-president John Anderson who added: “We're pleased that the NEB appreciated our argument.” Parnell disturbing about the NEB ruling was the fact that it allows Westcoast to begin collecting money now — by means of increased rates — to pay for taxes which will. come due in about five years time. : Because the company is able to make use of capital cost allow- ances on some $400 million worth of plant and equipment, it now pays only some $45,000 in income taxes. However, because those allowances will be depleted some time in 1982 or 1983, the company will be liable for increased taxes. Thus it sought to collect the money now to provide for the in- creased taxes in the future, arguing that consumers would otherwise face a much greater see GAS pg. 11 PM's stance on arms race Prime minister Trudeau has taken a ‘‘cynical” and ‘hypo- critical” approach to disarma- ment, Communist Party leader ‘Maurice Rush charged Tuesday, by committing Canada to a $100 billion NATO arms drive only days after telling the United Nations special conference of disarmament that Canada stood for the “smothering” of the arms race. The 15 NATO countries meeting in Washington agreed to an $80- $100 billion arms program, even as the United Nations continued to discuss means of reducing the world’s $500 billion arms budget. “It’s the most cynical answer they could have devised,’ Rush said. Speaking to a public meeting at the Britannia Complex in Van- couver Rush said that Trudeau had no business committing Canada to the NATO program “‘without any consultation with Parliament.” The. week before Trudeau made his first ever speech before the United Nations and told the special session that Canada was removing its nuclear capability and reorienting on conventional weapons. ‘“‘But what Trudeau didn’t tell the UN,” said Rush, ‘‘is that Canada has U.S.-nuclear wea- pons on its soil under joint U.S. and Canadian control.” Canada is in fact rapidly in- creasing its arms budget, this year set at $4.1 billion and a massive propaganda campaign has been launched to justify the expendi- ture, he said. A series of speeches across Canada by defense minister Barney Danson, the RCMP in- Spired ‘‘spy scares” and intense anti-Soviet propaganda in the media make up the campaign, he said. : Rush singled out Maclean’s magazine for criticism which in its last issue entitled ‘Heating up the Cold War,” listed figures on Soviet military strength taken directly from U.S. government sources. “They are printing outright American propaganda in order to whip up fear and justify NATO’s actions this week,” he declared. Another example of Canada toeing the U.S. foreign policy line was Trudeau’s announcement last week that he was ending Canada’s special relationships with Cuba, Cut in aid protested The Canada-Cuba Friendship Association last week protested the announced curtailment of foreign aid to Cuba, calling the cut “a threat to nearly 20 years of friendly relations between Canada and Cuba.” Prime minister Trudeau an- nounced in the House May 24 that aid to Cuba, which last year amounted to some $14 million of which $1- million is still uncom- mitted, would be terminated. The aid cut has been seen as indi- cative of a harder cold war posture on the part of the federal govern- ment since Trudeau sought to link the action with alleged Cuban involvement in Africa. “We strongly protest the action of your government in reversing the long-standing policy of friend- ship and assistance to Cuba,”’ the CCFA said in a wire to Trudeau,’ “and we demand that you re- consider such action and renew and continue the program of ex- tending credits and strengthening trade relations.”” The Association urged others to send letters of pro- test to the prime minister. ‘hypocritical’ ostensibly for alleged Cuban in- volvement in Zaire. Cuba was not in any way involved in Zaire, and has sent troops to Africa only at the request of legitimate governments in Angola and Ethiopia for defense against U.S. backed invasions. “Why doesn’t Trudeau use the same criteria against France, which by its own admission has troops stationed in 20 “African countries?”’ he asked. Of particular concern in the events in Africa is the role of the Chinese government, Rush said, which has consistently lined up with the U.S. and the-government of South Africa to oppose nation=1 liberation movements. INSIDE * WARSAW: Canadian Jewish leaders went to Poland. to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, page 7. * NDP: Dave Werlin was a visitor to the party’s pro- vincial convention in Vic- toria. His assessment of it is on page 3. = | WISH a WE COULD SPARE THE STAFF To INVESTIGATE - BUSY LOOKING = FOR POLINCAL SUBVERSIVES. RCMP: Jack Phillips’ labor comment reviews the CLC brief to the Royal. Commission _in- vestigating the crimes of the RCMP, page 12.