UE ee Tee tit

ence of public opinion and pub-
lic discussion,” and that the
practice of the right of free
public discussion “is the breath
of life for parHamentary insti-
tutions.”

The court went on to say that
“any attempt to abrogate this
right of public debate or to
suppress the traditional forms
of the exercise of ‘the right (in
public meeting or through the
press) would in our opinion be

CTS TET Te Et Ue tee ee Ee ie Te ee ee EE Ee 0

® Clip this form out and mail
it to: Hon. Stuart S. Gar-
son, Minister of Justice,
Ottawa, Ont.
is required.

No postage

PTE St Es Tht Te TE Ue Te Te Te Te TD TE Ee Te Te eT Ee EP Tee Te Ee Be Be He Ee Ee Pee Ge De Te Te EE TE HD UE TEE TD Ge ae ee ee TEE EEE TEE HT TD TT

anada needs
Rights

a Bill of

|

PTE Mee ME TE TE MECC EEE TEE OE EMO EE OE TEC HAE MEE TUE TEE OE NOE TAY Gay TUT QOD OT WOT TTT TUT TP2 a TOD TTT TU TTT TT PDT TET TT TTT PT PO TTY TE TTT PE TD Pee TTP TTT PDT TT tT PD

bagi is the meaning for Can-
ada of the Padlock Act of
the province of Quebec? This
repressive legislation puts into
the hands of the executive arm
of our government power to
decide arbitrarily what is ‘the
meaning and content of the
word “communism.” While
aimed ostensibly at commun-
ism it makes it possible to re-
Strict the growth of the trade
union movement and to dis-
courage anyother progressive
movement.
It visits guilt upon the ac-
cused before a fair or any
trial. It penalizes with. impris-

onment the printing, publishing
and distribution of material

_ deemed “communistic” by the

attorney general alone. It per-
mits’ the seizure, confiscation
and destruction of such materi-

‘al. It trespasses upon proper-

ty rights by authorizing the
attorney general to padlock a
house for one year, proven, to
his satisfaction alone, to ‘have
been used for so-called Com-
munist propaganda.

How can the people of Que-
‘bec intelligently consider the
political issues of the day, when
free discussion is thus repress-

ed? How can they, thus re-
stricted, properly exercise their
right to elect the best repre-
sentatives to the House of Com-
mons? Here the Padlock Law
infringes and is a serious men-
ace, to the liberties of the whole

Canadian people.

It may well: be, therefore,
‘that this act is repugnant to
the provisions of the British
North America Act. In 1938,
in a judgment of the Supreme
Court of Canada, it was said
that ‘the British North America
Act “contemplates a _ parlia-
ment working under the influ-

By ROSCOE RODD, OC

incompetent to the legislators
of the provinces or ‘to the Jeg-

islature in any one of the prov-
inces.” +

e

-What, also is the import of
the Garson amendments passed
in. 1951 by ‘the parliament of
Canada? These widened the
definition of treason. increased

the penalty for sedition and

set up a new criminal offense
said to be aimed at sabotage,
‘but so loosely worded that it
might well be invoked against

trade unionists engaged in a
legitimate strike.

The League for Democratic
Rights has no hesitation in
condemning this legislation as
ill-considered, dangerous, and
seriously restrictive and repres-
sive of the fundamental rights
of ithe Canadian people. The
league therefore, calls upon the
government ‘to repeal this un-
Canadian legislation at the
earliest possible moment.

The league believes that it
is much more in character for
our’ Canadian .people and the
parliament representing them,
that, instead of repressive leg-
islation, there should be passed
as soon as possible, a carefully
framed Bill of Rights which
would forever assure our peo-
ple of the free exercise of their
fundamental democratic free-
doms of petitioning and of pub-
lic debate in meeting or press.
The league, therefore, urges up-
on our government action to-
-wards that end.

“Give me ‘the liberty,” cried
John Milton, “to know, to utter,
and to argue freely according
to conscience, above ail liber-
ties . . . and so truth be in the
field we do injuriously ... to
misdoubt her strength. Let the
and falsehood grapple; who
ever knew truth put to ‘the
worse, in a free and open en-
counter?” :

That is a great statement
of principle and of faith which
we would do well to remember
and to make fundamental in
our legislation and in our prac-
tice of democracy iin Canada.

® Roscoe Rodd. KC, is na-
tional co-chairman for the
League for Democratic
Rights. \

Yanks get our iron ore at one cent a ton

'GAVA took the centre of

the political stage at the
‘final session of Quebec’s 23rd
legislature. The spotlight foc-
ussed on the crime against Que-
bec and Canada committed by
Premier Maurice Duplessis and
his regime.

The enormity of the crime,

and the extent of growing pub-
lic consciousness of it, are re-
flected in the statement of Lib-
erai leader George Lapalme:
“When we shall be in power,
we will rise up in face of the
big American interests in Un-

gava in the same way as Iran.

faced ‘the United States and
Great Britain. in the oil crisis.”

In his characteristic manner,
‘Duplessis answered this by
qualifying it: “a Bolshevist de-
‘elaration.”

During the session which has
just concluded, Trade and Com-
merce Minister Paul Beaulieu
dSoasted that the iron ore of the
Ungava mines “would soon be
making its way to the blast
furnaces.”

The crime consists first in

the fact, not alluded to by Beau-
lieu,. that these blast furnaces
are in ‘Pittsburgh instead of
Quebec province, and second,
the fact that ten millions tons
of iron ore annually will be

going to the U.S. at the price’

of one cent per ‘ton. One cent
per ton—$100,000 annually, will
be the total sum accruing to
the Quebec treasury as a re-

sult of the deal concluded by
Duplessis with the steel barons
of the U.S.

With steel at $80 a ton, surely
there must be a misunderstand-
ing—it cannot be but one cent
a ton? Perhaps this one cent
a ton is just for the first year
of the contract?

Not at all. The life of the
contract is for 80 years, and
Maurice Duplessis agreed its
terms cannot ‘be opened until
the end of the first 20 years of
actual operation of the mines!
What is more, should the out-
put rise from 10 ‘to 20 million
tons in the first few years, as
is very probable, the rate of
‘payment to Quebec will drop
to %% cent per ton, since $100,000
annually is the maximum sum
‘that the American steel ‘tycoons
are called upon to pay over the
next 20 years.. ©

tC)

On top of this utterly shame-
Jess sell-out is the fact that the
‘opportunity ‘to establish a steel
industry in Quebec capable of
producing five million tons of
steel a year and providing tens
of thousands of relatively high-
ly-paid jobs has deliberately
been sabotaged ‘by the Duples-

_ sis regime, at the behest of its

American masters.

‘Two prominent Quebec scien-
tists, professors of Laval Uni-
versity, mapped out complete

By GUI CARON

plans showing the feasibility
and practicability ‘of establish-
ing a steel industry. in the vi-
cinity of Sept-Iles, an ice-free
port, utilizing electric power,
which is potentially abundant
in this area, coal from Cape
Breton Island and limestone
from the south shore, just
across the river.

Mgr. Labrie, the bishop of
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, de-
clared that it would be a “crime
of high treason’ to ship our
mineral deposits out of the
‘country in raw form.

Of the two scientists, Duples-

sis declared peremptorily:
“Their theories don’t stand up.”
Of Mgr. Labrie, Duplessis de-
clared: “He’s a good lad, but
the doesn’t know anything more
than you or I about this.”
Bishop Labrie was correct
and it is, in fact, a crime of
high treason which the Duples-
sis. government is committing.
There is a saying among our
people in Quebec that we are
hewers of wood and drawers
of water. There isan element
of truth in that saying. It was
expressed in the legislature by
independent member Rene Cha-
loult when he declared: “Our
forests are being exploited to,
profit strangers, although the
woodworkers are French-Can-
adian. Our hydro-electric re-
sources are also being exploited
by strangers. Our asbestos
mines belong ‘to strangers. But
go to the bottom of the mine
and you will find that those
who are digging to find the
mineral are French-Canadians.”
This is the state of affairs
which the Duplessis govern-
ment not only perpetuates, but
is aggravating a thousandfold

by handing over to U.S. capital-.

ists 'the fabulous riches of the
region called New-Quebec.
®

For years past the Labor-Pro-
gresSive party has been expos-
ing tha crime of Ungava, pillor-
ing the Duplessis regime for

its awful betrayal of the Que-
bec people. We have called
upon Tabor and all the people
to unite to reclaim Quebec’s
great. iron-ore resources from
the profit-hungry, war-instigat-
ing U.S. imperialists. ;

Now, significantly, deep-go-
ing popular indignation against

_‘this Duplessis betrayal is mak-

ing itself felt. This was the
meaning of Georges Lapalme’s
declaration in the Quebec legis-
lature. His declaration mirrored
the feelings of 'the people. In-
dignation and unity against Du-
plessis is growing. :

There can be no doubt that
the Ungava betrayal will be a
principal question in the forth-
coming Quebec provincial elec-
tions, a question around which
the widest, strongest unity can
be aroused and organized in the
labor movement, among all
classes and political forces in
Quebec. The people of Quebec
are called upon to fight this
Ungava crime and steal, to re-
claim our valuable natural re-
sources of ‘Ungava iron ore
from the' U.S. monopolists, to
put them to use to build up
‘Canada’s strength ,and_ inde-
pendence. This is a key issue
in the ‘battle of labor and ‘the
people against the anti-Can-
adian Duplessis regime.

'@ Gui Caron .is provincial

leader. of. the. Labor-Pro-
gressive party in Quebec.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 29, 1952 — PAGE 10