Pearson opens way

for water sellout

iy a APRIL 9, 1965
OL 26, NO. 14

SF

YANK ATROCITIES |

a home in fle mes barefooted, this South Vietnamese
®man is shown dragging her two half naked children as
Res. Puppet soldier drives her from her village and sets nam.
“Rs torch to her home. The anguish on her face is the
su Svish of the people of South Vietnam who are being
l€cted to atrocities rivalled only by Hitler in World War

N SOUTH VIETNAM

By MAURICE RUSH

Prime Minister Lester Pearson last week publicly came out in support of a
‘‘continental’’ development of Canada’s water resources with the U.S. The U.S.
has been pressing the Canadian government for many months to support the
Parsons Plan, which is a scheme by which B.C. and Yukon rivers will be channel-
ed through a vast system of dams and tunnels to serve the water needs of the

19S:

In an interview published in
the Vancouver Sun Weekend
Magazine on April 3, Pearson
said: “Power and water are
important, and these will be
closely associated with con-
tinental development, The Amer-
icans are going to be very short

of water and we have a lot of it..

This may become one of our most
important resources inthe
future.”

The Prime Minister added that

dese

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2. This photo is from a new booklet just issued in England
by Bertrand Russell entitled, ‘‘War and Atrocity in Viet-
” President Johnson spoke on a national hook-up
Wednesday night to “explain” U.S. aggression in South

East Asia.

“this is going to be quite a prob-
lem, not only one of development,
but also one of maintaining our
separate Canadian identity and
nationality as the development
takes place,”

This statement by the Prime
Minister marks the first time
he has publicly associated him-
self with the “continental” con-
cept of developing Canada’s water
resources, It has been known
that a sharp division existed in
the cabinet over this issue.

Some members of the govern-
ment are reported to have taken
a stand that the water belongs
to Canada and should be used
for Canadian development, Other
members of the cabinet, like
Jack Davis, Pearson’s parlia-
mentary secretary and Coast-
Capilano MP, have beenpressing
for adoption of the “continental”
approach which would open the
way to acceptance of the Parsons
Plan,

The statement mad-r by the
Prime Minister in his interview
with Terence Robertson of the
Sun Magazine Section, indicates
that he has taken a stand for
*continental* development of
Canada’s water resources, This
now appears to be Federal
government policy.

The timing of the Prime Mini-
ster’s statement is of great sig-
nificance, Coming just before
the opening of a new session of
Parliament this week, in which
natural resources policy
is spelled out in vague words,
Pearson’s statementindicates
what the government has in mind,

Its plans for development of
natural resources include new

vast giveaways to the U.S, on
the basis of a “continental” ap-
proach to water and other im-
portant resources, Indications
are that there will now be a
stepped up drive by the. U,S,,
with Canadian government com-
plicity, to take over control of
new natural resources which the
U.S. wants and needs. Water
comes first on this list,

The timing of the Prime Mini-
ster’s statementisalsosig-
nificant for another reason. On
April 11, 12 and 13, the Pacific
Northwest Trade Association is
holding a conference in Portland,
Oregon, The theme of the con-
ference is: “Water —— The Ulti-
mate Resource,”

The main business of this par-
ley is to discuss the proposed
North American Water and Power
Alliance, generally known as the
Parson’s Plan, It willbe attended
by leading government officials
from the U,S,, Canada and B.C,
The plan will be outlined by a
top officer of Ralph H, Parsons
Company, the Los Angeles engin-
eering firm which drafted the
plan,

The importance that the
Federal government attaches to
this parley is seen by the fact
that Canada’s Minister of
Northern Affairs and Natural Re-
sources, Arthur Laing, will
attend. Known as a critic of the
Parsons Plan, Laing has been
reported to be on the way out of
the cabinet,

However, it will be interesting
to see whether he will now do what
he did on the Columbia Treaty.
Although he was at first a critic
of the Columbia treaty he later
fell in line with Pearson’s policy

See PEARSON, pg. 3

Throne speech fails
to project medicare

The throne speech which
opened a new session of Canada’s
parliament Monday, contained
many vague promises for a “war
on poverty” but it did have one
notable omission: It did not
commit the government to a com-
prehensive medicare plan which
the majority of Canadians want,

Instead, the speech said that
a Federal-Provincial conference
would be called soon to discuss
*the way in which Federal and
Provincial action can most
effectively contribute to pro-
grams that will provide health
services to Canadians on a com-
prehensive basis,”

Hopeful was the statement that
the government “believes that

public policy should be directed
to improving the quality of health
services and to ensuring that all
Canadians can obtain needed
health care, irrespective oftheir
ability to pay.”

But this “belief” of the govern-
ment is still a long way from
actually being a comprehensive
medicare plan such as proposed

, by the Hall Royal Commission,

Some provinces like Alberta,
which has already come out
against a national scheme, and
B.C, and Ontario, can still sabo-
tage a national plan unless the
federal government takes
forthright action which it must
be compelled to do at the present
session of Parliament,

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