FEATURES The media versus - By ALEX McLENNAN The Canadian Constitution in Schedule ‘*B’’, Section = 2, entitled Canadian Charter of Rights and Fundamental ‘tTeedoms, states as follows: 2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (a) freedom of conscience and religion; _, (0) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expres- Sion, including freedom of the press and other media of Communication; : (C) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association.” The arbitrary refusal of the Canadian Broadcasting Srporation (with minor exceptions), CTV and others, ‘0 permit the Communist Party to participate in election ebates is an abrogation of the fundamental rights and doms of the Canadian electorate to be made aware of the options open to them in the choice of a program and a candidate in the present election. Nder sub-section (b) as quoted above, everyone has € right to freedom of expression. But how can there be ~ ‘€edom of expression, if access to the media of commu- Nication is forbidden for the exercise of that freedom? nd how can we speak of the freedom of thought, belief °F opinion, if the people are deprived of the right and _ Teedom to learn about and discuss a program advocated °Y & given political party? The denial by the CBC of the fundamental freedom of the people to hear and to express ideas is in direct contradiction of the fact that the government is responsible for the CBC Policy and is therefore obliged to Jealously guard and ensure that those’ freedoms are ever available for all Canadians. ~ : peg re © CBC states that only ‘‘major’’ political parties ..existence, they. would realize. that its contribution.to the . he right to know may participate in programs sponsored by the CBC. Are we then to understand that only those parties rep- resented in the House of Commons have the right to be heard? Is this the only criterion which determines whom the people of Canada have the right to hear? The fact that a political party has not had the opportunity to present its program publicly does not mean that that program would not be beneficial to the country, nor does it mean that it would not be acceptable to the Canadian people if they had the right and the opportunity to hear it. Did the Fathers of Confederation envisage a democ- -_ racy in which only those who represented the privileged classes would have the right to participate in the demo- cratic process? If this were true, then it follows that no one in Canada at that time would have had the right to express himself, because, prior to confederation there was no parliament, and consequently, no ‘‘major’’ poli- tical party. The denial by the CBC of the fundamental freedom of the people to hear and to express ideas is in direct contradiction of the fact that the government is re- ‘ sponsible for CBC policy and is therefore obliged to jealously guard and ensure that those freedoms are ever available for all Canadians. es The section on fundamental freedoms in sub-section (c) and (d) of Section 2 of the Constitution, states that “everyone has the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association’. Here again, the Constitution is subverted, because, if persons are to assemble or to _ associate, they must first decide why they wish to as- semble, or with whom they wish to associate. How can persons make such a decision unless they have the right to learn the facts upon which to make an informed judgment? If the people of Canada were aware of the numerous presentations and briefs addressed to the governments by the Communist Party over the past 62 years of its political and economic welfare of this country is second to none. It could be pointed out that much of the philosophy contained in the programs of past governments has in fact originated in briefs submitted to the Canadian Govern- A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR LABOR — the right to organize — the right to collective bargainin, — the right to strike ‘ — the right to a job Defend & Extend Democratic Rights (aes, \ \ Vote Communist Communist Party election poster ment by the Communist Party. It is also a fact that anything progressive to be found in the electoral pro- grams of either Liberal, Conservative or the New Demo- cratic parties has been advocated by the Communist Party since its inception, proposals which were pre- viously rejected by those ‘“‘major’’ political parties. Before the Canadian people can become acquainted with the program of the Communist Party for peace, jobs and Canadian independence, they must bring about an end to the media blackout which is calculated to prevent the people of Canada from becoming familiar with the party's program, The Canadian Constitution as presently written does not prevent the CBC and other media from discrim- _inating against. individuals,or, organizations,,who ady.o-.. cate policies other than the status quo, but rather permits the media to favor those who support the financial estab- lishment and those who would drive Canadian politics further to the right. _ The time to establish democracy in Canada is now. Special to the Tribune meeGINA — Years of govern- Ae Policies designed to elimi- i € smaller farms, followed by de. interest rates and capped by year’s scrapping of the Crow te, have combined with this at's drought to create a crisis | the Western farmers. Not since Dirty Thirties have prospects down from 28.8 last year, and the | Spectre of Dirty Thirties haunts _ From Saskatchewan Kimball Cariou : Another piece of bad news in West of a four point ‘‘relief program’’, trously high interest rates, have created this situation. Today, many farmers are so far behind that one bad year means the end. If Turner were seriously interested in he!ping the majority of western farmers, he would tackle interest rates, as the Communist Party has proposed, or bring back the Crow. Turner ont a) io So bleak for so many. And Situation may have devastat-. M8 results for the rest of the Me economy as well. € driest summer in memory the ae Southern prairies has led regi katchewan Wheat Pool to va a $1-billion loss for this . Ince S farmers, while the Un- will Grain Growers says the loss total $1.5-billion for all prairie ers i | Wg,” OF More if the Shen Saskatchewan's gross farm in- Se totalled $4. 1-billion in 1983, € drought means a 25 percent this Even if crops had been good ton, “ew it whould have been iba hag times. Statistics Canada | total Predicted . Saskatchewan’s lage Million, from $876-million : year and $1.2-billion in 1981. g.{'8 it is, crop yields are way Ow, to a Wheat yields are expected het farm income could fall to. Verage 21.5 bushels per acre, trend is much the same for less crucial crops. ; Bankruptcies Up Farm bankruptcies across Canada continued to climb in the first half of 1984, 313 compared to 228 in the same period last year. Quebec producers were hardest hit, accounting for 101 cases, while 97 were from the Prairies. The Ontario Federation of Agri- culture reports that for every farmer who voluntarily declares bankruptcy, up to 10 others are forced to sell out or leave their farms without formal pro- ceedings. Sask. Wheat Pool pres- dent Ted Turner predicted Aug. 3 that a major financial crunch will hit grain producers early next © ~ year, when they run short of cash for seed, fertilizer and pesticides for the spring 1985 planting. That would mean a big jump in bank- _ ruptcies.. July from the Senate Standing committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Its report on soil degradation confirmed fears of a devastating long-term problem. Soil degradation, in- cluding wind and water erosion, higher salt content, and soil com- paction are costing Canadian . farmers $1-billion a year. On the prairies, the report says, farmers have been forced by economic necessity to ‘‘mine the soil’” with dangerous consequences. “‘In these days of high costs and low - commodity prices, the least ex- pensive way to operate is often the only way a farmer can sur- vive’’, the report says — and con- servation is simply ‘‘uneco- nomical’’ in the short run. — Program or Ploy Responding to pressure, Prime Minister Turner made an Aug. 2 announcement in Prince Albert, _ but admitted that most of the money will come from funds al- ready belonging to farmers. His plan includes; e Cancellation of the Canadian Wheat Board’s scheduled grain price reductions, totalling up to $250-million. e Payments up to $600-million from the Grain Stabilization Fund paid into by farmers. e The only new money will be ‘for two programs: $21-million to livestock producers to- help buy feed, and up to $16-million assis- tance to farmers in northeastern Saskatchewan hit by floods this spring after several previous bad years. The Turner announcement is lit- tle more thanan election ploy. Lib- eral and Tory governments, with their long-term goal of ‘rationaliz- ing’ prairie agriculture by driving thousands off the land, and disas- has. in fact refused pressure to cancel the 33 per cent increase in freight rates which took effect Aug. 1, and which will cost grain producers $60-million this crop year and more every year to come. But then, one should not _expect anything different from a former director. of Canadian Pacific. In the current election cam- paign, the Communist Party calls for sweeping measures to save the family farm. Interest-free government loans, free crop in- surance, a policy of 100 per cent parity (i.e. close the gap between farm costs and farm incomes), and a moratorium on foreclosures are among the party’s recom- mendations. Kibale Catigg! is theConemusist Party candidate in the Saskatchewan riding of Regina West. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 29, 1984 6 5 ——