‘cord is poor. 100 days since the election of © le Minister of Canada. The hard LO Tacy and : democracy and human rights for folks abroad, Solicitor-General Allan Law- * rence stated July 5 he hadn’t decided whether to allow the state police (RCMP} to electronically bug foreign embassies here. This despite Cana- da’s signing in 1976 an international agreement recognizing diplomatic missions as ‘‘inviolable’’. What then is the Tory attitude to the RCMP’s tradi- tional spying on labor unions, work- ers’ political parties and unliked ethnic and Native groups? The ele- ments of a police state cannot be ignored. It’s a safe bet if Clark ever intro- duces the freedom of information act he promised, it won’t extend to pro- tecting the working class from police spying and harassment. An even more loathsome indicator of Tory views: in an earlier Commons vote on the death penalty, 80% of To- ries voted for its return. A $100,000 pro-hanging advertising campaign during the election by the Canadian Police Association may have moved Clark. He professes opposition to the death penalty, but will let each Tory go his own way in a vote. ~The Corporate Monopolies © One sure word from the Jasper Cabinet huddle, Aug. 27-29, is that the illusory mortgage-interest and property-tax deductibility scheme will . be part of the Tory fall budget. The plan, first spelled out in Winnipeg, \April 6, underwrites with public money the countries mortgage lenders. The deductions will mainly benefit high income levels which can take ad- vantage of offsetting payments and the new deductions. In fact more of . I - 3% increase levied on Canada by the higher income earners have mort- gages or-are buying today’s expensive housing. What workers need is municipally-owned housing on land acquired at cost by law. Such a boon to working-class families is nowhere in the Clark blueprints. In a transparent gesture toward youth, the Tories offer a $280-million subsidy to sweatshop employers. Under the plan (Youth Employment Secretariat) employers can expect an estimated 105,000 cut-rate workers. Genuine job creation could be realized through public ownership and democratic control of key industries, establishing of secondary resource- based industries, public ownership of financial institutions, and establish- ment of a Crown corporation produc- ing industrial machinery and equip- ment to serve an independent Cana- dian industrial base. In all these areas jobs and training could be provided, with the earnings of the public enter- prises returned to the Canadian people. None of this from Clark. One more handout is planned by the unelected minister of economic de- velopment, Senator Robert de Cotret, to Chrysler Canada Ltd. No worker wants to see mass layoffs in auto, but Chrysler’s crying in a ‘“‘loss’”’ year while handing out millions in di- While: Tory mouths are full of : vidends, incentives to management, » etc., in other years calls for a more responsible government approach. The government should declare its readiness to invest in some form of joint government-Chrysler operation, giving the Canadian public a stake in the auto industry. A principle stand on this matter right now by the labor movement can pressure the govern- ’ ment to save thousands of jobs and build a stable economy. Armaments Drag Us Down Canada’s capitalist system is spend- ing $4.4-billion a year on armaments. That would pay for a lot of houses, medical research and treatment, edu- cation, training. The PM’s assistant, William Neville announced instead, in mid-April, that the Tories will boost the arms budget by $250-million over the next few years. That’s on top of allowance for inflation and an annual NATO. Unless stopped by the Canadian people, the Clark government plans to pump more dollars into the worthless North American Air Defence scheme run by the USA. It intends to buy $2.34-million worth of fighter planes (final price may be double that), and increase support to the aggressive NATO organization. None of these benefit Canada’s security, but they make super profits for the arms indus- try. What the Tory agenda disregards is the world-wide desire for détente ‘and disarmament. And it does so at our expense. A Woeful Foreign Policy What looked like foolish short- sightedness in Clark’s promise to move Canada’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Israeli-occupied Jer- salem was; instead, a coldly calcu- lated business deal. Clark and Immi- gration Minister Ronald Atkey, bought Jewish votes with that prom- ise. Atkey, repeated, June 9: ‘‘That’s what I was elected to do, and I will. The embassy will be moved.”’ Exter- nal Affairs Minister Flora MacDonald said just a day earlier that the affront to Arab countries and all who con- demn Israeli aggression would go ahead, but ‘‘we would not wish any move we make in this matter to be construed as taking sides . . .”” Who is being honest? The government could back real Middle East peace with support for a Palestinain Arab state, and for a re- - newed Geneva Conference under U.S.-USSR chairmanship, with the Palestine Liberation Organization in full participation. == _ The most blatant Clark government misuse of foreign policy was Mac- Donald’s stream of calumny against the Vietnamese people and their so- cialist government, slandering them for the U.S. and China inspired exodus of emigrants carrying millions in gold. This indicator of Canada’s — They say it’s because I admire that power hungry megalomaniac, y