By SAM WALSH

MONTREAL — Quebec dailies
couldn’t resist poking fun at the
cabinet shuffle announced at the
end of July. In one paper, Pre-
mier Bourassa was described as

“caller” for a game of musical .

cabinet chairs.

But it.is important to analyze
Bourassa’s motives for a shuffle
which he considers to be a very
major one.

In the Oct. 1973 provincial.

elections Bourassa succeeded in
“polarizing” the vote between
his Liberal Party and the Party
Québécois, crushing the two far
right parties, the Union Natio-
nale and the Créditistes and tak-
ing 102 out of 110 seats.

Big business was very disturb-
ed at the annihilation of the
right-wing parties which left
only the Parti Québécois as an
alternative to the Liberals in the
next provincial elections. Be-
cause of the disenchantment
which they predicted (and which
soon materialized) “the only ac-
ceptable alternative” would. be
to refurbish, that is to change
the leadership. of the Liberal

Party — to throw Bourassa out
together with several members
of his team. :

But Bourassa, claiming there
is nothing to fear from the Parti

Québécois, cites his brilliant tac-

tics of “cutting the political
ground from under the PQ”
along two main lines.

War on Trade Unions

His “nationalist” ploy is com-
posed of ambiguous elements
such as Bill 22 to make French
the -official language of Quebec,
and “cultural sovéreignty.’””

The “social-democratic” ploy
consists of calling himself a ‘‘so-
cial-democrat” and of raising
the: pitifully low minimum
wages without formally increas-
ing the rate of provincial income
taxes. They continue® to climb
nevertheless “theré being no in-
dexing of provincial income
taxes to the rate: of inflation as
in provinces whose income taxes
are collected by the federal gov-
ernment. And are not national-
ism and social-democracy the
two pillars of PQ policy?

With respect.to the absence
of a viable party to the right of
the Liberal Party, who could do

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 29, 1975—Page 6

more for the monopolies and the
multi-nationals than Bourassa
himself with his “declaration of
war on the- trade union move-
ment” (to use his own words)
and his corporatist-fascist legis-
lation (Laws 29, 30, 47 and Bill
24)?

As to the “conflict of interest”

‘scandals implicating his wife,
his brother-in-law and _ others,
Bourassa is trying to plug the
political dikés, without seriously
stopping the financial flow, with
his “stern” rules on disclosure
of shares held by members of
the cabinet and their immediate

families ip companies which

could hold contracts with the
provincial government. _

Backs Multi-Nationals

But the pressures on the Bou-
rassa government continued to
mount. The federal government,
shared the fears of St. James

Street that Bourassa’s leader-

ship provided a very vulnerable

_ target even to the inept PQ op-

position. They began to wonder
aloud. if Bourassa’s. policy of
favoring the multinationals did
not harm the development of

moves, as this article shows.

men didn’t hesitate to “bug”
cabinet ministers. Everything
indicated that Jerome Choquette
fancied himself in Bourassa’s
place, really the only cabinet
member who could claim to be
even farther to the right than
Bourassa.

. And that’s not all. Public pres-
sure to replace Cournoyer, who
was compromised by his ‘illegal
meetings with the multi-national
Bechtel which manages the

. James Bay project and the QFL-

Construction leaders, poured in

from all sides.
Bourassa was finally obliged

to defuse the bomb within his

One Quebec paper called premier Bourassa’s cabinet shuffle a
game of musical chairs. But there’s much more behind the premier’s:

Pierre ‘kept: his Industry and

Commerce post. ;

As for others:. Mr. Choquette
was “persuaded” to abandon his
Ministry of Justice, taking over
Education, and responsible: for
the touchy Bill 22 and for the
defiant -teachers. Cournoyer had
to be moved from Labor, became

. Minister of Natural Resources

-Mr. L’Allier> who was Minister
of Communication had nothing
to show for efforts to wrest con-

trol of cable-vision from Ottawa, ~

became Minister of Cultural Af-
fairs, ready to reinforce Bouras-
sa’s “cultural sovereignty”.

Does Bourassa now feel ready

j

g == Canadian capitalism. Guy Saint- (G47 cabinet, without for a mo- fer the next elections?
Pierre, -Quebec pOInistes of in- ment setting aside the main According to the same La
dustry and CATAINEECE interest- thrusts of his policy. — Presse story of July 15, “Quebec
ingly enough raised’ the same. “On July 14, Guy Saint-Pierre has chosen the policy of the
question publicly. Bourassa re- declared that the province has worse the better .. . The govern-
plied bluntly, even, brutally: his to have more control of the ment prefers to wait for some
pro-multi-national policy will costs of health and education, months still so that the (econo- .
continue. cutting to the bone all short- mic) situation can deteriorate
When witnesses before the term investment plans. The in- further”. The story quotes Guy. ~ i
Cliche Commission cast shadows crease in the total salary bill in Saint-Pierre. thus: It’s when the ;
on the conduct of the then Min- the civil service must not only rate of unemployment reaches i
ister of Labor Cournoyer and _§ generate inflation, but, this year 10% and, when inflation is gal- :
also on Bourassa, Jerome Cho- and next, it must be limited to loping just as quickly that atti- ‘
quette, then minister of justice 10-12% (exactly the magic fig- tudes will begin to change”. r
broke solidarity with them pub- ure vainly proposed by John That’s certainly no election p
licly. Furthermore the Cliche Turner two months earlier. — platform! So we can expect an-
Commission used tape record- La Presse, July 15, 1975). All other cabinet shuffle, traditional- r
ings furnished by the police this on the eve of negotiations ly used ‘to diminish criticism, r
under the control of: Choquette, with the civil servants, hospital before the next elections are ;
Dans le pavillory which showed that Choquette’s workers and teachers. Mr. Saint- called.
ia maquette de ’ Hl
vaisseaux COS 7 ; fig
. ° e Q
Ontario Communists
e & tj
receive congratulations §
th
i
es TORONTO — The Communist Thé new election law prohib- paign to register Party. Your
a Party of Canada (Ontario) has its a political party from running work is an inspiration to Que- u
ae: - received congratulations from candidates or collecting funds in bec membership.”
The historic’ Soyuz-Apollo “handshake in space” came the Central Executive of the CPC the party’s’name (the party must From Winnipeg came the fol- a
down to earth recently when American astronaut Captain and from Party organizations in also forfeit having its name on Jowing ol A sa "
: — 5 : : g letter signed by provin
Alan L. Bean (left) and Soviet Cosmonaut A. V. -Filipchenko other parts of Canada, on its the ballot) unless it registers by cial leader William Ross, for the
greeted each other when the American Bar Association held spectacular 12,500 signature meeting one of three conditions. wyanitoba Executive. CPC:
its annual meeting in Montreal. campaign to comply with On- Bill 3 was approved in May by s ; eins ial
The two men served on a discussion panel: with other tario’s restrictive Bill 3. the Tory, Liberal and New De- __“ Zhe Manitoba Provincial Exe-
representatives of the two countries: Charles Ryhne, Presi- See mocratic members of the legis- cutive, Communist Party of Can-
dent, World Peace Through Law Centre and Neil Hosenball, . The Central Executive Com- jature, who, under the bill; also 24a, extends hearty congratula-
General Counsel, NASA, from the United States; and V. S. _ | ‘™ittee’s message congratulated Gerive election funds from the tions to your committee and to
Vereshchetin, Vice-Chairman, Interkosmos and Guennady the Ontario Party Committee and provincial treasury on a ‘per Your members for the splendid
P. Zhukov, Chief Legal Counsel, USSR Academy of Sciences, the Party membership imiOntario:4 ter basis. job done in collecting over 12,500
from the Soviet Union. “for collecting over’ 12,500 sig- adder thotren ahceinents parties signatures on the application to
The pane! discussed prepared questions concerning the natures in connection with Bill siiiatesta) havent least rai sit- have the Party registered under
joint Apollo-Soyuz space mission and the future of coopera- S.2t COMSUDIRES Seep aLPOlltica ee echee (b) field candi. ee
Sow iviti victory for the Communist Party "8 members, or pete “That. a fitting reply to
space activities. <—_ in i : dates in at least 50% of ridings aC: Was Pal the de
P : She cf Canada in light of the intent Gates in a BS, Saati
In his opening remarks, Astronaut Bean said: “It is-an AG 8 e inte or (c) submit 10,000, Ontario vot- the reactionary forces which
honor to be with you today to help foster internatiorsal good- of the Bill to exclude minority ers’ signatures eae “attest to Were’ intent on curtailing the
will both in space and in international law.” political parties from the elec- the registration” of the party electoral process in Ontario in
He said the space flight was much more “than just a toral process in Ontario,” the named on.the official petition Ofder to ‘protect the monopoly
meeting in space to exchange data. As a result of the flight message said. - Sea interests from the mounting
| believe we demonstrated that our countries . . .- could “The CEC is confident that the : : __ Struggles of. the working class.
work together closely in good faith.” fighting spirit displayed in get- _ Congratulating the : Ontario Their attack was aimed at the
Bean gave some of his personal observations of the Soviet ting signatures will now_find ex- Communists on the swift over- Communist Party of Canada, the
Union. He said the Soviet people wanted to be friends with pression in the actual election fulfillment of the signature re- Jeader and organizer of the anti-
Americans, and above ‘all wanted to prevent future wars. campaign and enable our Party quirement, Sam Walsh, president monopoly struggle, -but they
Expressing his belief that continued joint space ventures to come out of it as a growing of the Parti Communiste de Que-. were thwarted by the fight-back
would further peace and detente on Earth, Bean said: “This political force with increased ec wired Ontario Communist jnspired and led by your Provin-
unending journey will be difficult but also possesses oppor- organized strength inthe work- ‘¢ader William Stewart: cial Committee. ‘
tunity for umequalled advancement in individual conscien- ing class and among young peo- “National Committee PCQ con- “Our best wishes for a spirited “
tiousness and the aspiration levels of ail men of this planet ple, and with a growing circula- gratulates Ontario Committee and successful election cam- |
Earth. tion for the Canadian Tribune and all members who actively paign, the next. round in the as
wes y and Young Worker participated in successful cam-‘ struggle.” ty