——__

CANADA

Francophone summit:

Mulroney bats under .500

As External affairs minister Joe
Clark was quick himself to point

By MARK SYDNEY

Who were the ‘“‘winners’’ and
Who were the ‘‘losers’’ at the
Much-vaunted Francophone
summit that just ended in Quebec
City?

Judging by prime minister Mul-
Toney and the daily press, Canada
Was the ‘‘winner’’ in a summit oft
described as successful more for
ts harmony than for any real

achievement. But a careful look

at the summit and its results show
t Canada’s Tory government
neo-colonialism as a whole
fared less well than had been
hoped.

Mulroney set. out quite bra-
Zenly to use the summit as a
Podium to boost some of his flag-
8ing domestic popularity by
*Ngineering. dramatic inter-
National diplomacy coups.

Owever, he was thwarted
even before the summit officially

San. ANC president Oliver
Tambo cut short Mulroney’s (and
Clark’s) hopes of announcing to

© summit that they had finally
Onvinced the ANC leader to re-
ounce ‘‘communism’’ and ‘‘vio-
lence”. The ANC leader let the
Canadian government and the

world know that the ANC’s
strategy and policy of alliances
will not be dictated by any West-
ern government, especially one
whose commitment to ending
apartheid is worth little more than
the paper Mulroney’s speeches
are written on.

Neo-colonialism did manage to
salvage something on the issue as
the summit adopted a statement
condemning South Africa and
apartheid without pledging the
participating countries to full and
comprehensive sanctions against
the Botha regime.

On the first day of the summit,
Mulroney and the Tories received
another slap in the face when they
found themselves the only coun-
try — 37 yeas, one nay — to vote
AGAINST the right of the
Palestinian people to self-deter-
mination..

out, the Tory government’s
commitment to the right of
peoples to freedom and self-
determination takes a back seat to
Canada’s ‘‘special relationship”’
with the United States, the Israeli
government and neo-colonialist
policies.

It was also pointed out by many
observers, particularly the Com-
munist Party, that there was
another reason for Canada’s no
vote. ‘““To have voted for the right
of self-determination for the

Palestinians’, the party stated,
“‘would have raised an awkward

question — why exclude the
French Canadian nation from the
same right?”’

Mulroney did make up for some
lost ground by announcing he
would cancel $325-million in

debts owing Canada by seven Af-
rican countries.

Although Le Monde called the
gesture “‘spectacular’’, a closer
look attests to the parsimony of
the Tories and their openly neo-
colonialist direction. One may
speculate just how much of that
$325-million was actually collect-
able; many economies think it
highly unlikely that Canada could
have actually garnered in much of
that debt anyway.

Second, an _ uncollectible
$325-million was little to pay for
the promise of Canadian capital
moving in to the Francophone
developing countries en masse.
Mulroney and Clark no doubt
have bright visions of the poten-
tial influx of made-in-Canada (by
American branch-plants) com-
puters, high-tech machine tools,

-industrial products and com-

munications equipment into the
Francophone countries.

As one Canadian observer
pointed out, the French-speaking
countries have now ‘‘established
a framework similar to that of the
Commonwealth: a forum for dis-
cussing the extension of Western
technology, Third World
development, a system for in-
creasing aid, scholarships and
modern resources to the Franco-
phone Third World’.

Canadian capital wants its
share of the action, and is trying to
break the hithertofore un-
contested French supremacy in
neo-colonialist domination of
many of these countries.

This drive by Canadian (and by
proxy, American) capital to
penetrate and exploit the Franco-
phone Third World at the expense
of France and its diplomatic over-
tones have not gone unnoticed.
Writing in the Globe and Mail on
September 7, Graham Fraser
quotes an unnamed non-
francophone diplomat as saying
that ‘‘Canada has acquired a new
diplomatic network . .. Canada is
positioning itself between France
and its former colonies’’.

No doubt French capital is
hardly blind to or overjoyed at
this attempt by Canada to gain a
foothold in francophonie. France
jealously guards its very profita-

‘ble economic relations with its

former colonies. French capital
will not simply open the door in a
gallant gesture to Canadian
penetration. Perhaps this explains
the attempt by the very right-wing
French prime minister to drum up
some rancor between the Cana-
dian federal, Quebec and New
Brunswick delegations, and his
undiplomatic, open criticism of
NDP defense policy.

One encouraging aspect of the
Francophone summit was the
presence of delegations from
leaders from socialist Vietnam
and Laos. Although they have lit-
tle to learn politically from leaders
such as Mulroney and French
prime minister Chirac, these two
Southeast Asian countries are in-
terested in and can profit from
economic cooperation with the
rest of the francophone world.

‘Domestic arms maker.
gears up for growth

Helmut Hoffman is

By DEREK MACKIE

In watching any of the recent spate of

ietnam War movies, you will have
Seen the automatic rifles brandished
With gusto by American actors pre-
tending to be Marines. This gun is the
M-16, which can kill by bullet-impact
Shock alone.

Canadian soldiers are now receiving
Shipments of two improved versions of
the M-16: the C-7 and C-8.

Yet these weapons are not arriving
Via the U.S. military-industrial heart-
land. Instead, a factory based in Kitch-
€ner, Ontario, assembles them.

The man responsible for providing
the army with 82,000 of these automatic
Tifles is an impish, pug-nosed
businessman by the name of Helmut
Hofmann.

He is president of the Markham,
Ontario-based Devtek Corporation.

Hofmann is one of the new arms en-
terepreneurs who typify the worrisome
8rowth of Canada’s military-industrial
Complex. Indeed, sales by our burgeon-
ing arms industry have shot from $1.5-
billion in 1980 to almost $4-billion this
year.

How the 55-year-old Hoffman be-
Came a weapons guru personifies
Canada’s creeping militarization. __

He arrived in Canada from West
Germany in 1951 bearing tool and die
Papers. Soon afterwards he bumped
ito Frank Stronach, who persuaded
him to join Magna International Inc.
When he brought the company in 1968.

With Hoffman as president and
Stronach as chairman of Magna, they
Waded into the auto parts industry.

Then the pair set their sights on the
arms trade.

For starters, with $400,000 in tax-
payers’ money, Magna established
Diemaco Inc. in 1976 to repair the
Canadian army’s automatic rifles.

By the time Hofmann struck out on
his own in 1981, Magna had obtained or
started five companies in the aereo-
space/military industry.

He took these firms with him, re-
named them Devtek Corp. and began
his empire. This venture took off as
Canada’s armed forces started seeking
new hardware. Today, Hofmann says,
“T think it is a necessity to look, when
you make defence procurements, to-
wards ones’ own industry.”

Hoffman is one of
the new arms
entrepreneurs

who typify the

growth of Canada’s
military-industrial
complex.

Devtek has prospered as a result.
Sales went from $32-million in 1982 to
an estimated $105-million this year.
About 80 per cent of its production is
military-related. Pre-tax profits were
$646,000 five years ago but reached
$5.7-million last year. Devtek now has
11 companies, 1,200 employees, assets

of $52-million and four marketing
offices throughout the U.S.

Devtek produces some of the follow-
ing military items: automatic rifles; light
machine guns; parts for the F-4, F-15,
F-18, F-111 and numerous other U.S.
jet fighters; sonobuoys and beacons for
submarine warfare; jet engine compo-
nents; casings for military electronic
hardware; and trigger housings for
machine guns.

Such equipment is expensive. The
Canadian army’s contract for the C-7
and C-8 automatic rifles along with
7,000 light machine guns, given to De-
vtek in 1984, is alone worth $107-mil-
lion.

Devtek’s most recent bonanza oc-
curred last year when it won the global
rights to build the stablized platform for
the Low Level Air Defence (LLAD)
system. The LLAD is a mobile missile
system for destroying aircraft and
tanks; it is currently being made by an
American corporation for the Cana-
dian, U.S. and possibly Turkish and
Saudi Arabian armed forces. Hofmann
says the contract could be worth $60 to
$70 million down the road, yet sales
may reach $200-million.

selling 82,000
guns plus a lot
more to armies
worldwide

Devtek receives taxpayers’ dollars to
cairy out this production. For instance,
two years ago, it got $150,000 from the
government to develop equipment to
make sonobouys for the U.S. Navy.

Hofmann is also a problem for
unions. His predominantely non-union-
ized plants are purposefully kept under
150 employees. When they threaten to
grow larger, he begins a new firm. Such
methods ensure that organizers won't
get a foot in the door.

Not surprisingly, Hofmann is an
ideological champion of the non-nu-
clear arms race. ‘‘There will always be
some need of conventional forces, and °
we are here to provide them with pro-
ducts,”’ he declares. ‘‘ Until we get the
Russians to the table, we would like to
see more on the conventional side.”’

Considering how he’s profited from
the U.S. military buildup, Hofmann isa
fan of free trade. He recently told a
Toronto magazine that American mili-
tary misadventures are just a minor
footnote to an overall relationship of
trust: “They make some mistakes, no
question about it. But the U.S. is a great
democracy. I’d rather be there and be
with them, than be by ourselves.”’

eS

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 16, 1987 e 5