_ Bennett gov't preparing sellout |

of water resources to U.S.

A sellout by the Bennett government of the water

ince stop it. The deal would give Yankee monopolies a stra
The Pacific Tribune was the first paper in the provin
U.S. power interests that would choke the future growth
Some three months ago when the plans for a dam a

pointed to the basic question: Who
is going to benefit from the propos-
ed dams on the Canadian part of
the Columbia and Kootenay rivers?
Are they first of all to generate
‘power for an all-Canadian hydro
network stretching from Edmon-
ton to Victoria over most of south-
ern B.C. and Alberta? Or are they
to be captive subsidiaries of the
Grand Coulee-Bonneville system in
the United States, operated as the
Americans dictate?

Those favoring the US. plan’

argue that it’ would produce a’
larger total amount of power than'

of British Columbia.

bloc

VICTORIA, B.C.

power resources of the Columbia River is in the making unless the people of this prov
nglehold over the growth of new industry in all southern British Columbia and at.
ce.to warn that the Social Credit government was contemplating an agreement

t Mica Creek on the Big Bend of the Columbia were made public, the Pacific Tribune

U.S. political pressure on the So-
cred government has been stepped
up. The recent meeting of the
Northwest Governors Power Policy
Committee which consists of the
heads of four American states and
a B.C, representative was held vin
Victoria. ;

The committee was presented
with a report from the, Internation-
al Columbia River Engineering
Board urging further “international
cooperation”—in other words more
integration on the U.S. plan.

Significantly the B.C. member of

any independent Canadian scheme. the Engineering Board, J. F. Miles;

But the U.S. monopolies want this of

increased power for their own use.
They are not at all interested in
the needs of B.C. and Alberta.

Until now they have always re-

fused to consider giving us back !

any of the extra power generated
by the use of our storage facilities.
The negotiations over the Libbey
Dam on the Kootenay River in

Montana collapsed when the B.C.|

government demanded power, and

not money, in settlement: of Cana-
dian claims. :

There are reports now that the
U.S. has reversed its stand and
will give back some of the extra
power to get control of the dams
on the whole river.

But U.S. thinking about the sec-
ondary position of B.C. dams is
clearly revealed in an article by
Roy Brown in the Vancouver, Sun
of May 1. Brown quotes U.S. gov-
ernment power expert Jack Stev-
ens as saying, “Every possible ef-
fort. should be made to set up a
vast storage of water in Canada,
Our need is acute and on a tre-
mendous scale.” Not hydro de-
velopment in Canada but storage
of water in Canada for U.S. power
_ Purposes is the aim. © :

Signs are multiplying that the

B.C. government is going to go

along with the U.S. plan for “in-

tegrated” operation of the water
of the Columbia Basin. :

Just last week Lands and For-

ests Minister Robert Sommers gave |

the go-ahead ‘signal to the Kaiser
Aluminum monopoly for. a dam
near Castlegar to step up power
production at Grand Coulee. This

dam would release the waters of |

the Arrow Lake when the flow in

the Water Rights Branch, a

| strong advocate of- integration, has’

resigned. His new job?—with the

_ |B.C. Electric which is tied to the

Bonneville Power Pool.

Undoubtedly the Socreds will
try, to sweeten the bitter surren-
der of the control over the Col-
umbia. They will claim a big
victory because -the U.S. has
agreed to set aside power for
B.C. instead of paying us off in
a lump sum.

Will a U.S.-dominated power net-
work embracing the whole of the
Columbia basin, even with a block
of kilowatts reserved for B.C. use,
,Serve the interests of the people of
this province? This correspondent

the*reasons: — ie
1 ‘Far less power will be produc-

- ed at the dams in Canada than

__ under an all-Canadian scheme.

storage dam, most of the water will
be let go at one season of the year
so Grand Coulee can run at full
capacity. At. Mica Creek itself

small power plant using just a year
round minimum flow of the river.

would release its water at an even
be able to run much larger turbines,

thus providing a bigger amount of
power for Canadian needs.

This surplus could be transmitted
far as Edmonton or Calgary or
nee George.
Most of the power will not
be produced in the right place
to be available for new indus-
| _ try in the B.C, Interior.

as
| Pri

thinks not—and here are some of ;

For instance, if Mica Creek Dam| ~
on the Big Bend is built as a oy F
there will be only. a comparatively |

‘A Canadian-operated Mica Creek

rate over the whole year and would’

the Columbia is at its lowest. Kais-; It is technically impossible to

er plants in Washirigton state have
had to go on short time during the
‘winter when they could not get
enough electricity. |

, transmit alum
of the Grand Coulee Power to
Prince George, Calgary or Edmon-

Dailies ignore

‘ton. But Canadian-operated dams

May Day —

but rally seen on CBUT

“Vancouver — daily newspapers
willl carry reports of. May Day de-
monstrations in Moscow, London,
Peking, Paris and other cities in
all parts of the world, but I pre-

dict that they will not print a line
about this meeting here today,”

. chairman Harvey Murphy said at’

the May Day Rally on Sunday this
week at Brockton Point Oval.

Murphy was right. «The Sun,
Province and News-Herald lowered
a newspaper curtain over the
event; their readers would never

have known that a May Day rally
was held, had it not been for one |

thing. .
CBUT, Vancouver’s CBC tele-
' o

vision outlet, covered the. meeting
and did a good job. a

And so it happened that at 7
p.m. Sunday evening thousands of

—including many ®readers of the
daily papers—béth saw and heard
May Day speakers Harvey Murphy,
Bill Stewart, Homer Stevens and A.
A. MacLeod, and had the opport-

Wilson do ae
Churchill. - i
Shaughnessy Heights is thick

“chalk talk” on

one trade unionist to remark: “I
guess 1954 is the first year so many
people in Shaughnessy attended a
May Day rally!” :

ritish Columbia’s ‘share |

TV owners in all parts of the city |

unity of watching artist Fraser

with TV aerials, and this prompted |

would make hydro available to all

these places.

8 The fixed amount of power
_ allotted to B.C. by interna-
tional treaty would be a strait

jacket for our growing indus-
try.

The day to day operation of
the power system would be
-under the control of Ameri-
can-dominated agencies.

Examples ‘of the advantage this
would give the U.S. can. be seen
when it is realized that they would
control the switching of power be-
tween the different plants, the re-
lease of water, and so forth.

Does a wholly Canadian power
system on the Columbia mean no
benefit for Washington and Ore-
gon? Of course not. U.S. hydro
plants down river would still be
able to increase their production,
though naturally not as much as
under the U.S. scheme.

ol

Plan to construct a 600-foot
dam at Mica Creek (top) was
heralded as the first step in
Creating an industrial centre in
the Kootenays when it was an-

nounced in the legislature at the
recent session. The Kaiser Dam

(below) was announced later.

Should be banned?”

|

‘No place io hide’ |
declares Prof. Phelps

TORONTO:
“Phere is no place to hide when a planet is in jeopardy.” This 15
the view of Professor A. L. Phelps as voiced to the Easter hoe
meetings of the Ontario Educational Association on April 20. Ee
Phelps is former professor of English of McGill University and one 0
Canada’s foremost scholars.
“Perhaps we are coming rapidly
to the point,” he continued, “where
the respect for human life, as such,
is disappearing among us. The
tolerated crime and comic ’ books

It is insanity that takes
granted.”

Prof. Phelps offered as a solu
tion the getting together of those
who. possess the weapons to destroy

it for

and the dramatized brutality of the

humanity to prevent their use.

wrestling matches testify to, our
growing insensibility.

“While we talk blandly about
the bomb, while*we watch its ter-
rifying beauty, while with calcu-

_ lating zest we estimate the de-
grees of political insanity behind
the political hair triggers, we
know that any evening we may
lean into a dinner table conver-
sation and say: ‘Don‘t you know
we may all be dead or blighted
or mad next month?’ :

“It is all or death. It is only

Sanity that sees and deplores this.

“I cannot accept the doctrine
that we of the West alone, in our
selves, have a monopoly of the
secret of the right way of life for
humans on this planet. .. . I think

can come, the Russians and the
Chinese and those others will come. =
to our principles. If these principles
are human fundamentals, as I think —
they are, they will do so... . Wé
may come to some of their pril-
ciples if they are human fundo-
mentals, as I think surely some of
them must be.”

MacDougall forced
to retract UN slam

J. L. MacDougall, Liberal MP for Burrard, was forced to backtrack.
hurriedly after making a statement at a meeting in Peter Pan Ballroom
here to the effect that he “thought one H-bomb was worth ten United
Nations.” The meeting held on April 20, was called to enable Mac-

Dougall to report during the Easter recess on the present session of
parliament. > :

MacDougall made his slip while
attempting’to answer a young man
who asked him, during the question |-
period, “What is the Liberal gov-
ernment going 'to do about the H-
bomb? Do-you think further tests

ner of the United Nations. Does ©
n‘t our government belong to the
United Nations? Is our . MP -
voicing his own opinion, or that
of his party? 1 must say i? wor:
ries me to have a -representa-
. tive who would make such . an
statement.” : }
“You misunderstood me, young
lady,” MacDougall said hurriedly.
“Tm not trying. to attack the UN
At least, while they’re talking
they’re not fighting.”
That, however, ended the ques

“T know the kind of people who
ask such questions,” replied Mac-
Dougall angrily. “I know all about
these peace movements. Well, let
me tell you, I think one H-bomb is
worth ten UN organizations,”

A young woman raised her hand
to ask a question but her voice

could not be heard _distinetly. | tion and discussion period; :/) 7
Come up to the front,” invited the; In his report to his constitu: —
Liberal MP. :

in some human consolidation, if it —

The young woman walked to the
front of the hall, faced the audi-
ence, and said:

“" think it
when ‘our Bu

Parliament spe

is very dangerous
trard member of
aks in such a man-

ents, MacDougall lavishly praise

the Liberals’ housing program, d&
fended the government’s right t —
extend the Emergency Powers Ach |
and advocated a Canadian flag ¢Ol
taining the Union Jack, the royal
crown‘and the fleur-de-lis.

Vancouver Alderman
Adams’ recently voiced Opinion
that “if we got Quebee’s scale of
Wages out here to B.C. a lot of in-
dustry would come here” drew a
Sharp reply this week from Maurice
Rush, LPP city secretary.

“Adams’ ,
the Quebec

Earle G,

statement advocating
: Seale of Wages here
and his further hailing of unem-
ployment as ‘a good thing because
it would attract new industry’
should receive the strongest con-
demnation from labor and. all fair-
minded people,” said Rush. :

“The NPA alderman gave ex-

t

‘ taf

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — may 7, 1954 — PAGE 2

|Rush assails Adams’ |
Statement on wages

Pression to the aim of big busi-
ness, which is to drive wages
down to the subsistence level.
His statement also indicated why
Vancouver City Council has turn
ed a deaf ear to all pleas for
action to meet the serious unen™
ployment problem here. J a
“Adams is the darling of the Te?

estate and big business interest: oh,
who promoted him as an NPA ca’

didate. His statement again unde {
lines the big business control %
city hall, and points to the ae
for united action in the Decembe™
civic election. to elect genuine
labor and people’s represent?
tives.” ;