PLAYING WITH BILLIONS By TOM MORRIS OTTAWA The Liberal Cabinet seems hell-bent to pursue the $953-million deal with the Scandal-ridden Lockheed Cor- poration in spite of all the odds. No amount of evidence churned up by U.S. government subcommittees and investigations going on around the world can de- ter Defence Minister Richardson, Supply Minister Jean-Pierre Goyer, House Leader Mitchell Sharp or the Prime Minister. Neither do they appear swayed by the serious questions raised Over the precarious financing deals being worked out which ped leave Canadians holding the jag. _ Here is a giant U.S. corpora- tion which stands exposed for Paying out more than $22-million In bribes to several countries’ Officials engaged in a huge finan- _ Cial venture to sell us 18 aircraft. There is the same company, with a loan from 24 U.S. banks total- ling over $500-million, with no More credit available in its own country, going hand in hand with the Canadian government seeking a $300-million loan from Cana- dian banks to get the project Started. The double-talk and misin- High flying-with Lockheed Nothing seems to bother the Prime Minister as he pursues the - Lockheed deal for nearly $1- biilion. terpretation over the past few months has been amazing. After four years of ‘‘looking into the best aircraft to buy to replace the Argus’’, the government an- nounced last November it had chosen the Lockheed Orion. In February, in the teeth of the brib- ery scandals, Lockheed’s region- al director of export sales told the press his company’s offer was PM’s office calls arms Spending ‘quite modest’ TORONTO The Prime * Minister’s office has replied to a March 10 letter from the Com- Munist Party of Canada, which Criticized the proposed govern- Ment purchase of 18 Lockheed Orion aircraft at a price of about es a Party spokesman Said. ; The reply, signed by Michel Rochon, akes the claim that Canada’s military budget for the Past few years has been quite Modest.’’ (Canada’s military Spending stands at about $3- illion a year, with a promise to the North Atlantic Treaty Or- 8anization to raise it by 12% a year, plus inflation.) Despite Canada’s commitment to NATO and the almost universally op- Bosed North Atlantic Air Defence agreement, the letter states that the government has ‘“‘allocated - OUr own resources for military purposes only where it is neces- sary.” The government spokesman says that, ‘‘As long as disarma- ment is not a clear goal and fact of life for all countries . . . our role in NATO is essential and we must continue to maintain our defence forces.” He defends the purchase of high-priced anti-submarine planes from the Lockheed Corporation, while the Communist Party points out that aircraft suitable for estab- lishing Canada’s sovereignty in the north could be built in Canada. (The governmentcites ‘‘establish- ing Canada’s presence’’ as a reason for buying the costly planes). The original Communist Party letter had urged that ‘‘defence”’ expenditures be ‘‘re-directed to economic development to put Canada back to work at full ' capacity.” 38,000 Japanese protesters demand investigation into the Lockheed Scandals and scrapping of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. . accepted in writing by Supply Minister Goyer and that it was in fact a ‘‘legal commitment” that is ‘tin effect a contract’. Defence Minister Richardson denied in February there was any contract. Goyer told the press last week it would cost Canada $16- million to back out of a contract for the purchase. Small wonder the rest of the country can’t find out what’s go- ing on. In spite of denials by Ottawa of any coercion or wrong-doing throughout the negotiations, other countries have uncovered pay-offs and double-dealing of major proportions. Government officials have quit, persons are under. arrest and investigations are going on in Japan, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands. Bribery charges have been raised in West Germany, Sweden, In@