|

URING his CBC radio ad-
dress on August 14, Premier
W. A. C. Bennett laid special
*mphasis upon the great pros-
Perity and progress of British
Olumbia during the four

years of Social Credit gov-
ernment.

To deny this progress and
Prosperity and leave it at that
Would be nothing short of
Sheer stupidity. Much better
a take a real good look at it
mm order to separate the wheat
from the chaff,

It is customary with all
Capitalist polititians, whether
Liberal, Tory, or a _ Social
ig) Credit mixture of both, to
Nb Claim credit for all the good
things of life — and blame
+ their political adversaries for
Pp the bad things. In this Pre-
| a Bennett is no exception,
ence his Socred -hozannas for

jPchievements to date, real and
‘ fictitious,

The thing to remember is
a due to certain economic
ctor and development, in
he the great natural re-
: mess of the people have

a nN put up for sale at bargain-

7 Sement prices by successive
Wfory-Liberal Coalition and
ae governments, either
57 Ould lay claim to such “pros-
ia Betity.” At the moment Ben-
the Is riding the crest of a
af Bnd Pete the-bust wave,
3 haste in calling a snap elec-
on reflects a growing ner-

. Vousness of hi pies
fon top. is ability to stay

t
ie During these four years the
ee government has built
ie Tike vf roads, bridges and the
Gre, t has brought the Pacific
at Eastern to Vancouver.
She ee some advances in
ieee of health, hospital and
Bar “aes services, but. still.
yi. Sort of what is required.

a. aid to B.C. agriculture
Hl) Bec, S various branches has e
P tarn, almost nil; the dairy
| if shew 1S caught in the squeeze
a €n high production costs
ero, Teduced income. Fruit
if Big zat have had little or no
ee replanting winter-killed
vith and berry areas, and
Besa the steady inflow of U.S.-
ee farm products, the
Pcreasin armer meets with in-
§ market hazards.

Old a

Ba five ure Pensioners have had

ollar handout from this
} Ba ed Social Credit “pros-
but Ree Rok much to be sure,
An “hg five dollars more
iberal “Uncle Louis” at

By TOM McEWEN

Ottawa gave. To many pen-
sioners and ‘others however
this five dollars looks more like
an election bribe than a serious
tackling} of the problem of our
senior citizens by the Bennett
government.

One of Premier Bennett’s
greatest boasts is how his ad-

ministration has forged ahead -

with the development of our
natural resources — from
whence all Socred “prosperity”
flows.

If not scrutinized too closely
this as ‘well as°other. claimed
achievements has a semblance
of plausibility. The real issue
in this is that at bottom it is
a giveaway pure and simple, in
which powerful U.S. monopo-
lists and ‘our home-grown, var-

‘iety are the real beneficiaries

of Social Credit “prosperity.”
This is the real election issue
which the Socreds would pre-
fer to have obscured by a
wordy debate on minor issues.

*

The “Achilles Heel” of So-
cial Credit will not be found
in a lambasting of the positive
things it has accomplished dur-
ing its four years in office, and
which the mass of the people
see and variously approve. It
is in the things it has done
very badly, or not at all, which
are not so well understood. It
is in its rapid transition from
a boasted government of ‘free
enterprise and the little man”
to that of an agent for the big
trusts, where Social Credit is
most vulnerable.

In this it) is regrettable to

hear Liberal, Tory and CCE
“ex-

leaders bemoaning the

PREMIER BENNETT
“For whom the bells toll”

‘Bennett calls a
snap election

pense,” the “need” and so on
of this’ jet-propelled election,
when they themselves have
been challenging Bennett to
“go to the people” on more
than one occasion during the
past session of the legislature,
thug accomodating the Socreds
in the latter’s desire to bury
the real issues.

The justifiable condemnation
of the opposition parties should
be directed against the cheap
political trick of limiting the
time of the people to discuss
vital policies affecting their
welfare, rather than the “ex-
pense” entailed by such a dis-
cussion. :

Four years ago the electorate
heard a great deal about So-
cial Credit’s aim of “good,
clean, honest government,” a
government of “free enter-
prise and the little man.”

To an electorate filled up to
the gills with such “good,
clean, honest government” as
played by the Liberal-Tory
Coalition, this virtuous sheen
of Social Credit had an allur-
ing appeal; and in modern poli-
tics there is nothing more vir-
tuous than  well-advertised
virtue.

Right at the beginning of
this snap election Alfred Bull,
QC, counsell for ex-Lands and
Forest Minister R. E. Sommers
has let it be known that all
opposition candidates who dare
question Bennett’s virtuous de-
cision to ‘keep-the-lid-on” in
the Sommers case, will land
before the beak on “contempt
of court” charges. In other
words old man “Sub Judice”
has béen added to the ranks of
Social Credit to help keep the
people gagged!

Then there is the small mat-
ter of ex-police chief Walter
Mulligan. A commission, which
cost the taxpayers $58,000, sat
for months investigating the
high jinks of this Liberal
glamor*boy. At the end of this
inquiry and its allegations that
Mulligan had pocketed gam-
blers’ money this Socred gov-
ernment has refused to bring
Mulligan back to B.C. to stand
trial for his crimes. “Not
enough evidence” say our top
Socred spokesman.

Could it be that the Bennett
cabinet is afraid of what Mul-
ligan might say if placed in
the witness box under oath?
Could, be! Mulligan might talk
too much for the political
health and “virtue” of certain
Liberal and Socred bigwigs.
And on the hustings of all
places, such talk would be too
distressing.

Then there is the strange
case of several departing en-
gineers from the Socred de-
partment of “sorry-for-the-in-
convenience” Gaglardi. That is

“Let’s make our whole record in office ‘sub judice’ so
we can’t be criticized by anybody.”

a tale which should be told
gn the hustings, without em-
bellishments and with a lot of
cold matter-of-fact statistics.
The dulcet Social Credit notes
on some of these Socred things
badly done reminds us of that
short appropriate ditty which
goes:

“And so-and-so, and what’s
his name,

And likewise you know
who,

The job of filling out the
blanks,

V’d rather leave to you.”

They should be filled out. —
on the hustings, by the people.

Then there is the love-life
(or should we say the back-
room wooing) of the B.C.
Electric, the B.C. Telephone,
H. R MacMillan and sundry
other monopoly magnates here
and in the U.S. for the heart
and hand — and especially
the hand of Social Credit.
Truly a multi-collective ro-
mance, with the peoples re-
sources as the price of these
unholy nuptuals.

This Socred © behind-the-
curtain wooing is vitally im-
portant to the people, first be-
cause it explains Socred pro-
gress and prosperity, in which
the people’s resources are
traded off for a fast buck.

It is only recently that Pre-
mier Bennett returned from a
visityto New York and the
financial ghouls of Wall Street.
What deals were made there
he doesn’t say — yet. Such
silence means that in-Bennett’s
opinion these “talks” wouldn’t
make good electioneering am-
munition. But afterwards, ah;
just watch the Social Credit
giveaway roll forward to great-
er prosperity of the same kind,
as and if the people give the
approval necessary for great-
er sell-outs.

Issues? There are issues gal-
ore, but they are being lost

sight of in the noise of a So-
cial Credit version of Handel’s
“Messiah.”

For the people of British
Columbia, --workers, farmers,
CCF, the trade unions, the
LPP, and all progressive mind-
ed people, which includes
many followers and supporters
of Social Credit ideas, there is
just one way to resolve these
issues in the interests of the
people — through a maximum
united effort to stop what »be-
gan four years ago in govern-
ment as an interesting experi-
ment, and which has now be-
come a menace.

Leaders of all opposition
political parties should be able
to see and understand clearly,
that there is no single group
or party “going it alone” which
can hope to do the job; that
only by finding a path towards
the uniting and combining of
their respective forces, can this
menace be stopped in _ its
tracks.

In. this the labor movement,
the trade unions, CCF and LPP
share the greatest responsi-
bility. True, Bennett didn’t al-
low much time for any, indi-
vidual or group to discuss the
issues or find a way of resolv-
ing them (always cogsidered
good strategy by the agents of
big business) but that can not
be regarded-as a valid excuse
for not tackling the path of
united effort — the only path
to peoples’ victory against a
dangerous. political menace,
garbed in the cloth of a seem-
ing virtue and wearing a dis-
arming holier-than-thou smile.

Every effort made towards
unity in the ranks of labor, in
the-unions, the CCF and LPP,
is an effort in defense of the

heritage and rights of the
people.
The people should begin

building that unity now with
all speed in preparation for
September 19.

August 24, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11

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