IF PRICE IS RIGHT, U.S. TOLD - Socreds ready to sell water resources Ww . > = | ues) : . bor t Despite Premier W. A. C. Bennett's earlier statement that the B.C. government is nof interested in the plan to sell B.C.’s water resources to the U.S., a top Socred cabinet member, industry Minister Ralph Hoffmark told the Vancouver Kiwanis club last Thursday that B.C. will sell its water resources if it gets its’price. This is the first time a mem- ber of the Socred cabinet has openly declared that B.C.’s vast water resources, coveted by the U.S., is up for sale at a price, He told the Kiwanis club, ‘‘It is only fair to tell our Ameri- can friends, and tell some of our own elected representatives, that B.C, is in no mood to partici- pate in any continental water scheme as long as this province is not getting what we consider a fair deal,’’ Loffmark said that B.C, holds the key to the scheme, but that the province will not even con- sider it until it gets its own way on these and other issues, He was referring to the plan drawn up in the U,S, for a con- tinental development of water re- sourees drawn up by the, Ralph M, Parsons engineering firm in Los Angeles, known as the North American Water and Power Al- liance (NAWAPA), Under this plan it.s proposed that the water resources of many major B,C, and Yukon rivers be gathered in the Rocky Mountain Trench and then diverted by a system of canals, tunnels and re- servoirs, to serve the needs of most of the United States, The U.S, government, which is “anxious to implement the plan, is pressuring Canada to enter nego- tiations on the basis of a ‘‘con- tinental approach’’ to develop- ment of water resources, In re- cent weeks representatives of the MOSCOW HOLIDAY SHOPPING IN FULL SWING. Photo shows the gaily-lit tree Parsons firm have spoken to at Detsky Mir, large department store for children, as shopping got off to a brisk start thi year to welcome ‘Father Frost.” ‘PT’ celebrates 30th anniversary in ’65 By TOM McEWEN The year 1965 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Pacific Tribune, 30 years of almost un- broken continuity of a fighting labor paper in the province of British Columbia, If we do say it ourselves, few labor papers de- pendent entirely upon working- class support can make that proud claim, Beginning with the first edition of,the ‘‘B.C, Worker’s News’”’ in the spring of 1935, the suc- ceeding years saw changes inthe name to ‘*People’s Advocate’’ 1937-39; ‘*The Advocate’’, 1939- 40; ‘The People’’, 1942-44; ‘Pacific Advocate’, 1944-46, and finally the ‘Pacific Tribune’’, 1946 forward to this -edition, Thirty years of continuous pub- lication, made possible only by the unfailing support and sacri- fice of tens of thousands of Bri- tish Columbia workers and others, Communist and_ non- Communist alike, who held the deep conviction that their own specific interests were best served by having their own paper, Truly a record to be proud of, Throughout these thirty years the Pacific Tribune and its prede- cessors has stood up against heavy attacks from many quart- ers, ‘*Blacklisting’’ of its ad- vertisers, RCMP intimidation of its readers and supporters, dis- tortion and falsification of its content and objectives by the hired hacks of monopoly journ- alism, acts of vandalism uponits premises, and printing troubles galore, A fine testimonial to its countless supporters, who alone determined its survival, and to whom the full credit for this ach- ievement is due. To celebrate this historic an- niversary year of 1965 a whole series of activities are already being planned under the direction of central and local ‘‘PT Anni- versary Committees,” These will include a number of anni- versary banquets, special May Day and Anniversary editions of the ‘*PT’’, film and poster re- views of the highlights and pub- lication of the paper, And by no means least, a concerted mobi- lization of all readers and sup- porters to boost circulation, Al- ready a group of B,C, artists are on the job preparing attrac- tive poster and film displays, while the ‘‘PT’’ circulation de- partment is getting set with new meetings in western Canada of. representatives from the federal plans to’ ~ circulation and paper sales, While newspapers in the com- mercial field susist largely on high-priced advertising revenue, government and old-line party handouts, labor papers like the “pT”? do not ‘‘enjoy’’ nor seek such *‘support’’, Our financing is done by working people them- selves, and our ‘‘ Moscow gold’’, comes from thenickels and dimes of the men and women whose toil and sweat creates the wealth of British Columbia, Berliner Zeitung -(as is too often the case with la- By MAURICE RUSH the vast water resources of B,C, and the Yukon, He said that thig water, routed through the North American continent, could servé the entire continent west of thé Mississippi and north of the Mas son-Dixon line and as far soutl as Mexico, and provincial governments in a bid to win support for the plan, Representatives of the B.C, Socred government attended such a briefing recently, which was addressed by A, W, Moore, vice- president of the Ralph M, Par- sons Company, Although Premier Bennett said shortly after this meeting that B.C, isnotinterest- ed in selling its water, the later statement by his Industry Minis- ter, is seen as a further elab- oration of the cabinet’s stand, In’ addition, he pointed out that a second. diversion eastward could stabalize the level of thé Great Lakes and thus serve to meet the water shortage in the ~eastern states, j The current statement bj B.C.’s Industry Minister is se as a new warning that the S red government is preparing ¢ extend its giveaway of the Col umbia River to include a de which would alienate most of _province’s resources to the U. Loffmark Sets Price for Water B.C. Won’t Consider Canal Plan Unless It Gets Fair Trade Deal Industry Minister Ralph Loffmark laid it on the line Thursday: No British Columbia participation in continental water and energy programs unless the United States gives B.C. a fair deal on tariffs. Loffmark also warned the federal government B.C. wants |j This week a PT reader, just returned from a visit to Cali- fornia, brought newspaper clip- pings to our office containing an account of a speech made by A, W. Moore in Los Angeles, In this speech Moore pointed to The above news story appeared in the Vancouver Sun Friday, December 1964. Instead of taking a forthright stand against the Parsons Plan, B.C. dustry Minister talks in terms of a ‘deal’ under which the province’s water! sources would be sold to the U,S. ; 4 In this as in other activities of our 30th anniversary year, ten- tative plans are also under way to increase the annual renenue of the ‘‘PT’’; to reach the stage of ‘*pay-as-we-go’’ rather than ~ PT to move After. many years at © present location, the PT W be moving to new quarters Our new address, as of Janu! bor papers) rely on ‘‘deficit fin- | 27Y }} 1965, will be: ancing,’’ or to put it more dir- ectly, ‘‘operating in the red,’’ In this our anniversay objective is to achieve a ‘‘debt free’’ sta- Pacific Tribune Mezzanine No, 3 ‘ Ford Building 193 E, Hastings St, . the scientific progress in pro- tus, Unlike the Socreds, we don’t seek to hide our backlog of fin- ancial worries under a ‘‘con- . = tingent liabilities’? column, This is the ‘Challenge of #) 5 60’s’? and working men # women can only meet it to extent of their understanding # unity, something that can only! gotten in the columns of a fig" ing labor paper — never in! pages of the kept journals of M&] opoly, a Vancouver 4, B,C, In this 30th anniversary year of activity and celebration, there is an opportunity - for. every worker in B,C, to take part; as a patron, a guest, a worker for progress, To labor as a whole, the years ahead, what with the rapid ad- vance of automation, ‘‘cyberne- tics’’ and the computer system, are fraught with great problems, Of course they need not be, pro- viding the working people make In this it follows that the # Anniversary of the ‘Pad Tribune’? is also an_ hist] event for every worker see the path to peace, to working progress—to Socialism, Make the 30th Annivers the ‘*PT’’? YOUR starting for the final 35-years of the duction their servant, instead of a new weapon in the hands of monopoly for greater exploi- tation, enslavement, andthemass tury—when the goal of asoci poverty of joblessness, B.C, will have been att December 24, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag!