iia . a ACROSS CANADA Clamp down on film violence TORONTO — A committee of the Ontario legislature has said the federal government should tighten up the criminal code to stop the depiction of women and children as sexual objects or the victims of abuse in films. Current code provisions are too narrow the committee said and should be broadened to include violence and cruelty that are not related to sex. Manitoba Crow fight falters WINNIPEG — The defeat of Blakeney’s New Democratic Government in Saskatchewan has taken the pressure off their cousins in Manitoba to fight for retention of the Crow Rate. The Saskatchewan party had made the Crow, which allows farmers to ship their grain below costs, a major plank in their election plat- form. Manitoba had just got around to tabling a motion on the Crow’s retention, April 23, two days before the Saskatchewan party was reduced to seven seats in the legislature. Manitoba Transport Minister Sam Uskiw ts now talking about taking a ‘‘flexible’’ position on the issue and recommends waiting until a federal appointed study brings down its findings. No facts until RCMP ‘safe’ says Kaplan OTTAWA — Solicitor-General Robert Kaplan will make pub- lic the six chapters on police wrong-doings he removed from the proceedings of the McDonald Commission but not until he was | sure there would be no prosecution of the force by provincial governments. Kaplan said he will wait until all current cases against the force are ended and all possible prosecution attempts have been aban- doned. Quebec is the only province with proceedings against the force for its part in stealing Parti Quebecios membership lists in the early seventies. No-confidence motion over Suncor TORONTO — A no-confidence motion over the Davis government's $650-million purchase of 25% of Suncor shares was defeated in the Ontario legislature May 11. The motion followed a study released the previous week which accused the government of paying double the value for the shares. The majority government survived the vote 66-46. The motion accused the government of mishandling of public funds and showing contempt for the legislature by failing to disclose details of the transaction. Citizens obligated to act Litton defendants argue TORONTO — The unique defence being pre- sented by 21 persons charged with trespass from events arising out of a demonstration last Nov. 11 at Litton Industries has raised the issues involved a long way from simple trespass charges. The defendants, members of the Toronto-based Cruise Missile Conversion Project, were arrested during a demonstration at Litton at which they were objecting to that company’s production of the guidance system for the new American Cruise mis- sile. Long before deciding to demonstrate at the plant, Charles Roach, lawyer for several of the defendants told the Tribune, efforts had been made by them to discuss the matter with Litton. Despite letters and a visit to the plant, nothing was achieved. Then followed a period of leafietting outside the plant in an attempt to convince employees that military production was both economically and politically counterproductive. **The decision to take direct action and demon- strate,’ Roach said, ‘“‘was consciously taken to bring the issues out in a public way.”’ (The Nov. 11 picket has since been followed by another Easter weekend and more persons charged with trespass — Ed.) In presenting their case, the defendants are argu- ing, under Section 27 of the Criminal Code which states, ‘every one is justified in using as much force as is reasonably necessary ‘*(a) to prevent the commission of an offence (ii) that would be likely to cause immediate and serious injury to the person or property of anyone; or *“*(b) to prevent anything being done that, on reasonable and probable grounds he believes would, if it were done, be an offence mentioned in paragraph (a).”” Other sections of Canadian law dealing with the manufacture of explosive devices have been intro- duced. In addition, international law and moral law have been cited, experts called and quoted to argue Demonstrator is arrested outside Litton plant. the defendants were Justified in taking action t prevent the commission of a crime. The result has been to transform what was origi nally a simple trespass trial into one where th issues of the legality of weapons’ production, mo! ality of nuclear war and the obligation of citizenst prevent the commission of the world’s bigges potential crime from happening are being raised. As the trial progresses it became necessary, a cording to the defence, to hear expert testimot from Litton executive personnel and they wel subpoenaed. However, rather than appear, . company’s lawyers arrived arguing the subpoen@ constituted invasion of business privacy af harassment. A decision on this matter is expecte from the Ontario Supreme Court in June. foe International Focus Tom Morris Jingoism — the refuge of scoundrels An ugly spinoff of Britain’s war against Argentina is the hysteria whipped up by the British media — open hatred, shrill patriotism — in short, jingoism. ‘ The term itself is part of British imperial history and de- rived from the Turco-Russian war (1877-78) when super pat- riots, supporting British back- ing of Turkey would sing: “We don't want to fight, but, by jingo, if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money, too.” And here we are, 104 years later, viewing a jingoistic spec- . tacle where a Bnitish Broad- casting Corporation program which aired the views of three MPs critical of Thatcher's policies are called ‘todious and subversive’’ in the Commons. The BBC is accused of *‘not standing up for our boys’” by Thatcher and the program call- ed “a treasonable offense’’ by the National Viewers and / Listeners Association. The BBC evidently should have followed Britain’s gutter press with headlines like *““Gotcha’” when the General Belgrano was sunk carrying with it hundreds of Argentine sailors. These vultures love this war. Their front pages, in mile high type, proclaim: ‘‘Ar- gie plane downed”’ to the de- light of their circulation departments and the bigots. . A BBC spokesman tries to respond arguing, ** photos of Argentine widows alongside British widows for fear of appearing unpatriotic is ignoble at least. The widow of Portsmouth is no different from the widow of Buenos Aires ...’” But the wolves are in full cry and such arguments won't satisfy the bloodlust. Least Canadians believe we're immune to such exces- ses, the ugliness spilled over last week in Toronto. Under bomb threats the city’s Board of Education voted to 16-4 to of Lou Grant. ducts dropped its sponsorship Their point, of course, is to defend the scuttling by the § to supress- remove the name * Argentina” from one public school. ‘‘It’s a slap in the face to Argentina,”’ said the trustee who drafted the motion. God help these defenders of our patriotic purity had Canada opposed the British ac- tion — the city has schools named after three Earls, two Dukes, one King, two Lords and two Queens, plus numer- ous British military and politi- cal figures. Stifling dissent the American way While no one has yet stood up at the U.S. House or Senate to accuse Ed Asner of treason, the popular star of the Lou Grant series has felt America’s special variety of jingoism. In the traditions of McCar- thyism, Asner is feeling the lash for. daring to stand up against his country’s policy in El Salvador. The organized right in the U.S., which boasted its sophisticated com- puter campaign had elected Reagan, whirred into gear to get Asner. Not being elected to office, he couldn’t be beaten at the polls — but he could be cancel- led. The break came when Kimberly Clark, makers of Kleenex and other paper pro- The message is clear, as clear as it was during—the Hollywood witchhunts when actors, directors, writers and producers were denied a liveli- hood and jailed because of their ideas. There are many ways to shut down criticism. It's important to recall that the witchhunts and persecu- tion carried out for 30 years by the.U.S. House Unamerican Activities Committee against persons who committed no crimes but held different view- points could not have taken place outside a climate of fear, hatred and orchestrated anti- communism. In an updated sense the ef- fort to ‘‘get Ed Asner’’ is mod- ern McCarthyism. Supporters to Ed Asner’s right to voice his opinions are ~ being asked-to add their weight | to reverse the decision to can- cel the Lou Grant series in the 1981-82 CBS line-up. If you oppose such blacklisting, you should say so: write to Mr. Wil- liam Piley, CBS-TV, 51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY, 10019, USA. ‘Fatal flaw’ in SALT-2? ““SALT-2 is dead’’, says Alexander Haig. ‘‘It’s fatally flawed,’ offers his boss, » Ronald Reagan. U.S. of a treaty worked out §f over six years by the USSR ff with American representatives Jj of three administrations — Re- publican and Democrat. The Treaty was then initialled by § both states. The USSR sub- sequently ratified it but U.S. ratification has been held up by the U.S. Senate since 1979. If there’s one way to pro- nounce SALT-2 ‘‘dead’’, it’s simply to refuse to ratify the pact even though you worked -it out and agreed to its pro- . Visions. The ‘‘fatally flawed’ pro- nouncement isn’t hard to understand. SALT-2’s ‘‘flaw”’ is that it would prevent exactly the dramatic arms build-up, complete with new missile sys- tems, that the United States has launched. Even the Reagan administration couldn’t sign the treaty and launch its arms escalation at One and the same time. Many voices are now being heard for SALT-2 ratification in the U.S., including those of the defence secretaries of the former Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. Peace is becoming the major concern uniting many people. But it’s clear that Reagan and Haig (and MacGuigan) will have to be dragged kicking and screaming toward this realiza- tion. ’