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Vaheaiver British Columbia, January 11,

1952

Bas: on way out?

LIBERAL SPLIT HASTENS

PARIS

fe unites Nations Informa-
Partment at New York

wg a an official protest to
a editor of Collier’s
er fhe nh “unauthorized use
by this nited Nations emblem
rea . magazine.” Collier’s car-
notor a cover. of its now
imaginary Ssue devoted to an
preview of a third

Td war th
Saas € picture .of an
Uoctican soldier with the

felme. Nations emblem on his

(The Britj
unci]
its seor,

ish Columbia Peace
» Over the signature ‘of
etary, Ray Gardner, was

he first organizations
Nations . protest to the United

Th
© French journalists’ sec-

Gardner makes
Provincial four

Bc,
- Ray ae Council secretary
rdner is now on a tour

8ncouver Isl
ior Points, and and Inter-

hi

1s Island itinerary is: Camp-
Nay, . a January 9: Courte-
Tange Uaty 11-12: Nanaimo,
Gey 13; Lake Cowichan,

15; Victoria, January

‘

aentati
Ve dates for Interior
“etings are;

Kamloops, Jan-
any Armtrn Arm, January
rene; January 29;
January 30; Kelowna,
2 Trail - Rossland,
on Kimberley, Feb-
ie. Copper Mountain,

tion of the General Confedera-
tion of Labor (‘CGT) ‘has issued
a statement hailing the United
Nations’ gesture as “a victory
for international opinion.” The
statement points out that the
International Journalists’ Union
was among the organizations to
protest to the UN through Dr.
Luis Padilla Nervo, president
of the ‘General Assembly.' Mis-
use of the UN emblem by Col-
lier’s was drawn to the atten-
tion of the International Jour-
nalists’ Union by the Telepress
agency.

In Britain, a distinguished list
of° British writers, journalists
and others denounced Collier’s
warmongering issue.

By HAL GRIFFIN

The leaders of British Columbia’s Liberal
party emerged from acrimonious executive ses-
sions this week unable to conceal the fact that
they are seriously split on continuation of coali-
tion government with. the Conservative party,
two of whose MLA’s have already bolted the
Coalition.

It has long been agreed between the leaders
of the two parties that when the time comes
the Coalition will be dissolved, the agreement
governing nominations will be torn up and each
party will again present its candidates to the
people under its own banner. Legislation to
introduce the single transferable vote, by which

both parties hope to win the majority in the next
legislature, was placed on the statute books at
the last session and needs only proclamation to
become law.

Until now the question thas been how long the
Coalition would be continued. Now the question
is whether the Coalition can be continued.

rOver the past two years the struggle between
the two parties for narrow political advantage has
been mounting. There has been pressure upon
provincial Liberal leaders from federal Liberal
leaders to break the Coalition. There has been
increasing restiveness among provincial Liberal
associations which felt that the Conservatives
were deriving the main advantage from the Coali-
tion. And, on the Conservative side, too, there
has been considerable dissatisfaction with the
Coalition, many Conservatives believing that their

COLLAPSE OF COALITION

UNsends protest
to Collier’s on
emblem misuse

party could obtain far more seats under its own
banner. -

Political developments over the period have
accentuated the differences, both between the two
parties and within their own ranks. In the 1950
Vancouver civic elections the Liberals succeeded
in replacing the Non-Partisan coalition Liberal,
Mayor ‘Charles Thompson, with the present “inde-
pendent” Liberal Mayor Fred Hume. A similar
attempt to substitute “independent” Liberal for
Non-Partisan Liberal aldermen in last month’s
election backfired when the “independent” Con-
servative ex-mayor E. C. Cornett took the seat.

In the legislature, two Conservative MLA’s,
W. C. Bennett and Mrs. Tillie Rolston, bolted the
Coalition last spring, shrewdly picking the gov-
ernment’s highly unpopular hospital insurance
policy as the issue on which to break, and Bennett
has since aligned himself with the aggressive
Social Credit party. In last year’s Esquimalt
byelection, party rivalry, expressed through “inde-
pendent” candidates, was a prime factor in de-
feating the official Coalition candidate.

These were the public expressions of the
growing political ferment within the Coalition
which exploded this week in the resignation of
Harry G. T. Perry, one-time speaker of the legis-
lature and a former minister of education, as
Liberal provincial president.

‘Perry’s statement that he resigned for reasons
of health deceived no one, and least of all those

who knew the part he played in organizing Liberal
opinion for breaking the Coali-

NORTH
ATLANTIC

TREATY
MENU

"WAITERS! MORE

tidn immediately.

A sharp exchange between
Premier Byron Johnson, who

Wai FODDER!"

accused Perry of “contorting”
his opening speech, and the pro-
vincial president, preceded
Perry’s stepping down. (Perry
had acidly commented: “I was
happy to learn of the grand
achievements of the Coalition
government but now that the
leader has taken all the credit
for it, I wonder what Anscomb
will take credit for?”)

Efforts of his supporters led
by Senator Gray Turgeon,
former Liberal MP for ‘Cariboo,
to dissuade Perry failed to
shake his decision. But he made
his position clear. “I am not
resigning from the Liberal
party,” he said.

Premier Johnson has succeed-

Continued on page 7
¢ See LIBERALS