pertewnee tees hewly-found “i (at Political EPIC)p Ideas in Can- Tce : Feder of Magnuson, Ontario Communi Partic: nmunist Party, ul foun bated in the May 23- eC j Pic Sronto, believes that tion to Be a useful contri- q country € political life of thi ae te EPIC has potentiali- 1% of ee in a great num- Singin ellectuals and many i ; ae Iticians, not on the tT a fr ee ectific action, but 5 a €eling exchange of ee told the Cana- , Panag; 4 dt 'ans need to talk more at biti the More on issues af- “y Clans > the Meech ’ . on't discuss issues Mclined to make t Seay ae think will get are it Ep : Ve, it cetains its stated ob- Mat a yan Stimulate discus- ive a level, and play a Politic M the intellectual al life of Canada.” Pemocratic Party MP, és = is president of a. federal leader- Tr, is apparently Tan O8es Sut the aims and in. has rs the organization, S that wed a directive stat- Ee Party members aking part in its an an (o) n ts 5 an Q Ee) “< ~ a _ 5 Qa = iy 4, vat th that aed obviously fears fyi the’ Which voted 71-70 In” the , Words “left wing” Hes in th scription of the * Nally © constitution, will 1. ™ the brome an append- ig iberal Party. "Was expressed clear- a, - A. Doull in intro- Bates foynaendment (which be pict Unacceptable) to Ocr members as “so- ats.” Doull said: f oy 38 from suggesting of & the board of gov- U2 cay, Cae conspiring », tal ae alliance with the 7h, Ver Y. All the same it hy, 8h see happen that ai) tom much _ talent : neutrality or the iberal Party.” Ee hf AA 4 right? ion Y the Tribune to com- ght, ae fears of a drift to uce Magnuson stat- tha é iY ct is too early yet Patio, At. EPIC’s political * Ng be. President Bice ee believes it will I] \'S0na) VINE orientation. pinion is that sev- Vy, poses are adopting iy “Ss Sectarian attitude teader boycott by Ontario a Seye ronald MacDonald atic ee group in ¥ i es "8 conference at Hart e . Nation. Most of our - association with View of the founding convention of EPIC held in Toronto recently. “It seems to me that a boy- cott of the proceedings was not the most constructive approach. By becoming a part of EPIC they could exert greater in- fluence. “J would like to see more participation by members of the labor movement in the type of discussions sponsored by EPIC. I might add that the founding conference was conducted in a ‘most democratic manner—even to the point of some organiza- tional looseness. It was a re- freshing experience.” The conference at Hart House adopted a draft constitution and a statement of aims and pur- poses. It was decided that EPIC will be an individual member- ship organization—an article in the draft constitution which would have allowed corporate membership was deleted. The “Aims and Purposes” statement, as amended, reads: “Exchange is committed to the study, discussion and propaga- tion of facts and ideas which might be helpful to foster change in the social and political life of Canada. “It is the objective of Ex- change therefore to bring into each other those Canadians who wish to place at the service of their so- ciety their experience, talent and training in the arts, humanities and sciences—this not for per- sonal enrichment or advance- ment of themselves but for the enrichment and advancement of the political life of Canada. “Recognizing that such Cana- dians describe themselves vari- ously as liberals, or progres- sives, or radicals, or socialists, and do not necessarily support the same political parties; and recognizing further that some Canadians prefer to remain in- dependent of any political party or descriptive label; it is the pol- icy of Exchange to remain in- dependent of any formal affilia- tion with any political party to which its members belong. “Exchange does not itself cor- porately advocate political ideas or policies but serves as a ve- hicle for the expression of ideas.” The people elected to lead EPIC are: President, Douglas Fisher, M.A., MP (librarian and journalist); Vice-president, Pau- line Jewett, Ph.D., MP (political scientist); Treasurer, Mark Mac- Guigan, Ph.D. (professor of law.) The 10 directors are: Rev. Swithun Bowers, Ottawa (priest and sociologist); Robert S. W. Campbell, B.A., LLB, Toronto (barrister); John Harney, M.A., Guelph (professor of English); Walter Pitman, M.A., Peterboro (teacher of history); John Rich, M.D., Ph.D., Toronto (professor of psychiatry); Terry Russell, M.A., Montreal (lecturer in eco- nomics); Hon. Maurice Sauve, M.A., MP, Montreal (Ministry of Forestry); Ed Schreyer, M.A., MLL., Winnipeg (lecturer in po- litical science); Andrew Thomp- son, M.S.W., MPP, Toronto (so- cial worker); Walter Young, M.A., Vancouver (lecturer in po- litical science). fel debate Opening address at the Hart House conference was given by Dr. Frank Underhill on “The Role of the Democratic Left in the Crisis of Confederation.” It resulted in a lively exchange of views. “Quebec’s ‘quiet revolution’ is in the forefront of the fight to block the U.S. takeover of Can- ada,” said Andre Saumere, re- search director of the Ford Foundation-sponsored Council on Urban and Regional Research. “English Canada cannot easily defend itself against ‘insidious attacks’ from south of the bor- der because it reads U.S. papers and books and watches WSs LV: programs,” he continued. Warning that he had harsh remarks for English-speaking Canadians to hear, Saumere said Dr. Frank Underhill, one of the keynote speakers, is shown at right. . Quebec is no longer satisfied just defending its language and Catholic faith but must express itself on the full spectrum. of economic and cultural rights. The most extreme opposition to this view came from Alexan- der Wittenberg, York University professor, who held the opinion that French Canada had “blown up” its differences. This, he con- tended, was done to cover up the real issue—its inadequate educational system. Wittenberg said Quebec schools and universities “have made a mess of French culture” and stated that a teacher who dared to.criticize the system was “exiled” to France. (This reference was to Brother Jerome whose criticism of the education system was made in a pamphlet under the pen name of Frere Untel—Brother So and So). Wittenberg said the demon- strative, effigy-burning students took no action when this teach- ing brother was exiled by reli- gious authorities. Edward Scheyer (NDP-MLA, Brokenhead, Man.), University of Manitoba political science teacher, said Quebec was insist- ing that economic factors must have primacy, and that this was philosophically the Marxist po- sition. While agreeing with Quebec in its demand for special cul- tural and linguistic rights, Sche- yer said he could not readily understand her demand for full fiscal and economic power from Ottawa. During the discussion several delegates made references to a “Manifesto for the Nation” drawn up by a group of young French Canadians last month. The seven authors of this docu- ment, issued under their own signatures in the name of “The Committee For Political Real- ism,” projected this viewpoint: “We believe in federalism as a political structure for Canada. . . . But, one thing is certain: Will it stir up political thinking? Ne Weer FUTURE has_ the ed Exchange the kind of haphazard political expediency which has inspired so many sharing schemes and federal subsidies for so long has got to stop.... “In those domains which the Constitution has given to the jurisdiction of both Ottawa and the provinces, it is evident that plans must be developed jointly. Sharing could also be introduced if necessary by constitutional amendment in cases where the establishment of joint plans would permit the population to benefit from important external economies. . “Whatever may be the divi- sion of responsibilities between the provinces and the central authority, each must have a share of fiscal powers in pro- portion to the duties entrusted to it by the Constitution.” Delegates also referred on several occasions to an article by David Levy which appeared in Saturday Night, June, 1964, in which he said: “As 1 see it, it is no longer a question of compromise. Que- bec will not compromise. She has already taken the bit be- tween her teeth in the chase for total economical and fiscal con- trol.” ‘Local branches EPIC’s constitution provides for the setting up of local and regional branches, which ‘‘shall hold meetings, lectures, discus- sion groups, conferences and summer schools; promote re- search into political, economic and social problems, domestic and international; publish books, pamphlets and periodicals; and pursue other activities as may from time to time seem desir- able.” Such a program should add /yeast to the heavy dough of Canadian politics, and encour- age more thinking Canadians to take an active part in the poli- tical life of our country. June 12, 1964 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5