itn 4 Wee iD LY Ae ian j BIF4- 303 a a trace Vol. 7. No. 9 Vancouver, B.C., Friday, February 27, 1948 ese 25 Five Cents Prices petition snowballs PRESSURE ON GOV'T VITAL, SAYS COLDWELL The campaign for 200,000 Signatures on a petition de- manding return of price controls at 1946 levels now under way throughout the province will be highlighted by a prices conference to be held Monday, March 8, in Pender Auditor- tum here, it was announced this week by Mrs, Marion Parkin, secretary of the B.C. Housewives’ Consumer Association. Conference calls are now being sent out to trade unions, pensioners’, veterans’ and other organizations, “Every one is concerned about prices. Our idea in call- ing the conference is to give organized expression to the general protest so that the government will be forced by the very strength of public demand to take action,” Mrs. Parkin stated this week. Food from Russia — ® The stevedores shown here are running their hands through a cargo of grain which recently arrived in London from the Soviet Union following con- clusior of a master trade ag- reement exchanging British machinery for the Russian foodstuffs so urgently needed in Britain, Left-wing Labor and Communist leaders have long urged expansion of British trade with the Soviet Union and the new democracies of eastern Europe as a means of solving Britain’s economic difficulties. Now Harry Pollitt, secretary of the Communist Party, and others are pointing out the contradiction between the La- ‘bor government’s economic pol- icy and its political attitude to- wards the Soviet Union. By its adherence to the Marshall plan, the Labor government is re- stricting the trade opportunities which would enable it to oppose American domination, Harry Pollitt, it was announced this week, will be making a tour of Canada in April, The Housewives’ Consumer Association is also holding a rally this Friday, February 27, 8 p.m., in Pender Audi- torium, to voice its protest against the proposal to add an- other two cents a quart to the price of milk. Indicative of the enthusiastic response to the petition reported by canvassers everywhere are the completed forms already turned in by the IWA hiring hall here. Within a few days they were signed by 1,365 people. Petition forms have been widely distributed by most of the unions and thousands of signatures are being collected at union meetings and on the job. The stack of completed forms at the 9 East Hastings Street headquarters of the B.C. Housewives’ Consumer (Continued on page 4) See PETITION © Byelections show By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH VICTORIA, B.C. — Re- turns from Monday’s_ by- elections in Saanich and Car- iboo were being keenly scrut- inized by political analysts - of all parties in the capital this week to discover what they foretell for the next pro- vincial election. Premier “Boss” Johnson and all Coalition spokesmen hailed the results with jubil- ation, But study of the fig- ures indicates little justifica- tien for their reading into the results the conclusion that the Coalition can carry the next provincial election. In Saanich, where the ’ LPP campaigned actively in support of the CCF and sev- etal unions declared sharply against the Coalition, the government’s majority was cut by 25 percent. There the vote was: Ar- thur Ash, Coalition, 5621; Colin Cameron, CCF, 4156; A. J. Jukes, Social Credit, 535; Thomas Nixon, Indep- endent Farmer-Labor, 192; W. R. Smith, Democrat, 38. In the 1945 provincial elec- tion the vote was: Norman Whittaker, Coalition, 5414; Martin Neilson, CCF, 3431; J. MacQueen, Independent Conservative, 275; F. White, LPP, 239. The straight fight in Car- iboo between the Coalition and the CCF gave both par- ties an increased vote, but the margin between them was unchanged, Walter Hogg, Coalition obtaining 1746 votes, with 42 of 47 polls reported, and Charles A. Thomas, his CCF oppon- ent, 1368 votes. In 1945 the vote was: Louis Lebourdais, Coalition, 1370; Charles A. Thomas, CCF, 995, Nevertheless, the outcome in Cariboo, where the CCF increased its vote 37 percent Sees gov’t losing support “The greatly increased CCF vote in Saanich and Cariboo clearly reflects the growing op- position of the anti-labor, price gouging policies of the Johnson- Anscomb government,” Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, stated this week. “That these two constituencies long known as Coalition strongholds should be won by such a small margin in face of wild, unprimcipled Co- alition promises, the concentra- tion of cabinet ministers and the complete unanimity of the reac- tionary forces indicates what can be done with a fully united pro- gressive camp at the polls,” he said, “The Coalition win fully sub- stantiates the correctness of the LPP’s recent estimation of our electoral problems, and under- lines the urgency of unity of ac- tion at the polls as the only means of turning the tide against reaction,” he stated. “It is unfortunate,” Morgan added, “that certain CCF spokes- Men fell into the Coalition’s trap of making the issue the differ- ence between social democratism and communism instead of bring- ing out the serious grievances of our people against the Coali- tion’s big business program. Un- doubtedly this, together with the fact that progressive forces were mot fully united contributed to the Coalition’s narrow win.” CCF can win to the Coalition’s 27 percent, indicated that the govern- ment’s popular support is shrinking, In Saanich the loss of votes was not sufficient to change the result. But there afte several constituencies where a proportionate loss would upset the sitting Coal- ition member. : The progressive gains in Saanich were achieved in face of a powerful Coalition campaign headed by eight cabinet ministers and high- lighted by red-baiting and unprincipled promising of roads and other local patron- age. The Coalition machine had voters on every street and road listed as to how they ~ would -certainly or probably vote. Fleets of Coalition cars covered the constituency throuchout the twelve hours (Continued on page 4) See VOTE