New Westminster-Coquitlam Communist Party Fred Wilson (centre) talk over the campaign wi rty cand aby last May, as election returns come in Monday. Vote was ‘positive outcome for Canadi “Canada is geographically situated between the two superpowers, and Canada, like the rest of the world, _ is very interested in the preservation between these of peace powers...” : Communists have no illusions about Trudeau and the Liberals, Kashtan added, but the vote ‘‘in the circumstances, was a good out- come.” ‘“However as past experience demonstrates,’’ he continued, ‘‘Adaption of a capitalist govern- ment to peaceful coexistence does not end the struggle. Mass struggle is needed now to pressure the government to come out categorically against the U.S. boycott of the Olympics, and to restore full cultural and trade rela- tions with the Soviet Union.” The increased seats and marginally increased popular vote for the NDP is also a welcome development, the CP leader said. But Broadbent’s drift to the right on many issues, especially in foreign affairs, hurt the NDP, par- ticularly in Ontario. “In some cases, the Liberals appeared to be the left of the NDP,’’ Kashtan _ remarked, It seems that the NDP has been able to secure a strong base among raw material, primary industry workers in the West, but has failed to win grass roots support among workers in the Eastern manufac- turing sector. That dilemma needs - to be studied further, he said. The election outcome shows that twO major contradictions of serious Consequence to the country remain, he said. First, between English Canada and French Canada, and secondly between the industrial heartland in Central Canada and the West. __ The decimation of the Liberals in the West is not just an expression of Western alienation, he added, It is part and parcel of the breakaway from the old line parties to the NDP, and that is good.” The Communist vote remained stable, between 100 and 200 votes on the average, across the country..: But Kashtan said the party has every right to be proud of its cam- paign. ; ‘“‘The main feature of our cam- paign this year is that we were able to help influence the outcome of the election by focusing our cam- paign on the need to defeat. Toryism and the drive to the right. We, with the people, brought this about.” On the crucial question of foreign policy the CP played ‘‘a decisive role’’ in the campaign, he said, and was the only clear and consistent voice countering the cold war rhetoric of the other parties. In B.C., Communist Party cam- paign chairman Maurice Rush said that the party was pleased with the NDP gains in the province and hoped that the stronger NDP voice in Parliament will strenthen the fight against the sellout of the pro- vince’s resources. : Rush said that the CP can hold its head high after its campaign. The 10 Communist candidates in B.C. did an outstanding job and reached tens of thousands of peo- ple with the Party’s-program and policies he said. In spite of the small vote; the CP’s. impact on the campaign was undeniable, he added, particularly e Rod Doran (r) and Va th Eric Waugh, CP candidate in North Vancouver-Burn- ncouver East candidate an foreign policy with regard to the debate on foreign affairs. In five of the ten ridings where CP candidates were in the field, modest gains were registered over last May’s election, while in the other five the vote remained stable or receded slightly.’ Particularly gratifying was the more than doubled Communist vote in Van- couver Centre where Jack Phillips received 255 votes. A strong Com- munist vote was also polled once again in Comox -Powell River where Sy Pedersen received 298 votes. ; aK Other CP vote tallies were: Fred Wilson, Vancouver East, 179 votes; Bert Ogden, Vancouver Kingsway, 182 votes; Vi Swann, Surrey White Rock, 84 votes; Homer Stevens, Richmond South Delta, 172 votes; Jim Beynon, Mis- sion Port Moody, 150 votes; Ernie Knott, Cowichan Malahat Islands, 87 yotes; Rod Doran, New Westminster, 145 votes; Gary Swann, Nanaimo Alberni, 173 votes. ; Parliamentary standings after Monday’s vote are: Liberals, 146; Conservatives, 103; NDP, 32. One - seat remains to be filled in a byelec- tion. —SEAN GRIFFIN Herring fishermen deliver message Over 500 angry herring fisher- men marched on the offices of the federal fisheries department last Friday with a clear message for western regional director Wally Johnson that they will not accept the department’s proposed license plan for the 1980 herring roe fish- ery. The license plan, backed by the fishing companies and vessel own- ers, would force fishermen to pool licenses and share fishing oppor- tunities during this year’s fishing. But the fishermen reject the plan because it would continue the “‘rat race’ on the fishing grounds which has seriously diminished the her- ring stocks in past years. The entire west coast herring industry may be in jeopardy, they warn. ‘Friday’s march flowed out of a mass meeting in the Queen Eliza- beth Playhouse where about 700 fishermen, shoreworker and tend- ermen members of the Unitéd Fish- ermen and Allied Workers Union voted 90 per cent by secret ballot to reject the pooling plan. The meeting decided to take the ballot results directly to Johnson and a few minutes later about 100 from their ranks jammed into Johnson’s tenth floor office on West Pender St. in Vancouver. The vote by union fishermen on the license plan was in response to a select vote conducted by the fisher- ies department among 249 ‘‘anony- mous”’ license holders. That vote was condemned by the union which charged that the department had abdicated responsibility for management of the herring re- source to a small group of license holders. About 60 per cent of the li- censes are controlled directly by the major fishing companies. _ The fisheries department just isn’t listening to the views of 8,000 industry workers, UFAWU spokesman Bill Procopation told Johnson Friday. The pooling scheme will only add to the chaos on the fishing grounds as each boat would continue to grab all they can get when it held the license. And the scheme will allow large vessel owh- ers to grab the lion’s share of the catch, squeezing out others alto- gether. The union wants a per boat quota system, similar to that used in the herring food fishery. A per boat system would ensure that all fishermen get a share of the fishery and it will allow for strict manage- FISHERMAN PHOTO-ELIAS STAVRIDES ment of the total catch. The total catch is ultimately decisive. A catch of 150,000 tons three years ago is expected to dwindle to less than 30,000 tons this year. The confrontation with Johnson produced no commitment that the fisheries department will recon- sider its position on the pooling | scheme. But Johnson did reveal that Tory fisheries minister Jim McGrath refused to sign regula- tions making the pooling scheme law thus leaving the department without any method of enforce- ment for the plan. The defeat of the Tories at the polls this week has ad- ded more uncertainty to the issue. Johnson also admitted to the un- ion that only 170 of the license holders actually voted, and of them only 145 voted for the pooling plan. Monday, union business agent Bill Procopation charged that the fisheries department, unable to se- cure ministerial approval or in- dustry support for its license pool- ing plan, had abandonbed all at- tempts at management of the her- ring resource. ‘‘It appears that the department is now going to allow the free-for-all all of past years which got us into this mess to carry on again this year,’’ Procopation said. The UFA WU responded with a telegram to the minister of fish- eries demanding that Johnson be instructed to work out a proper herring management plan for 1980. WALLY JOHNSON .. . no com- mitment to reconsider. Labor, CU&C to fight dental fee hike The Vancouver and District Labor Council voted to demand that provincial health minister, Rafe Mair, draft legislation to regulate dental fees, joining with B.C.’s largest non-profit dental in- surer, CU&C, in a campaign to block the 12 percent dental fee hike - announced last week by the College of Dental Surgeons. : CU&C administers dental in- surance plans for 400,000 union members and dependents as pro- vided for in their collective — agreements. Dave Schreck, .CU&C’s manager, last week announced that CU&C would oppose the ‘‘ar- rogant and unilateral’’ decision by the college. Immediate actions taken by CU&C include a civil suit action and a request to the federal government to investigate the fee increases under the Combines Act. ‘As it stands now,’ Walt Jacobs, CU&C board member and Boilermaker’s Union secretary, said, ‘‘the dentists are answerable to no one. They are ripping us off, yet they aren’t accountable to the public.” Schreck estimated that the 12 percent increase is more likely to be between 23 and 25 percent when the increases in professional fees and lab fees are compounded with surcharges for amalgam fillings and gold work. ‘Although the fluctuating costs of silver and gold are not the fault of the dentists,” he said, “‘there is absolutely no rationalization for fee increases which are more than the rate of inflation.”’ Jacobs charged thef provincial. government with ‘‘sitting on their hands,”’ a charge which was rein- forced by Mair’s refusal to sit down with CU&C and discuss regulated fees last week. According to Shreck, Mair call- ed the problem ‘not our problem.’ “If we can’t meet him privately, then we’ll meet him publicly,” Bill Kessel of the Carpenters Union told the Tribune. Kessel also sits on CU&C’s board of directors. “This government should be go- ing into dental care, starting with those on fixed incomes like pen- sioners and children, and expan- ding from there,’’ Kessel said. Negotiating fee increases with the government has been the long- standing practice of the medical profession through the B.C. Medical Association. If the provincial government refuses to impose a negotiated fee schedule between the dentists and the government, or non-profit den- tal insurance companies, then den- -tal fee increases would be passed on to consumers. “People not covered by dental insurance plans will be hurt the most,”’ Jacobs said. ‘‘Fee increases will create havoc in unions because they will have to negotiate more money when. negotiations come up.” While CU&C plans to fight the increases, the other dental insurer of comparable size, MSA (Medical Services Association) isn’t plann- ing to take any action. MSA manager John Seney said that ‘‘any dental fee increases will be passed on to the consumer> depending on how each group has performed.”’ : He noted that it would, in most cases, ‘‘hurt the consumer.”’ CU&C has sought the support of the B.C. Federation of Labor. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 22, 1980—Page 3