12 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 2nd Issue Feb. 1965 A FARCE THe Bennett mini-medicare Bill 36, now introduced in the Legislature, is an ingenious evasion of the Gov- ernment’s responsibilities for the health of the people - of the province. One thing it is not. It is not a comprehensive medi- care scheme such as urged by organized labour. It is not a plan to provide health services for those who need health care the most. 3 The Bill raises questions for which no answers are found in its provisions. For instance. The Government is willing to pay one half the premiums of those who paid no income tax the previous year. It will pay one-quarter of the premiums of those who were taxed for an income no greater than one thousand dollars the previous year. As the most of those who are not required to pay income tax are without adequate subsistence, how does paying half the premiums help? How can those with nothing pay one half of anything? These are the people who need medicare the most. Our political tycoons have little understanding of the many distressing problems which face many work- ers. When medical care is required it is usually re- quired immediately. A worker may have had a taxable. income last year but little or no income this year due to lay-offs or unemployment. Just how is he expected to pay even half of the premiums to keep himself and his family enrolled under the scheme during a bad year? If a worker is unfortunate enough to be an unem- ployed employable on social assistance, why should he be taxed under the government-sponsored scheme to pay for medical care out of his meagre social assistance allowance, provided in any event out of the public treasury? Since it is reasonable to expect that the chief carrier will be MSI, now in control of the medical profession, what assurance exists to make sure that the schedule of medical fees is not raised to make premiums too high? lf this happens with MSI, what assurance exists that the doctors will not then insist upon re-negotiating a higher schedule of fees for MSA, over the protests of the union members of MSA. Bill 36 provides rather broad provisions under which it is stated that the pooling of risks will be facilitated. Trade unionsts may well ask whether this is a devious method by which private insurance companies may get aid from the fund for poor risks. Will the private, profit- making companies be enabled to screen their applica- tions in order to lower premiums for good risks and thereby force up the premiums for the poorer risks re- ferred to the government-sponsored scheme? Bill 36 states that insurance carriers, operating on a non-profit basis, must accept, “new applicants for cover- age during at least three months in the year without restrictions.” Why just for three months? If such an application should be accepted for three months, why discriminate against the applicants for the balance of the year. We ask just how will this condition affect members of MSA, if the Association should decide to enter the plan? A RANT Tred WESTERN CANADIAN i twice month! <>? Publishes ATIONAL, WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, > tern dian Regional Council No. 1. Affiliated with AFL-CIO-CLC pose Me Seneial Orive, Vancouver, B.C. Phone 874-5261 eve. Grant MacNeil as the official publication of the oe Eaiter ....__._.- _.... Pat Kerr Business Manager... —-~------ Fred Fieber Advertising Representative —....-—... .... G. A. Spencer ‘orwarded to every member of the IWA in Western Canada in pe oleae with convention decisions. Subscription rate for non-members Pinobined as Second Class Mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa, f t in cash. and for payment 1.500 ue printed in this issue. Where Are The Crooks? By JACK MOORE THERE was only one answer for the absurd insinuations made by Ormond Turner in The Vancouver Province that six unnamed trade unions conspired to elect NDP mem- bers fraudulently. It was “put up or shut up.” - In order to clear the good name of our Union which “| could be smeared by infer- -{ ence, I brought the charge to *>} the attention of Tommy Doug- | las, M.P., Leader of the New ' Democratic Party. It was the , reason for his motion de- j manding an enquiry. He a\ acted promptly and read my “\- letter to him into Hansard. THIS IS WHAT I SAID: Please find enclosed a press clipping from The Vancouver Province of February 22, 1965, written by one Ormond Turner in which he, by inference accuses trade unions in the province of British Columbia of con- spiring to elect fradulently members of the New Democratic Party. I am alarmed at these accusations because our union, the International Woodworkers of America, being the largest in the province of British Columbia having a social and political policy at this time of supporting the New Democratic Party, and because our policy is so well known to the general public may be tainted by these innuendoes and accusations. If any unions did indeed conspire to fraud- ulently elect anyone I would like to know what unions and which officers did such con- spiring. If there is any truth—which I sin- cerely doubt—in these accusations, then it is only fair that the public and the government know who and which organizations are in- volved. It is quite true that there may be dupli- cations of some of our members in federal elections; but this would come about mainly among their transient loggers who could be resident in one of the Vancouver ridings but who at the time of an election gets a call for work in one of the up-coast logging opera- tions and, as there is no absentee voting in federal elections, must either register in the up-coast camp and vote in that riding or be denied a vote. We have always encouraged our members to vote, regardless of who they wish to vote for. If it can be proven that someone has cast a ballot in a Vancouver riding under the name of an IWA member who legitimately votes in an up-coast riding, then I for one want to know who would perpetrate such an unscrupulous act and on whose behalf it was done. We in the IWA have long recognized that democracy can only work if the people elected to represent various ridings are elected by the majority of votes legitimately cast on their behalf; and we will strongly deplore any individual or group in society who would at- tempt to rig elections — whether they be un- ion elections, federal, provincial or municipal elections. Because of the fact that Trade Unions have been accused in public of nefarious deeds and because of the fact that. so much is at stake, I would request that you do what- ever you can to have this whole matter turned over to the proper authorities so that either the culprits (if they exist) are exposed by name, or these scurrilous accusations are pub- licly laid to rest.” VERY trade unionist will welcome the judicial investigation which resulted when the issue was aired in the House of Commons. The enquiry will now be con- ducted by Mr. Justice Nemetz. I am confident that the good name of trade unions will be cleared on the charges of cor- rupt practices at the polls. The Federal Gov- ernment should accept responsibility for its faulty methods of registering voters.