RICHARDSON HAILS TRIDENT By MAURICE RUSH Canada’s defence minister ‘James Richardson, in statements Made during his visit to Vancouver last Saturday, hailed the building Of the Trident sub base at Bangor, Washington, and endorsed the U.S. huclear first strike strategy. He told a press conference that the Canadian government will _ Make no protest to the U.S. over _ the location of the base, now being built about 100 miles south of ' Vancouver. He went further by _ being the first Canadian govern- _ ment spokesman to officially _ Welcome building of the Trident _ Sub base. ~ Until now, the official Canadian ~ 60vernment position has been that it is none of Canada’s business where the U.S. decides to build its ~ Military establishments on U.S. ' territory. Richardson told the Press conference: ‘‘I believe a Friday, March 5, 1976 ones strong Trident capability is a deterrent to war. Therefore the building of the base, whereever it is built, helps deter war.”’ Richardson also supported the U.S. position by approving a nuclear first strike under certain circumstances. The building of the Trident sub base with its deadly subs capable of reaching almost any corner of the world with new type missiles aimed at destroying another country’s nuclear retaliatory force, is the major weapon being developed by the U.S. military for a pre-emptive, or first strike capability. The decision by the U.S. to go ahead with the Trident program represented a major shift in U.S. policy towards building up a new family of nuclear weapons with a first strike capability. This policy shift was brought about by former JAMES RICHARDSON ... defends U.S. first strike strategy. U.S. defence secretary James Schlesinger and is being continued by the Pentagon and the USS. government. This is best exem- plified in the Trident program. The Trident submarine system is both qualitatively and quan- titatively a major escalation of the nuclear arms race. The 12 subs, each of which will be 550 feet in length and four stories high, will carry 4,032 independently-targeted warheads with the latest ultra- sophisticated MARV missiles. The Trident subs, when operational, will represent almost one half of the total nuclear arsenal of strategic warheads, and give the U.S. a first strike capability with a weapon widely described as the “doomsday weapon.” The Trident program and first strike nuclear strategy has been under sharp fire in the U/S. Congress and by peace spokesmen around the world. If gone ahead with, as the U.S. appears deter- mined to do, it will usher in a whole new stage in the strategic nuclear arms race, which poses severe dangers to the whole world. Despite efforts by the Soviet Union to implement the Vladivostok Agreement to put a cap on the nuclear arms race, cold war advocates in the U.S. have pressed for the development of the Trident and other sophisticated nuclear weapons to give the U.S. the nuclear edge and the capability to knock out the Soviet Union or any other country with one nuclear strike. Failure to stop the escalation of strategic nuclear weapons such as Trident exposes humanity to grave dangers, and increases the arms See OTTAWA, pg. 12 ea OR ee Oe fe ee ew A, ‘te The historic 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, shown here in session in Moscow, is ®XPected to wind up this week. See stories on page 10. —Tass photo 7 aes The B.C. Federation of Labor 8nd the Concerned Citizens ~“SSociation of B.C. have an- _ Nounced plans for a citizens’ lobby Which will visit Victoria on March 8, the second day of the upcoming _ 88islative session. The lobby will include representatives of the “8bor movement as well as "epresentatives of citizens’ groups Tom throughout the province and ill meet with all 55 MLAs on the Morning of the 18th. Orm Black, spokesman for the Concerned Citizens’ Association Said that the lobby will encompass Toad spectrum of the populace _ “nd will consist of representatives ‘ of a whole number of non-political Community groups. “We plan on Meeting with each MLA. in ‘€presentative groups of three or Sur and will explain public op- position to the ICBC increases and discuss alternatives to the government’s action,”’ he said. Black said that following the morning lobbying of MLAs~ the delegation will present signed petitions protesting the insurance rate increases to a meeting of the joint opposition. He said that the meeting with the joint opposition will include members of the Liberal and Conservative caucuses as well as from the official op- position, the NDP. “Since the provincial govern- ment refused to accept our petitions on February 13 when we were in Victoria, we will present them to the opposition on March 18,’ Black said. He was unable to say how the opposition will put the petitions to use in the legislature. - Black said that there have been over 210,000 signatures collected in opposition to the ICBC rate in- creases to date and that ‘‘ad- ditional signed petitions were arriving daily.” “This Saturday -we will be mounting a major petitioning campaign, and we will have people in every community in the province collecting signatures for presentation to the opposition on March 18,”’ Black said. He explained that a large number of people have not yet renewed their car insurance for 1976..‘‘The latest information we have indicates that there are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 700,000 insurance policies which have not yet been renewed.” He rejected government claims See ICBC LOBBY, pg. 12 A»call-.on-.the. Canadian. Labor Congress to give consideration to a national work stoppage as well as a request that the B.C. Federation of Labor organize demonstrations in this province to coincide with the CLC rally in Ottawa, was voiced by delegates to the Vancouver Labor Council Tuesday amidst growing demands for more demonstrative action against. the Liberal government’s wage control program. The council’s action came in response to a number of letters presented to the meeting including one from the CLC reminding delegates of the Congress sub- mission to the federal cabinet scheduled for March 21 and urging all affiliated federations, labor councils and local unions to par- ticipate in the mass rally on Parliament Hill called for the same day. “This meeting,’’ Fishermen’s delegate George Hewison told the council, ‘“‘is probably the most important meeting in the history of the Canadian Labor Congress. “T’m going to raise it in my union and I hope every union will do the same,” he said. Tuesday’s meeting echoed the demands being voiced in several quarters of the trade union movement that the leadership. of the Congress and the Federation move beyond the issues at the bargaining table and map out a program toforce withdrawal of the wage control legislation. “There has been little action in this province other than the distribution of information materials,” said UFAWU delegate Homer Stevens. “The time has come to take action,”’ he deciared. ‘‘Union after -union is being held down or rolled back. It’s time to fight not only fer the right. to free collective bargaining but also to defeat the controls. “But it has to be a_ national campaign,” he emphasized. ‘Earlier, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers had submitted a letter calling on the B.C. Federation of Labor or organize a demonstration March 21 in con- junction with the CLC meeting in Ottawa. Not satisfied with the council executive’s decision merely to ‘‘receive and file’ and contact the Federation as to its course of- action, delegates unanimously, passed an. amend- ment urging that the Federation move immediately organize such a demonstration and, failing that, See LABOR, pg. 12 Mark women’s day Sunday International Women’s .Day, March 8, which was born out of the struggle for equality for women, weekend in countries around the world. will be celebrated this coming Coming at a time when the struggle for equality is reaching a new high following last year’s celebration of International Women’s Year, this year’s celebrations will signal the-beginning of a Decade of Action for women’s rights proclaimed by the United Nations. In Vancouver, International Women’s Day will be celebrated at a rally on Sunday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m. at the Dogwood Room in the B.C. Building at the PNE. Featured speakers will be Rosemary Brown, MLA. an outspoken advocate for women’s equality; and Professor Hannah Polowy, an expert in child care who recently visited the Soviet Union to study their child care program. The program will include entertainment and an international bake sale and refreshments.