@ Cont'd from page 5

petent to decide when and what
extent citizens are to be inform-
ed about the municipal adminis-
tration. He declared the several
blocks around La Presse to be
a “forbidden zone,” and that
no one was to meet, march or
congregate there.

To implement this Nero’s or-
ders, the city amassed: an army
of riot-equipped police and plac-
ed them in a “cordon sanitaire”
about the area.

The square in which the de-
monstrators assembled was a
sea of banners and cheering
workers. Music played from
sound trucks and the summery
temperatures made the evening
one of songs and good cheer.

Mingling with the crowds
could be seen Louis Laberge,
Marcel Pepin and Yvon -Char-
bonneau (presidents respective-
ly of the QFL, CNTU and CQT).
Michel Chartrand led a con-
tingent of construction workers.
The Port Council consisting of
longshoremen, teamsters and
seamen, carried a large banner.
Another huge banner was car-
ried by the building workers,
Local 298. CUPE workers form-
ed their own contingent.

Some of the placards read, ‘“‘A
man alone is a dead man,” an-
other said, “Capitalism equals
unemployment, socialism equals
work,” and still another, stated
succinctly, “Injunction equals
injustice.”

Each group of workers march-
ed under its own flag. Men from
Air Canada, Nordair and Que-
becair. Machinists from Domi-
nion Engineer and Vickers. Men
from Hupp, Fleetwood and Rolls
Royce.

The Pulp and Paper workers
marched with placards declar-
ing, “My daddy lost his job,” and
“Bourassa, you'll be unemploy-
ed.”

Fernand Daoust, executive
secretary of the QFL, linked
hands with the various leaders
to form.a human chain of more
than 30 men as the parade got
under way. Orderly and deter-
mined, the great press of thous-
ands streamed irresistibly down
the street to the “forbidden
zone.”

Overhead, helicopters darted
about like crazed mosquitos. On
the side streets, cops on motor-
cycles careened about like frust-
rated horse flies. Montreal had
never seen a night like this one.

The marchers continued to flow -

like lava downhill. Thousands
upon thousands they came, sing-
ing and chanting, while thous-
ands more on the balconies and
rooftops applauded or joined in.

Voices cried out, “Operation

“SURVIVAL IS ALL VERY WELL,
PLUNKETT... BUT 15 IT GOOD
FOR BUSINESS 2”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1971 PAGE 10°

anti-scab,” and others implored
bystanders to ‘join the -Quebe-
cois.”

But it was a night for the
workers. Overwhelmingly they
joined their voices in a common
roar of “jobs!”

At the bottom of the hill the
leaders reached the “forbidden
zone,” to be met by thousands
of plastic-visored, club-cluching
riot police arrayed behind steel
fence barricades.

Louis Laberge approached the
line and demanded the right to
pass.

He demanded the elementary
right for workers to march in
protest, and was refused. But
the hosts behind him were not
to be denied.

Finally Laberge scrambled
across the steel fence together
with Marcel Pepin and Yvon
Charbonneau. This was the
catalyst which triggered the
cops. They came out with a ven-
geance of swinging clubs which
rivalled the affair at Quebec
City during the Queen’s visit.
Hundreds upon hundreds of po-
lice charged into. the massed
marchers, swinging and smash-
ing as they ran.

Bodies lay everywhere. Blood
and gore. Fear and terror.

From this reporter’s vantage
point I heard some of the cops
directing the charge exclaim,

=

®@ Cont'd from page 5
sovereignty. but to the loss of
jobs for a growing labor force
and an inevitable reduction in
living standards.

The most urgent task now is
to Put Canada Bacg to Work,
to pursue a course that will re-
verse the trend towards com-
plete control of Canada by U.S.
monopoly, to curb monopoly in
Canada and thereby create pros-
pects of providing useful, cre-
ative work for all who want it.

In accord with these objec-
tives the Communist Party pro-
poses ‘that the following guide-
lines be pursued:

1. As an immediate emerg-
ency measure the federal and
provincial governments jointly
adopt emergency legislation pro-
hibiting further plant closures
and mass layoffs.

2. Balanced all-Canadian _in-
dustrialization based upon .the
processing of Canada’s natural
resources under Canadian con-
trol and public ownership.

3. The development of new
trade policies which will make
Canada less dependent upon the
U.S. market, through expansion
of trade with the socialist coun-
tries and the developing coun-
tries on a mutually advantage-
ous basis and long-term credit
basis.

4. Expansion of the home
market by raising the purchas-
ing power of the working peo-
ple, the expansion of social
security, the overcoming of re-
gional disparities, not through
giveaways to U.S. and Canadian
monopoly, but by the establish-
ment of Crown Corporations
under democratic control.to de-
velop natural resources and in-
dustries.

5. Instead-of controls over
wages and incomes, controls
over U.S. and Canadian and U.S.:
monopoly interests in Canada
and the adoption of a demo-
cratic taxation system.

6. Technological changes to
accrue to the benefit of the
Canadian people through re-
duced prices, reduced hours of

ut Canada back to work!

“Beautiful, beautiful, look at
that riot squad.” And from an-
other plainclothes cop I heard
the shout, “Throw them down,
throw them down!”, as he dir-
ected the police towards some
young men standing on roof-
tops.

The cops beat Louis Laberge
on the head, smashed Yvon
Charboneau on the face and
generally managed to sow panic
and confusion. A pregnant wo-
man marcher, 28 years old, died
as a result of that charge. For-
tunately the Canadian Tribune
press card saved this reporter,
other journalists were not as
fortunate.

Labor leader Louis Laberge
summed it all up at a hastily
called press conference that
same evening. “We came to
murch in peace and dignity. We
are workers who have been
done an injustice and this was
our way of expressing our pro-
test. It was the police who in-
terfered.”

Then in a more ominous note
he added. “The next time we
shall use steel pipes to hold up
our placards . .. and they won’t
push us around again.”

Repercussions are sure to fol-
low. This was a workers’ de-
monstration and an augury for
the long cold winter which lies
ahead

work with no reduction in take
home pay.

7. Income security and ade-
quate pensions with a minimum
of $3,000 for single person and

- $5,000 for a family, adjusted

periodically in accordance with
cost of living increases, as a
right of every Canadian with-
out a means test.

8. End all discrimination
against women and establish
the full equality of women in
all spheres of economic, social
and political life, with equal
pay in all fields of employment,
maternity leave at full pay and
day care for every child as a
right. >

It should be fairly obvious

that the measures undertaken’

by the government so far will
not seriously reduce unemploy-
ment. Conservative estimates
are that at most they may cur-
tail unemployment by 30,000 to
50,000. However, with 7.1% of
the labor force unemployed,
with a growing labor force ad-
ding to tthe unemployed rolls,
the Canadian people face the
prospects of a major crisis of
unemployment unless drastic
steps are taken to cope with
the problem.

Up to now the government
has been budgeting for unem-
ployment of about 5% to 6%
in the name of combating infia-
tion. This must end, as must
the pollyanish statements eman-
ating from the Minister of
Finance.

We face a serious situation
requiring serious measures. We
believe the proposals outlined
in our letter go in the direction
of getting at unemployment,
putting Canada back to work

and ensuring that every Cana--

dian has a job or an adequate
income as a right.

If the meeting of prime minis-
ters fails to provide such assur-
ances the Canadian people will
have to increase their united
efforts to compel the introduc-
tion of new policies to meet
their needs.

At Tribune press time, two
days before the Big Blast is set
to go off on Amchitka, Canadian
protest against Nixon’s decis-
sion to go ahead is reaching
staggering proportions. This
issue, felt so keenly by scat-
tered groups and individuals a
month ago, ha’ gripped the at-
tention of millions of Canadians.

It has cut across class and
political lines. The depth of
Canada’s indignation and the
imagination used to show that
anger indicates the extent of
mass reaction to this horrible
test:

e The Canadian Labor Con-
gress set a precident by pro-
testing directly to President
Nixon ‘“deploring the action
of yourself and your govern-
ment in disregarding the safe-
ty of thousands of Candian
families.” The message points
up the dangers to life and
property and calls the test “a
particular threat to those
men who depend on under-
ground work in B.C. mines
for their livelihood.”

e About 1,000 delegates to
the Ontario Federation of
Labor convention in Toronto
voted to march on the U.S.
consulate. The convention
cabled Nixon on behalf of its
700,000 members to cancel
the test. One delegate urged
a one-day embargo against
U.S. goods and closing the
border to U.S. tourists.

e The United Electrical
Workers again wired presi-
dent Nixon to call off the test.
“We call on you to substitute
arms limitation talks with
major powers for nuclear
tests” the telegram said. In an
early morning plant gate col-
lection, 1,200 General Elec-
tric workers signed a protest
cable to the U.S.

e Thousands of Toronto
university and high school
students will cut classes to
attend a mass rally and
march to the U.S. consulate.
Hamilton students will join
others from Guelph and St.
Catharines to charter busses
to the Rainbow Bridge at
Niagara Falls adding their

Ontario unionists

@ | Cont'd from page 5

tic, , repressive methods _ the
bosses. are using, by adopting
an emergency resolution protest-
ing and condemning employers’
use of wire-tapping and the col-
laboration of police in this spy-
ing practise.

The convention voted that
property taxation for education
be ended and paid for instead
out of the general provincial
tax structure. Sponsored by Lo-
cal 91, Toronto Typographical
Union, a resolution was adopted
favoring a crown corporation
for the development and produc-
tion of Canadian textbooks.

Overwhelming. support was
accorded the Statement, con-
solidating a number of resolu-
tions from union locals, on
plant shutdown and unemploy-
ment.

In voicing her approval in °

general of this statement, Jean
Vautour of Local 79, CUPE,
drew the convention’s applaud-
ing attention to the fact that,
with “jobs the main issue before
us,” the statement makes no
mention of the need for new
Canadian trade policies. Refer-

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