tf FEATURE By MAURICE RUSH very time the Socred cabinet goes into secret session at a luxury resort bad news follows for the people of B.C. As this is being written the cabinet is meeting for the third time in a secret session at ‘Cowichan Bay to plot the next stage in their right wing offensive against labor and the people. The first secret cabinet meeting at Schooner Cove in February, 1982 launched the first stage in the right wing program which Premier Bill Bennett called restraint. This was followed after the May Selection last year with a secret session in June at a luxury resort in the Okanagan attended by Michael Walker of the Fraser Institute. That meeting ee forth the budget and 26 pieces of legislation last uly 7. The people of B.C. will soon know what Bennett and his cabinet devised up at the Apr. 28-29 weekend session. But one thing is already certain: it will again be dressed up as restraint. The major weapon used by the Socreds to . achieve their reactionary objections, and to win popular support for their program, is the hypocritical cry of res- - traint. It’s supposed to be the answer to all the problems that plague B.C. If there is to be an effective fightback against the Socred right wing policies it’s necessary to tear away the false mask of restraint so that people will see the Socred right wing policies for what they really are. __ The heads of the major corporations in B.C. have no illusion what the government means when it talks about restraint. When Premier Bennett spoke last fall to a packed meeting of top corporation executives organized by the Employers Council he assured them that “there will be no restraint on the private sector.” When they gave him a standing ovation they were showing their satisfaction with Bennett’s main pitch — that restraint is for the working people and public and not the big corporations. They understood the class nature of the cry for retraint. To the Socred government and its big business backers -Testraint means denying workers decent living standards with decent pay and working conditions. It means restrain- ing people from seeking social security legislation and protection from discrimination. It means restraining tenants from demanding protection from gouging land- lords. And it means restraining the poor from demanding a roof over their heads and enough to eat. In their eyes, restraint means denying women equality at the workplace and a proper child care program. It means restraining the handicapped from expecting that society should help them. It means restraining those who think that democracy and human rights should be made to work ‘The major weapon used by the Socreds to achieve their reactionary objectives is the hypocritical cry of restraint.’ for the people. It means restraining those who want a decent education for their children in a good school sys- tem, and restraining young people who want a university education. It means restraining the jobless who think society should be organized to provide jobs for those willing to work. But restraint on profits, on the private sector, on government action to turn over to the private sector every government service that can boost their profits — never. In their eyes restraint means a free hand for profit-greedy landlords and for resource companies devastating our raw material resources. It means less taxes on the rich and turning the wealth of the province over to the monopolies so that they can make greater profits on the pretext that the way to restore the economy and get B.C. working again is to facilitate higher profits for the private sector. Is there any truth in the government’s claim that its restraint program is the way to create employment ‘and B.C.’s economy working again? The facts prove the oppo- site. On the contrary they prove that the Socred restraint program is deepening the crisis in B.C. When the Socreds first announced their restraint pro- gram in February, 1982, there were 130,000 jobless in B.C. Today there are 250,000. Restraint policies have swollen welfare rolls to the point that there are now 245,000 people on welfare. Half a million British Columbians are either jobless or on welfare — one out of every five people in this province. 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 2, 1984 SIGN AT OCT. 15, 1983 RALLY.. -targeting the Socreds’ phony restraint. B.C. today has the highest rate of unemployment — 17.7 per cent — in Canada, except for Newfoundland — a direct result of restraint policies. Thousands more are being added every month as more plants like the MacMillan-Bloedel plywood operation are shut down and the government carries through a massive lay-off program of public employees and teachers. _ It has also resulted in B.C. showing the poorest growth rate in the economy. In February, 1984 the Conference Board of Canada, which issues quarterly reports on the Canadian economy, said that B.C.’s economic output will only grow by 2.5 per cent in the next year compared to.3.3 per cent for Canada as a whole. That is the poorest performance of all Cana- - dian provinces except one. It lays the blame for this poor showing on the government’s restraint policy which, it said, is resulting in “lagging consumer demand.” : Another indication of the deepening crisis being caused by the government's restraint program is the growing number of bankruptcies and foreclosures on homes by the banks and financial institutions. In 1982 and 1983, 8,511 people in B.C. lost their homes through foreclosures which is three times greater than the preceding year. With interest rates Starting to rise again, financial institutions are predict- ing that 1984 will be the worst year yet. The fact is that every economic indicator shows that B.C. is sinking deper and deeper into crisis under the Socred restraint program, despite the fact that the Bennett government tries to take the eyes of the public off the worsening economic crisis by pointing to megaprojects such as B.C, Place and Expo 86. These will only be a drop in the bucket insofar as providing lasting employment and resulting in any meaningful growth in the economy. It’s true, as some economists point out, that B.C. is the victim of the economic crisis hitting all capitalist countries. But that does not explain the fact that B:C.’s performance is the worst in Canada and among the worst in the capital- ist world. That can only be explained by two factors: the government’s restraint policies and the raw material nature of B.C.’s economy for which the government is also to blame. The Socred government and its big business backers are deliberately deepening the crisis and creating mass unem- ployment in B.C. in order to smash the trade unions, lower living standards, wipe out long established social legisla- tion, and tighten the monopoly grip on resources. That’s what the restraint program is all about. It’s an extreme The hypocrisy of Socred ‘restraint’ right wing program aimed to achieve long range benefits for big business and to turn B.C. into an area of SUPS | exploitation for the multinational corporations. Instead of the present restraint policies B.C. needs @ ™ program to expand the economy, to put people back to work, to expand the market by increasing people’s pul chasing power, and to end the overdependence on taW materials by expanding manufacturing and. processing industries in B.C. Such an alternative program was put forward at the 4 25th biennial convention of the B.C. Communist Party when it met in Vancouver on the Apr. 6-8 weekend. It calls for action to put B.C. back to work through a massive jobs program including reforestation and fish enhancement, 4 { : large scale public housing project, and construction of an _ east-west hydro grid. It also urges reduction of working time without loss of take home pay. | : It calls for action to stop the shutdown of plans such as . the Vanply operation and Chemainus and legislation — which would require justification for such shutdowns from companies under threat of losing their Tree Farm licences — - or permits to exploit B.C. resources. Such legislation —— ‘The Socred government and its big business backers are deliberately deepening the crisis and creating mass unemployment.’ — should make it mandatory that capital derived from exploiting B.C. resources be re-invested in B.C. to create jebs insteads of being exported. , The Communist Party program calls for restoration of all cuts in social services and the expansion of these services to meet public needs, for increased welfare rates and aboli-_ tion of user fees and premiums in the health care system, and implementation of a comprehensive child care pro- gram. It calls for restoration of rent controls and legislation protecting tenants as well as strong human rights legisla- . ; | ; tion to protect the public against discrimination and to curb racism. A key plank in the program proposed by the Commu- nist Party would repeal anti-labor legislation and reject tee | right-to-work practices or legislation. It would repeal the present anti-labor legislation which restricts the right of workers to collective bargaining and limits gains in the public sector on the basis of productivity and ability of the employer to pay. With technological change increasingly _ leading to mass unemployment and changes in conditions of work, the program calls for legislation giving workers 4 ei . say in technological change. The Communist program calls for strong action tO restore public control of resources through nationalization of the major forest, mining and fishing companies, and new economic policies to develop manufacturing and pro- cessing in B.C. The Socred restraint program has been particularly devastating for its attack on women and youth, denying them of essential services and job opportunities, leaving them without any future. The Communist program calls for policies to ensure that jobs are provided at equal and decent rates of pay, that education opportunities are opened up through improvements in our educational sys- ‘It will require a massive movement of labor and the people to defeat the Socred . right-wing offensive and win alternative policies.’ tem, that apprenticeship and vocational training programs are maintained and expanded, and that young people receive aid in acquiring decent housing. After more than two years of Bennett’s restraint policies it’s clear that his right wing program is not the solution to B.C.’s problems. On the contrary, it aggravates those prob- lems. What is needed is an entirely new direction for B.C. It will require a massive movement of labor and the people to defeat the Socred right wing offensive and to win alterna- tive policies which will serve the people and not the big corporations. The starting point in that fight is to expose the false cry — of restraint for what it really is: a smoke-screen behind which the Socreds and big business are attempting to implement their far right-wing anti-people’s program. | '