EDITORIAL

Stopping the sellout

Despite an expensive publicity campaign (using our tax dollars) and teams —

of Tories out hustling the “free trade” deal, opposition to it keeps growing.
Mulroney, Reisman, Carney, Wilson, McDougall and other government
flacks have fanned out.and are appearing everywhere touting the deal. The
Tory majority on the Commons committee set up to examine the agreement
has been ordered to ram it through by Dec. 4 — even though the text won’t
be ready until the end of November.
But all the slick brochures, smiling Tories and rigged committees seem
_ unable to stem the tide of mistrust, apprehension and outright opposition to
the Canada-US. free trade deal that’s taking hold right across the country.
In Parliament, the NDP and Liberals are hammering daily at Mulroney’s
stacking of the deck, at the Tory effort to hide the details both from
Parliament and the people. Imagine: Mulroney’s committee will hold hear-
ings on a deal that no one, not even the committee members, have read!
_ Then the Tories will allot one day of hearings in each province — one
day — for people to consider a text which will run some 200 pages and have
appended tariff indexes of several thousand pages attached to it.

Remarkable. That’s Progressive Conservative “democracy” in. action.
That’s the party of American imperialism ramming home a deal to sell-out
Canada — and even doing it on a time-table set by the U.S. Congress.

But the idea that Mulroney has no mandate to sign the agreement is taking
hold.

The fact that the Tories were not elected to sign a “free trade” agreement
with the Americans is beginning to become widely recognized.

The fact that the government today has only some 23 per cent support in
Canada reinforces this contention.

The stock market crash reflecting the debt-ridden, foundering U.S. econ-
omy also adds to Canadian fears that Mamereys is buying us a ticket on the
Titanic.

The more free trade is examined the worse the deal appears. As we study

even that which is known, the proportions of the sellout and the long-term
implications for our sovereignty become chillingly clear.
The task remains: to press for an early vote while continuing the widest
‘bate on what's at sake in a free trade deal for Canada, and trying to
prevent the Tories from using their discredited majority in Parliament to ram
it through.

The battle lines are clearly drawn: an unpopular, pro-U.S. gang of Tories
and their big business pals on one side, the Canadian people on the other.

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EDITOR
Sean Griffin

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Dan Keeton

BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER
Mike Proniuk

GRAPHICS
Angela Kenyon

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f the events on the stock market over the

past two weeks are an indicator of eco-
nomic storm clouds ahead, there is at least
some satisfaction in knowing that the drop
in stock prices has thrown several
governments’ privatization programs into
a political hurricane.

And now that it is the financial corpora-
tions that are in danger of drowning in the
storm, they’re looking to governments for
a lifeboat — and they’re suddenly stopped
talking about “letting the market forces
operate freely”.

Nowhere is that more evident than with
the scheduled sell-off of British Petroleum,
the £7.2 billion ($16.2 billion Cdn.) share
‘Sale that was to be the latest and brightest
jewel in the privatization crown of British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

For the last seven years, Thatcher has
managed to sell off some £20 billion worth
of public assets, taking advantage of rising
stock prices to produce a fortune in one-
shot revenues for her.government — and
another fortune for the financial corpora-
tions which have handled the transactions.

In virtually every case, the shares were
deliberately undervalued. That ensured a

_ quick profit for investors, of course, but it
robbed the public of full value for its
assets. In fact, on one occasion, the
government department responsible for
selling off British Airways argued that the

price set by the merchant bank, Hill

Samuel, was too low and would result in
the government getting less for the airline
company than it was worth.

But the banker insisted that the “market
forces should prevail”. The shares were

sold at its prescribed price — even though
the public lost $300 million (not to men-
tion its publicly-owned airline) on the deal.

But that was before Black Monday, .

when stock prices took a swan dive from
the peak they had reached over the past
five years.

The privatization of British Petroleum
was set to begin Oct. 30, with the price per
share pegged at 300 pence ($6.68). Some
six million people, including corporations
and institutions in Britain and overseas,
had expressed interest in buying shares.
And the various investment brokers and
financial houses which had underwritten
the sale were waiting to take yet another
fortune in commissions.

But the price plunged, along with the
stock indexes around the world, falling to
254 pence by late last week.

Obviously only the wildly optimistic

_ would want to buy shares for 330 pence

when they’re currently worth 23 per cent
less. In fact, according to press reports,
only three per cent of the six million who
had shown interest actually filed share
applications.

That leave the underwriters | holding the
bag. By underwriting the share issue, they
had agreed to buy up all the unsold shares.

Of course, the costs would be spread
over some 400 to 500 companies — and

People and Issues

they’ve already received a one per cent
commission for agreeing to be under-
writers — but they’re still looking at sub-
stantial losses.

Several Canadian security companies
also face losses because they have underw-
ritten share sales of BP in this country.

But where is all the talk of “market
forces” now that the financial community
is at risk of getting bruised? Don’t even
bother listening — you won’t hear any.

The City, as the financial community in
London was called, was banging on Mar-
garet Thatcher’s door demanding that she
halt the privatization of BP because of the
losses the investment houses would suffer.
In this country, Finance Minister Michael
Wilson, Mr. “Market Force” himself, has
been on the phone to the British PM, ask-
ing that she cancel the sale so that Cana-

dian investment houses don’t lose money. -

It should leave no doubts as to who
benefits from privatization.

* * *

as it “solidarity forever” or just a

footnote in the decades-long strug-
gle to defend working-class rights in Brit-
ish Columbia? And will a new production
about the 1983 fight in B.C. against the
worst legislation in post-war history
answer that question?

We can’t say, but we draw your atten-
tion to Solidarity Forever ...?, the latest
contribution to anti-restraint theatre
which opens at the Vancouver East Cultu-
ral Centre Nov. 12. Written by “interdis-
ciplinary artist” Chris Creighton-Kelly,
the play about the days of Operation
Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition
utilizes television to examine the effects of
Os Pe on the lives of four protago-

MCreighton-Kelly previously used TV
monitors in a video art piece entitled “The
Price of Poker: Gambling on Solidarity.”
In Solidarity Forever . . .?, 12 TV monitors
providing “daily coverage” of the events
are combined with live action for a post-
mortem four years after the battle ended
with the “Kelowna Accord.”

The run is brief, so those interested
should consider reserving tickets now.
They are $9 and can be reserved by phon-
ing the centre at 254-9578. Solidarity
Forever ...? runs Nov. 12-14 and Nov.
16-21, beginning at 8 p.m.

era ak, ook
hile still on the entertainment beat,
there’s news for all interested in the
liberation of Central America and for
those who were there during the topical
folk boom of the late 1950s and early
1960s.

USS. public television — KCTS Chan- .

nel 9 — will air Peter, Paul and Mary in
Central America: Heartstrings on Friday,
Nov. 13 at 10 p.m. The one-hour produc-
tion features a 1986 tour of Nicaragua —
including a village attacked the U.S.-
funded contras — and El Salvador.

3 4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 4, 1987

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