| EDITORIAL

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Reagan’s boy in Ganada
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: V |
“We are at the dawn of a new generation and of new In fact, the Tory boss has never questioned even a |
Possibilities for our two countries,” Canadian Tory particle of the policies of Reagan which are being de-
*ader Brian Mulroney declared as he neared the end of _ cried over the entire globe. |
€e-day love-in with the Reagan war administration. |
Mulroney has never hidden his unqualified loyalty to When has- there ever been such brazen p: lotting |
U.S. under Reagan. He hides his program from against the Canadian electorate’s right to choose as in _
ing adians but as the symbol of neo-conservatism in the recent pilgrimage of Mulroncy’ to. the Reagan
et ‘Nada, he is received by Reagan and his lieutenants as encampment? Here is a reactionary corporate boss,
tt “he were prime minister rather than leader of the elevated to the head of a backward-facing political i
sit °PPosition, i party, a party that is the enemy of labor and democracy. q
: V : ; Here is the leader of the opposition, fed to Canada via |
eu ters have a right to ask this Tory who lauded the the U.S. propaganda machine as the choice to be a
rst the le of Grenada: does he also back to the hilt Reagan’s boy in Canada. P|
cS! World Ole array of U.S. imperialism’s crimes against the |
roe S people? One of the things Mulroney advocates is “‘. . .freer { |
fi Mahe prepar ,, trade, unencumbered, uninhibited. . .” an open door, in ||
ice Massive a oe oe hee other words, to the U.S.-based multinationals to rob q |
[10 | Out the need to reduce nuclear weapons? Will he Canadian weyers Obamore ibs: BB pe ae |
fm -8in by calling upon the U.S. to take its Pershing IIs Mulsoney is altaid storsty “free” taifley tltatis too : |
Md SGMise rnissiles out of western Europeso that Soviet: obvious a trampling of Canadian sovereignty and the q
of U, talks, crushed by these tonnes of “pre-conditions,” Secunity of the citizens.of this country. . |
“1 continue? ; I |
cial I With such a public display of the choosing of i
| Wie Mulroney ready to deny that he fully approves Reagan’s boy to betray Canadians, Canadians can find |
wo ae INgton’s attempt to overthrow Nicaragua’s no more patriotic duty than to bar the neo- a
hal! >. erent by surreptitious force, andthe proppingup _ conservatives from power; to rise and stop the drive to |
e58 N Weapons, dollars, and U.S. personnel of its El _ the right in politics; to defeat those who sell our country q
de Vador puppets? to U.S. imperialism. q
1d, ; ; q
at 8 : |
wi : . |
city S : al d wa ka tes |
: Solidarity with strikers :
155
ae Who makes over $22-million tax-free profit in just six months of i
the Ww. buying and selling? Try Trizec Corp., Ltd., Calgary, the real estate ; |
the ai Orkers in the forefront of the struggle in Britain working class, they have become an inspiration to all and shopping centre people. For the six months ended April 30: |
aid Ke the Federal Republic of Germany have acommon _ workers. $22,477,000. A year earlier: $17,663,000.

the "4d with Canadian workers.

ym th Despite differing emphases, even different demands,
ime Re focus is more and more often on a common chal-
‘| ee to counter soaring mass unemployment, demand

and job security, and fight for the shorter work

c's “Sek as an important factor in that struggle.

st P The coal miners of Britain, brutally attacked by
é A wee Minister Thatcher’s government and the state’s
Hf (7; Slons of police, have staunchly withstood the Iron
y dy, and rejected the National Coal Board’s order for
fits: slog

ny 000 of pits at which the resulting layoffs would reach
rate ss
18 pout Struggle of the metal workers of the FRG has

tt Wop) NON them an agreement giving them a 38'4-hour

Canadian trade unions should extend the hand of
solidarity to these working class militants.

The United Auto Workers union has expressed its
support for the West German strikers, whose fight for
reduced hours is in line with UAW and Canadian
Labor Congress positions. The Canadian trade union
movement as a whole owes those workers all possible
solidarity for taking the lead in battles facing workers in
all capitalist countries.

In the coming federal elections in Canada, alongside
the crucial issue of peace and the struggle to halt nuclear
escalation, will be the fight for jobs, for job security, and
for the shorter hours which are a part of that demand.
With trade union unity, including international solidar-
ity, workers can be successful in breaking through and

~ IRIBUNE

eens

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON
Business & Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR
Graphics — ANGELA KENYON

Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1Z5
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Week. Carrying high the banner of their own
Lip

setting a pattern for the years ahead.

. Tr is more than a little political irony.

* in the fact that while the media here is
llled with speculative stories about Soviet
Sident Andrei Sakharov we have seen
Rothing locally.on the continuing story of
Prisoned American Indian Movement
Sader Leonard Peltier. Readers may be
interested to know that he recently went
na hunger strike to protest his prison
Teatment. But we had to go to an English
nslation of an article in Pravda to get
at information.
According to the story which appeared
j the Soviet. Communist Party journal
pce 16, Peltier, who is currently being
€ld in Springfield, Missouri, had to be
, -osferred to a hospital because of serious
“Sterioration in his health. “The few
‘ fiends and relatives who were given per-
ion to visit him-said he was emaciated,
Pactically could not move, spoke with
Steat difficulty and was almost: deaf,”
Pravda reported. |
N Ed Brooks, a director of the U.S.
p tonal Association against Racist and
Olitical Repression (NARPR) which
ently took up Peltier’s case, has warned
that unless he is freed, Peltier’s life is in.
ger. :
Certainly, Pravda has a point to make
bout the selective concern of the media in
Ng columns and broadcasts with stuff
®bout Sakharov while ignoring — totally

"| > the fate of Peltier. In fact, the article
fers to Peltier’s case as a “vivid. ..and .

“gic example of Washington’s hypocrisy.” .
—

People and Issues

But it is a point that has'even more
bearing on the commercial media in this
province. For them, he simply hasn’t been
an issue for the past several months — and
when the Vancouver Sun did mention his
case last week, it was only to note the fact
that the Soviet press had carried several
stories about the AIM leader. From there,
the Sun proceeded to draw comparisons
between Peltier’s and Sakharov’s cases.

Of course, key details in the events sur-
round the Peltier case, including the most
critical point — the fact that the story of
the contrived case against him began in
Vancouver with the perjured testimony of
Myrtle Poor Bear who gave false witness
against him, resulting in his extradition to
the U.S. Omitted, too, is the fact that
Amnesty International has called for an
inquiry into the all-too-frequent use by the
U.S. FBI of perjured testimony against
Native leaders.

But then, of course, Peltier isn’t a Soviet
dissident.

* * x

n a somewhat brighter note, we

happily observe that things aren’t all
cold war when it comes to the question of
maintaining Canadian-Soviet relations: at
least, not on the Vancouver city council
front.

Left high and dry again in his crusade
against the USSR and all things associated
with the left, was Ald. Warnett Kennedy,
who attempted once again, to undermine
the sister-city link the city maintains with
the Ukrainian city of Odessa.

In trying to make history repeat itself
more to his favor, Kennedy introduced a
motion into council June 26 urging that a
planned visit of Odessa city council offi-
cials to Vancouver during Expo 86 “‘be
held in abeyance” until several ‘“‘differen-
ces” have been resolved.

Those differences turned out to be the
downing last September of the Korean
Airlines jet, the “Soviet invasion of Afgh-
anistan,” and an alleged denial by the
Soviet government of immigration visas
for Jews seeking to move to Israel. If those
“whereases” sound suspiciously familiar,
it’s because they appeared almost verba-

_ tim on a motion introduced by Kennedy

last November urging the complete sever-
ing of the sister-city relationship.

History, however, proved as consistent
as the ultra-right wing alderman has been
in his fruitless attempts to pass cold-war
motions: this motion, as with the last, died
without a seconder.

Although we don’t often quote her
favorably, we thought we’d include the
comments of Ald. Marguerite Ford, who in
stating her refusal to second the motion,
noted that differences cannot be resolved
if, “we stop talking to each other.” Amen.

* * *

hen former Port Alberni alderman

and longtime Tribune supporter
George McKnight felt his arm go numb
while he was reviewing some tapes he had
recorded on his video recorder, he didn’t
pay too much attention since he’d been
sitting in a cramped position anyway. But
when he awoke a couple of days later — on
June 23 — to find his left side not follow-
ing orders, he decided it was time to head
for the hospital where he was later treated
for a mild stroke.

However, it didn’t end there and on
June 25, George was taken by ambulance
to hospital in Victoria after suffering
another stroke while in hospital in Port
Alberni.

He was still in Victoria when we spoke

to his wife Edith — who herself has spent

the past three weeks in hospital — but she
told us that initial tests had indicated no
serious problems. More tests were still to
be carried out but barring any difficulties,
George was expected to be back in Port
Alberni by the end of June. . ;

We’re sure we speak for many friends in
wishing both he and Edith a quick and full
recovery.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 4, 1 984 e3

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