ahead with its attack on the
ne people and those on low
ee During the year it cut
ae all social programs af-
ah ng the people; it boosted sales
bi income taxes, ICBC, ferry,
ae and natural gas rates. More
%Osts are threatened early in 1977.

Meanwhile, the Socred govern-
“Se changed mining legislation
: ich not only gives the big mining
Companies a free ride in B.C., but
act subsidizes them out of the
3 lic purse. The Socreds have
a the same with the oil and
®aS companies, handing them un-
Ustified increases to boost their
petits. Changes in_ forest
€gislation are still pending, but if

ey follow the same pattern, new
th Ndouts to the forest giants will be
; € order of the day. All this is
€ducing provincial revenues from
resource industries while putting a

rger burden on the backs of the
Working people.

This policy is being justified by
peenier Bennett — according to
eecbes made by him at the close
e the year — on the pretext that it

Imula tes the economy by
one “incentives’’ to private

ustry. The fact is the B.C.
fconomy is not expanding but

declining.
At the year’s end Statistics

panada revealed that in November
aC had the worst unemployment
fee 1960, with over 88,000 jobless
Nd thousands more facing layoffs.
3 province entered 1976 with
— unemployment. After one
Year of Socred rule, the number of
Jobless is even greater.
ppuring most of 1976 the per-
eiage of unemployed in B.C.
meted the national average. In
tober it dropped to near the
mee cewide level, and in
Beeeber started the upward
a again. All signs point to
pe loyment being one of the
ajor issues in B.C. in 1977.
Layoffs in the forest industry
ave already been announced by
a major companies. The impact
aa be felt throughout the
pony, leading to layoffs in
. other industries dependent
id forestry. The Socred govern-
€nt’s cutback in housing, schools,
Ospitals and other needed public
Construction is worsening the
Jobless picture.
Ss the Bennett government
nters Year Two it is faced with a
Srowing crisis. The premier’s
Predictions of a few weeks ago that
os economy is going pretty
is blowing up in his face. The
; Sion of the legislature opening
an. 13 will face many major

Photos by
_ Sean Griffin

victory

issues. Massive public pressure on
the Socred government will be
needed to turn things around and
impose new policies on Victoria
which will lift the burden off the
working people and put it where it
belongs, on the backs of big

business.
* ke

The year ending saw some major
changes in world relations and new
victories for the forces of in-
dependence and peace. It was the
first full year of Vietnamese in-
dependence during which the
Vietnamese forged the unity of
North and South. But at the year’s
end the U.S. was continuing its
aggressive attitude against
Vietnam by blocking its add-
mission to the UN and refusing to
live up to the terms of the Paris
Agreement to pay for the damage
they caused. ©

It was also a year which saw the
people of Africa sweep on to new
victories against colonialism. The
in Angola, and the
spreading movement for liberation
in Southern Africa, has brought
apartheid to its twilight days.
Undoubtedly 1977 will see new
victories for the people of Africa,
which all mankind will hail.

While the forces for peace
mounted a growing offensive to
end the arms race and ban‘nuclear
weapons — with the Soviet Union
taking many new initiatives, and
the Stockholm Appeal gaining
growing world support — the’ op-
ponents of detente succeeded in
1976 in erecting some roadblocks.

They have continued to block a
settlement in the Middle East and
inflamed the cold war by stepping
up the arms race. NATO’s last act
in 1976 was to reject a Warsaw
Pact proposal for a treaty that
neither side would be the first to
use nuclear weapons. 1977 will
undoubtedly be a crucial year in
the struggle for peace and detente.

It will also be a crucial year in
which Canada will have to face up
to the issue of survival as a united
two-nation state guaranteeing full
equality to both peoples, or see the
preakup of Canada as we know it.
With events in Quebec, the end of
1976. saw the curtain rise on this
issue which will occupy centre
stage in 1977. :

The good and the bad of 1976 are
now history.

Ahead of us lies a new year in
which the unity of working people
and democratic forces will be vital
if Canade and B.C. is to solve the
myriad problems before the
people. Let us rededicate ourselves
in 1977 to the struggle for lasting
peace, economic security, in-
dependence and socialism. Let us
resolve [to work with greater
energy to build the unity of all anti-
monopoly and democratic forces in

1977.

SM Rhep,
é Pash Vy

fi
Tg

and | fo

Vi

on oe es

“Ave there no prisons . . . are the workhouses operating? The Treadmill and Poor
Laws .. . are they not in full vigour?”

Richmond Review

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 17, 1976—Page a