VAT) |) 1 UIT TL LIME I EDITORIAL Prevent a Tory majority If a Tory majority government under Brian Mulro- ney seizes power on Sept. 4, it will spell the greatest threat to peace and social services launched by the multinational corporations in the history of this country. And ordinary Canadians will pay — in taxes, in social cutbacks, in a declining living standard, and permanent mass unemployment. That’s what will happen under a Tory majority because it will be a Reagan government in Ottawa — a pro-weapons, anti- people government. The Tories have already revealed that the first thing they'll do is boost the war budget from $8 billion a year to $15 billion a yearsThat’s going to come out of health - care, out of pensions and out of working people’s incomes. Recent polls help to expose the Tory position on peace and disarmament. A Toronto-based anti-cruise missile group found in a poll of Metro Toronto electoral ridings, that not one Conservative candidate of the 26 questioned agreed to a ban on cruise testing in Canada, or to work for disarmament if elected. The polling body, Against Cruise Testing, reported that all Communist and New Democrat candidates said yes to the statement: “I oppose cruise missile testing in Canada and will work for disarmament if elected.” Almost half the Liberals chose not to reply. Another organization, the Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disarmament, which submitted 16 arms-control questions to three party leaders, said Aug. 16 that Mulroney “appears to be bending over back- wards” to appease the U.S. president. Addressing the majority view that Reagan has deepened the cold war, Mulroney praised Reagan’s “consistent underlying principle” of teaching the Soviet Union about an “acceptable code of international conduct.” In releasing the Mulroney response along with the others, spokesman Lawrence Hagan said it contains an “explicit approval for his (Reagan’s) approach on arms control and East-West relations.” What Canada does not need is a Reagan government here espousing global nuclear war to exterminate socialism. In the closing days of this election campaign it . becomes an urgent task to make certain no Tory major- ity fastens its grip on parliament. The need is borne out,” as the Communist Party has consistently stressed, for the election of a large enough progressive bloc, includ- ing Communists, to Parliament. Who needs police spies? The new agency set up to spy on Canadians has undoubtedly learned a lot from the RCMP security branch, whose duties it’ takes over: That agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, is the godchild of Solicitor General Robert Kaplan. When Jack Gold, a senior Revenue Department employee, was ousted from his job after 27 years of service and three years of RCMP surveillance, the counts against him were that he opposed apartheid, he advocated peace, he welcomed understanding and exchange with the Soviet Union, and he approved of co-operation among people active in these areas. In taking part in an anti-apartheid group, Gold was in the company of the United Nations Security Council which voted 13 to zero on Aug, 17 to declare’ South Africa’s new constitution “null and void” because of its racist, apartheid underpinnings. On better relations with the Soviet Union, numerous prominent persons could be named who have similar views — among them, Pierre Trudeau and Prime Min- ister John Turner. As for seeking closer co-operation among the grow- ing number of Canadians supportive of liberation struggles, disarmament and detente, the list of patrons of such movements — not to mention some long- standing Canadian government policies — is substan- tial and impressive. One of the big differences between Jack Gold and the hundreds of thousands who march because of their convictions, is that most of them have not been urged to become police informers. Gold: was, and he refused. Most Canadians, we know, are against a return to the witch-hunting McCarthyite era, or a deepening of the cold war. The rights of the more than 580,000 federal govern- ment employees remain threatened by the very instru- ment used against Gold — Cabinet Directive 35. It has - been condemned by the McDonald Commission, by civil liberties spokespersons and by Gold’s union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, for its concept of guilt by association and built-in anti-left bias. No matter how much Tory leader Mulroney claims — to disagree with the Liberals, he hasn’t offered to get rid of CD-35. And no matter how Turner distances himself from the past government, he expresses no intent to destroy these shackles on human rights in Canada. No, I DIDN'T GET HIS NUMBER BuT THEY SAY HE WAS A “TRUCK DRIVER FROM BAIE COMEAU _Speaking of nationalizing resources, how come an outfit li Northern and Central Gas Corp. Ltd., Toronto, can make a Si month (to June 30/84) after-tax profit of $27,448,000 on natural gas ' which belongs to Canada’s people? And — profit jumped from f _ $24,266,000 in the same six months in ag IRIBUNE Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Assistant Editor x Business & Circulation Manager — PATO’CONNOR ~ Graphics — ANGELA KENYON ; _ Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street ~ Vancouver, B.C: V5K 1Z5 ~ _ Phone (604) 251- 1186 Subscription Rate: Canada — $14 one year; $8 six months Second class mail registration number 1560 —-DAN KEETON _ Foreign — $20 one year; ST Te. TE e’d be as surprised as anyone if a Socred cabinet minister had any- thing good to say about people who dem- onstration against his government’s actions — whether it’s social service cutbacks, attacks on trade union rights, or simply allowing corporations to ravage the.pro- vince’s environment. So normally we might have let the rantings of B.C. Attorney-General Brian Smith pass with- out comment. We refer to an address given by Smith to the convention of the Law Society of B.C., as reported in:the Aug. 24 issue of the Vancouver Province. According to the newspaper, the B.C.’s top law-maker hit what he called “fanatical groups,” pro- ceeding from there to lump together the Squamish Five, “some trade unions and environmentalists.” Smith, according to the paper, branded all organizations which dissent as espous- - ing “disobedience as a religious cult” and as “flouting the law and using. . .violence to get their own way.” This shows, he said “disrespect for the law.” Ominously, Smith promised a continued campaign for “Jabor peace” and “‘clean streets.” Either by accident or design, the Pro- vince presents the story on Smith on the same page as a piece on the Building Trades union’s struggle at the Expo site, and a photo of Tofino residents protesting MacMillan Bloedel’s intention to log Meares Island. The juxtaposition of those items makes it clear that it’s B.C. citizens _ who are the target of Smith’s ire. - Smith is only saying what is on the minds of most of the rest of the Socred - People and Issues cabinet, but his remarks take on an espe- cially chilling meaning in light of the recent revelation concerning the RCMP’s three- year persectuion of former Revenue Can- ada employee Joe Gold. As noted in both Harry’s Rankin’s column and the editorial above, the harrassment of people like Gold is high on the agenda of right-wing governments, as evidenced by the new civ- ilian spy agency. It was designed to make the RCMP’s dirty tricks of the last several decades easier, and legal.- Although he’s only a provincial cabinet minister, Smith and his Socred cronies are cut from the same cloth as the creators of the spy agency. They’re even closer to those considered most likely to succeed in the federal election. It would be a real plus for democracy if. © the Tories, and the Liberals, were pre- _ vented from forming a majority Sept. 4. That victory would go a long way towards defeating right-wing government attacks here in B.C. ee ae hances are, if you’re musically inclined — and in many cases, even * if you’re not — there’s a musical instru- | - ment collecting dust somewhere around the domicile. Possibly, there’s also some sound equipment, such as. old micro- _ phones or amplifiers, in a similarly disused It’s often been said that the discards of North American society are the treasures for other culture. In fact, it was said when last year’s Tools for Peace campaign netted more than $1 million in donated medical equipment and supplies for the Central American nation of Nicaragua. Now the coalition for Aid to Nicaragua has launched its Music for Nicaragua campaign. The organizers, a group of Canadian cultural workers, note the importance of the campaign by quoting a member of the country’s Teocoyani Threatre Troupe: “In Nicaragua, we say that culture is the artis- tic rifle of the revolution, a weapon against the invasion from the United States. And I’m not just talking about a military inva- sion. It’s a cultural invasion as well.” An idea of the importance of culture to Nicaraguans can be seen in the creation of a series of Popular Cultural Centres which teach classes in several of the arts. Anyone with musical items to donate can contact Music for Nicaragua at 2524 Cypress St., Vancouver, V6J 3N2, phone 733-1021. ; x * * It’s a medically proven fact — orat least, Ewe think it should be — that Tribune ' readers are generally a tough lot who | bounce back from the blows of adversity. ' If so, then it’s business as usual for pees 3 mnenee ere 3 3 oe members: ap Despite a stroke July 26 that left him partially paralyzed, and which keeps him. in Kelowna General Hospital, the Okana- gan orchardist is progressing well through daily physical therapy, and is allowed to go home occasionally to visit his daughter. Along with his friends, including fellow — Tribune subscriber Bob Stewner, who sent us this note, we wish him the speediest of recoveries. : Bee ks ie A’ speaking of bouncing back from adversity, we have news that former Tribune editor Hal Griffin is now mobia again. Hal suffered fractures several weeks ie after he was struck by a truck in North Vancouver. Now doctors have removed the cast from his leg, allowing him to move about the house. i ae Psihaps it was just a biological short- circuit brought about by the late hour f on publishing day. Whatever the cause, We — have no explanation for the gaff that _ appeared in the cutline under the photo | with the head “COPE nets $10,000” last week. In it we inadvertently severed family ties when we described Dennis Ottewell as the stepson of Jonnie Rankin. Dennis is in fact | - Jonnie’s son, while being the digg ts of Ald. Harry Rankin. Apologies to all concerned. if the | meantime, as penance, we've been ‘assigned to trace the geneologies of alts 4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 29, 1984. $i