Anti-sellout pressure mounting

Pacific

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1963
VOL. 24, NO. 28

VANCOUVER, B.C.

ateessao 5°

Jagan renews pleas
against race cancer

~ Premier Cheddi Jagan of Brit-
ish Guiana has called for na-
tional unity and racial co-opera-
tion. ‘“‘The cancer of racialism
has grown up,” he said, ‘‘which
we must remove from our midst.”’
Jagan’s remarks came as he
Signed a back-to-work agreement
which brought to a close his coun-
try’s 80-day general strike. The
Strike had been called by the

4

CHEDDI JAGAN

right wing leadership of the Brit-
ish Guiana Trade Union Council,

which is politically opposed to
Jagan’s People’s Progressive
Party.

In announcing the compromise
agreement which broke the strike,
he indicated he would continue to
seek independence ‘‘as quickly as
possible’’ despite the efforts of
people who thought the country
should not become independent
while he headed the government.

Robert Willis, British T.U.C.
mediator, who drafted the back.
to-work agreement, said that he
had written the “British T.U.C.
and asked it to urge British Colo-
nial Secretary Duncan Sandys not
to go through with his planned
trip to Guiana this week.

“Tf he comes he will only stir
up strife on the political front,”
he said.

His remarks were echoed by
Richard Ishmael, president of the
British Guiana T.U.C., who Stat-
ed: “Britain will soon be out of
here and it will be Guiana, not
British Guiana. It will be ours
only. as long as we can continue
to co-operate.’’ (See earlier story
on page 2).

Argentine vote does little
to resolve political crisis

Last Sunday’s elections in Ar-
gentina did little to resolve the
‘political crisis which has existed
since the army ousted former
president Arturo Frondizi last
year. Despite being hailed as a
; Ee

ARTURO ILLIA

er

“triumph” for reactionary forces,
the facts show that the political
scene remains as fluid as ever.

Over 1% million voters (al-
most 20 percent of those voting)
cast blank ballots, indicating the
lack of a clear alternative to
present subservience to the U.S.

Even more significant, however,
were reports that roughly 242 mil-
lion voters showed their contempt
for the elections by failing to
show up at the ballot booths, even
though voting is compulsory in
Argentina. Failure to comply re-
sults in stiff penalties.

Dr. Arturo Illia, candidate of
the Popular Radical Party, re-
ceived the greatest number of
votes but fell far short of the
necessary 51 percent to be de.
clared the victor. It is expected
that he will be formally elected
by the country’s electoral col-
lege. :
~ Tilia is reported to be a middle-
of-the-road politician.

10¢

ATE OF COLUMBIA

More action needed

Announcements this week that the federal government and British Columbia
had reached agreement on the giveaway of the Columbia River came in the face
of mounting cries to scrap the draft treaty and re-negotiate the entire deal. Press re-
ports of the Pearson-Bennett agreement indicate that the struggle to retain the river
for Canadians has reached a new and crucial stage.

Nigel ‘Morgan, B.C. leader of
the Communist Party, in a state-
mentissued last Wednesday, de-
clared: ‘‘Announcement of the
signing of the federal-provinciaT
agreement represents another big
step in the surrender of this it
replaceable resource.

“It means the federal Liberal
government and the B.C. Socreds
have now formally agreed to rati-
fication of the draft treaty and
to turn the vast Columbia-Koot-
enay river systems over to the
United States for storage instead
of generation of power in Canada
to develop Canadian industry and
jobs.

“The draft treaty as it stands,
and the regulations it gives the
U.S. the -right to impose.on-us.for
their own benefits, would be ruin-
ous for Canada,”’ he charged.

The agreement is a legal doc-
ument committing the two gov-
ernments to carry out the terms
of the draft treaty initiated by
former Prime Minister Diefen-
baker and former U.S. president
Eisenhower in 1961, and_ spells
out the responsibilities of the two
governments in carrying it out.

Next step will be negotiations
with the U.S. over some compara-
tively minor revisions in the
treaty and the sale price of Cana-
da’s share of downstream bene-
fits.

B.C. Lands Minister Williston,
who was present in Ottawa Mon-
day for signing of the Ottawa-
Victoria agreement, stated on his
return to the B.C. capital: ‘We
have reached agreement now in
entirety on the basis of how we
will handle it.’’ Williston said he,
Premier Bennett and Attorney-
General Bonner will go to Wash.
ington, D.C. shortly as part of
the team for negotiations with the
US. :
“The draft Columbia river
treaty has never been placed be-
fore Parliament or any of its

committees {or examination,”
Morgan said.
General McNaughton, who

handled the original negotiations
and for over 14 years was en-
trusted by successive Canadian
governments with heading up
Canadian engineering studies of
the Columbia, has declared the
final treaty represents a serious
sellout to the U.S. of Canada's
interests. ;

“His, and other powerful pro-
tests, have been reinforced by
many eminent engineering and
legal authorities, hydro experts
and economists across the coun-
try. Frank, full and critical pub-
lic examination of the treaty’s
provisions is long overdue. No
further negotiations or commit-
ments to the U.S. should be en-

Storer
or
user

of water?

The dam shown here
could be a power
dam or merely a
storer of water. It's
up to you. Its ulti-
mate fate depends
upon howmuch pub-
lic pressure can be
generated to resist
the giveaway of the
Columbia river.

*

tertained until that has been done.

“Vital Canadian interests are
in grave danger,’’ Morgan con-
cluded. ‘‘No time should be lost,
no effort spared, in pressing for
a full public, parliamentary hear-
ing at which the expert advice
and evidence of General Mc-
Naughton and other interested
authorities could be carefully con-
sidered.

“Nothing short of the most en-
ergetic and widespread action
now can save this precious Cana-
dian heritage.”

Even before the agreement was
announced, pressure to reject the
present treaty had continued to
mount. Latest group to join the
countless others in protesting the
treaty was the Apartment and
Lodging House Keepers’ Assn. of
Vancouver, which sent a_ brief
to Prime Minister Pearson in
which the association charged:
“To impose such a treaty upon
our children is a crime which will
never be forgiven.”

The Cclumbia River for Canada’

“B.C. and Ottawa be mz

Committee, in a statement issued

, demanded that the
sc-called accord between
Je avail.
asle for immediate parliamentary
scrutiny.

The statement
main isue new is
of Parliament and the minority
Liberal government should take
the entire Columbia controversy,
‘lay all the cards on the table”
and allow Parliament to deter-
mine what must be done.

And Premier Woodrow Lloyd of
Saskatchewan expressed grave
concern about what effects the
present treaty would have on the
prairies. In answer to this justi-
fiable concern, Premier Bennett
was reported to have arrogantly
answered that “‘it is B.C.’s de.

on Thursday
entire

said that the
the supremacy

velopment’’ and told the NDP
premier to “keep his cotton-

picking hands off our resources.”

The Canadian people must in-
form Bennett that the above re-
mark would be more in order if it
were directed to the United
States.

Sino-Soviet talks opened

Talks between the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union and the
Communist Party of China opened
on schedule on Friday, July 5 in
Moscow. Mikhail Suslov ied the
Soviet .group inte the meeting,
while the CPC delegation was
headed by Teng Hsiao-ping.

Purpose of the parley is to be-

gin to clarify and resolve ideo-
logical differences in the interna.
tional Communist movement.

Press reports indicate that the
meeting broke off last Tuesday,
but resumed again on Wednesday
in an atmosphere of tension. No
time limit has been set on the
conference.