t
i
}
i
\

a bop >
LS

With

CH Ww)

VOL. 27, NO. 43

Siren Ferrer orm |W PO Rees set CPAT oe PA OO

THOUSANDS ALREADY JOBLESS ©

Stop the plunder of

B.C. mineral resources

See article by Maurice Rush, pg. 3

MOUNTAIN OF IRON ORE BEING LOADED FOR JAPAN. Photo shows how Texada Island is
being torn apart to extract ore for Japan's steel mills. Loading the ore is the specially-built bulk
carrier, MS Texada, which sailed recently with 68,500 tons of iron concentrates. Why not use
this ore for a steel industry in B.C.?’’ asks the PT’s associate editor in a special article on page

Power scandal erupts

Premier W. A, C, Bennett let the cat out of
the bag this week when he admitted in a brief
to the Ottawa conference of premiers that the cost
of building the dams on the Columbia and Peace
will run $100 million over original estimates,

For many weeks the PT has been demanding
that Premier Bennett tell the people the truth
about the financing of the Columbia River dams,
We have quoted experts such as Ontario Hydro
economist Larratt Higgins, who warned in an
article in the Financial Post last May, that Colum-
bia costs would far exceed the estimates,

In a special article in its June 10th issue the
PT charged that the net deficit will be between
$150 and $200 million on the Columbia alone, It is
now clear that under the terms of the Columbia

Treaty B.C, taxpayers will have to pay a huge ~

bill for water storage dams to control the flow
for the U,S,, in addition to giving the U.S. control

over the river, The Columbia River Treaty is, as
we warned at the time, emerging as one of the

most scandalous sellouts in Canada’s history, ©

Premier Bennett has given the federal govern-

ment’s 11 percent sales tax on building materials
and machinery as one of the reasons for the high
costs. However, a few weeks ago Parliament was
told, in reply to a question by NDP-MP Bert
Herridge, that this tax was in effect before the
Columbia Treaty was signed, It cannot therefore
be given now as an excuse by the Premier,

Liberal leader Ray Perrault and the federal
Liberals are also on the spot over the latest
turn of events, It should be recalled that the
Columbia River Treaty was ratified by both
the federal and provincial governments, This
accounts for Perrault’s mild response to Bennett’s
announcement,

alt lumber layoffs

[Nn LT ae Sareea SO ze

By NIGEL MORGAN
B.C. loggers and millworkers are facing a lean winter. The
current issue of the Western Lumber Worker predicts’ ‘‘as many
as 2,000 in the Lower Mainland area will be out of work by
Christmas."’ Thousands more face unemployment on Vancouver

Island and other forest centres.

Underlying this threat is the so called U.S.-Canadian policy
of integration with its heavy dependence on U.S. markets and
Canadian complicity in helping sustain the criminal U.S. war in

Vietnam.

International Woodworkers of
America Local 1-71 reports
more than 900 of its 4,500 up-
coast logger members already
laid off, . And with logs cut on
quota piling up unsold, in salt
and fresh-water storage areas
along the coast, already longer-
than-usual winter layups are ob-
viously coming,

Duncan; Courtenay, Haney and
Newsminster locals of the union
all report cutbacks, B.C.’s larg-
est millworker local, Vancouver
1-217, estimates over a thousand
shingle, sawmill and plywood
workers already laid off, New
automation and mechanization
processes being introduced dur-
ing the shutdown will further re-

duce the number of employees in

a number of mills,

A major factor in the devel-
oping crisis in B,C’s lumber in-
dustry is Canadian dependence on
the U.S. market, against which
the Communist Party has re-
peatedly warned. Already U.S,
housing starts are down 50 per-

_cent, The cut in housing in the

U.S. is part of the “grand
strategy” of pouring $24 billion
a year into the Vietnam war,

Last year’s Ottawa trade fig-

.ures show that out of $100

million worth of Douglas’ Fir
exported, $68 million went to the
U.S.; out of $21,300,000 worth
of shingles, $20,900,000; and
out of $227 million bleached sul-
phite (semi-manufactured) pulp,
$180 million went to the U.S,

As aresult of the fantastic drain
to pay for the U.S, war of aggres-

~ sion in South East Asia, South and

Central America, that market in
the U.S, is closing down,

Tight money-policies initiated
by the U.S. and subsequently
copied by Ottawa at the behest of
Washington, have resulted in a
decline in Canadian housing
starts: 25 percent in B.C. for
the first eight months of 1966,
and 79 percent in Toronto, Thus,
we have a sharp drop in housing

starts at a time when the need ~

for moderate-priced housing is
becoming increasingly desper-
ate, Availability of rental dwell-
ings in Vancouver has dropped

from five percent to one percent, |

creating acute hardships,

Be ere oe $a e®

The third feature of thiscrisis
is inflation — PROFIT inflation,
which has reached an all-time
high. Now a bank squeeze has
triggered a sharp boost in inter-
est rates, The principal sources
of mortgage funds, finding corp-
orate bond and other long-term
investments more attractive,
have cut allocations to the mort-
gage field by 25 percent, At the
same time, Ottawa has cancelled
the $500 “ Winter Building Grant,”
People are shocked and simply

can’t afford the cost of building,

- Out of this crisis, the big mon-
opoly concerns are putting the
squeeze on the smaller opera-
tors to grab up forest lands and
increase the estimated 80 per-
cent of B,C’s forest land they al-
ready control, Simultaneously
strong pressure is being exerted
by these multi-million-dollar
concerns on the Provincial gov-
ernment for “emergency relief”
in the form of a reduction in
royalty and stumpage rates, and
a moratorium on cutting quotas,

The fact that this Province’s
forest industry accounts for 69
percent of all lumber and 79 per-

See LAYOFFS, pg. 12

NIGEL MORGAN, provincial
leader of the Communist
Party, has resumed his duties
after a prolonged illness. The
PT, and we are sure his many
friends, will be happy to hear
that Nigel has made a full re-

covery and is again able to ©
resume his political activities.

Pre tt

i