. eatin

World - trade viewed as key to

revival of shipbuilding industry

By BERT WHYTE

mies “Canada’s future economic and social welfare is contingent upon recognising that trade with the vast markets of the East and other
Untries presently barred to us is essential if we are to avoid a major depression.
atine Workers and Boilermakers Industrial Union, Local 1, in cooperation with the Trade Union Research Bureau of Vancouver. The survey,
>ublished in pamphlet form recently, probes conditions in the shipbuilding industry here and across Canada. Its conclusions are offered ‘‘as a
Ueprint for Canada’s economic future.”’

4ln recommendations call for:
All :

dian coast

and re
i ‘
2 Canadian shipyards.

Canagcovernment subsidies to
ae Jan shipping companies to
ntinuéd conditional upon the

Com
Ma

‘an shipyards,

V_ Setting up of a Royal Com-
rati to probe all phases of the
aions of the Canadian Mari-

Mission

Ope
me Contmission.
V

ae € the completion of the St.
ence Seaway project.
Ver
a Ca

V
and ag
=

®se countries on a large scale.
t o
ties ;
triste in British Columbia face

Bee tons because of lack
Catige €ts—or more precjsely, be-
Sena has been made to
of the s e huge potential markets
industy. ar East. The shipbuilding
cause : 1s already in a crisis be-

Ot Canada’s post-war policies.

.

ae Marine Workers’ survey
Suivc. a 1945 letter sent to Van-
late ta Shipyard workers by the
ter of Nn Mackenzie, then minis-
. iene. affairs, in which
oar that “it is the determin-
ment aad of the present govern-
buildin at Canada is in the ship-
navy pep osiness for good. .The
You sie Merchant Marine that
tained © are going to be main-
You nd expanded. The ships
trade vilt will carry Canada’s
Hs Ab ands of the world,
tun; Mployment and oppor-

MY for Candian Ohba.

The 7;

. Piaberal government which
Day ig at pledge shortly after VE
is the Hei Power. Yet what
industry wena in the shipbuilding
Sums jf \Cdav?_ The‘union survey

Up in a paragraph:

“Th
Seen “

Merchant as war-built dry cargo
S tha

We
e

a
buitaing volume of ship-
Cling a ship repairing de-
ih 1ogg yn &Value of $54,000,000
it

from
th
22,600 i

Whole
Britig, et {70m 31,200 to 5,300 for
Columbia.”

At ¢
Conte he 1952 World Economic

Ten, 5:
S fe in Moscow, Chinese

Ln
PENDER ‘

AUDITORIUM

arine Workers)

a est Pender
& SMALL HALLS
FOR RENTALS

IC Phone Pa, 9.

AU <
ts,

ships engaged in Cana-
K : al and inland shipping

e built in Canadian shipyards! :
Paired and maintained only

ee building, repairing and
. dining their ships in Cana-

dertape naa to immediately un-

. he immediate planning of
tee Government Merchant

Extend recognition to China
was other country seeking our
tts, and develop trade with

© lumber and fishing “indus-

delegates came vested with auth-
ority to make trade contracts with
other countries. Following the
conference some trade agreements
were reached.

When the shooting stopped in
Korea, a’ scramble for trade with
People’s China began—with Britain
and Japan showing special inter-
est in extending trade with that
vast countrye of 475,000,000 poten-
tional customers.

Yet Canada, under the influence
of Washington's foreign policy, has
made no bid for Chinese and Far
Eastern trade, despite the fact
that an economic crisis is loom-
ing on the horizon.

Trade is a matter of vital con-
cern to British Columbia; our fra-
gile economy depends on selling
goods abroad. This was made
abundantly clear in a speech by J.
N. Hyland, director, B.C. Packers
Ltd., at the fifth B.C. Natural Re-
sources Conference held in Vic-
toria in February, 1952. Hyland
said:

“Some idea of the importance
of foreign trade to B.C. may be
gauged by the fact that approxt-
mately two-thirds of the prov-
ince’s industrial income is deriv-
ed from sales of wares to mark-
ets outside Canada. This is @
result of the fact that the pro-
ductive capacity of B.C. is far
greater than the ability of its
people to utilize the products of
their forests, mines, farms and
fisheries.”

China needs lumber and would
buy it from us. But China also
needs ships for her coastal and
foreign trade—and there is no
reason why some of these ships
could not be built in West Coast
shipyards.

In 1947, when Canada exported
$34,984,000 worth of commodities
to China, one significant figure
reads: “Ships, $1,450,952.”

Expand our trade with China, im-
plement the other recommenda-

tions contained in the Marine
Workers’ survey —and B.C. ship-

yards will again become a hive of
productive activity.

In 1943 some 31,zUU0 shipyara workers Were emp!

yeu in pritish Columbia, but by 1952 this figu

This is the conclusion reached in®a research project of

‘had shrunk to 5,300. P

Largest local ‘union in British
Columbia, the 6,000-member Van-
couver Local 1-217 International

Woodworkers of America, has
passed a resolution calling for im-
mediate Big-Power negotiations to
end the “cold war.”

The resolution was adopted un-
animously at the local’s Septem-
ber meeting of 150 millworkers
and has been forwarded to the in-
ternational convention of the IWA
which meets in Vancouver this
month.

Text of the resolution reads:
“Whereas it is desirable that there
be a relaxation of international
tensions; therefore, be it resolved
that Local 1-217 IWA believes that
a conference on the highest level
should take place between the
leading powers without long de-
lay.”

& * *

“That labor, all labor factions,
shall some day unite isa challenge
to all trade unionists... a condi-
tion that we must all work toward,
says The Viewpoint of ‘76, month-
ly bulletin of Powell River Pulp,
Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers.

“Like many other roads in life,
the road to labor unity is full of
pitfalls,” the paper comments.
“Among the principal ones today
are: (1) Failure to carry through
the policy of non-raiding of other
unions; (2) Union leaders, demo-
cratically elected to represent the
workers of a specific union, having
no voice in the affairs of united

organized labor.”

* *

ike vote by International
Rca of Electrical Workers
may be taken next week, business
agent George Gee said this week.
A strike would close down BCElec-
tric services here.
Gee said that if a strike is call-
ed hospital and emergency elec-
trical service will be maintained.

Civil rights meeting
planned for Oct. 27

Vancouver branch of the League for Democratic Rights is distribut-
ing 5,000 copies of a new four-page pamphlet, entitled It’s a Free
Country, Isn’t It? in its campaign to stimulate interest in and win

support for a Canadian Bill of Rights.

The pamphlet carries the full

text of the draft “Declaration of the Rights of Canadians” and deals

with the current threats to Cana-
dian liberties. ‘

The LDR will also conduct a
drive for membership, under the
leadership of its new executive
secretary, well-known Vancouver
trade unionist Jack Phillips. _

On Tuesday, October 27, a
membership meeting open to the
public will be held in Hastings
Auditorium. The program will
include a recording made at one
of the Smith Act trials in the
United States; also a panel dis-
cussion by local lawyers of the
“Declaration of the Rights, of
Canadians,” followed by a ques-
tion period.

An anti-discrimination commit-
tee, to investigate and gather in-
formation on cases of discrimina-
tion in employment in catering
and services, has also been set up.
This committee will cooperate with
all groups and citizens interested
in combatting discrimination.

Requests for information about
the League for Democratic Rights,
or arrangements for a hearing of
the Smith Act trial recordings,
should be addressed to Jack Phil-
lips, 339 West Pender, Vancouver
3, B.C. (phone PAcific 4548).

Vancouver peace workers
challenge Toronto on ballot

Vancouver peace workers, who have already collected some 6,000

votes, have challenged members

of Toronto Peace Council to a

friendiy, one-day competition” on October 24 in the National Peace

Referendum campaign.

Meanwhile street canvassing in Vancouver, North Vancouver, New

Westminster and other areas will
continue each Saturday.

Setting the pace for all canvas-
sers is still Mrs. Elizabeth McKitch,
a 53-year-old Doukhobor woman
who has collected more than 600.

Other leading canvassers are,
Mrs. Kay Gardner, 273, W. M:
Hrehrechuk, 251, Anton Mnzichen-
ko, 172, Mrs. Rhea Dear, 122, and
Charlie Caron, 107. Leading youth
canvasser is Velda Downton, a
member of the National Federa-
tion of Labor Youth.

IWA convention
opens on Monday

In the midst of a strike of 5,000
northern Interior woodworkers
and probable extension of the
walkout to include some 3,000
southern Interior members, the in-
ternational convention of Interna-

tional Woodworkers of America

will open in Hotel Vancouver
here this coming Monday, October
12.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 9, 1953 — PAGE 7