By WILLIAM KASHTAN

The latest maneouvre of the Seafarer’s International Union in
the USA, directed to withdrawing the boycott of the Canadian Mari-
times Union, should fool no one. ;

It is obviously directed at undermining support in the USA for
the efforts of the Canadian trade union movement to assert its sov-
ereign rights to deal with questions affecting Canadian workers. It
is at the same time directed atisolating the CMU in Canada, with the
hope thereby of forcing some deal on the government and on the Cana-
dian Labor Congress,

Not least, it is a warning that the SIU,
together with the Maritimes Trades Depart-
ment in the USA, backed by the ultra-conserva-
tive elements surrounding President Meany of
the AFL-CIO, intend to continue their struggle
against the Canadian trade union movement.

This is made clear by the nature of the
resolutions which are now before the MTD con-
vention in New York. All of them, in their
totality, spell out a declaration of war against
the sovereign and autonomous rights ofthe trade
union movement of this country.

On the other hand a growing body of trade.
union members in the USA is beginning to see that their fight for a

progressive direction to the AFL-CIO and against the ultra conserva-,
tive elements headed by Meany and Hall who oppose it, is tied in

with their support to the struggle of the Canadian trade union move-

ment in defense of its sovereign and autonomous rights,

It remains to be seen how this willbe reflected in the AFL—CIO
comvention which takes place in New York this coming week and
whether the Reuthers, the McDonalds and the Currans will be con-
sistent in their positions.

So far Walter Reuther has limited the issue to one of ethics.
while this is an aspect of the problem it is not the basic problem
involved in this struggle, which, if one can put it that way, is the
ethics of equality between two sovereign trade union movements.

* * *

It is, of course, correct for the Canadian trade union movement to
seek allies in the USA in ‘the struggle to achieve Canadian trade
union control. But basically this question will be decided in Canada
as a redult ofthe efforts of Canadian workers. Neither Meany nor
Jodoin are likely to give it to them on a platter.

This point needs to be made in order to put workers on guard
against any tendency on the part of some right-wing officers of
international unions in Canada to capitulate and retreat which in fact
they were quite prepared to do in connection with the Maritimes
crisis, except that the road was blocked for them. After all,
these gentlemen are past masters in the art of double-talk and
double-cross,

Workers should be equally on guard against any tendency to
limit the issue of autonomy and sovereignty to one merely affect-
ing the seamen. That battle has to be won. But it would be short sight-
ed indeed not to see that the maritimes crisis in reality reflects
what is much deeper — the one sided relationship existing between
the Canadian and U.S, trade union movements and the fact that con-
trol rests in the USA, not in the hands of Canadian workers, Had
the Canadian trade union movement enjoyed full autonomy and sov-
ereignty the maritimes crisis would not have occurred in the first
place,

~ * *

This is the basic lesson to be drawn and in fact is being drawn
by an ever widening section, not only of the organized labor move-
ment, but of the Canadian people as a whole.

That this is so is to be seen in the results of a recent Tele-
poll Survey which, for what it is worth, points out that the ques-
tion, ‘‘Should Canadian unions be prohibited by law from affiliating
with international unions?’’ received the following replies:
Agree-65.8 percent. Disagree-28.6 percent. No opinions-5.6 percent,

The definiteness of the replies leaves no room for doubt on
the strong opinions growing up in this country. This rise in what is
called ‘‘nationalism’’ in some trade union circles, is a warning to
Meany and company and to the entire AFL-CIO as it is a warning
to Jodoin and others in the Canadian trade union movement: Cana-
dian workers do not intend to wait forever before relationships of
equality are established between the Canadian and U.S. trade union
‘movements, based on the recognition of the national autonomy of
all international unions in Canada and on the sovereign rights of the
Canadian trade union movement.

The situation is ripening for a great leap forward on this vital
issue and those who stand in the way of its. achievement will be
pushed aside by events.

Labor candidates in N. Van

Vancouver Labor Council last industrial tragedy at Woodfibre:
Tuesday endorsedfourlaborcan- recently,

didates running for office in the
North Vancouver municipal elec-
‘tions. Winning labor endorsation
were: F, Marcino (treet Rail-
waymen), aldermanic candidate
in the city; N. Podovinnikoff(Car-
\penters), for councillor in the
district; and school board candi-
dates F, Jennings (Oil, Chemi-
cal) and J. Puff (TWA).

In Vancouver, where there are
no labor endorsed candidates,

Municipal Affairs Committee —

chairman Arnie Hanson told dele-

While mailing in their dona-
tions, the unions made the point
that Rayonier, (owner of the
Woodfibre operation) with all its
millions in accrued profits,
should be compelled to look after
survivors of the victims.

Council secretary Paddy Neale
promised that VLC would filly
investigate the causes of the

accident,
*

Carpenters and Marinework-

ers are entering negotiations all

gates to vote ‘‘for independents ‘over the province. A drop in the
rather than for the incumbents.”’ | ‘number of employed due to auto-
' =. = mation is expected to play a key

Several unions have forwarded Tole in the negotiations, with the
contributions to the widows and shorter workweek coming in fora
‘orphans of workers killed in the; , long, hard look.

ee ee AA aso

Columbia water can

spark nation-wide boom

By BRUCE YORKE

The draft Columbia River
Treaty with the U.S. has been
stalled now for close to three
years. It is time for a new ap-
proach. Instead of relying onthe
so-called downstream benefits
we should proceed with an inde-
pendent Canadian development.
It is a hydrological and legal fact
that Canada does not need to rely
on the United States in any wayin
order to maximize Canadian ben-
efits. We have the sovereign con-
trol now and our primary concern
must be to ‘‘keep our hand onthe
switch’’. -

Is it possible to finance and
develop the Columbia River in
Canada without U.S. ‘‘aid’?? Will
there not likely be ahuge surplus
of power in B.C. now that the
Peace project is going ahead?
Shouldn’t we, after all, sell stor-
age rights on the Columbia tothe
United States as Premier Ben-
nett plans?

These are questions that im-
mediately come to mind with re-
gard to the Columbia. If wecon-
tinue to think of the Columbiathen
one might be tempted superfici-
ally to go along with the draft
treaty giveaway. But power is on-
ly one aspect of what is involved
and it is becoming more evident
that there is an even more im-
portant one - namely - the useof
water itself, :

If the Columbia development is
considered from this point of
view it becomes a very practical
proposition for independent Ca-
nadian development. What are
the details of this approach?

* * *

Every Canadian knows that our
Prairie Provinces are semi-arid
regions, capable of tremendous
agricultural development if as-
sured of an adequate supply of
water, It is also a fact that mod-
ern industry requires tremen-
dous quantities of water. Ifthe
Prairies could receive a signifi-
cant increase in their total water
supply widespread industrializa-
1
main Prairie river istheSaskat-
chewan whose average annual
flow is 7,130,000 acre ft. near
Saskatoon. At the present time
the federal government is build-

tion could easily take place. The ~

"Millions of acres
now water starved...

2 as | Sm,
Can be made to look —
like this... _

ing the South Saskatchewan dam

to regulate this flow. But the flow

itself can be more than doubled

by the magnificent nation building
proposal recently put forth by

David Cass Beggs, head of the

Saskatchewan Power Corpora-
tion. Thisis the proposal to pump
Columbia River water over the
continental divide into the South
Saskatchewan.

It must be emphasized that this
is no idle dream. Itis quite real-
istic from an engineering point
of view and prelimary esti-
mates indicate that it is thorough-
ly economic.

Such a scheme is already in
operation on this continent in the
State of Colorado. And in Aus-
tralia about 100 miles of tunnels
have been employed in the Snowy
Mountain scheme to divert the
‘Snowy River to the more western
arid plains,

The proposal has many attrac-
tive features. In a very material
way it would help to unite the
country. Look atthe accompany-
ing map, It disproves the oft re-
peated statement that the Cana-
dian nation is an economic and
geographic monstrosity. Infact,
the main Prairie river systems
run from west to east.

The natural geography of this
continent is not north and south
as is often alleged by pro-Ameri-
can supporters. And not only is
the Prairie drainage system and
west-east system, but also the
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence sys-
tem as well. Ifthe Columbia sys-
tem was joined to the Saskatche-
wan by pumping over the Rockies
it would be perfectly feasible to
link up by simple gravity the
South Saskatchewan with the Qu’-
Appelle-Assinboine. This would
provide a through waterway from
the foothills right into Winnipeg!

* * *

How big a project is the pump-
ing scheme? Very big. But the
benefits, even from the point of
view of power alone, outweigh the
costs. When the benefits from ir-
rigation, domestic consumption
‘and industrial purposes are added
the advantages to all of Canada
are tremendous,

There are many possible
schemes. Potentially the most
attractive makes use of dams
proposed by General McNaughton
for the Kootenay and the Colum-
bia, The McNaughton Plan would
create a reservoir in the East
Kootenays which would be capable
of controlling a flow of 7,964,000
acre ft. of water per year, Ata
spot near the upper end of this
reservoir the water could be

, See COLUMBIA, pg. 3

HERE’S HOW B.C. RIVERS CAN BRING
MUCH-NEEDED WATER ACROSS CANADA

|

J

Li
-_|
!
!
! :
!
!
ite
1
i
i
i
i
1 ‘
i
SY

The above map shows. how water from the ewan River. Pictured above is the new integrated
McNaughton reservoir in the East Kootenays in | Prairie waterway that would result.

B.C. could be diverted into the South Saskatch-

November 22, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2