$100 million China trade waitin

VOL. 13. No. 4 Vancouver, British Columbia, January 29, 1954

‘Head in sand’ approach

TTAWA BANS RELEASE
F BC. JOBLESS TOTAL

f

Federal Department of Labor officials have forbidden local
officials of the National Employment to release current unemploy-
ment figures, which.toppped 20,000 on the Lower Mainland nearly
two months ago and are now estimated to have hit the 60,000
mark,

Lame excuses given by Ottawa for concealing the sharp rise
in unemployment is that the Department of Labor and the Federal
Bureau of Statistics wants to “coordinate all employment figures in
a once-a-month joint statement.”

We

Layoffs swell jobless lines

Sean coast to coast layoffs in industry swell job-
less lines, and each week sees tens of thousands of
workers lining up at National Employment Service
offices to be registered. Noticeable in the above

picture, taken at NES offices on Spadina Avenue in
Toronto, is an army recruiting poster tacked up on
the bulletin board in background. But Canadian
workers want jobs, not khaki uniforms. In Hamil-

ton a Union of Unemployed Workers was organized
this week, and similar organizations of the unem-
ployed may soon be. operating in other industrial
cities.

The only line of advance to battle the crime of
unemployment is to Put Canada First, and organize
and fight for iobs and markets, for friendshin and
trade with all countries, and to stop the sellout of
Canada to Wall Street.

Federal Labor Minister Milton F. Gre
told House of Commons this week that the fe
ment is not planning expanded public works

OTTAWA
es callously
deral govern-
to choke off

rising unemployment. He was replying to a question from
Continued on back page — See UNEMPLOYMENT

Canada

can do

big China trade

TORONTO

Canada could immediately open up a $100,000,000 a year export
trade with People’s China, if government policies were changed,
R. B. Spiro, leading Toronto businessman and a spokesman for the
Canadian Exporters’ Association, told the Canadian Tribune here last

week.

A director of the association
and president of Coleman Lamp
and Stove Company, Spiro declar-
ed that trade with the Soviet Un-
ion, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and
Hungary would benefit Canada
too. He was replying to a ques-
tion on Trade and Commerce
Minister C. D. Howe’s recent
statement that Canada was will-

ing to do more trade with the
USSR.

“We believe Canada could in-
crease its export trade to China
substantially,“ Spiro said. “Al-
most everything in the line of
fully finished goods and great
amounts of wheat could be ship-
ped over.”

He believed Canada could make
valuable use of manganese ores
and furs from the Soviet Union,
and a wide range of manufactur-
ed articles from Czechoslovakia
such as glassware, precision in-

struments, machinery and leather-
goods.

Emphasizing the big market
for agricultural implements in
China, Rumania and Hungary,
Spiro said the Massey-Harris-
Ferguson plant in Toronto would
likely be a ready exporter should
political barriers be lifted. It
would be a stimulant to an in.
dustry. which has been hard hit
by layoffs.

(A United Automobile Workers
union and United Steelworkers
delegation will see cabinet mem-
bers February 10 to press for
government action to assist the
farm implements industry.)

(In Ottawa January 15, Vladi-
mir Bourdine, first secretary of
the Soviet embassy, reported
many inquiries about trade with
the USSR were being received at
the embassy. He said Ambas-
sador Chuvahin and Trade Min-
ister Howe had discussed the
matter).