Ll

AT BUGGING PROBE

Private detective involves RCMP vc Tribune

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1966

Private investigator W.B.

“Bud” Graham told the royal.

commission on bugging last Thursday that two RCMP officers told him he would be receiving the assignment that led to the bugging of a union convention in the Ritz Hotel,

He told the royal commission that Cpl, Harry Reed and Const, E.P, Ouellette visted his office Oct. 26 and told him he would be

‘contacted by a B.C, Federation:

of Labor official, This turned out to be Pat O’Neal, former secre- tary of the B.C. Federation of Labor and now an official of Inter- national Pulp and _ Sulphite Workers Union,

Graham, a former member of the RCMP security and intelli- gence branch, said Reed and Ouellette had already indicated the assignment would require the use of electronic eavesdropping techniques, He said Reed asked him if he knew anything about bugging procedure and he re- plied that he’d been shown the methods and read up on them and he could handle it. The fol-, lowing day, he said, he was tele- phoned by O’Neal,

Graham said when they met O’Neal asked him to handle the matter and told him that -the Canadian union was holding a convention in the Ritz Hotel the following month. “We then dis- cussed various ways and means — the better method to eaves- drop on the convention,” said Graham,

“I advised him that I thought electronic eavesdropping devices could possibly do the job. He said it was my business as to how I conducted the investiga- tion, All he wanted was results,”

Graham testified that he had a second meeting with O’Neal on the night of Oct. 28, at which “we also discussed certain aspects of Communist technique in the labor movement,” He further. testified that at this meeting O’Neal gave him a retainer for $250 made out in a cheque of the Interna- tional Union,

Before Graham’s evidence was given on Thursday, counsel for the RCMR, Norma Christie and the department oftransport, ask- ed that the testimony should not relate in any way to the workings of the security and intelligence branch,

She said the branch was charg- ed with protecting national and internal security and any disclo- sure by Graham, a former mem- ber, would be prejudicial to the public interest,

At this point Commissioner R, A, Sargent suggested that Miss Christie make specific objections during the course of Graham’s evidence and he would rule out anything prejudicial to safety and security, ; >

Richard Griffin, Graham’s partner until they severed rela- tions following the disclosure of the bugging in the Ritz Hotel, said he was present with Graham during ‘the second meeting with O’Neal, ‘As he recalled, the con- versation was about communism on the West Coast and popular fronts exploited by Communists,

\

Griffin gave details how the bugging was arranged and the problems they ran into. He said that when he returned to the hotel on the afternoon of Nov. 7 he found a crowd outside Room 309 and he left, He added that O’Neal had arrived at his office carrying a tape recorder, When Graham told him the operation had been uncovered O’Neal left in a hurry leaving the recorder behind, “The conversation was very brief,” said Griffin, O’Neal said: “I’d better get out of here,”

When the royal~ commission probe reconvened Monday of this week private investigator “Bud” Graham said he discussed his part in the case on television because of a clash between his lawyer and RCMPSuperintendent Joe Atherton,

He said Atherton told lawyer Neil Fleishman that Graham’s claim that two RCMP officers were involved in the bugging was a monstrous falsehood,

Graham said Cpl, Harry Reed of the RCMP security and intelli- gence told him he (Reed) had tried to tip him off about the police raid on his electronic bugging operation,

He also said O’Neal knew when he hired Graham to snoop on the convention of the rival Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada that he would be using eavesdropping equipment,

Graham also testified that he’d checked the legality of the bugging operation with Fleishman before he started it, He was advised that if it was a matter of national security he should do it — pro- viding he didn’t break any law in placing the equipment.

Graham recalled again that when Cpl, Reed and Const, E,O, Ouellette of security and intelli- gence contacted him on Oct, 26

Reed said the breakaway union

had caused trouble and difficul- ties, harassment and intimida- tion, and asked him if he was equipped to take on a bugging operation, :

Graham said Reed told him he would be contacted in thenear future by a representative of the B.C. Federation of Labor, Later he met O’Neal and told him it was too late to place an under- ‘cover man at the convention and that bugging was about the only method left, O’Neal told him to handle the operation whichever way he thought best, Graham said,

The hearing is continuing this week at the Court House,

**Milestones”’

present

oo

i

IU

LABOR SCENE:

—

_ Labor unity forces dock companies to back-down

After tieing up the port of Vancouver and other key B,C, ports in a crippling three-week lockout of longshoremen rather than concede the right of collec- tive bargaining to some 190 B.C, port foremen, the B.C, Maritime Employers Association and their “hard-nosed” president Edward Strang were compelled to climb down last weekend and call off their lockout,

This climb down only came, however, after intervention by Federal Minister of Labor Nicholson, who introduced a for- mula for settlement, approved by the foremen, but rejected by the employers, and a further ultimatum from Ottawa that un- less a settlement was reached by the Employers’ Association, the government would set up a trusteeship to get Vancouver and other B.C. ports back in opera- tion,

Employer Association spokes- men described the Labor Minis- ter’s proposals for settlement of the tieup as “the establishment of a collective agreement rela- tionship, admittedly under the facade of an association, with no safeguards against an inevit- able takeover by the ILWU,”

The shipping federation bosses and their mouthpiece Strang con- tended that dock foremen were “managerial personnel” and therefore not entitled to,the right of collective bargaining. When the dock foremen took strike ac- tion to win such recognition, the ILWU_ respected their picket lines, an action immediately fol- lowed up by mass firing and lock- out by the Maritime Employers, bringing the port to a complete halt, with hundreds of ships await-. ing cargo loading and unloading,

Damage claims against the

ILWU by the Association and vice -

NEW YEAR’S BALL an

SIX DOLLARS PER PERSON

38

Electrical Workers Hall—Dunsmuir & Beatty Sts. Refreshments Available SUPPER—DANCING—FAVOURS

RESERVE YOUR TABLE NOW!

Tickets at

versa involving millions of dol- lars have been withdrawn in pro- cess of settlement of the dispute, and port operations under union initiative are rapidly getting back to normal, —

* Ok *

Canada’s positition in the Unit- ed Nations on the entry of the Peoples’ Republic of China to the UN is difficult to reconcile with non-recognition of that na- tion of a diplomatic level by the Canadian government, a union spokesman said last week,

George . Harris, secretary- treasurer, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE), said in atelegram to Paul Martin, Secretary ofState, that the *Cana- dian government should act promptly to normalize relations with this vast and populous coun- try through an exchange of diplo- matic representatives,

‘*The United States promoted policy of isolating China from world councils, and interfering with diplomatic recognition by other countries,” he said, ‘‘is dangerous to peace and security.”

“Canadian initiative in arrang- ing an exchange of diplomatic representatives will serve our interests and that of strengthen-

TRUSTEE MacFARLAN

ELECTIONS

Cont'd from Pg. 1

‘failing to elect any of the CIV

slate,

City votes showed strong anti- Social Credit sentiment when they rejected Mayor Rathie, who had been endorsed by Premier Ben- nett and by barely giving Tom Alsbury enough votes to creep in to ninth place. Alsbury, who usually was among the leaders on election night, ran 10,000 votes behind Rankin, Alsbury was a

December 16, 1966--PACIFIC TRIBUNE-—Page 12

ing peace efforts throughout the world,” the wire concluded. * Ok OK

On the issue of bugging union convention halls, presently under investigation by a Royal Commis~ sion in Vancouver set up by the Socred government, with other trade union bodies conducting their own investigations on the Ritz Hotel “bugging”, officers of the B.C,. Federation of Labor have stated their position on the matter, as recorded in the No- ‘vember edition of The Western Canadian Lumber Worker,

“The B.C, Federation of Labor ~ is now and has always been opposed to the invasion of pri- vacy and the use of electronic — devices for this purpose, The BCFL officers are also opposed to the principle used in exparte injunctions, namely, that guilt is assumed without trial or hear- ings. The B.C, Federation of — Labor will not comment on the guilt or innocence of any mem- ber of the labor movement until all evidence is heard and all sides have had their day in court.”

ak ae ;

The B.C. Government Em- ployees’ Association (BCGEA) covering approximately 8,000 members, is demanding pay in- creases ranging from a five t0 twenty percent hike.

ALDERMAN RANKIN

Social Credit candidate in Bur- rard in the last provincial elec- tion,

Running for the first time for School Board, James MacFarlan, was among the leaders most of the night, finally beating out NPA George Holgate capturing the ninth position. With 98 out of 102 polls heard from at press time, MacF arlan had 46,575 votes,

In the Parks Board race Donald Greenwell, independent, rolled up an impressive 32,161 votes but was short of election.