Hail Action of B.C. Unionists

NDP-M.P.’s condemn Colunibia sellout

Before the Christmas adjournment New Democratic Party MP’s in Ottawa strongly condemned the draft Columbia Treaty and the policy of National betrayal be- ing pursued by the old-line parties. The Pacific Tribune here presents a digest of the statements made by H. W.

Herridge and Tom Berger:

H. W. HERRIDGE, Kootenay West

I want to emphasize that this party views every ques- tion of this type on the basis of its national policy, which is to promote the development of Canadian natural resources by Canadians for Canadians

. However, we oppose the present terms of the Colum- bia river treaty because the treaty is not to the advant- age of the Canadian people.

I wish also to emphasize that the New Democratic

BERT HERRIDGE

Party has consistently Supported what is known as the McNaughton plan, namely the full economic develop- Ment of the Columbia to pro- duce the maximum of power for Canadian use, with down- Stream benefits to be used in British Columbia or in the rest of Canada, and the sur- Plus water of the Columbia to be used to irrigate Cana- dian soil, and to provide per- Manent jobs as a result of this policy.

I should like to pay tribute to Mr. Orville Braaten, Mr. Jerry LeBourdais and Mr. John Hayward, staunch trade unionists who have accepted their responsibilities for deal- ing with the question of. nat- ural resources ... I am glad to say that the B.C. federa- tion of Labor — in fact all trade unions in British Col- umbia — are taking a much Sreater interest in the devel- °pment of our natural re- Sources than they did a few years ago. They have done Some very excellent work in- deed on this question. As a Tesult of their work I have Teceived nearly 5000 cards addressed to me in Ottawa as member of parliament for Kootenay West.

In my own district mem- bers of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, of which I have been an honorary Member since 1941, a fact of which I am very proud, have done a good job in this re- gard. They appointed a spe- Cial committee composed of competent people to carry out research on the problem, and they have made excellent re- Presentations ‘in co-operation with farmers’ organizations

in the district. See HERRIDGE, page 6

TOM BERGER Van.-Burrard The Columbia river treaty . assigned to Canada the job of storing vast quantities of water while effectively de- priving us of the right to use

the waters of the Columbia,

not only for the purpose of generating electric power but also for industrial and agri- cultural purposes.

Under successive govern- ments Canadians have given up control over their re- sources, over their minerals, over their oil, over their man-

ufacturing industries, over their savings; and now this government proposes that

Canadians should give up con- trol over their water re- sources in an area, the Col- umbia river basin, occupying 40,000 square miles.

Under the Liberal govern- ment Canadians were simply hewers of wood and drawers of water. The old Liberal gov- ernment was the government in power when Canadians gave up control over their key industries and key re- sources to United States in-

TOM BERGER

terests. .. Our function under the Columbia river treaty is one of storage. We are going to store the water of the Col- umbia river basin, which will be used for agricultural and industrial development in the United States. Under the Conservative government we have become hewers of wood and storers of water.

For too many years we in Canada have been giving up control over Canada itself. . . We no longer control our own oil; the United States does. We no longer control our own mineral resources; the United States does. We do not ,son- trol any longer our automo- bile manufacturing industry; the United States does. We do not control our appliances in- dustry; the United States does. We do not even control our own savings any more; the great financial institu- tions of this country, the morigage companies, the in- surance companies, the in- vestment companies are un- der control of United States interests. (Emphasis - PT)

To a great extent this has happened by default. The old

See BERGER... page 6

B.C. COMMUNISTS CHARGE:

‘Socred support for union with U.S. part of betrayal of Canada’

The B.C. Executive of the Communist Party took sharp issue last week with the re- cent statements of a leading

Social Credit spokesman ad-°

vocating B.C.’s political union with the United States.

“Attorney General Bon- ner’s recent admission that the Socreds stand for politi- cal as well ag economic union of B.C. with the U.S. is quite consistant with their policies and action,’ Nigel Morgan, B.C. leader of the Communist Party stated in a press state- ment to the PT.

“There is no better illus- tration of this than their insis- tence on giving away the Col- umbia River watershed — an area equal in size to the Isl- and of Newfoundland. It is the same policy of U.S. Canadian integration father- ed by the Liberal Party — now being pursued by the Tories. :

“The Communist Party has repeatedly warned of where the Socred policies are lead- ing,’ Morgan continued.

The Communist Party re- jects and will fight with every ounce of its energy the old line party policy of US. absorption of B.C. and Can- ada. It is precisely this pol- icy of national betrayal that is cutting so heavily into B.C. and Canadian job oppor- tunities, boosting our taxes

and living costs and trigger- -

ing the anti-labor offensive of Canadian big business and their governments against the trade unions, the NDP and other progressive forces. COMING SESSION

“The Communist Party has projected and will fight hard at the coming session of the B.C. Legislature for an alter- native policy to develop the Columbia and other resources for Canadians, to reduce mun- icipal tax bills and win im- provments to labor and so- cial legislation.

“The creation of a govern- ment alternative is the key to advance. That it is coming is evidenced in the forthright statements of NDP MP’s Tom Berger and Bert Herridge in the House of Commons.

“In this connection, it has

to be noted that the pre-ses- sional statement of provincial NDP. leader, Robert Strach- an, in contrast with his party’s federal position and trade union demands, leaves a great deal to be desired. La- bor and progressive circles will be extremely disappoint- ed that Mr. Strachan doesn’t come to grips with the big political issues that will be before this legislature.

“Strachan needs to be told that failure on his part to de-

velop a clear alternative on the Columbia, on resources, development, employment, municipal aid, taxes and labor legislation can only serve to aid the Liberals to cut into NDP support. And we should not forget that the Liberals were, and still are, no better than the Socreds.

“A clear cut program to unite the entire labor and progressive movement behind the NDP is the only answer to today’s problems,” Morgan concluded.

Quit NATO rather than

The New Democratic Party will fight tooth and nail against Can- adian acceptance of nuclear wea- pons, even if they stand alone in the House of Commons.

This was the challenge thrown out last Thursday by NDP nation- al leader Tommy Douglas when speaking to an audience of 500 in Mission City, B.C.

Referring to the statement of

‘retiring NATO chief Gen. Lauris

Norstad in Ottawa that Canada is committed to accepting nuclear weapons Douglas reminded his listeners that ‘‘our founding (ND- P) convention made it clear in our program that if NATO be- comes itself a nuclear power, we will advocate that Canada with- draw from NATO rather than join the nuclear club.”

Douglas said that U.S. and Soviet Union have enough nuclear bombs and missiles stockpiled to have the explosive equivalent of 90 tons of TNT for every person in the world, and that for the first time in history man has the power to destroy himself.

On January 2 NDP-MP Barry

West Germany After A-Arms

West Germany’s Foreign Minister Schroeder arrived in London Monday to seek ‘‘atom- ic parity’ with Britain in any multilateral European nuclear forces envisaged by the Nas- sau agreement. This is ex- pected to be Germany’s price for helping Britain get into ECM.

take A-Arms says Douglas

Mather (New Westminster), told a capacity meeting in Alder- grove’s Vasa Hall that the ‘‘NDP is opposed to nuclear arms in any form, either in Canada or in Canada’s forces abroad’’.

Also this week the Voice of Women condemned Gen. Nor- stad’s statements. VOW deplored foreign pressure being applied to: force Canada into a course of action offensive to the conscience of a large section of the popula- tion, and urged the government to declare that Canada will never join the nuclear club.

Nuclear

Cont'd. from page 1

ment exists that it be forthright- ly cancelled.

The time to block nuclear weapons is now. Ottawa should be flooded with wires, letters and resolutions urging NO NUCLEAR ARMS FOR CANADA.

With most MP’s in their home constituencies during the present recess, they should be visited by delegations, phoned and other- wise urged to declare themselves publicly against nuclear arms fer Canada.

‘Keep nuclear weapons ouf— McEwen

Editor of the PT and veteran campaigner, Tom McEwen has again been nominated by the Vancouver-East clubs of the Com- munist Party to contest that workingclass constituency in the coming federal elections.

In his acceptance speech Mc- Ewen stressed the urgency of keeping nuclear weapons out of Canada, whether directly or smuggled in at the back door via NATO _Liberal-Tory ‘‘commit- ment.”

He referred to the recent visit of retiring U.S.-NATO chief Lauris Norstad, who came to Canada last week direct from West Germany and Portugal to pressure Canada into “‘living up to its NATO obligations’? and which in Pentagon language means acceptance of nuclear

' weapons by Canada.

“While there appears to be some differences of opinion in the Diefenbaker cabinet on _ accept-

ance of nuclear arms,’ stated McEwen, ‘‘this is purely a matter of election expediency in face of strong popular opinion against

TOM McEWEN who was again nominated to run in Van. East Federal rid-

ing.

such weapons.

“Since Liberal leader Pearson, a trusty echo of Pentagon poli- cies in Canada, has already as- sociated himself with the Norstad demands, it is already obvious that both Liberals and Tories

will readily knuckle under to

U.S. nuclear demands in this as in other coldwar issues where the peace and independence of Canada is at stake.

“The instability of the NDP- MP for Vancouver-East, Harold Winch, on the necessity of Can- ada retaining membership in NATO, his recent irresponsible statements following his African junket, and his ‘qualified’ posi- tion on nuclear weapons for Can- ada’s armed forces abroad, make this issue all the more grave for the people of Vancouver-East, as indeed all Canadians. These issues must be brought out, sharply, clearly, and without any evasions on. the hustings..”

dem 11, 1963—PACIFIC. TRIBUNE—Page. ‘3