CE hd 5 ee ae ME er oe ee

Editorial

Budget countdown

As Finance Minister Michael Wilson prepares the first post-free trade budget, the stage is set for a classic confrontation between the vested interests of the minority and the needs of the vast majority of Canadians.

Make no mistake: all signs point to a Thatcher-like, vindictive budget, one aimed at attacking social programs and concepts all down the line under the fake pretext of fighting the deficit.

As big business keeps reminding Mulroney, the November 21 election was won at great expense precisely to prepare free trade’s “level playing field,” which now means bringing Canada into line with U.S. standards (drastically lowered under Reagan) in the sphere of social spending.

It means re-shaping the thinking and expectations of Canadians, teaching us to kneel before the idol of “free enterprise” and practising the religion of “belt-tightening.” :

It means “re-educating” working people to expect plant closures and run-aways; to “understand” speed-up, wage concessions and union- busting and privatization. It means driving down education opportuni- ties, questioning universality, de-indexing pensions, reducing transfer payments to provinces for housing, child and health care and other urgent needs.

It means backing away from election promises under cover of reducing the deficit — a deficit which has soared under Tory rule since 1984 while federal social spending has declined in several areas.

It means transferring tens of billions to military spending at a time the world is talking disarmament and co-operation.

It means continuing — expanding and extending — the bail-outs, tax giveaways and outright fiscal and governmental corruption which marked Mulroney’s first term.

The Tory timetable for delivering Canada to privatization and Ameri- canization begins in earnest with Wilson’s April budget.

But the majority of Canadians, represented in many organizations, have not disappeared in face of the Tory election win. Wilson is being lobbied by those very Canadians who fought against the FTA and the sellout of our country, and who now are gearing up to present a solid front to block the Tory agenda.

| uP LUFF MAN | i 4 Lo WJov er i SIR es \ 4 [ / 7 i ~ ES 7 ot — - : east hoe ! : baa! a (1 en ra ‘ } / H F | | Ld d Hees I = A CARING Cob SERVATIVE Mc BY : j LATOR & FRIBUNE EDITOR Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Sean Griffin Vancouver, B.C., VBK 125 ASSISTANT EDITOR Phone: (604) 251-1186 Dan Keeton Fax: (604) 251-4232 roc ' Subscription rate: BUSINESS ‘Mike Proniule Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35 two years @ Foreign $32 one year GRAPHICS Second class mail Angela Kenyon registration number 1560

F ifty years is a long time to be active in progressive politics. But Vancouver Island activist Ernie Knott wears the stresses and strains of those long years of hard work well, and at a banquet in his honour last week he pledged that he’s not through yet in his fight for the rights of the working class on the island.

During those 50 years Ernie has made many friends in the diverse people’s movements on the island, and more than 150 of them gathered on March 18 to pay tribute to the man and his work. Included among the well-wishers were: David Szol- losi, social justice co-ordinator for Bishop Remi de Roo; University of Victoria pro- fessor, NDP candidate, feminist and peace activist Milnor Alexander; B.C. Commu- nist Party leader Maurice Rush; Bill Fowler, president of the Victoria local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. MLA Mo Sihota sent greetings to the ban- quet.

Mark Mosher, retired woodworker and former Port Alberni alderman, headed the program with a brief tribute to Ernie’s work in the early days of the International Woodworkers. Ernie, then a member of the CCF, made a key contribution to the success of the 1946 loggers strike. It was his action during that strike that drew him closer to the members of the Communist Party and in particular to Alf Dewhurst, who signed up Ernie at the close of the strike.

Fowler of the Victoria Labour Council said it was appropriate to be honouring Ernie, a long time member, this year because it also marks the 100th anniver- sary of the council. Fowler thanked Ernie for “showing the way ahead, not just in the labour movement, but in the peace and environmental movements as well.”

People and Issues

Fowler noted that Victoria has the highest per capita participation of people in the peace movement of any city in Can- ada, and Ernie’s years of contribution to mobilizing those people cannot be over- stated, he said.

“The challenge for us today, those of us in my generation — the generation after Ernie’s — is to keep up the fight with the determination that Ernie has shown,” he said. Fowler noted Ernie’s long fight to get back into his union, the FWA, after he was expelled along with other Communists and progressives in 1948. (He regained his membership in the 1970s while employed at a Victoria plywood operation.)

Ernie retired from the labour council in 1984, said Fowler, “but someone forgot to tell him it was over because he still shows up to every meeting and makes a valuable contribution.” Fowler presented Ernie with a plaque from the council, bearing the inscription: “To Ernie Knott, for a lifetime of service to the labour move- ment.”

Maurice Rush honoured Ernie for his 40 years in the Communist Party, and in particular his tenacity in working to con- vince the party to take up the fight for the protection of B.C. forests. “But above all Ernie stands out because of his deep devo-

Bill Fowler (r) presents plaque from Victoria Labour Council to Ernie Knott for a lifetime of service to the labour movement.

tion and commitment to the goal of a socialist Canada,” he said.

Ernie spoke with pride of his connec- tions to the working class on Vancouver Island. He was born on the island, his mother worked as a camp cook in the woods and his father was a miner.

As he thanked everyone for the tribute and pledged to continue his work, Ernie made an appeal for unity of the left in Canada.

“The enemy is too big and too powerful for us to win alone,” he said. “It is high time we on the left got together and worked together on the pressing problems facing our country, on peace, on preserv- ing Canada’s national independence, and against the right-wing agenda.”

* * *

e must report that two long-time

Tribune supporters and Commu- nist Party members are in the hospital after suffering serious coronaries.

John Johnson entered Vancouver Gen- eral Hospital March 17 after his tenants found him suffering from a massive heart attack in his home. He remains in inten- sive care, with only family allowed visiting privileges.

Walter Gawrycki, also of Vancouver, also entered hospital that week. He is reported in fair condition but is still in intensive care in St. Paul’s hospital, with only family allowed to visit.

Both men are veterans of the Spanish Civil War and members of the MacKenzie- Papineau Battalion, and both have been noted fundraisers and _ subscription achievers for the Tribune.

Family and friends of both are wishing the two activists recovery from what are admittedly serious ailments.

4 « Pacific Tribune, March 27, 1989