EDITORIAL

“ NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command agreement between Canada and the U.S., comes up for renewal, or quashing, in March, 1986. In the meantime, a House of Commons standing com- mittee on external affairs and national defence, is holding hearings, first in Ottawa, and for 10 days following the Thanksgiving Day holiday, Oct. 14, across the country.

The Communist Party of Canada and this paper have long been on record calling for Canada’s with- drawal from a pact which serves only the interests of the U.S. military. :

As recently as April 1985, in the policy resolution of its 26th convention, the Communist Party states:

“Canada’s security lies in advocating measures to limit and destroy nuclear weapons internationally. It lies in putting an end to the testing of U.S. cruise

“missiles in Canada and the annulment of the arms testing program. It lies in declaring Canada a nuclear weapons-free zone and undertaking appropriate treaty agreements with the Soviet Union and the U.S. on the question. It lies in withdrawing Canada from NATO and NORAD...”

The firm commitment stands.

Given the neo-conservative Tory majority in Ottawa, and its attachment to the policies of U.S. President Reagan, that struggle may be a prolonged one, especially when one notes the mere beginnings of the formation of a people’s majority outside parlia- ment to challenge the majority inside.

There is a point of more immediacy which will be raised by some members of parliament’s standing committee, and undoubtedly by many of those attend- ing its hearings. It concerns a clause that was taken out

_ The most conservative sectors of big business are in

a relentless drive to push down living standards and

_ fatten profits. In addition to monopoly’s attacks on

_ the trade union movement, the likes of the Canadian

~ Chamber of Commerce are putting both public and

* behind-the-scenes pressure on the Mulroney govern- ment to slash social programs.

While major cities try to cope with lengthening year-round bread lines, Statistics Canada figures show spreading impoverishment. For the third straight year, poverty soared in Canada, rising by 200,000 persons in 1984, to 4.35 million — that’s 17.8 percent

of the agreement at the March, 1981 renewal which —

Fight the poverty-makers

NORAD: Reaganite weapon

stated that the agreement was not part ofa ballistic missile defence strategy such as Star Wars (Strategic Defence Initiative). Oddly enough — or was it! — when the agreement came up for renewal in 1980, it was renewed for only one year. But when that clause was removed in 1981 it was stretched again to five years.

Every military analyst and observer recognizes that NORAD and the North Warning System, and SIOP, the U.S. single integrated military plan of operations which merges offensive and defensive weapons pro- grams, are the building blocks of Star Wars.

Star Wars was not known to the public in 1981. In fact, the excuse for removing the clause was that it was unnecessary because the U.S. had signed the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibited the devel- opment of ballistic missile defence systems. With the launching of Star Wars, Reagan effectively blew that treaty to smithereens, and Canada hasn’t even a pro- tective clause to cover its naked connivance.

It’s true, signed agreements mean little to the Rea- gan regime, but re-insertion of the missing clause, even strengthened, could provide a powerful case for keep- ing Canada out of other Star Wars commitments.

The NORAD renewal is scheduled for March. The habit of Ottawa and Washington is to announce the renewal a month or two before the deadline to thwart opposition.

Since this time there are standing committee hear- ings, pressure for the reinstatement of a declaration exempting Canada from any Star Wars commitment could become an attainable goal — even if the Tory majority has its way, for the time being, in renewing the agreement.

of the population. About one-fifth of our children live in poverty.

Yet, the Chamber of Commerce wants not only to end universality and put those in need through a means test probe, but it also rejects the continued indexing of personal income taxes and social security programs. It is violently opposed to lower interest rates or suspension of debt payments for farmers.

This powerful right-wing assault calls for the most resounding fightback by workers, farmers, the unem- ployed and a strongly united democratic force of Can- adians.

"4

m yet.

Profiteer of the week

Despite its name, Great Pacific Industries Inc., Vancouver, in financial operations, along with subsidiaries. For the six months ended June 30, its after-tax profit was $5.9-million compared with $2.6-million in the same months of 1984.

IRIBUNE

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ot probably true that most people don’t exactly light up with inspiration when the issue of foreign trade comes up. But they might if they saw it meant jobs and long term benefits. And it’s significant

People and Issues

beneficial trade.

W: have a note from long time Tribune readers Peggy and Allan Chunn not- ing that they will be off this week to travel more than halfway around the world to attend, as delegates of the B.C. Peace

that, as the Bennett government clamors to sell power to the U.S. at less than the

Tories in the “leap of faith” into free — for the Americans — trade with _ the U.S., a number of people in Alberta are looking in another direction —

- gas industry in Alberta and the Soviet

_]| Union has been growing steadily in recent _ | years — somuchso that it has caught the ] attention of commentators on both sides | of the world.

__ A recent piece in the Financial Post reported that more than 20 Alberta com- _] panies had mounted a show in Moscow in | a major effort to win new trade deals with the USSR which will be launching a huge expansion of the oil and gas industry dur- | ing the 1986-90 five-year plan. According

_ to James D. Leach, a commercial minister _ | at the Canadian Embassy, the -USSR | Tepresents “perhaps the most important _ market in the world for the oil and gas industry.”

An article which ran at almost the same time in the Soviet News and Views, written

cost of production and joins the federal —

by Vladimir Borisenko, executive secre-_

opportunities exist for Canadian-Soviet trade.

Borisenko noted that since 1977, when Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed visited the Soviet Union, sales of Alberta com- panies to the Soviet Union have totalled some $170 million, most of which has been with small and medium-sized firms. He added, significantly, that the representa- tion of Alberta firms in Soviet trade “‘is the direct result of the attention and assistance given by the provincial government to local business interests in promoting their external trade ties.”

The Financial Post reported that Horst Schmidt, Alberta’s Minister of Interna- tional Trade, was in Moscow to host the trade show. According to him, the trade has meant new jobs not only in Alberta, but also in central Canada where some of the components for the equipment are manufactured.

In addition, because of Soviet five-year planning, trade with the USSR is long term, with lasting benefits.

Is there a lesson there for B.C.? There sure is. There is considerable expertise in this province in forest industry and pulp. mill technology as well as tehcnology that is adpatable to the mining and oil industry. And according to Soviet trade experts,

there is a growing market in the

USSR — if governments actively pursue

trade contacts and promote mutually ©

That’s what the government in Victoria should be doing, instead of giving away the whole farm to the U.S. with free trade agreements and cheap power exports.

Roe

ile we’re on the subject of USSR-

Canada exchanges, it’s interesting

to note that one of the exports coming

from the Soviet Union for Expo will be a

huge 33-metre (108 ft.) space complex

called Soyuz-Salyut-Progress, part of which will be a working space lab.

The Soviet’s commissioner-general for Expo, Nikolai Filippov, made the announce- ment at the official signing ceremony with Expo officials Oct. 4, and also outlined

‘some of the country’s Expo offerings.

The 2,500-square metre Soviet pavilion, ©

which will have as its theme “Transport and Communication for Peace and Co- operation,” will commemorate the 25th anniversary of manned space flight, recal- ling the Apr. 12, 1961 flight of the first Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in his spacecraft Vostok.

The pavilion will also house a huge elec- tronic map of the USSR and will be the scene for a variety of events, all of which, according to Expo’s media relations department, “will highlight the rich and varied culture of this country of more than 277 million people.”

Council, the International Peace. Confer- ence of the Pacific and Asian Regions in Sydney, Australia, Oct. 24-27.

The three-day conference includes a major public rally on Oct. 24 where repre- sentatives of United Nations as well as international and Australian leaders will be speaking. It highlights the strategic importance of the region in the campaign for disarmament and the growing demand to make the Pacific a nuclear weapons free zone.

The Peace Council expects to schedule a report-back meeting for them when they return next month.

* * *

i t’s only a matter of a few years ago that South Africa Outspan oranges were a regular item in the produce bins at local Safeway stores, particularly when supplies from other sources weren’t readily availa- ble. Later, as boycott pressure increased, the stores would frequently mix the South — African product in with others, making it _ difficult for people to avoid.

But now, the Retail Clerks Union states, they have been able to make sure that no Safeway stores are carrying Outspan fe) ; m

But beware: Safeway and other stores _ are still carrying California grapes which are all on the boycott list put out by the United Farm Workers.

4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 16, 1985