Surrender of fisheries resources to U.S. imminent

Fishermen rally to prevent s

The United Fishermen and Allied Orkers’ Union has called a mass Tally and demonstration for this friday, Dec. 8 to rouse public Mterest protest against the immi- Ment sellout of this country’s fisheries resources and the sur- Tender to the U.S. of long standing fishery rights. 3s to underscore the urgency of € action, fishermen who reached ep itement in the herring fishery atlier this week, voted over- cninely to remain tied up in th €r to attend the protest meeting, € first time they have taken such Aon over the issue. _ That should indicate to people JUst how desperate the situation is Re and just how concerned Jshermen are with protecting the

ay

demonstration, organized by the

Plane acquisition would be be “more constructive

fishery and defending Canadian sovereignty,”” UFAWU organizer John Radosevic told the Vancouver and District Labor council meeting Tuesday. Delegates to the council voted unanimously to endorse the rally, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Queen Elizabeth Playhouse 1 Vancouver. Radosevic warned that the completion of final portions of a treaty relinguishing signficant Canadian rights could be imminent as talks are expected to re-open In Vancouver Dec. 9. External Affairs minister Don Jamieson said last

More than 200 local artists turned out in t Songs and speeches over federal governmen Oard, CBC and several other cultural agenc!

month that he hoped to have a treaty completed by the end of the

year. “Any treaty signed now would be

Zw :

he-rain last Thursday

Vancouver Artis

entirely in favor of the W535 UFAWU secretary George Hewison warned, emphasizing that the only course for Canada is “‘to withdraw from all further fishery negotiations with the US,.””

The union’s executive board had earlier urged the federal govern- ment ‘‘to develop as quickly as possible as many unilateral moves as necessary to ensure Canada’s national fishery rights are main- tained and her maritime boundaries are maximized.”

The extent of the impending sellout is seen in the information released by Hewison, an advisor in Canada-U.S. treaty talks. He

pointed out that this country has already agreed to:

e Accept unilateral action to

to voice their protest with sketches, t cuts in funding for the Canada Council, the National Film ies. Arts Club Theatre artistic director Bill Millerd told the ts’ Alliance, that money now earmarked for fighter ly spent on subsidizing the arts.”

—Ubyssey photo by Peter Menyasz

expel Canadian halibut fishermen from the Gulf of Alaska, ending two generations of Canadian fishing in the area and jeopardizing 300 to 400 jobs;

e Accept a U.S. demand for a guarantee of 42 per cent of Fraser River salmon stocks in perpetuity;

e Accept U.S. proposals to mount an offshore herring fishery that would threaten a $100 million B.C. herring roe fishery.

Canadian trollers have already been forced out of the fishery off the Washington coast, the result of a negotiated surrender of rights by Canadians and unilateral actiom by the U.S. in barring Canadian

fishernem.

‘“We’re looking at a possible loss

of 40 percent of British Columbia’s

ellout

fisheries that’s what’s being negotiated away by _ federal government negotiators,’’ Radosevic told the labor council.

In addition, he added, external affairs minister Jemieson has in- dicated that a new fisheries treaty would be used as a guide for settling boundary disputes between Canada and the U.S.

Canada has already retreated before U.S. pressure on the nor- thern boundary in Dixon Entrance, refusing to enforce what has long been recognized as the Canadian boundary. As a result, Canadian fishermen have been arrested by U.S. Coast Guard. officials in waters traditionally recognized as Canadian.

See FISHERIES page 8

Delegates to the Vancouver and District Labor council called Tuesday on the CLC to instruct all provincial federations of labor to appear before the standing com-

“mittee on employment and im-

migration and to initiate ‘‘an immediate mass campaign against Bill C-14’’ as concern mounted in the labor movement over imminent passage of the bill, disentitling thousands of unemployment in- surance claimants. :

The motion at Tuesday’s meeting was. coupled with unanimous adoption of an executive council resolution demanding that em- ployment minister Bud Cullen write off the overpayments of UI benefits made to claimants in April and May of 1977 as the result of a computer error.

Some 5,000 people in this province alone have been instructed

: See UI page 8

project still alive

Kitimat_pipeline

New oil port plan t

The threat of a west coast Supertanker oil port and of an oil Pipeline acorss B.C. re-emerged this Week with the announcement of the Te-activization of the Kitimat

Holiday edition

The Tribune is trimmed down week, to just eight pages. But We will fill out again next issue with ur 16 page holiday education Which, as in past years, will be full Of holiday greetings and special €atures for you to read until the New year.

Actually our holiday issue will be Printed on Monday, December 18 and delivered to your home shortly after. The next issue will be Published January 5, 1979. .

Our holiday edition will make 800d reading for friends, relatives Or workmates. Extra copies are available at a low price from the Tribune office.

Pipeline proposal, and with the application by Westcoast Tran- smission for a new proposed oil port and pipeline from Skagway, Alaska.

The news that Kitimat Pipeline Coalition was still together and intended to press for its application before the National Energy Board to be heard prompted West Coast Oil Ports Commissioner Dr. Andrew Thompson last week to express his concern with federal officials.

Opposition groups to a west coast oil port, led by the United Fishermen and Allied Worker§ Union, won a resounding victory at the West Coast Oil Ports Inquiry in 1977 which forced the federal government to make a commitment that a west coast oil port would not be approved ‘“‘in the foreseeable future.’ A special study on oil supply and demand by the NEB earlier this year confirmed the position that a west coast oil port is not needed.

The new proposal of Westcoast Transmission to build an oil port at

Skagway on the Alaska Panhandle .

and construct an oil pipeline to the Alcan gas line route and then 1,100 miles to Keg River, Alberta is an attempt to side step the public scrutiny of the Kitimat proposal and get government approval to

hreatens coast

allow construction at the same time as the Alcan line would be built.

Westcoast president E.C. Phillips, also the president of Foothills Gas, the consortium that will build the Canadian saction of the Alcan line, said bluntly at a press conference last week,

See SKAGWAY page 8

School tax increase notice angers trustees, teachers

The announcement of substantial new increases in local school taxes for 1979 sparked angry reaction this week as municipal boards faced the imposition of an additional $62 million tax burden.

Provincial education minister Pat McGeer told boards this week that the mill rate would be hiked almost two points, from 39.75 mills this year to 41.68 mills for 1979, thus

shifting $62 ‘million from the.

provincial government and on to local taxpayers.

Coquitlam school board ‘chairman Eunice Parker responded Wednesday, ‘‘The minister of education has intimidated boards to hold the line in their budgets and salary negotiations with teachers and has sharply criticized boards which tried to improve educational services.

See TAXES page 8

| Labor campaigns over Ul changes

f@ JAMAICA: Workers’ Lib- | eration League general secretary Trevor Munroe talks about the growing contradictions of this Caribbean country and the formation of its first Marxist-Leninist party, pages 4, 5.

@ AGRICULTURE: As the National Farmers’ Union meets in convention, Canada’s rural popula- tion is more and more dependent on the whims of agri-business. page 6.

—

@ CHILE SOLIDARITY: About 800 delegates at- tended an extraordinary conference in Madrid, Spain to build solidarity with the Chilean resistance, and there were two delegates from B.C., page 7.

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