Heap

_ Spadina seat

takes

TORONTO — New Demo- Cratic Party candidate Dan Heap defeated Trudeau’s number-one man, Jim Coutts in the federal by-election in Spadina Aug. 17. Heap came ahead by 175 votes to upset the Liberals in what they believed was their safest seat in English-speaking Canada.

Calling his election a ‘‘victory not for me but for the working people of Spadina and Canada’, Heap tallied 7,483 votes to the Liberal’s 7,308. With only 58% of the over 31,000 votes in the riding turning out to the polls, many felt that traditional Liberal supporters angered over government inac- tion on inflation, high interest rates and growing unemployment Sat the election out.

The riding which stretches from Yonge Street to Christie and _ from the Lake to north of Bloor is a mix of Bay Street financiers, young families in the Annex, the heavily populated Italian and Por- ‘tuguese areas around College and the Chinese community along Dundas.

There was also voter hostility, some canvassers reported, to the. way the election was called. Coutts, 42, a policy advisor to the Prime minister, announced his Candidacy July 2, right on the . heels of former Spadina MP Peter Stollery’s appointment to the Se- Nate.

Spadina was considered a safe bet for the Liberals. They’ ve held the seat for 39 out of the past.46 years and won with over 5,000 Votes in the 1980 general election.

Inning the by-election was to

ve been a stepping stone for Coutts into the cabinet and possi- bly the Liberal party leadership when Trudeau retires.

Although the lower voter turn-

out and disenchantment with government policies no doubt helped in the NDP victory, they did field a strong working-class candidate.

Since 1972, Heap, 55, has been a full-time alderman for ward six which takes in about half the rid- ing. He distinguished himself on council as a strong advocate of workers’ and democratic rights. A member of the Canadian Paperworkers Union, he worked in a Toronto box factory for 19 years before his election to city council. He’s a delegate to the Toronto Labor Council and sits on its municipal affairs commit- tee.

He says he’s going to Ottawa with three priorities: to back up the resolution of the last national NDP convention on peace, more worker control of the economy and improvements in social ser- vices.

The third major candidate, Laura -Sabia of the Progressive Conservative Party, ran third, about a thousand votes behind Coutts. She is a columnist for the Toronto Sun and former head of the Ontario Status of Women Council.

Dan Heap, new MP for Spadina at a recent demo against the development of nuclear weapons.

(Union hits Reagan’s ) neutron bomb plan

TORONTO — The 20,000-member United Electrical workers

‘|

Over 300 demonstrators marched outside the new headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan in Parkdale.

Toronto rally against opening of Klan office

By BILL ROBINSON

TORONTO — Over 300 angry residents marched past the new home of the Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the west-end com- munity of Parkdale. chanting ‘“‘Smash Racism Now’”’ and ‘‘Kick Out the Klan.”

Even though protestors were well disciplined, several found the Klan’s signs claiming that the Holocaust was a Zionist Lie so offensive they had to be restrained. One of the demonstrators tear- fully told those around her that over 200 members of her family had died during the war fighting fas- cists such as these.

The local alderman, on the other hand, said he had not done anything about the problem because no one had told him they were in Parkdale. The Toronto Star however had two full-page articles about them in July and over 9,000 leafiets were distributed announcing the march.. |. _. .

The broad support shown in this effort was underlined in the speeches given by the Inter- national Women’s Day Committee, the Parkdale NDP, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Gays and Les- bians: Against the Right Everywhere (GLARE), the Kababayan Filipino Centre, the International Committee Against Racism, the Riverdale Action

Committee Against Racism, (RACAR) and the ©

Committee for Racial Equality (CRE).

Wearing sheets and giving Nazi salutes to attract the attention of the media, the six members of this group succeeded in getting more coverage in the Globe & Mail than the crowd peacefully opposing

them. In the Globe article, Alex McQuirter, the Klan’s National Director, complained of the affect of the postal strike on their ‘‘small business” but no mention was made of their matching black Cor- vette and van which belied their tight finances.

RACAR recently forced the KKK to move their headquarters from Dundas St. East. They relocated on 15 Springhurst in lower Parkdale. Owen Leach of CRE said “‘they will only move again if an effec- tive campaign demands that Attorney General Roy McMurtry use his power under the Criminal Code to outlaw this hate-mongering organization and to introduce legislation allowing any citizen to lay charges against racist groups.” -

The demonstration was initiated by the Parkdale New Democratic Party. Co-sponsors included the Parkdale Club of the Communist Party, the Metro Labor Council, the Parkdale Tenants Association, the Parkdale Working Group on Bachelorettes,

» Parkdale Community - Legal Services, Childrens

Parkdale, the Sikh Temple and the Right to Privacy Committee.

’ Three actions are planned for Septembertokeep . the pressure on right wing groups in Toronto. On the 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Teacher’s Lounge of Parkdale Collegiate School, local groups will dis- cuss the formation of an anti-racist coalition; on the second, Kababayan is showing a film called ‘‘ The New Klan’”’ at 6:00 p.m. in the Cowan Ave. Fire- hall; and on Sept. 19 GLARE willhave ademonstra- tion against the reactionary, “‘pro-family”’ group, Positive Parents, on the corner of Yonge and Eglin- ton at 2:00 p.m. .

- test U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s decision to have the U.S: assemble and stockpile the hateful neutron bomb. : On behalf of the UE, secretary-treasurer Val Bjarnason wired

“Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands in protesting the U.S. Government’s criminal, war-mongering decision and to urge Reagan and his government to instead ratify the SALT II Treaty. Bjarnason also urged the Canadian Government to press - Soviet Union on the terms of détente, disarmament and the easing of tensions.” Boe oes gaan Bjarnason said his union will also be forwarding copies of its tion of Labor. | decision regarding the neutron bomb

destroy the world 10 times over.”

destruction has to be oppo

| gers of a nuclear holocaust. for the Possible the eradication of insecurity, starvation, illiteracy and

_ SIC. : Progress”, Bjarnason told the prime minister.

(UE) called on Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Aug. 12, to pro-

Trudeau urging him to place Canada in the same league as_

Reagan to ‘‘immediately commence serious negotiations with the

appeal to the Canadian Labor Congress and the Ontario Federa- :

In the telegram to Trudeau, the UE executive said Reagan’s ce ‘cannot be justified at a

time when the great powers have enough nuclear weapons to”

: Bjarnason stressed that the ** ageiarie rea tno oF eeping the peace by building more and greater of mass - ie : sed. ‘‘If pursued”’, he warned, “‘it will ; ‘escalate the arms race which in turn will deepen the economic crisis, drastically increase unemployment, inflation and the dan- “On behalf of our 20,000 members (we) urge you to stand up — ple of Canada and for all the people of the world who © want, need and deserve peace, détente and disarmament to make |

kness, and pave the way for genuine advance wane social:

Pensioners protest neutron

KINGSTON — The following resolution, introducted by the re- solutions committee, was passed by the 600 delegates meeting at the 1981 convention of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, Aug. 11-12: .

Whereas: the Reagan administ- ration of the United States of America has announced its deci- sion to produce the neutron bomb (that destroys people but not property) while on the other hand refusing to ratify the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty which

- would put a brake on the de-

velopment of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, open- ing the way to arms reduction under a new and extended SALT, Ill, and

Whereas: unlimited spending and research to create a magic weapon system calculated to bring about United States

superiority in a nuclear-armed’ world will only increase the infla-.

tion and danger of a nuclear catas- trophe,

Therefore be it resolved: that

this 1981 convention of the Un- ited Senior Citizens of Ontario condemns the above mentioned action unilaterally advanced by the Reagan Government which threatens world peace, and

Be it further resolved: that this resolution be brought to the atten-

tion of our Federal Government, The Secretary-General of the Un- ited Nations, as well as the Cana- dian public by means of a press release from this convention, and call upon the National Senior Citizens & Pensioners Federation

for support. é

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