Millions in dire want

Poverty is no myth in Canada

By WILLIAM BEECHING

The existence of widespread poverty in Canada contradicts all claims of an affluent society. It is now accepted that poverty is much wider than had been thought, embracing almost one- third of the nation.

The scale of poverty is forc- ing governments to pay some attention to it—at least to the extent of talking about it, and laying in some planks for the next federal election. There should be no illusions as to what the Trudeau Government will do about it, however.

Poverty is a direct result of the capitalist exploitation of the working population. Most work- ers would suffer a much worse life were it not for the trade union movement.

Advance Programs

The development of a public discussion around the problem of poverty affords an opportu- nity to the people’s organiza- tions, and in particular the trade unions, to advance the struggle for anti-poverty programs.

A program to overcome pov- erty involves the fight for a vast program of socially-needed con- struction — housing, hospitals, schools, more recreational faci- lities——the reduction of the work week, expansion of edu- cation and re-education, rural and urban reconstruction and development, the development of Canada’s energy and water resources, and so on.

It must be the right of every Canadian to have an education, a well-paid job, and to live in adequate, modern housing, and to enjoy fruitful leisure time.

Against the Monopolies

An anti-poverty campaign is essentially anti-monopoly _ in its content. It must include what is called ‘“welfarism,” which places. social responsibil- ity on the governments, but it must not stop at that. The fight for money to be spent on deve- lopment programs to overcome poverty is essentially in direct conflict with the present policy of spending huge sums on war preparations.

All evidence clearly indicates

that the most massive poverty exists in the cities of Canada. A brief from the Economic Coun- cil of Canada said, “The greater part of your total poverty is urban ... a good half of it is west of the Ottawa River, and . .. most poor families are head- ed by men under 65. A particu- larly striking fact is that most poor families have heads in the current labor force.” Poverty on Farms

The most poverty-stricken of all are the Native Peoples, the Women and youth, and a large proportion of the farm popula- tion. Each one requires a special study.

A larger proportion of the farm population are victims of

poverty than the urban, al- though greater numbers are in- volved in the cities. Various measures have been used to describe who is or is not poverty stricken. These statistics have confirmed that the average rural family has an income, on the average, 40% below that of the urban family.

In 1966, 55% of all farms were estimated to have sold an annual gross of $5,000 of farm products. These farms only ac- counted for 14% of total agri- cultural production, and had a

total value of sales equal only-

to the top 6,000 of the largest farms.

The small farm sector em- braced 75% of all the farms in Quebec and the Atlantic pro- vinces. About 62% of the poor are found in metropolitan areas, and about 38% in rural. How- ever, 45.9% of all rural families are poor compared with about 26% of all urban families.

What does it mean in life? The Canadian Council on Rural Development gives the 1961-64 average difference between rural and urban incomes, broken down by provinces: °

Farm income in proportion to urban income in:

Prince EdwardIsland 33%

Nova Scotia 27% Quebec 41% Ontario 60% Manitoba 49% Saskatchewan 74% Alberta 66% British Columbia 68% All Canada average 49%

However, it must be remem- bered that for wheat farmers on the prairies, there has beén a de- cline of 50% in their incomes.

Infant mortality rates “are higher in rural areas. Hospital beds and the ratio of doctors to population is lower.

Less Opportunity

“Rural people earn less than ing conditions are in a dire state in comparison with urban con- ditions,” says the Council.

“Rural people earns less than city people. They have less chance of employment. When employed, they are more likely to be underemployed. Their gen- eral level of living is much low- er. The health and educational facilities available to them are not of the same standard as those available to urban people. Their housing tends to be older and more crowded and the level of domestic comfort and amen- ity they enjoy is far lower tnan it is for urban dwellers.”

THANKS FROM RUMANIA

W. Kashtan, General Secre- tary of the Communist Party of Canada, has received the following. telegram from Bu- charest: .

We thank you sincerely for the feelings of solidarity you expressed in connection with the floods that took place in our country.

—Central Committee

Rumanian Communist Party.

Foreign policy ‘alters’ but remains the same

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

“The mountain labored and produced a mouse”—this seems to be the sum total of the sub- stance of the Government's White Paper on Foreign Policy, which took two years to pre- pare. Typical Trudeaumania, it creates the illusion of change without changing anything.

The White Paper reflects in part the efforts of Canadian monopoly to strengthen its trading positions in different parts of the world, such as in the Pacific rim, Latin America and parts of Africa, and to free itself, to some degree, from too much dependence on the U.S.A.

However, its basic orientation, including that of continued membership in the NATO mili- tary alliance, is not changed. True enough, it is sugar coated by the idea that it could be transformed into something other than a military alliance, but this. cannot hide the fact that continued membership in NATO undermines Canada’s in- dependence, not to speak of its security.

The pretense of a more inde- pendent position by Canada in

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1970—Page 6

foreign affairs is further expos- ed by the White Paper’s silence on Canada’s membership in

-NORAD, the military junta in

Greece, U.S. military aggression in Indochina and in the Middle East, its silence on European security, the arms race, recogni- tion of the German Democratic Republic, the Democratic Re- public of Vietnam, the Democra- tic Republic of North Korea.

Thus, where a truly indepen- dent Canadian foreign policy could have meaning, there is complete acquiescence with U.S. imperialist policy.

The truth is that a genuinely independent foreign policy still has to be won. Neither Tru- deau’s imagery nor Sharp’s chi- canery can hide this basic fact and its relationship to the strug- gle for Canadian independence.

The White Paper is an apolo- gia to continue the present course, which can only do harm to Canada’s security and inde- pendence, and to world peace. It should be opposed by demo- cratic public opinion as totally inadequate to serve the real in- terests of Canada and the Cana- dian people.

Civil guardsman Le Thi Tha, in the Democratic Republic of Vi

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nam, 68-year-old anti-aircraft gunner, from the fishermen’s villog?

West Berlin students protesting the by the Chamber of Deputies, permitting the arming machine guns and hand grenades.

Seven three-week-old wolves in one lair is the result of search of huntsmen in the Moscow region. The cubs W! to zoos of the country.

4 r| ie ‘hand grenade law’ po of police

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