| PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS >. 46 cer 5 Cents » NCOUVER, B.C, SATURDAY, SEPT. 15, 1945 Jeg oatatives of the Com- -e on hand, after Mon- Council meeting, to at Mayor Cornett ful- * iomise and accompany - epresentatives to Ot- nett, vaccilating con- from the stand taken 2ek’s labor meeting in ers’ Hall, agreed to 7 the labor delegates | ther organiztions were *d,” but did not want to ; . ‘fon the spot” by go- with labor delegates. nior Board of Trade, © signified its willingness — pate, and word is ex- * 1m the Board of Trade il Merchants’ Associa- = us paper goes to press. - and the Veterans’ org- is also intend to meet luster of Labor -George ,on Tuesday next week. -me, Officials in Ottawa ily engaged in passing " of responsibility for re- atry of a large delega- : rade unionists at pres- ting Ottawa, and all disclaimed responsibil- Bi keeping the labor dele- 1t of the House of Com- The Ottawa delegation, ‘cing 200,000 ‘labor union throughout the Do- } were told by Premier jie King that his govern- i anxious to “do all pos- /; Maintain in peacetime m2 levels of employment Mme that prevailed dur- 1 war.” st of local unionists, ¥, centered about steps to €:ontinued production and sllevel of economy for the ;ast. Mayor Cornett, al- taking an active part in ussion of the Conversion a tee, declined to take a % stand of support of the aLee’s demands, and his =| so far passed only two Meight points contained in imittee’s program. arrangements were be- tor-Veteran C’ttee Veet With Pearson, in Ottawa Journey § c's Conversion Committee, carrying forward org- -| yor’s decision that representatives of labor shall go © -ion to Ottawa, to force action to meet the recon- 4 -oblems of war-industry heavy B.C., moved toward - to the nation’s capital this week. ing completed, press notices ap- peared of further mass layoffs in local heavy industries includ- ing—Dominion - Bridge, and- the giant Boeing aircraft plant clos- ed down completely. It was obvious, as labor pre- pared to go single-handedly to Ottawa if necessary, that firm and ‘decisive action is necessary if the important problems affect- ing the future industry of B.C. are to be solved. HAROLD PRITCHETT LPP Candidate for Van. East Harold Pritchett, LPP Can- didate for Vancouver-East in the. coming provincial elec- tions and District President of the International Woodwork- ers of America, in accepting nomination stated: “It will be the central task of this elec- tion to place before the elec- tors of Vancouver East the primary issue of using B.C.’s wealth to promote the people’s welfare. The provincial gov- ernment’s Jack of Social vision in the post war field can only be adequately dealt with if and when the electors place in the provincial parliament men whose unbroken record in the labor movements and the int- erests of the citizens -marks them as fitting to represent the people.” Backs Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signs the treaty of friendship between Russia and China while Marshal Stalin, Foreign Minister T. V. Soong and other officials look on. telegram sent to Hart today, Wednesday, Septem- ‘ber 12, by the LPP Provincial Executive: The following is a copy. of a Premier John “The Labor.- Progressive Party again appeals to you for immediate action to prevent widespread disfranchisement of thousands of British Colum- bia voters Stop Reports arriv- ing constantly at this office in- dicate that unless the present registration period is extended thousands of workers in the province will be robbed of an opportunity to vote Stop We ask the government to extend the registration period until the 30 of September Stop Should this make it necessary we support a postponement of polling day for one week Stop The purpose of the elections is to extend to each qualified citi- zen the opportunity to pass juaggment on government policy by the casting of the ballot Stop The registration of all citizens is therefor an ab- solute prerequisite to a fully democratic election Stop There is strong feeling in the ranks of labor that the arrangements for the election date and reg- istration limits was prompted by a desire of elements in the coalition to keep the workers away from the polls Stop We realize the seriousness of any such charges Stop They can only be disproved and elimin- ated by government action to extend the registration period Stop We are awaiting your reply. CHARLES STEWART . LPP Candidate for Van. East “As a mominee of the Labor- Progressive Party in the Pro- vineial Riding of Vancouver- East, I will endeavour to bring our Party policy and program before the electors. I will con- duct a fight for unity of all progressive forces throughout the campaign.” consistent “The weaknesses of the pres- ent Liberal-Conservative Coali- tion,Government must be ex- posed with the purpose of breaking the progressive sec- tions of the Liberals away from the Conservatives, and guaranteeing that the next Government will have progres- sive labor representation that will assure the progressive industrial development of our province.” ECTORAL UNITY ENDORSED Victoria Labor Council PP Resolution For Unity At The Polls The Labor-Progressive Party resolution on Electoral Unity: presented to the Victoria Labor Council, received endorsation from. that body at a regular. meeting held September 10. A letter, directed to Tom McEwen, Provincial Chairman of the Labor- Progressive Party, by Robert Mezger, Secretary- PLIST Treasurer of the Victoria Labor Council, states: “On the instruction of the Victoria Labor Council, at a meeting of September 10, 1945, I would like to state our support of the resolution on Electoral Unity, which you placed before our Council. “We feel that the question of electoral unity in the com- ing provincial election is es- sential to labor, if it is going to make its vote count. We wel- come the position taken by the Labor-Progressive Party, and would feel more optimistic if we could receive a_ similar resolution from the CCF. ; “Looking forward to the day when labor will be united be- hind a single candidate in each constituency.” Recognition by the Victoria ‘Labor Council of the need for electoral unity of progressive forces indicates that organized labor is taking the stand that elections cannot be won by labor if working class parties vie for partisan advantage. With the im- portant problems confronting la- bor and the nation, there is an increasing need for the recogni- tion that only a united progres- sive government can and will take the drastic steps necessary to find the solution. It is a recognized fact that no adequate steps have been taken by the provincial government to maintain production, and bridge the gap between wartime and peacetime economy with a mini- mum of industrial dislocation, and the organized labor move- ment sees an acute need for a government which will take the steps to assure continued pro- duction to protect the living stan- dards of B.C.’s thousands of in- dustrial workers. Labor is clear in its mind that the tory-liberal coalition at pres- ent holding office in Victoria has increasingly come under the in- fluence of Maitland and the tory wing. This fact was strikingly borne out in the unconstitutional and provocative action taken by the provincial cabinet, in Premier Hart’s” absence, at the time of the Steelworkers’ strike in Amer- ican Can, and the do-nothing at- titude assumed by the govern- ment towards the pressing prob- lems of reconversion. It is obvious that organized la- bor will support all measures de- signed to assure labor unity, and all unionists and workers must recognize that it is only with el- ectoral unity at the polls that labor may utilize its new-found strength and take its rightful place in deciding the affairs of the nation and of this province. ae