SPRCDRORUSESCHDENCESRcesSERCURESSSECESASOCCSCOCUSEESESEERERSERSUSESCESEE- Published Weekly at ROOM 104, SHELLY BUILDING 119 West Pender Street Vancouver, B.C. by the PEOPLE'S PUBLISHING CO. MArine 5288 SEVESUAESUSLOSERSEESSCECSSENGEESSSECECCESESSRGLIEESS 252 ECEESANE0007380! EDITORIAL BOARD Maurice Rush Minerva Cooper AJ Parkin 1 Year, $2.00; 6 Months, $1.00 2303 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. Nigel Morgan Subscription Rates: Printed by East End Printers, Authorized as second-class marl by the post-office dept., Ottawa Clear Policy Needed ae HE Domiinion Parliament opens this week Momentous issues will have to be settled. Employment, wage standards, union security all these are part of a Labor Code which must be evolved in this parliament to meet the growing need of Labor in every corner of Canada. The Na- tional Housing Act must be reconstructed, so that it becomes a help to every Canadian citizen, veteran and non-veteran, in the building of a home for himself and family. These issues can no longer be evaded or “‘talked out.’’ Action must come from this Session of the House of Commons. The gravest problem facing the Canadian people at this time, flowing from the “espionage” scare is that of being drawn again to the abyss of war—this time against a valiant ally, the Soviet Union. The foreign policy pursued by the King Government, as expressed in the method of handling the espionage issue, and the seemingly oneness of purpose of this government with the reactionary War-mongering imper- ialists of Britain and the USA, is too clearly indicative of the fact, that Canadian foreign policy is not in harmony with the wishes and desires. of the great mass of the Canadian people. The interests of the people of Canada, as with the com- mon people elsewhere, lie in the preservation of unity and friendship between Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union. The deliberate and calculated press and radio hysteria that has been turned loose upon the Canadian people, indicate that those in authority are behind this war-mongering hysteria, : Drew of Ontario calls openly for war on the Soviet Union; Duplessis resurrects his , fascist “padlock law,” to frustrate the needs and aspirations of the people of French Canada, and to prepare them for a “holy” war against “communism.” Mackenzie King, by his very silence on these Stave developments, gives tacit consent to their being. The National Council of the CCF in its recent session stated its faith in the machinery of the United Naions Organ- izations and continued friendship with the USSR. This is no “time for quibbling and argument. In spite of the many and varied opinions expressed by certain CCF leaders, who feel bound to attempt the defense of Bevin’s imperialist policies, we welcome this decision of the National Council of the CCE. Any and every effort to block the machinations of Canadian teaction towards fomenting war and provocation against the Soviet Union can only be welcomed at this time. We must begin at once to express our views on peace and war in the strongest terms to our elected representatives. We must demand of the government ... at the opening of Parliament, to make clear and unequivocal its foreign policy. We owe it to Canada’s soldier dead to demand, that the strings that tie us as a nation to reactionary foreign policies aimed at scuttling the concords and unity of the “Big Three”’ be severed at once. It is the right and duty of the government to safeouard the interests of Canada. Espionage is a dirty business in any language, and no one blames the government for acting. But the method employed has made it clear, that in the process, the exhumation of Hitler’s “anti-Comitern” pact was the main objective desired. That is where the danger comes in to the peace and well-being of the people of Canada, and that is why the people of Canada must demand from their represenatives and their government, a clear and unequivocal declaration of foreign policy. As Canadians, we reject Mr. Churchill as our ambassador-at-large rolling the war drums against the USSR or the peoples of the colonial csuncries. We and our allies have paid dearly for the military vic- tory over Hitler fascism, and the common people have no in- tention of seeing another variety of fascist aggression talxe its place, even if its language is more rhetorical, more poetic, and more hypocritical. The people must speak with one voice to this session of parliament .. . continued friendship with the Soviet Union - continued support of the UNO, and determination that it will not be strangled by -reactionary imperialist blocs, as was the League of Nations. That is the foreign policy we must have, because only upon that can we build for progress. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 4 To Deprive Quebec N a full-page ad in the financial Post of Febru- ary 16, the provincial government of Maurice Duplessis “enthusiastically describes the golden opportunities which await exploitation by capital in Quebec. “Nowhere else in the world will honest (?) capital find a better haven than in Quebec .’ says Duplessis’ expensive advertisement. The Hon. Jonathan Robinson, min- ister of mines, offered similar inducements in a public speech in January. “. . . Our laws, our customs and the habits of our people offer guar- antees second to none and superior to most as a drawing card for investment.” According to him the secret of it all is the “healthy’ labor conditions which exist in Quebec. And to reassure the “honest”? capitalists that they need have no fear of such annoyances as decent social security legislation, minimum wage laws and collective bargaining, Duplessis’ high- pressure advertising promises that “pseudo phil- osophies of state interference in every phase of life find no encouragement in the Province of Quebec.” Certainly, Duplessis never spoke truer words and, so far as he can prevent it, protection of the workers from the starvation-wage policy. of the profit-swollen trusts will never be “en- couraged” and social security legislation will be fought to his last breath. For Duplessis is de- termined to remain, if he can, Quebec’s favorite son, as far as Big Business is concerned, and to repay the handsome support he received from the trusts during the election. Many Canadians are familiar with the con- ditions of our workers in this “haven” for cap- ital and how much worse they are than those in our sister Province of Ontario. Duplessis aim is_ to keep them that way. Together with that equally notorious friend of “honest” capital, Premier Drew, he has formed an unholy compact to protect the minority rights of Canada’s Big Shots. Together, they attempted to block family al- lowances .They are opposed to national health insurance and better old age pensions and are try- ing to prevent the necessary taxation reforms proposed by the federal government te. the Dominion-Provineial conference. Drew misuses the slogan of provincial rights to defend his sabotage. With Duplessis, it’s “provincial au- ~ tonomy.” For both, the purpose is the same— to block federal social security legislation which would alleviate some of the worst conditions of Canadian wage earners. Forged Quotations By JOHN WEIR TORONTO, Ont.—The recent orgy of red- baiting unleashed over the radio and in the press brought out every shady “specialist”? in anti- Soviet libel from Osborne-Dempster to Prof. Watson Kirkconnell. Dempster repeated his lie about the Soviet embassy supposedly financing the Labor-Progressive Party: Drew concocted a “quotation” from Tim Buck: and Kirkconnell forged “quotations” from Lenin and launched a campaign in the Telegram against the Soviet embassy. Kirkeonne!l falsely charges that the Sovict embassy here forced “Poles” from Western Ukraine and Byelorussia to accept Soviet citi- zenship. And the fascist-minded Social Credit M.P. for Vegreville, Anthony Hlynka, mistrans- lated an official document to back up his mentor. The Soviet embassy in Ottawa in Novem- ber inserted notices in several papers in Canada announcing that Ukrainians and Byelorussians, formerly citizens of Poland and Rumania, who have not adopted any other citizenship, may tegister as Soviet citizens of they so desire. Registration offices were opened and De- cember 31, 1945, was set as the date when the registration would be ended. In case of persons who failed to register by that date but should later desire to do so, the notice’ Said: “Such persons who fail to register as Soviet citizens at the embassies or consulates of the USSR by December 31, 1945, after this date may be accepted into citizenship of the USSR on the basis of the general regulations.” According to the Telegram report, Mr. Hlynka “corrected” the above paragraph to read that people who fail to register by December 31 “may be considered Soviet citizens!” Just a “small? forgery and the press and radio can rave about the USSR “forcing” Soviet ,citizenship on “Poles” (another little” forgery transforms Ukrainians and Byelorussians into Poles) in Canada. Duplessis Uses Anti-Soviet Hyste People Of Refo: ‘PROVINCIAL AUTONOMY’ OW provincial autonomy for Quebee ii important thing: In our ease it a means the right of provincial control o: tion, natural resources, civil rights, anc but, unlike any other province it meaj guarding the national rights of French And quite rightly, French-Canadians those rights of prime importance. a But there is nothing in this province nomy which need prevent Quebec from, ating with the rest of Canada to impr social and economic condiions. Hamily ances, national health insurance, a nation code and minimum wage would not ; with provincial autonomy in the least. they would help to remove some of the equalities from which Quebec still suff would meet with the full support of the © Canadian people. Duplessis is well aware of this and s¢ tempts to confuse the issue with the fz that these measures would mean tota centralization, that they are “communisti they violate the wishes of Quebee and ji vincial autonomy. Of course in doing: thi simply defending the interests of the trus have no wish to lose their “haven,” just a fights for Big Business in Ontario beh: false battle-cry of “Provincial rights.” them have been quick to seize upon the | sent opportunity provided by King’s press ed ‘spy’ scare and the irresponsible slandé paign against the Soviet Union. to rai again the Communist bogey to cover u betrayal of the people’s welfare and the broken promises left behind since their campaigns. The full hypocrisy of the Duplessis 4 ment can be seen in its own actions sing turned to power in 1944 and in the real tions in the province. No sooner had Di taken over, than he attempted to close de provincial dental clinics, and only wid protests made him desist. He also sou Suppress the provincial health insurance mission appointed by the previous Liber ernment, the only sovernment organiza the province concerned with improving health, : HEALTH STANDARDS LOW WEANWHILeE, we are informed by the « of health education in the provincial ment of health and social welfare, that cent of Quebec’s primary school pup: afflicted with more or less serious phys fects, and that unless they are urgent cs quiring hospitalizine within the terms Public Charities Act, no provision exi giving them medical attention when their cannot afford to pay for it. : On top of that, Quebec, in 1944, accoun 70 per cent of the total typhoid cases in ¢ with 820 cases and 92 deaths compared y= cases and eight deaths in Ontario. Only provinces reported diphtheria deaths iz ; These were Manitoba and Saskatchewan, | the rate was 6 per 100,000 and Quebec 4 per 100,000. More than half of Canad: cases were reported from Quebec, while m. deaths and infant mortality were high abc | tario’s and second only to those of New wick and Prince Edward Island. Wage conditions further expose the real of Duplessis’ brand of ‘autonomy.’ $19) for a 54-hour week after 15 years seryice uncommon in the textile industry ‘whic ploys 75,000 workers. : Some examples of the gap between we | Ontario and Quebec are afforded by the ing weekly earnings for male workers ir} Quebec ( Automobile parts _... $23.71 Sie Cotton = = ee Se Har tae DAS: i Farm implements 18.47 : Minimum wages fixed by government § mission are between 20 and 28 cents an hi per cent of the urban workers in Quebec | less than $450 in the twelve months endin t 1941 compared with only 16 per cent earni Same in Ontario. : (Concluded Next Week) FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 19:4