Politicians games upset hospital closure meeting TORONTO — Over 400 con- cerned citizens met in a neigh- borhood school Feb. 16 to try to organize themselves to pre- -vent the closing of one of the central and most crucially im- portant institutions in their community — their hospital. Doctors’ Hospital situated in the heart of downtown Toronto, cial Product from 1970 to 1975. _ all closures of other hospitals in e in a neighborhood with a very The Liberal spokesman said Ontario was unsuccessful as The full statement by Kashtan reads: ei large and diversified new immi- nothing of his party’s attitudes some members of the audience 9 grant community is about to fall to cutbacks in general but fo- took Grossman’s lead that the “Qur delegation is going to the 25th Congress of the t to the budget-chopping axe of cussed on the injustice of this meeting shouldn’t “weaken” its CPSU with great interest and anticipation. I had the good a Tory Health Minister Frank Mil- particular shut-down. case by attacking the spending fortune to attend the 24th Congress which formulated the t ler. : The feeling among the people cuts, but simply concentrate on Peace Plan. That Plan became the rallying plan for the Spokesmen from the three po- affected by this closure ranged saving the hospital. world-wide struggle for peace, and against imperialism, n litical parties in the Ontario from desperation over the lack With the majority of the au- finally culminating in victory for the people of Vietnam, c ( legislature were on hand to criti- of jobs the closure will create, _dience unable to understand the and the no less significant victory for detente in Helsinki. i cize the government in its ac- worry about where they will be intent of the motion due to lan- These two events not only signalled important advances in ¢ tion. : able to get medical care, to an- © guage and translation problems, the cause of peace, they also mirrored the changing balance “Ie Larry Grossman, the Tory’ ger and bitterness both at the with Grossman’s — supporters of forces in favor of peace, democracy and socialism on a P MPP for St.-Andrew’s-St. Pat- government for denying them a_ speaking out of turn and dis- world scale. 2 ic rick’s, the provincial riding basic right that should be avail- regarding the chair, the motion . : : 5 ¢ where the hospital is located, .able to all citizens in as highly was never voted on. The 25th Congress will be of equal, if not greater signi- t was the main influence on the final outcome of the meeting. The meeting also heard a spokesman from the Durham Hospital in Durham, Ontario, who appealed to the people to join with them in their struggle to keep their own hospital open. New Democratic Party health critic Dr. Jan Dutska urged the meeting to see the elimination of their hospital within the context of. the overall bankruptcy of health policy in Ontario and called into question Miller’s claim of spiraling health costs as an excuse for the cuts. He said the share of public financial expenditure for health costs had not significantly changed as a percentage of the Gross Provin- developed a society as ours, and at the political football game being waged by the politicians on the platform. Both Grossman and Dutska were interrupted on numerous occasions by members of the audience. Tory supporters in the meeting taunted the NDP critic wanting to know if his party intended to bring the govern- ment down on the question. Meanwhile Grossman received the anger of some workers who are to be left jobless by the cuts when they criticized him for refusing to admit that the entire concept of cuts was unjust. A resolution at the end of the. meeting calling for the formation of a solidarity committee to stop * * % Subsequent to the Feb. 16 meeting, it was announced that a coaliton of citizen’s groups, with representatives from Doc- tors’ Hospital, Paris, Goderich, Clinton, Chesley, Durham and Woodstock (the other southern centres Miller has “visited’’) to be present. The meeting was scheduled for Feb. 25, in Strat- ford. - state-monopoly capitalism. 25th CPSU Congress ‘influence for peace’ TORONTO — On his departure for Moscow, Feb. 19, Canadian Communist Party leader William Kashtan, a fraternal delegate to the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, opening Feb. 24, predicted that the gathering would greatly influence the course of events throughout the world. He saw the Congress as an influence for pea¢e. Kashtan, along with Alfred Dewhurst, education director, and Sam Walsh, Central Executive member, and president of the Parti Communiste du Quebec, will repre- sent Canadian Communists at the Soviet Congress. ficance, both for the peoples of the Soviet Union and the peoples of the world. The plans it has to consider will mark significant steps forward in the building of a developed socialist state on the way to Communism. These will un- doubtedly stand out in sharp contrast with the growing crisis of capitalism, and with growing unemployment, infla- tion and recession which continue to afflict the world of “The Congress will stand out no less because it will undoubtedly result in new initiatives in the struggle for peace and detente in the effort to achieve military detente based on nolicies of disarmament. “By its growing strength and ever-widening influence on é- 2 diately has an impact on the peoples everywhere. There is no doubt that the 25th Congress will greatly influence the course of events throughout the world and immeasurably net strengthen the forces of peace, democracy, independence and socialism everywhere.” For Canada and the Canadian people the 25th Congress will undoubtedly mark a further step forward in strengthening relations of cooperation and mutual benefit. te werld affairs, what takes nlacein the Soviet Union imme- | International solidarity campaign with People’s Republic of Angola diplomatic recognition of this new African Republic, as well as its legitimate government headed by Agostinho Neto, —_ The Angolan people are on the road to victory and are now recognized by more than 60 nations, including Canada. But they are still battling against imperialism, for an inde- pendent and democratic country. In solidarity with the Angolan people, and their movement, the MPLA, the World Federation of Demo- cratic Youth (WFDY) has launched an inter- national campaign of political, material and economic support. In a statement, announcing the campaign the WFDY Bureau says: “Imperialism is once again trying to push through its sinister plans. After its defeat in Vietnam, today it has launched. aggression against the People’s Re- public of Angola and its legitimate representa- tive, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. To this end it unscrupulously uses the racist regime of South Africa and tries to sow division among the people of Angola by financing and guiding the reactionary leader- ship of the secessionist groups, UNITA and FNLA. The already internationally recognized ties of the leaders of these groups with the secret service of the imperialist powers clearly _ show the interests they serve.” “Up to Nov. 11 (1976), the day of com- memoration of the first anniversary of the independence of Angola, let us make every possible effort for the success of the campaign. As part of this political, economic and material solidarity it would be necessary to: —organize meetings, collections of signa- tures and messages for the broadest possible vention of South Africa, cines, clothing, footwear, tinned food, copy- books, pencils etc. struggle of the people and youth of the People’s Republic of Angola! Long live the MPLA!” (ALSC) is a Toronto-based organization form- ed four months ago out of the need to raise awareness of the Angolan situation in the Black community. It is an ad hoc committee, working with the Toronto Committee for the Liberation of the Southern African Colonies (TCLSAC), (ANC) and to some extent with the Portuguese Democratic Association (PDA). — both well attended, has succeded in win- ning the Black Students Union at York Uni- versity to a pro-MPLA stance, held a rally on Angola, and written numerous letters urging MPLA recognition to Prime Minister Trudeau and Caribbean governments. It will soon be issuing a four-page special on Angola, and is studying the idea of joining the above WFDY campaign. Soldiers of the MPLA, the army of the People’s Republic of Angola. —condemn the imperialist and racist inter- —launch a wide-scale collection of medi- “Long live international solidarity with the e e e ¢ The Angola Liberation Support Committee the African National Congress So far the ALSC has held two fund raisers PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 27, 1976—Page 8 Communist Party © opposes fare rises — | We call for and pledge oul) ' TORONTO—In vigorous pro- test against the arbitrary in- crease in Toronto Transit Com- mission fares to 50 cents a ride, the Ontario Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, meeting Feb: 21-22, roundly con- demned the fare hikes and made counter-proposals as outlined in the following excerpts from the committee resolution: Toronto Transit fares have been increased 20% on working people at a time when wage controls hold their incomes down to a 10% rise. For senior citizens on fixed incomes they are being jumped 60%, for chil- dren 50%, for students 40%. This brutal onslaught on our standard of living runs directly counter to every principle of prb- gressive urban planning based on fostering public transporta- tion. The Tory government at Queen’s Park has imposed these increases through its policy of cut-backs in spending to protect the profits of the giant monopo- lies from just taxation. They have so far been able to carry out this attack on peo- ple’s incomes because of the cowardly refusal of the major- ity of Metro Council to fight back, and because the Toronto Transit Commission, packed. by defeated political hacks like Rotenberg and Mallette, has rushed the increases through to dampen mounting protest. The Ontario Committee of the Communist Party of Canada con demns these fare increases, a5 we equally condemn the parallel increases in transportation fares being imposed on the people of Hamilton. selves to the continuation 0 efforts to build a massive move ment of protest directed first of all at the Davis-McKeough gov’ ernment. We demand the Legis lature of Ontario act to restoré and maintain the grants fol public transportation once Ss? solemnly pledged by the Ontari| Government, and to find thé money for the purpose from) proper taxation on the capita’ gains and swollen profits of bié business. We further demand __ that Metro Council’ overturn’ thé TTC’s decision and immediately) increase the business tax on # graduated basis to place the bul” den where it belongs while a the same time going as a Coul’| cil to Queen’s Park to deman the Ontario Government meet the full deficit and call upon thé citizens of Toronto to join. thé Council on the steps of Queen's Park. HAVE YOU | RENEWED?