Defence sharing agreement leaves Canada the loser | It isn’t just the auto industry that Suffers because of an unfair treaty. Under the Canada/U.S. Defence uction Sharing Agreements, Canada could be losing as much as 40 cents for each dollar of arms it €xports to the U.S. The Hyde Park Declaration, the Predecessor of the Defence Sharing eements, was signed in 1941 be- tween Prime Minister Mackenzie King and President Roosevelt. Dur- Ing World War II Canada imported quantities of arms from the U.S. for wartime use. After the war, Canada was left with a tremendous debt to the United States for these arms. To solve this problem, the terms of the Hyde Park Declaration Obliged Canada and the U.S. to Teciprocate arms sales to each other With equal amounts of arms pur- Chases. So that today we see that the Purchase of the new F18A fighter Planes by Canada is not so much to fulfill our NATO commitment, but More the result of Canada’s obliga- tion to buy a dollar’s worth of arms for each dollar of arms sold to the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Like the auto pact, the Defence Sharing Agreements appear to be fair, yet they create another “‘spare parts” industry in Canada. Canada’s arms industry, for. the most part, either manufactures spare parts or assembles pre-built parts for the U.S. In addition, Canada must fre- -quently import the necessary tools to manufacture and assemble various parts. Since these tools are not in- cluded in the Agreements, this cost is not included in the balance of payments. And thus, 25 cents is added to the Canadian costs of ex- porting one dollar’s worth of arms to — the U.S. These relations cause Canadian dependence on the U.S. arms indus- try and create a North American common market (in fact part of the rationale for NORAD — North American Air Defence agreement — comes from this relationship) for arms manufacture. Canada happens to be more in- novative in the development of arms technology than the U.S. This can be attributed, at least in part, to De- fence Industry Productivity Grants given to arms-related industries by the Canadian government. The government spends 15 cents for each dollar in arms exported to the U.S., yet these innovations do not even benefit Canadian industry as they are exported for use in U.S. arms production. The Defence Production Sharing Agreements do not help Canada economically, we lose far more. than we gain. This money invested by the Canadian Government in arms production would create more social benefits and many more jobs if invested in socially necessary pro- duction. But even more so, these Agreements compromise Canada’s independence, Canada’s foreign pol- icy and Canada’s peaceful future. This article first appeared in the September 1980 edition of Peace News, bulletin of the Canadian Peace Congress. WE'D LIKE TO SEE THE DAY: When health research gets $400 million and generals have to run across the country on one leg to raise money for jet planes. FIRST ISSUE OFF PRESS Last week we took a look at how Preparations for ‘war distort the €Conomies of those countries, which either by choice or by necessity, engage Mselves in the arms race. We noted also how such distortion results in the €nrichment of the military sector of the €Conomy at the expense of the civilian Sector, which inevitably leads to the im- POverishment of the country as a whole. of which cannot help but compel all Sensible people to seek a sane alternative to both the nuclear arms race and the Subsequent militarization of the ©conomy. * * * . Sucha sane alternative can be brought ito being here through new economic and social policies to put Canada back to Work, roll back prices on essential food- , process natural resources and de- Velop all Canada’s energy resources on the basis of public ownership and an in- dependent foreign policy of peace, détente, disarmament and trade. In addi- tion to the foregoing and in order that all , ians may follow these goals in un- 180n, to win a new made-in-Canada con- Stitution based on our two nations volun- tarily united in one state. Such new policies can only come about through a new economic strategy, democratic planning and genuine struc- KABUL — The first issue of “The Truth of the April Revolution”, the newspaper of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan has been released here. The issue is highlighted by a message from Afghanistan’s Prime Minister Babrak Karmal which calls on the paper to play a major role in Afghan’s internal affairs. He calls ita means of issuing reliable information and establishing closer ties between the party and the people. Photo shows printers reading the issue as it comes off the press. prisonment. - Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World tural reform. The main thrust of produc- tion for peace economy would be an all- Canadian development program under public ownership directed to expand the economy, break the power of the monopolies and multi-national corpora- tions, strengthen Canadian in- dependence, achieve jobs for a growing labor force, raise living standards, and establish a Canadian foreign policy of peace. . * * * To embark on this road, which is the road of national prosperity and of economic and social well-being for all working people, requires new priorities for capital investment, research and development, deployment of scientific dnd technical skills and manpower re- sources. For instance, capital now di- verted to the arms build-up could be cut back to help finance industrial projects to strengthen the civilian sector. A start in this direction would be to cancel the $5- billion warplane deal with the U.S. and use that capital to help build two pipe- lines — one for oil and one for natural gas — from Canada’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. Capital requirements could. be met also by cutting back on our financial commitments to NATO and NORAD which have been substantially raised over the past three years. Canada’s di- rect arms expenditures could be cut by 50% without endangering our security if we followed a policy of peace and détente. A very important source. for capitalization of peaceful industrial pro- jects and ecological protection lies in the direction of levying a heavy surtax on corporation profits, particularly those that are transferred out of Canada to the. U.S. and other foreign countries. * * * New economic and social policies for Canada would greatly expand the home ~ market. New independent policies of peace, détente and trade would open up new possibilities for mutually satisfac- tory trade relations with the most stable and rapidly growing market in the world, namely with the socialist countries and. the developing countries. The latter’s needs for industrial goods are immense, while the socialist market is regarded as the most stable in the international mar- ket place. In short, Canada has nothing to lose and everything to gain by em- barking on a truly independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament coupled with new economic and social policies at home. This, in turn, co-joined with the scientific and technological rev- Arrested on Oct. 23, 1975 Selva was tortured and held incommu- nicado for five months. She is cur- rently serving a seven year prison made her the symbol of the 2 term at Punta Rieles, alarge wo- Uruguayan mothers’ struggle. | men’s prison. Relatives report Petitions for her release should = she is emaciated and has been immediately be sent to Aparicio transferred to a military hospital Mendez, president of Uruguay. Canada needs new policies _ Appeal for Uruguayan leader Anurgent appeal forthe release several times during the last three of Uruguayan patriot Selva . years. Braselli has been issued on the fifth anniversary of her im- Her husband Uruguay Rufinelli has also been imprisoned. They have two daughters aged eight and nine. 3 Selva Braselli’s bravery has olution, under democratic controls would spell national prosperity and higher living and social standards for all working people. ewe Ee What we outlined here is a democratic alternative to the crisis policies of the monopolies, a crisis brought on in large measure as a result of monopoly’s sub- ordination of Canada’s vital interests to the aggressive and. militaristic interests of U.S. imperialism. This subordination must. be ended if Canada is to achieve true independence, free to prosper in an environment of peaceful relations with other countries regardless of social sys- tem, and pursuing policies at home that put people’s needs before monopoly profits. However, the grip of the U.S. multi- nationals on Canada cannot be broken without also breaking the stranglehold of their co-predators in the looting of Canada — the Canadian monopolies. This will require persistent and united efforts on the part of the working class, all working people — all democratic and _ peace-minded forces — banded together in a mighty alliance, determined to change Canada’s direction away from the dictatorship of monopoly power to that of the democracy of the people’s power. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 24, 1980—Page9 .