Neutron Bomb ¢, \) WAYZZAZZ- OL ee Lie deen N ee ' Die Wahrheit (West Berlin) We’re humanitarians. And these humans are our principle objectives. 25 years ago... U.S. DOMINATION OF OIL AND GAS Whether Canada will have a national pipeline policy for natural gas will depend on whether American corporations feel it will not interfere with their control of this country’s natural resources. Federal production minister C.D. Howe will meet. with Al- berta premier Manning and On- tario premier Frost to discuss a three-way, multi-million dollar deal to bring Alberta natural gas to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Eastern Canada. But U.S. domination of the Canadian oil and natural -gas industry is so great that the Winnipeg Free Press has frankly said: “The decision on the na- tional pipeline is not entirely in, the hands of the Howe- Manning-Frost meeting. Much depends on U.S. policy.” FLASHBACKS FROM — THE COMMUNIST PRESS 50 years ago... THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS A man who invested $10,000 in General Motors stock in 1901 when the company was or- ganized would today have stock worth $1,678,230. In addition, to recompense him for his investment, he would have re- ceived back in cash dividends $35 for every dollar he put into the industry. The 50,000 stockholders av- eraged $10,000 each in returns last year but the employees of General Motors received an av- erage of less than $1,700. Ten thousand dollars for those who did nothing against $1,700 for those who did every- thing! No wonder the owning class think this is the best of all possible worlds. No wonder they would murder Sacco and Van- zetti to keep control. Tribune, The Worker, Sept. 15, 1952 Sept. 17, 1927 ( “Gaye ° . ' Slim Pickin’s 4 +) ae G ¢ : ew PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 23, 1977—Page 4 EDITORIAL COMMENT Stop the neutron weapon! The neutron “bomb” is, in reality, a chemical and biological weapon and should be banned under the 1925 Geneva Protocol, leading scientists from 47 countries said at the recent Pugwash conference in Munich. The bomb, not dropped by plane but delivered by missile or artillery shell, has deep-penetrating fast neutrons which distort the human gene pattern, accord- ing to the scientists. The potential is for runaway mental and physical. malformations in humans like those ‘still erupting as a result of USA’s 1945 atom bombing of Japan. To the armaments ghouls, the “beau- ty” of the neutron bomb is its ability to destroy human beings without harming real estate. It has the standard desirabil- ity for the arms merchants of being highly profitable, and for reactionary politicians of promising that elusive sup- reme power they crave. But Canadians are no more willing than the sane majority in the rest of the world, to entrust their future and the future of their children to the grati-. fication of such fiends. What practical course has the average person? A practical. task for people and organizations is to influence members of parliament, the government, the media, people.who are publicly influential and millions of fellow Canadians who abhor this mass murder weapon. The Government of Canada, which ~ now spends well over $3-billion a year on — armaments should be pressed and pres-__ sed hard to dump the arms race, stand against development of new weapons -and for disarmament. It should start by slashing the arms budget in half, and supporting all United Nations and other international disarmament campaigns. _ Better than impotent srage against bomb pushers who try to pervert public thinking into acceptance of the neutron horror, is action to get support and sig- natures for the Stockholm Appeal for — disarmament, already backed by more than a million Canadians and hundreds of millions on a global scale. Not new weapons, not a stepped up arms race, but disarmament based on detente, offers the only future worth struggling for. The time is now when it is" not enough to leave it to somebody else. The neutron threat can only be downed by mass efforts. A new Budget needed now “Canada needs a Budget to get out of the crisis, not one which will prolong the crisis.” The words were appropriate when the Communist Party said them to Finance Minister Macdonald in April 1976 (just before his Budget), and they are appropriate now. ae That Budget only dragged the coun- try deeper into crisis. Macdonald’s resignation is not enough to get the government off the hook. Perhaps the Trudeau administration does not appreciate this. Government failure to provide either jobs or genuine curbs on inflation and the corporations emphasizes that instead of cutting back on people’s living standards, the gov- ernment should turn its policies around Of pipelines It was ironic that on a Washington trip to celebrate a treaty promising to free the Panama Canal from U.S. clutches by the year 2000, Prime Minister Trudeau handed over a similar “Panama Canal” corridor to the USA for a natural gas pipeline. Opposition is not dead and may be expected to mount as paper problems become real ones. The most solemn political pronouncements can be re- versed by a ground swell of public opin- ion. Protests that the line is not needed by Canada (merely gets U.S. Alaska gas to USA), and that it disregards Native claims and concerns, and the ecology remain valid. There is the added sure bet that the estimated $10-billion cost: will sOar, aS past experience proves. We see headlines about the “estimat- ed” few thousand jobs this donation to to provide purchasing power to the working people. A new Budget, badly needed now, must take steps to expand the economy; ~ to cut income taxes on low and middle incomes. The government must first show a willingness, and then introduce policies, to get the economy back on the tracks. . ee The realistic demands made by the ~ Communist Party before the previous Budget have not at all been met by the ruling class. New economic, monetary _ and social policies are needed, geared to achieving these objectives demanded a year and more ago, and protecting working-class and democratic rights in the process. and profits the USA will provide, but back in the financial pages is the real joy. Share- holders in natural gas and pipeline cor- — porations watched their earnings rise, without ever lifting a finger. (For an idea of the order of such earnings, Trans- Canada Pipelines Ltd. had a net profit for the five years 1972-76 of $265,261,000.) - This is one side of the big steal; and workers might well say to Pierre Trudeau: If Canadian workers build and operate pipelines and taxpayers and consumers pay for them, the returns should be to the people of Canada, not to a clique of corporations. The whole deal amplifies the demand, voiced consistently by the Communist Party of Canada, for public ownership and democratic control of energy an other resources, and the means of trans- porting them.