Ne-\s-eer | Labor acts on A-arms, new Columbia treaty hy NATION Debt worries economists Economists meeting in Tor- onto’s Osgoode Hall recently, while noting certain improve- ments in Canada’s trade pic- ture and foreign exchange sit- uation, were still worried about the big foreign <— of this country. The trade picture was im- groved through the expansion of Canadian exports and a de- cline in imports, leading to a substantial trade surplus. The Dominion Bureau of Statis- tics recently reported that in the first quarter of 1963, there ‘was a 6.6 percent increase in exports coupled. with a 3.5 percent drop in imports, re- sulting in a $69,500,000 com- modity trade surplus. The biggest problem still facing the Canadian economy, however, is the question of how to meet the massive an- nual payments of dividends and interest leaving the country as a result of foreign (mainly U.S.) investment here. Interest and dividends pay- ments increaseq from $770,- 000,000 in 1961 to $781,009,- 000 in 1962. The figure has climbed from eek 000,000 in 1950: In pure and simple terms, these interest and dividerid payments are profits reaped by the foreign owners who have invested in the industri- al development of this coun- -try. If the industries were Canadian owned, these -huge sums of money would not be flowing out of the country each year. So far the federal govern- ment has not attacked the root of the balance of pay- ments problem — the huge volume of foreign investment in Canada. In fact the situa- tion is getting worse. In other words, counts, the economic prob- lems of this country are get- ting. even more critical. Rents surging upward CP leaders hold talks in Moscow On April 26 the deleza- tion of the Communist Par- ty of Canada, consisting of the party’s general secre- tary Leslie Morris, and ex- ecutive secretary William Kashtan, held a meeting with representatives of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: the first-sec- retary of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev, and secretar- ies of the central commit- tee, M. A. Suslov, B. N. Ponomaryov, and others. At the meeting there was an exchange of views on problems of the inter- national Communist move- ment and other questions of interest to both parties. Average gross Canadian rents in 1961 (including wat- er, electricity, fuels) were re- ported by the Dominion Bur- eau of Statistics recently to be about $71 a month. Esti- mated by themselves, the av- erage rents were $65. Toronto topped the list of high rents for Canadian cit- ies, with the average for‘1961 being $101 a month. The seemingly low figure for Can- ada as a whole is accounted for by low rents in the Mar- itimes (average of $48 in Saint John, N.B.) and other less-in- dustrialized areas. The DBS study showed more people paying higher rents. It showed that 63 per- cent of non-farm tenants in Canada were paying $50 or more, compared with 23 per- cent in 1951. In 1961 only 24 percent of tenants were pay- ing less than $40 a month compared with 64 percent in 1951. where it: _ negotiate the Columbia River Rumours in’ A news item in a Calgary suburban newspaper last month confirmed the charge by many Canadians, includ- ing Major General H. S. Mack- lin, that acceptance of nuclear warheads for the Bomarc missiles would only be the first step to transform Canada into a fully-armed nuclear base of the United States. In its April 18 issue, the North Hill News informed its readers that NORAD officials had inspected Calgary air- port, with the view to devel- opment of an operational air. . YANK BOMBERS N THE WAY ? NORAD Officials Inspected Calgary Airport By GRAHAM SMITH The American Air Force has inspected Calgary sairport with a view to th development of ari operational air base. ane, waning) base there. “Obviously an American bomber squadron would carry’ nuclear wea- pons,” the News said. The paper could not help but note that this would trans- form Calgary into q No. 1 tar- get in the event of war. U.S. Defense Secretary Ro- bert McNamara had already indicated that American bomber squadrons are to be reshuffled. Rumors from Spo- kane, Washington, indicated that a squadron of huge B-52 Strato-jets would be transfer- red. to Calgary... as Vancouver Labor Council, at its regular meeting last Tuesday night, acted to once again state its opposition to Canadian acceptance of nu- clear arms. Council secretary | Paddy Neale read a letter from Local 452 of the Carpen- ters union, in which the local stated that it had forwarded its opposition to Prime Min- ister Pearson, pointing out that the Canadian people had not given a clear mandate on the nuclear question. The Carpenters’ letter ask- ed the Building Trades Coun- cil, the B.C. Federation of La- bor, the Canadian Labor Con- gress and all other interested bodies to endorse its position. The VLC, in backing the carpenters, also read a letter from the B.C. Peace Councii on the same question, and asked delegates to sign the council’s post card to the gov- ernment, reproduced else- where on this page. e The delegates also endors- ed an executive recommenda- tion that the VLC “press the federal government” to ap- point Gen. McNaughton chief Canadian negotiator and re- ; Treaty, thus re-emphasizing B.C. labor’s unalterable oppo- sition to the Columbia sellout. @ George Home, Political Ed- ucation Director for the CLC, . who will spend the next per- iod of time in B.C., told coun- cil that he was here because “we expect Mr. Bennett to call a provincial election any time between now and 1965.” Tracing the Bennett gov- ernment’s record of give- aways, high power rates to homeowners and _ anti-labor legislation, Home stated that building the NDP was a must and that he, for one, was gu- ing to do everything in his power to replace the Socreds with an NDP government. Council heard a letter from the Nationa! Parole Board in regard to the 6-month sen- tences now being served by trade unionists Dave West and Joseph Hendsbee. the let- ter stated that it was “diffi- cult” to arrange for parole when the sentence is a rela- tively short one, but that it will “investigate”. the situa- tion. In the municipal affairs field, the delegates endorsed an executive recommendation which protested Mayor Ra- thie’s recent $43,000 expen- diture to renovate his office. Municipal Affairs Committee Chairman Arnie Hansen (Steelworkers) drew the par- allel between Rathie’s ‘“‘think- . ing big”? when it came to his office, but accepting non-un- ion bids because, as in one case, “they are 26 dollars CRAB FEED & SOCIAL EVENING at BRADY'S WHITE ROCK 1658 King George H'’wy SAT. May 18—8:30 p.m. Meet TOM McEWEN, Editor —PT Everyone Welcome PF cheaper” than tenders by un- ion firms. The meeting also instructed the council secretary to write to the B.C. Federation of La- bor and request the setting up ofa municipal affairs pro- gram, in line with a resolu- tion adopted at the federa- tion’s convention last Octo- ber. C Syd Thompson,. President of Local 1-217 IWA, told the meeting that recent press re- ports, playing up a threaten- ed suit of the local by one of its members — William Ex- ner — was a crude attempt to “intimidate the local union and the labor movement from playing its rightful role in political action” and that Lo- cal 217 “will continue to work for the defeat of the govern- _ ment, which makes this type of nonsense possible.” Back labor’s action - against nuclear arms SIGN THIS CARD NOW DEAR MR. PEARSON: The majority of Canadians have NOT voted for nuclear arms for Canadian forces either at home or in NATO. You yourself have recognized the need of stopping the spread of such weapons. I most strongly urge you to stop the spread of nu- clear weapons by keeping them out of Canada and out of NATO. In this way, you can also preserve Canada’s position as a leader for disarmament and peace. (The above postcard was endorsed by the Vancou- ver Labor Council Tuesday night with an appeal to all union members to sign it. It can be sent postage free). BLOCK COLUMBIA GIVEAWAY URGED BY B.C. Cont‘d from pg. 1 on the U.S. side, and diversion of the Kootenay into the Columbia (which is fully within’ Canada’s righis) is the key to generation of maximum power, cheap power, on the Canadian side. “Sale of so-called ‘downstream entitlement’ io the U.S. for cash, reassessment of flood control pay- ments by the U.S. annually, and other such amendments recom- mended by Jack Davis Liberal al Party expert on power and Greek amnesty The Greck government has de- clared amnesty for 2,854 political prisoners arrested immediately after World War HI. Many of the men and women were held for a 17-year period without trial. COMMUNISTS energy resources and now execu- tive assistant to Prime Minister Pearson are meaningless by com- parison with the fundamental question of sovereignty and con- trol, and whether the Canadian section of the River is developed for U.S. storage or for Canadian generation. “A renewed and strong express- ion of public opinion is urgently needed to save the Columbia for Canada, and the expansion of Canadian industry and jobs’, he stated. ‘‘Development for max- imum on-site generation in Can- ada, instead of storage for the U.S. is the whole point at issue. And no time should be Jost in placing this demand before the Pearson government and all M.P.’s,’’ Morgan concluded. West German youth are shown in a recent sitdown in Dues- seldorf. On Easter weekend 80,00 took part in demonstra- tions against atomic armaments for West Germany. 34,000 “ took parti in marches, ; May 10, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 12 | | |