Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 17, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Printed and published daily except sunday by the Winnipeg free press company limited 300 Carlton Street Winnipeg Manitoba. John Sifton president r. S. M alone publisher and editor in chief Peter Mclintock executive editor Maurice Western Ottawa editor Winnipeg free press Winnipeg monday june 17, 1968 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights the Choice the election is now just a week away. Through the clamor from the platform and the shopping Centre and the shadows of television the issues and the stand of each party on them have emerged. The voter can by now see that he must make up his mind on two Broad questions. First. How Are the National Economy and its Central mechanism the Public Treasury to be managed in these times of world wide confusion and Strain and which party is the better equipped to manage them second by what process is Canadian Unity most Likely to be preserved and which party is espousing this process on the economic and financial Side the record shows that the country s financial mistakes began under the government of John Diefenbaker ten years ago and compelled the panic devaluation of the currency in 1962. On the other hand the Liberal government elected in 1963 unnecessarily exaggerated these problems though they were temporarily hidden by a Boom which had started before Lester Pearson took office. As recently As a year ago the government was still mis construing the nation s True circumstances budgeted for a Gigantic deficit overloaded the capital Market with its borrowings and continued to heat the Economy with inflationary measures when it needed Cooling. Fortunately last autumn Carne a sudden and drastic change. The government which had considered deficits necessary and Wise in june decided to try to balance the budget in december. It reduced the rate of increase in its expenditures for the coming year although it did not reduce the total of increased taxes and called for a similar restraint by Junior governments. Then at the Start of the present , prime min ister Trudeau set the tone by sending a memorandum to All department Heads informing them that no increases in spending would be tolerated in the coming year with the exception of foreign Aid and those that can be shown to contribute directly to the country s economic expansion. Or. Trudeau has said Many times that in this election the Liberal party will not make promises that it cannot keep and he has promised As he did again last week in Regina that he Aims to keep Down spending and work for a balanced budget. Finance minister Benin has said that he will leave the party if liberals go around making promises the implementation of which would Cost Large sums of Money. And with a very few exceptions this has been the Liberal party line in the. Campaign. So it can be said that the government admittedly after some grave misjudgments is attempting to hold the budgetary line and at the risk of unpopularity with some voters has refused to make any promises of further largesse. Such an absence of election bait is unique and refreshing in Canadian politics and gives the nation one measurement of or. Trudeau and the party he leads. Regrettably the same responsible attitude has not appeared in the conservative party. Robert Stanfield cannot be blamed for the blunders of the government but neither can he escape his own record As Leader of the opposition. He began his tenure by advocating sound finance in principle and then in the additional taxes needed to bring the budget into approximate balance. On this Issue indeed he actually Defeated the government in a snap parliamentary vote. It could be said in his defence that he was acting responsibly and consistently provided that he favored a cd in the budget roughly equal to the tax increase which he rejected. But the had not been Long unde Way before he took exactly the opposite course. His plans for new spending on minimum incomes a land Bank a new department of housing agricultural subsidies a Tunnel or causeway to Newfoundland and other items appearing in his speeches from Day to Day have discredited All his plans for Economy. While he still condemns the government s extravagance and deplores inflation the conservative party runs in the election As the advocate of higher expenditures against a government which at last is trying to contain them. That is the Basic financial and economic Issue facing the people at the polls. The second Issue being constitutional May not be so easily understood and or. Stanfield in spite of talking much about it has not. Done much to clarify it. Yet the voter who perhaps is not familiar with the intricacies of the British North America act and its proposed amendments can certainly grasp the practical politics behind them. In theory or. Stanfield seems to differ Little from or. Trudeau. Both want stronger Protection for the historic rights of French speaking canadians and both reject a special status in. Any Legal sense for Quebec. But in practical politics or. Stanfield has Allied himself with 3uebec Premier Daniel Johnson and the Union National which demands a special status for the province and if it does not get it threatens separation. As his Quebec Lieuten ant and potential Deputy or. chosen Marcel Faribault who was or. Johnson s chief constitutional adviser and in a notable Book repeats or. Johnson s demands in specific detail. Thus or. Stanfield asks the voters to elect him on the doctrine of a single nation and undoubtedly he upholds this with deep personal sincerity. In support ing him however the voters Are also asked to approve and bring to Power Asj his allies the Quebec nationalists who advocate the doctrine of two nations constitutional As Well a s cultural. Or. Stanfield May try As he to dismiss this As a dispute of Mere semantics but unhappily it is More than that. If. Or. Stanfield were to become prime minister in his Alliance with the French Canadian extremists they would set their own Price for their support and the grim history of 1911 would repeat itself. They be ruined Trudeau with a haircut and tie just like or. Stanfield a Man of the highest character is caught in a dilemma of his own making. It will not be overlooked and it cannot be conveniently disguised in English speaking Canada or in French speaking Canada either. For the voters in All provinces do riot have to vote blindly. They have been Given a Clear alternative by or. Trudeau who disguises nothing. He has risked govern ment and his career on the doctrine of one constitutional nation with no special status for any province no Dii Utich 01 the Federal government s essential Powers and no under cover deals with the Union National. He has stated his one nation theory up and Down the country As strongly in Quebec As in any other province. The inescapable conclusion is that or. Trudeau has a More Complete understanding of the French Canadian Issue and is better equipped to Deal with this situation. The two dominant issues of the election therefore Are simple enough for any voter to grasp. It is on these issues dismal precedent on the Seaway 0 although the strike of St. Lawrence Seaway workers timed for june 21, is plainly an Effort to pressure the government on the eve of the general election it May have the unintended effect of damaging the new democrats As the party most closely associated with the la Bor unions. By Maurice Western although the strike of Seaway workers has been called at this time clearly in an Effort to persuade the government to Grant wage demands on the eve of the election a strike or strike threat May Well Hurt the nip More than anyone else. No government would j months that followed the gains Vve come closure of the Seaway at a time when there., is already concern in the Western provinces Over the movement of wheat. Prime minister Trudeau will presumably not Lack advice from those who j eel that l or political reasons a settlement is imperative. But a costly intervention would probably be a grave mistake damaging both to the Economy and to the government s poli tical prospects. While the Pearson govern ment in sanctioning a 30, per the usual distractions and distortions of a political. I cent settlement on the Seaway Campaign not on the personalities of the leaders that most canadians will vote. Each voter will make up his own mind but an unemotional assessment of the issues and of the attitudes of the two major parties can Lead Only to the conclusion that Canada will stand a much better Chance of pulling through the difficulties that now beset it under a majority Liberal government headed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Two years ago did not intend to set a pattern for other wage negotiations it is a fact by the Public that the award was taken As a signal by other unions and much quoted by them in subsequent appearances before conciliation boards. In the achieved by powerful unions bore no obvious relationship to productivity and the inflation Ary surge carried prices to unprecedented Levels. This must appear a dismal precedent to or. Trudeau who has been preaching restraint across the country and prac Tising it by his refusal to make spending commitments. It would seem in the present temper of the country that the government has much to gain 3.y resisting the heavy de mands being served on its Agency he Seaway authority is per cent Over two years t o n d 0 n the los authorities Elj Angeles horror has had immediate and predictable repercussions Here. The inevitable revulsion has found a Concrete outlet immediately to hand. In a lesser version of America s anti gun Campaign More and More britons Are throwing their weight behind a drive to halt the Sale of British arms to Nigeria. The simmering nigerian is sue Lias become a major government preoccupation following the breakdown of the Uganda peace talks be tween representatives of the Federal government and the breakaway stale of Biafra. In the absence of the hoped for ceasefire there has been such a deterioration on the Battle Field that Britain s continued inaction looks like brutal cold blooded Ness. Armed with British and russian equipment the fed eral armies have seized the All important port Harcourt and Are pushing the secessionist ibo tribesmen into a steadily contracting pocket in the former Eastern Region of the federation. Hundreds of thousands of ibo refugees fleeing before the Federal armies have poured into the biafran heartland creating horrendous conditions. The precarious twice weekly air service to Biafra cannot begin to meet the demand for food so that the population Proval to have red Given a Jross Relief by Tim Traynor estimated to 12 million. Be in excess of depends largely on the land. The Federal plans but this has not allayed fears Here of mass starvation among the biafran. These have deepened following press stories of a malnutrition toll numbering in the thousands. The ibo will to fight might by now have died were it not for deep rooted fear of massacre by t h e Federal armies in which anti ibo tribesmen from Northern Nigeria predominate. What Ever lingering Trust there was has vanished with the Federal bombing of ibo villages and no Quarter clashes Between the to armies. The ibo stale of mind can be judged from the picture of a Federal attack painted by a refugee for a British reporter menfolk lined against the Wall of the biggest building and machine gunned the women raped to the accompaniment of the All too ritualistic mutilations the children spit Ted on Machete Gen eral gown the Federal Leader has described this report As the f i g h t to o to h e a e a t h atmosphere for bodes a protracted guerrilla War and it was this desperate Prospect which prompted four african governments to break ranks with the rest of the world by recognizing Biafra As a state it was claimed by one Leader that More had died since the War began a year ago than have died in Vietnam Over the past three years. The British govern ment s insistence on continuing to Send arms to nigerian forces has brought Down harsh criticism on its head. Csc news t. C. Douglas May Well suggest that All election contributions should be Dis closed but what Weibout those major contributions that Are not in Money but in time air for example when the american ratification of the grains agreement was announced the Csc National news department ran True to brought form. It what or. At once Douglas had to say to the attention of the voters on radio and television on thursday june 13, and again on Friday june 14. But it did it As it has been doing things All through this . Here Are the proportions of coverage for one transmission Only the world at eight on june 14 t. C. Douglas with a policy statement on wheat 4 min utes. Robert Stanfield with a policy statement of the Paci fic one minute and a half. Prime minister re ported by a Csc reporter 30 seconds. The British policy has been to maintain the pre War level of arms supplies including infantry w e a pans and armoured cars but not tanks or aircraft when the policy was conceived it was widely believed that the Federal army would be involved in a Short police action and would quickly reassert its control Over port Harcourt a vital Oil Centre in which British firms have very Large investments. In the event the premise proved completely false and the British armaments were widely and devastatingly deployed before the ibo grip on port Harcourt was broken. The ibo leaders who have a penchant for effective propaganda played unceasingly on British susceptibilities claiming that general gown Only prosecuted the War be cause of London s backing. This has increasingly under mined the ministerial thesis that an arms ban would upset the military balance impair British neutrality and end Bri Tish leverage with the Federal regime. Had the peace talks sue needed this policy would have been vindicated but the breakdown has left the government very far out on limb. There is nothing to show for the arms shipments by corpses and destruction. Ibo mobs burned British owned buildings in port Harbour before departing direct peace efforts Apar from those of the common wealth Secretary general the Canadian Diplomat Arnold Smith Are now being made but ministers Are hard put t answer those who hold that the old arguments against an arms ban Are no longer Rele that it is better to alien ate the Federal government i than to risk complicity in massacres. It is claimed that Bri Tain could make it very difficult for Nigeria to tap alter native sources particularly if Russia was persuaded to join an embargo. France Holland and Czechoslovakia have Al ready stopped supplying arms to Nigeria and there Are signs that the soviet Union does not wish to remain isolated in this Issue. The government was in some danger of defeat when he House took up the matter i an emergency debate last Veek though in the end a vote Vas averted. The conservative foreign affairs spokesman ormer prime minister sir Alec Douglas Home made a Elling bid for a tougher British stand. He said the government should make fun ure arms shipments to Lagos conditional on Federal niger an agreement to an unc ondi anal cease fire and the set and Western arms have reached Biafra via or. Stewart s Concession will not begin to satisfy Public opinion Here. Its temper can be judged from this excerpt from a leading article in the weekly Magazine Spectator it is quite Likely that the historian will select the government s policy 011 Biafra As its wickedest and most Dis Graceful act of All. For the Tinie in our history Thi country an Active in the deliberate Slaughter of hundreds o. Thousands of men women and children in Short an accomplice in today s scripture i will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked and i will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. Jeremiah 15 21. Ting up of a Commonwealth Lewis Deputy Leader of nip sought to allay concern among other groups by arguing that increased wages were not responsible for increased prices. That this is not the View of the economic Council of Canada is apparent from its very striking comment on wage parity with the United states As advocated by some unions with the sympathetic backing of the nip. Speaking of Canada and the United slates the Council said in its third annual review a general attempt to by put up much opposition to future demands of this sort. In enunciating his policy for agriculture at Saskatoon t. C. Douglas offered a Price review Board with authority to investigate costs of items used on farms and All necessary Power to prevent unjustified Price there is an obvious initial i difficulty Here because the Federal government lacks the constitutional Power to move into this Field in the manner suggested. In any Case the nip has not defined an unjustified increase. Suppose it results directly from a wage increase secured by a Union. Will the Boa Rel order a Roll Back of wages and if so will this be countenanced by a government closely identified with the unions but this is not All. It is perfectly Clear that the nip approved All the inflationary pass or leap Frog essential j indeed in some parts in the catching up pro j cases it claimed credit for 9 per cent of it Cess would be bound to Lead to a Fargins the government into Active to the beginning an offsetting adjustment of 1968. Assuming that the govern some kind through the balance of external payments and the Merit stand s firm and that the Domestic Price level. H one shutdown occurs the nip will once again find itself in situations of one of those embarrassment which have recurred fairly regularly since it first emerged to the acclaim of the unions from its of Chrysalis. Since the Era of the horizon Tal railway freight increases which used to. Follow wage settlements As Winter follows could imagine parity of Money for every Canadian citizen being decreed by order in Council at 10 o clock in the morning one could equally Well imagine parity of real incomes being repealed in the foreign Exchange Market be lore 3 o clock the same plainly therefore there is a relationship Between wage and fall it has been difficult to Price i n c r ease s moreover argue persuasively that there Large demands by one in is an Infin tits of interests especially it sanctioned is an identity of interests among Farmers and unionists. In recent years shipping tie ups have been not infrequent and each has been a harsh reminder of the ability of Small strategically placed groups to place in jeopardy the markets of Western producers. Thus a pre election strike of this character might very Well recoil on the party which most with fact clearly identifies itself Union interest and in relies rather heavily upon Union deductions to sustain its political campaigns. At the time of the great wage settlements Davic i there is no reason to believe that it would adopt a different attitude in office. How could a Board which was an emanation of the govern ment order a Roll Back of prices forced up by a Settle ment sanctioned by the government the nip is obviously and understandably anxious to avoid identification with a single interest. It has in fact had a Good Deal of Success in recruiting Many of Fine them candidates from the Toup by government do tend to set a pattern. The same review Drew specific attention to the Seaway workers and the St. Lawrence longshore m e n settlements observing to a greater extent than in pre Vious economic expansions Large settlements in the Public sector of the Economy have played a prominent role in the general evolution of collective j bargaining during 19s5 and 1366." since the nip ardently defended the wage Settle ments it is peculiarly Vulner Able. For it is difficult to see How it could be expected to professions and a number from Small business. The difficulty is that in 1 h e s e disputes involving interest conflicts it. Functions in parliament As the political Arm of a single group. In the circumstances a Seaway tie up although in Welcome to the government might prove the least Desir Able form of political Advertis ing for the new democratic party. Birthdays senator t. A. Crerar Winnipeg born Molesworth ont Ario june 17, 1876. Hon. Dufferin Roblin Winnipeg born. Winnipeg Manitoba june 17, 1917. Force to guarantee biafran Security. The Uganda talks foundered on Federal Isis ence that Biafra renounce its sovereignty in Advance of a ceasefire under sir Alec s proposal Federal Nigeria would be told that rejection of Security guarantees for the ibo would make Public pressure for an arms ban irresistible. When the debate ended the government was still sticking. To its position but some significant qualifications had crept in the foreign s acre tary Michael Stewart implied the government would impose an arms ban if there was reason to believe Federal Nigeria was Bent on the extermination of the ibos and was rejecting reasonable Settle ment proposals. This How Ever not the Case at present Federal authorities had said they were eager to avoid a final invasion of Biafra. As to the proposed International arms embargo there would be serious enforcement difficulties even if the major supplier governments co operated. As Biafra had shown Black Market source s could be readily tapped. Large quantities of czech r or does not deliberately killed by greedy ious for having been writing i ea1 for years the most orthodox j it is not uninteresting that and uncompromising com-1 the proposals for a state Monist prose after the abolition of censorship suddenly blossomed Forth into enthusiastic liberals. Either their earlier attitude was a Sham owned National newspaper presumably to be run by academics come from professors who would hardly tolerate an outsider teaching or their new liberalism is an in their classes. However the opportunist pose. One cannot j ultimate test in our much but wonder their True abused democratic society lies convictions. In the Public demand. This journalism in our free applies to everything from society has its dark Side but j Edsel cars to novels and publishers or greedy unions. But of the newer publications Many died merely because they were bad papers which the Public would not buy. If the professors have some thing Worth while to say and the Public wants to hear it there is no reason Why they should not. Offer it to the Public. But1 that the taxpayer should support another Mon Ster that could not exist on its own merits is a preposterous society Nas is Haik. Aide at least we Are not guilty of newspapers. How often do i Thal such must Stark needs hypocrisy that j critics condemn a Lawrence Durrell s state owned arise paper. On every we can see too the obverse Side Cecil King the powerful Lon Book tune working journalists As is of their expertise As is Are of theirs the latest example but the j the professors Public in Blithe disregard of j will reject As a dangerous step their expert opinion goes toward tyranny ;