Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 15, 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. Malone publisher and editor in chief Peter Mclintock executive editor Maurice Western Ottawa editor Winnipeg free press i t n. Winnipeg monday july 15, 1968 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality or civil rights Challenge to the government what prime minister Trudeau had to say Over the weekend about unions in the Public sector of the Economy is not Likely to add to his popularity with the leaders of these unions. But it will not detract from his popularity in the eyes of most canadians who though not directly involved in disputes Between governments and Public service unions suffer doubly As a result of these disputes. This is because they in the Long run pay for higher wages granted to workers in the Public sector and because they have to put up with All the inconvenience that such strikes occasion. Or. Trudeau s observations Are so obviously True it is surprising that no prominent politician has voiced them before. It is his Contention that some when bargain ing with the government say squeeze As much As we can from the but the Lemon is not the government. The Only Money the government has comes from taxpayers. The unions Are therefore As or. Trudeau sees them bargaining with the Public especially the poor and unorganized part of the Public. The prime minister made a second important Point when he said that the Public unions should realize the difference Between strikes in the government service and those against private companies. There is a limit to wage increases a company can make. If wage demands Are too excessive the company can go broke. Or the prime minister might have added it is forced to Lay of i staff but a government never goes broke. If it Grants higher wages to Public servants it merely raises taxes to. Pay for the increases and theoretically it can do this indefinitely or at least until the outcry from taxpayers is loud enough to halt it. The government does however have an obligation to look at the Overall economic picture and View wage demands with an Eye to preventing an inflationary trend. Or. Trudeau said that he was not referring in his remarks to the Seaway workers nor to postal workers who have Given notice that they will strike on thursday. But the general Public will so interpret his remarks and justifiably. It was the government s failure to put any rein on the Seaway workers demands two years ago that helped to accelerate the present inflationary trend. Three years ago after a 17-Day strike postal workers received wages in creases of Between and a year and As a result of their strike gained greatly improved working conditions. The question of working conditions does not arise in the present dispute. The workers two unions headed by Montreal militants who clearly Are eager for a strike Are asking wage increases of 29 per cent or nothing. As a result the government has made no counter offer and a conciliation Board has said that the wage question should be the subject of mediation. The end of the 1965 strike was marred by the refusal of Montreal workers to obey parliament and return to work. In the present dispute William Houle president of the Cana Dian Union of postal workers has refused to say whether the workers would defy any Back to work legislation Parlia ment might pass. Or. Trudeau is reluctant to step into the dispute any sooner than he has to. The former government gave postal workers the strike weapon and they Are perfectly within their Legal rights in using it. Whether they Are tidied or not is another matter As is the question of the Wisdom of the government in giving them this right. The prime minister has not however ruled out the possibility of calling parliament into session should a National disaster result from a postal and other strikes. A postal strike he said would be very unfortunate for the Canadian people. That is an understatement. If the strike developed , the country will be looking to Ottawa to see How it deals with this Challenge tories in revolt while prime minister Harold Wilson faces increased friction and dispute within the governing opposition labor party conservatives the led by Edward Heath face serious trouble of their own. Opposition to coloured immigration to Britain voiced earlier this year by former conservative Cabinet minister Enoch Powell has found increasing support among members of the party and the situation came to a head last week when 45 conservative members defied a caucus decision to abstain and voted against a government race relations Bill in the commons. Over the weekend the situation became further in flamed and a number of prominent conservatives spoke of resigning. One of the strongest voices in the conservative caucus against coloured immigration has been that of Duncan Sandys former head of the Commonwealth relations office. Or. Sandys has called for a ban on All permanent immigration except Canada Australia from new zealand and the United states. He has also echoed sir Oswald m o s 1 e y s suggestion that coloured immigrants who wish to return to their lands of origin should be assisted. In the face of or. Sandys latest pronouncements Shadow Cabinet minister s Quintin Hogg and sir Edward have indicated they be prepared to resign Boyle would rather than allow the party to swing even further toward the right. Another former Cabinet minister lain Macleod is also. Reported to be restive about the party s performance Over the race relations vote last week. This internal discord within the conservative party could hardly have come at a worse moment. Ideological disputes have seriously weakened the labor United government conservative and a party might have expected to make considerable gains in popular Appeal. A party torn by bitterness of the sort that erupted last week when or. Hogg was booed and jeered from his own Side during the race relations debate is in very serious difficulties and the conservatives Are bound to have increasing difficulty in taking advantage of the troubles within the labor party. The British conservative party has traditionally shied away from fighting internal Battles in Public in Sharp contrast to the almost perpetual Battle within labor ranks. Now with the serious split Over race relations and amid increasing cries for the dismissal of or. Heath the party sails into the Choppy and dangerous seas of discord and schism. I Don t know about air. Trudeau and his Cabinet secrecy my Tongue but alter the second Martini Wallace in the woodpile most of the political activity in the United states and most of the writing about it f focussed sharply on by Richard Purser contests Between three vice president Hubert and senator Humphrey e Mccarthy Between or. Rich Ard Nixon and governor Nel son Rockefeller and the november showdown Between the two victors. The third party american Independent party Campaign by former governor George is still treated largely As a sideshow. But it in t. It is no longer a joke but rather a deadly serious threat to the political stability and future Well being of the United states and by Extension of its place in the world. Among academic and such other circles As can get themselves apart from the hurly Burly of politics these Days the Wallace threat is drawing attention to the Long standing peculiarity of the american system. The Call for Reform is being sounded too late for action to head off1 the immediate danger. If Reform does come next year or soon after it will Only be because of the lesson in political shambles or. Wallace May be teaching the nation Between next november and january. In Brief the situation is or Wallace May Well be Able to prevent the immediate election of either the demo cratic or Republican candidate on november 5and by so doing enable himself to dictate the terms of resolving the ensuing stalemate. Wallace owes his Chance for an unprecedented role in . Politics to a debate by the country s f bunding fathers 181 years ago. The cons Titu the carefully worked out precautionary Mea sures of America s founding fathers to prevent All possibility of a dictatorship have opened the Way for George Wallace to wreak unprecedented political chaos. Tion s drafters in their Effort to Rule out dictatorship for All time by carefully separating the Powers of different Levels and branches of government created the electoral College system of presidential Selec Tion which ironically brings or. Wallace closer to potential dictatorship than any Man has been since senator Huey Long of Louisiana was assassinated 33 years ago. The 1787 c institutional convention ruled out direct election of the president partly because the patrician found ing fathers mistrusted the people s judgment the idea of-1 Universal adult suffrage was scarcely born and partly because communications of the Day inhibited the Rise of National candidates. It adopted instead a system by which each state was to appoint a number of electors equal to that state s total representation in for a minimum Congress of three electors per state since each state has. Senators and at least one member of the House of representatives which is based on population five states and the District of Columbia still have Only three electoral votes while new York has the largest electoral vote of the method of appointing electors was. Left to the legislature of each state and it was assumed by the draft ers that panels of distinguished citizens would be chosen whether by limited suffrage ballot or otherwise. But it quickly developed that electors were being chosen for their Appeal and for their faithfulness to political parties something that was not envisaged in the Constitution. Today slates of electors Are chosen by parties usually at state conventions. The electors Are generally unknown. Their names no longer appear on ballots. Only the names of the presidential candidates them selves voters when but today s they Mark their ballots Are not actually voting for the presi Dent. They Are voting for their state s slate of electors each slate representing a party and pledged to that party s presidential candidate. If there Are three candidates and the vote in a state is split 34-33-33, the entire slate backing the candidate with 34 per cent of the vote is elected. Since the system operates on a Winner take All basis within each state election night score keeping c o n c e n trates not on the total National popular vote but on the states won by each candidate and on the size of their electoral votes. It is entirely possible for a candidate to win the presidency without a majority of the popular vote As has happened three times and very nearly happened three other tax tug of War in Australia Australia s Liberal prime minister John Gorton has removed any doubts that the taxing Powers of state governments must be subservient to the nation s economic policies. When the six Independent australian states Federated into the Commonwealth in 1901, australian taxpayers be came subject to Federal and state taxes on income then faring the second world War the Chifley labor govern ment instituted the pay As you earn system making the Commonwealth the sole col Lector of income tax and annually reimbursing the states according to a negotiated five years formula based upon area population and growth rates the -.1 premiers believed their states served in an economic partnership with the 1 or. Gorton has sometimes been criticized for Lack of directness in his statements yet All the premiers returned from Canberra fully aware of the implications of a remark the prime minister tossed helpfully into their annual premiere conference that the states could Levy any taxes they wanted outside the in come tax Field provided they were not carried to the Point where would significantly affect Commonwealth re by cordon Holland venue collections or the carry ing out of National he refused to define where the Point of significance might lie. Or. Gorton not Only warned the premiers to stay out of any taxation that has the character of an income tax he extended it to payroll tax and also said the Commonwealth would permit Only modest extensions of stamp duties on turnover taxes. C state premiers Are always strategically at the premiers conference and concurrently held loan Council because a Mutual policy align ment., against the common exceedingly difficult of achievement due to the different needs of individual states. Or. Gorton disclaims the charge that lie is a centralist yet the premiers Are convinced the concept of federalism they believe in has been permanently impaired by Commonwealth threat of veto of taxation. Victorian Premier sir Henry Bolte s cent in 510 receipt duty tax levied since february on the income of All victorians helped Ito precipitate the prime ministerial showdown. Or. Gorton does not object to it As a turnover tax on business receipts but he firmly said no where it applies to personal income. Victorian employers have no alternative but to deduct it from their employees wage packets but Commonwealth departments in Victoria refuse to collect it from their Public servants because the prime minister Calls it an income tax. When the sparsely populated potentially Mineral Rich Western Australia inaugurated the state tax last year Commonwealth Public servants were exempted. But an insignificant tax in Wes Tern Australia becomes a potent Politico economic threat to the. Commonwealth prime source of Revenue when imposed by Australia s second most populous state especially As sir Henry Bolte can the base rate without recourse to victorian parliament. The Commonwealth has now. Said it will not tolerate either state imposing this tax and or. Gorton has directed they be removed before the uniform tax reimbursement legislation is renegotiated in 1970. Should Victoria mean while increase the base rate beyond one cent he threatens to d e c t an equivalent amount from the common wealth reimbursements. Prohibited from encroaching into the income tax the premiers must now revert to relatively puny and regressive Stamps probate licensing and other local tax Fields to supplement the annual reimbursements in order to pay for their often depressed social services like hospitals and Well As the steeply increased costs result ing from c o m m o n we a 11 h arbitration court wage Deci Sions which actually return the Commonwealth a profit in additional income tax receipts. Both Commonwealth and state governments face Strong pressures in providing facilities and services necessary to allow a balanced growth. Existing arrangements for progressive in come tax give foundation to the states assertion that the Commonwealth is gradually unloading the National debt on to them. By ,1970, however the need for the turnover tax May not be so pressing in Victoria and Western Victoria Australia will then because begin to draw lucrative dividends from off Shore Oil and natural Gas and Western Australia will be gaining royalties from its tremendously Rich Iron Ore and Nickel Fields. Times. The latest near miss was in. 1960, when John f. Kennedy polled Only about votes More than or. Nixon out of the More than ballots cast but won 303 electoral votes to or. Nixon s 219 of concentrating his victories in the More populous states As Long As there Are Only two candidates or As Long As additional candidates either remain very minor indeed or fail to offset a decisive Victory by a front runner such As president Johnson s Over sen Ator Barry Goldwater in the electoral College system provides Clear Cut victories de spite any disc e p fancies Between the popular and electoral votes. Any candidate who wins 270 of the .538 electoral College votes wins and that is that. But to become Winner a presidential candidate must win that full majority of the entire College a simple major Ity Over other candidates in a three Way split is not enough. And that is Why this year with a close contest in Prospect Between the democratic and Republican candidates a third candidate with the sup port or. Wallace has so far managed to attract poses such a serious Challenge. Normally the identity of the next president is known on election night and the vote of the electoral College remains a Mere formality. But this year there is every Chance that when the College not together but each elected slate in its state capital on december 16, the votes they will transmit sealed to Washington will not elect anyone president of the United states. The danger is highlighted by opinion polls which show National support for or. Wallace running four times higher than that for the last Southern racist to run an Independent Campaign Sena Tor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina who won 39 electoral votes in 1948. Those votes could have held the balance of Power had the Truman Dewey election been As close As this year s election bids fair to be and or. Wallace is virtually certain to win All four deep South states that fell to sen. Thurmond plus one More for a total of 47 electoral votes. His support in those states is running around 50 per cent in opinion polls. His support is less in. The eight Middle Southern states but even there a threat and he has democrats and republicans worried in More than one Northern state not so much for fear that he will win those states As that he will draw votes from one party or the other in already close contests. Although an electoral map can be drawn showing or. Wallace winning the presi Dency himself with Only one Quarter of the total National vote a. Wallace Victory is regarded As grossly unlikely. He is feared chiefly As a spoiler arid the prospective failure of anyone to win the presidency on november 5 Calls Forth visions of some first of two articles India goes nuclear by Anthony Reynolds Bombay the corridors of government hummed in new Delhi when the minister of information declared that indians in the vedic period 300 by under stood the Workings of nuclear physics. Such ministerial foibles relieve the dry scene of Indian politics. But the scale and versatility of India s nuclear program in the 1960s is taken seriously. In fact it leaves the cynics dumb founded. Other nations with a pro Gram of similar size possess industries capable of bearing much of the Load of nuclear development. All you have to do in Canada or the United states is pick up a Telephone and get half a dozen companies to do your Job for says or. H. N. Stefhna in charge of research for the atomic Energy commission of India Here we have to do everything ourselves. You name it we do and they have . India will be self sufficient in the near future in almost every component needed for a nuclear establishment. The first reactors built 15 Miles North of Bombay with assistance from the atomic Energy commission of can Ada were fuelled with enriched uranium imported from can Ada the . And Britain. It at that time that India had no uranium. How Ever she possesses the largest known reserves of a second fuel locked in the Sands of her Southern beaches. One ton of purified thorium in a reactor can produce the equivalent in heat of three million tons of Good Quality Coal. Thorium is used As a fuel in conjunction with plutonium. To be Able to use this Independent fuel source As rapidly As possible the dec built a plutonium Plant entirely with Indian technology and components. The first of its Type in Asia it went into production in 19s4. Meanwhile Large deposits of Low Grade uranium were Dis covered in the state of Bihar. A giant fuel Complex capable of producing 100 tons of fuel a year is now under construction in Hyderabad. India no longer imports uranium. The electronic corporation of India in Hyderabad caters to almost All the dec s needs in electronics. Giant work shops outside Bombay produce the Plant and equipment used in the Many projects under construction around the coun try in nuclear research we Are not an underdeveloped a asserts or. Sethna. Here in India where the Young often have to grow old before being entrusted with real responsibility it is exhilarating to talk with an electrical Engineer who at 25 is in charge a shift operating the Canada India reactor. He had first taken charge at the age of 22. Or. Sethna and his colleagues Are men undisturbed by risk taking. Power stations using nuclear reactors As fuel occupy the Premier position in India s program for the peaceful uses of atomic Energy. The dec Aims to give the government the option of building one 600 megawatt Power plaint every year by the mid-1970s. Already the existing sup plies of electricity in the country Are severely taxed by the rapid growth of Industry. Large sections of Industrial development lie far from coalfields or Harnes Sable Rivers the traditional source of Energy for electric Genera Tion. The first nuclear generating station goes into operation this year. Beside it is being built a second plutonium Plant Many times larger than the first unit. The original Plant Cost 30.6 million rupees. The second will Cost 50.6 million. One sees in these shrinking costs the advances made in Indian technology in less than four years. A second generating station at ran a Pratap Sagar will add 400 megawatts to Rajasthan s growing Industrial Complex. The site for the third station has been chosen in Kalpak Kam Madras. At Kalpakam will be constructed As Well the first of what is called a fast breeder reactor. Plutonium acting on thorium produces uranium 233. Uranium 233 used to fuel a fast breeder reactor produces More uranium 233 than it consumes. India s thorium reserves will therefore be Able to provide an almost unlimited source for nuclear Power. While Power generation re Mains the most important work of the dec research is being undertaken in a score of other Fields. The use of radiation in agriculture and food storage produces some of the most dramatic results. India s refusal to sign the nuclear non prolix oration surprisingly enough in Dia has mastered All nuclear techniques and her own reactor fuelled with Domestic fuel will be ready by 1972 it will be free of All International controls. Treaty has made her weapons producing capability the hot test aspect of her nuclear program. She could make the bomb under certain conditions and fast. That decision lies with the politicians in new Delhi. If it comes through the department of atomic Energy housed in Bombay s old yacht club where in simpler Days the British gamed and governed will direct the activity. Sufficient plutonium is produced As a by product from India s re actors to fuel a Large number of nuclear weapons yearly. As or. Vikram Sarab Hai the 49-year-old chairman of the dec Points out for a country with a sizable atomic program for peaceful Pur poses the major Cost a nuclear deterrent is in the development and deployment of a delivery he estimates that India could effectively join the arms race with an additional expenditure of one billion dollars. The argument against building the bomb is not an economic he says. India s Gross National product when divided amongst All our people comes to a head. To make the bomb would Cost the Indian people per capita. Lie is Quick to emphasize there is no ques Tion that India can use billion More effectively to safeguard its Security if it were to spend this sum for economic and social develop ment than by embarking on a program for a nuclear deterrent of its Possession of the bomb he believes is not a deterrent As is popularly argued. Look at Vietnam. It seems to have made no difference How much of this argument is purely academic is difficult to assess. China s Possession of the bomb and her Likely refusal for some time to abide by any International limits on How she can use it carries More weight in Delhi than or. Sarabhai s attitude suggests. Chinese missile and air bases in Tibet 15 minutes away from Delhi and Calcutta leave Little time to Appeal to the Security Council. One pm a j o r impediment appears to prevent India from making the bomb at least until 1972. Except for a miniature experimental reactor every other reactor in existence or under construction is covered by agreements with the countries that helped construct them such As can Ada. These agreements limit their use to peaceful purposes. The Kalpakam reactor will be the first to be built entirely with indigenous components and technology and thus will be free from International control. The plutonium produced by this reactor could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. Target Date for completion of the Kalpakam reactor is 1972. By that Date it would appear India will possess unfettered capacity to make nuclear weapons. However or. Sethna director of the Ebhabha atomic research Centre refused to commit himself to this Date. In fact he shrugged off the question of a deadline. Last month parliament granted the dec s request for 540 million rupees for its annual budget without a Mur Mur of see no says chairman Sarabhai Why we cannot do As Well in other Fields in fertilizers steel Oil Petro chemicals As we have done in the sophisticated and Complex area of atomic birthdays Louis Ulstad Winnipeg born Norway july 15, 1881. I ;