NATIONAL UNITY ILLUSIONS’

If national unity is to be restored, ‘the most
important course the federal government can
undertake is to produce jobs both in Quebec
and elsewhere’, NDP leader Ed Broadbent said
in a recent speech.

Speaking to the Men’ Canadian Club of Van-
couver, Mr. Broadbent said that adding a clause
to the .constitution providing for minority
language rights outside Quebec, decentralizing
federal powers, or preaching the benefits of
economic association between an independent
Quebec and Canada will not solve the national
unity crisis.

If Quebeckers are to be persuaded to vote in
favour of federalism in the independence refer-
endum, then Canadians must recognize the
positive nature of Quebec nationalism, point
out to Quebeckers that they can control their
own destinies within a united Canada, and begin
to solve the immediate problems facing all
Canadians, especially unemployment, he said.

‘The way to make Canada work as a nation,
is to put the nation back to work,’ he said.

What is needed most, is a sense of national
purpose, not talk about constitutuional change:
‘What we need now is not so much changes in
our constitution but changes in our attitudes
towards our economy, our country, and om
people.’ ;

The NDP leader said it is vital that Canadians
outside Quebec be ‘free of illusions about our
historical past’ and understand clearly the basis
of rising Quebec nationalism, the role English
Canada played in this development, and the
federalist-separatist options being discussed at
this time.

MONIES IN POLITICS

MONEY IS WHAT MAKES THE POLITICAL
PROCESS WORK.

In 1974, in order to make our Canadian
political process more open, and to involve
more people, the federal government made a
number of significant changes to the federal
Election Expenses Act. The most important of
these changes were disclosure of political
donations over $100.00 in size, and a system of
tax credits to encourage donations to the
political process.

Under the disclosure provisions of the Act,
any donation of more than $100.00 toa regis-
tered political party automatically becomes a
matter of public record. Thus while contribu-
tions of larger amounts are still permitted,
their existence will be know, and any interest-
ed person will be able to see who the larger
contributors to all candidates are.

The second new part of the Act — and one
which I feel is essential to the success of our
electoral system -- is the granting, by the fed-
eral government, of tax credits to Canadians
who involve themselves financially in the
political process. :

The system works like this: If you give a
donation of (say) $100.00 to the registered
political party of your choice, then the
federal government will allow you to deduct
$75.00 from your federal tax payable (not
from your ‘taxable income’). So a $100.00
donation only costs you $25.00.

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‘“SMOKE-FILLED BACK ROOMS’

To me the importance of this new system is
that it allows all Canadians - at all income
levels (tax credits are given on donations as
small as $10.00) - to become more fully in-
volved in the election of our federal govern-
ment. No longer can we say that all of the
money comes from ‘the smoke-filled back
rooms’ and the ‘corporate giants’.

Now - if you want it to — it comes from you.

I am concerned, though, that not enoygh’
Canadians are taking advantage of this new tax
credit system. It is a significant opportunity
to bring our politics much more out into the
open, but if we don’t use it, then the ‘smoke-
filled back rooms’ win by default.

Queens Visit

Queen Elizabeth visits Canada

As many of you know, this is the 25th year of
Her Majesty Elizabeth II’s reign. Special cele-
brations have been planned in each country of
the Commonwealth in honour of this occasion
and Canada was honoured by a visit from the
Queen October 14-19. Her Majesty visited
Ottawa over this period and attended many
events, She presided over an outdoor Jubilee
interdominational Thanksgiving service, attended
a special -luncheon- for outstanding Canadian
athletes, met leaders of cultural groups in
Canada and reviewed members of the Cameron
Highlanders Regiment, and took part in many
other activities.

Most important, our Queen gave the Speech
from the Throne at the Opening of the 3rd
session of the Thirtieth Canadian Parliament.

In so doing, the Queen gave an outline of pro- *
posed legislation, and the government’s general .

policy approach for the coming year.

Traditionally, the Throne Speech is read by ;
the Queen’s representative in Canada, Governor-.

General Jules Leger. ;

For those of you who did not see the Opening
of Parliament on television October 17, I will
be outlining details of the Throne Speech
following its release, -

THRONE SPEECH

THRONE SPEECH - UNITY AND ECONOMY |
ACCENTED IN OUTLINE OF
GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

Canadians were told they were entering a
‘new, era’? as Queen Elizabeth opened Parlia-
ment with the Speech from the Throne Oct.
18.

‘It can be an era of increasing division, or an
era of enhanced freedom. Fundamentally the
choice must be made by every citizen every
day’, said the Queen.

New economic realities and the urgency of
promoting linguistic harmony are perhaps
keystones to this year’s outline of the govern-
ment’s intended legislation. There is also a
hint that government intends to give special
consideration to priorities of regions in Canada
as well as provinces, and this could have posi-
tive meaning for our area.

Included in the outline is government inten-
tion to ‘improve the national transportation
system’ through, for example, new ports
legislation * which will enhance local autonomy
and maintain overall national interest’.

The government will encourage exploration in
the Arctic and carry out the pipeline agreement
with the United States. The speech indicated
that the northern gas pipeline will likely be
one of the largest civil engineering projects in
the world, and will benefit Canada through
-jobs, investment, purchase of materials and
eventually, easier and cheaper access to north-
em gas reserves. The government will also
regulate northern development in the Yukon to

“ensure pipeline construction does not predju-

dice native rights.

The government indicated intention to in-
crease Canada’s food producing potential; help
the provinces to ,become self ,reJiant in energy;

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Trade negotiations presently underway in
Geneva will hopefully result in private sector
stimulus in Canada and benefit all regions of
the country. In this vein, the government in-
tends to support the private sector in large
capital undertakings in other countries. This
will stimulate our export to those countries
in a variety of ways. :

The government will amend the Anti Infla-
tion Act this session, and create a monitoring
agency for wages and prices to, in effect,
replace it.

Plans are to improve the flexibility and
efficiency of social services. Rehabilitation of
disabled persons, day care and community
development services are named 4s priorities
in this area.

Perhaps most significant in terms of the
national unity question are plans to stimulate
process of constitutional review ‘with all
governments’. This, of course, includes British
Columbia and it is my fervent hope that the
specific and particular needs of northern,
western and ‘coastal Canadians’ will be arti-
culated in this review.

According to the speech the Criminal Code
will be amended to quarantee the right of
accused persons to be tried in the official
language of their choice. In other areas of
language rights the government pledges to
ensure greater availability of education in both
official languages. These intentions, I firmly
believe, will add a great deal of strength to
Canada’s dual language system.

Canada is. indeed entering a new era. Great
changes must take place in the social and
economic priorities of Canadians and there
is no doubt we will all individually be asked
to play a part.

SMILES & STYLE
‘with
Phyllis Wardy
319 Tagish St
718-1251 |

hours; 1-9 |
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The Honourable Iona:Campagnolo, M.P. for
Skeena, on behalf of the Honourable Marcel
Lessard, Minister of Regional Economic Ex-
pansion, announced that financial assistance
in the amount of $105,000.00 has been offered
to the Atlin Broadcasting Society to enable
construction of radio and television rebroad-
cast facilities bringing CBC service into the
community of Atlin, in northwest British
Columbia. :

The assistance will consist of $52,500.00 from
the federal government, and $52,500.00 from
the province of British Columbia as announced
by the Honourable Jack Davis. The contribution
is made available through the provision of the
remote rural community component of the
Canada-British Columbia Special Rural Develop-
ment Agreement (Special ARDA) whereby com-
munity services are improved, lessening their
isolation. 5

The Special ARDA program is primarily for the
benefit of the Native people of British Columbia
and it is through the initiative and cooperation
of the Native people of Atlin that the applica-
tion made by the Atlin Broadcasting Society was
recommended and approved by the two levels of
government.

The Atlin Broadcasting Society formed early in
1977 represents both the Native and non-Native
residents of Atlin.

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Women in Politics

On September 15, 1977, Laura Sabia, former
chairman of the Ontario’ Status of Women
Council, stated. that she and a group of
women may try to form an_ all-women
political party in Canada. According to an
article in the Ottawa Citizen, Sabia stated
‘the problem with women _ being
elected to the House of Commons is that
they become a part of the male-dominated
political. structure and inevitably must toe
the line in caucus.’ She said that she didn’t
want to be critical of women who had been

elected to Parliament, but ‘they’ve all joined °

the boys and their petty political games.’
While the goals for organizing such a party
from a socialist point- of view may be
questionnable, there is a
male politicians who continue to _ ignore
52% of the electorate. In particular, men
should take heed of the Japanese experience
where a new Women’s Party is fielding can-
didates for elections. According to an Ottawa
Citizen article on July 18, 1977, ‘Male
members of Japan’s upper house have been
warned that they may be in danger of get-
ting a karate chop from female members if
they present bills unfavourable to women
or make humiliating remarks about them.’

Begin Rejects Women’s Job

Monique Begin backed out from cabinet
responsibility for the status of women, part
of her new portfolio as Minister of Health
and Welfare. The women’s job now goes back
to Marc Lalonde, from whom Begin inherited
the portfolio in a cabinet shuffle two weeks
ago.

Begin was evasive in her reasons for refusing
this responsibility except to suggest that it
was a question of work she could handle.
When elected five years ago, she said that she
did not become a politician to crusade for
women’s rights.

‘No Comment

In Quebec, there is a law governing member-
ships in unions, called syndicates, that reads:
“Minors of 16 years of age and married women,
except when the husbands object, may be
members of a professional syndicate...’ Every
time you start to think that equality is

obvious, it turns out that it sure is not. ©

“Mother, what is a Feminist?’
‘A Feminist, my daughter,
Is any woman now who cares
To think about her own affairs
As men don’t think she oughter.’

Alice Duer Miller, 1915

,Excerpts from a report by Judy Wasylycia-Leis
‘Federal NDP Women’s Organizer

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_=. Discovering Region K

Rafting the Nass River

Rapids weren’t good news in days of old

-when rivers were the principagtravel arteries.
These days however, two brothers have suc-
ceeded in converting one of the roughest,
raunchiest, rapid-est rivers in northern British
‘Columbia into a tourist attraction.
The secret is the boat. No frail canoe or
: fragile rigid hull, Jim and Howard Hurst made
theiz first trip down the river in tough inflat-
able rafts. ;

White-water rafting is already popular in the
“USA and the Hursts are planning to bring the
‘sport to the mountains of north western Bri-
tish Columbia. Their first party comprised of
‘devotees of the sport drawn from as far away
as the Dominican Republic, Colorado, Calif-
omnia, Utah and of course British Columbia.
Altogether eleven men and four women came
together to dare the rapids.

The Nass, which rises near the Alaska pan-
handle, flows through dark slate and shale
canyons topped by rain forests. The floors of
these forests are heavily carpeted with under-
growth and soft green moss blankets the rocks
at the water’s edge. :

The Hursts had arranged that their group
meet in the town of Stewart, British Columbia,
‘a spectacular setting for a vacation itself.
Nestled at the base of huge rugged mountain
ranges at the head of the Portland Canal, a
long narow ice free body of sea water that
was once the only accessible route to this area,
‘it is dominated by majestic Mount Rainey,
_complete with its own ice—field and glacier.
Two miles to the west as the crow flies, (but
not as the hiker walks!) is Hyder, Alaska. This
charming town was the object of a visit by the”
group before getting down to the serious
‘business ahead. i
_ The place where the river run was to start was _.
‘reached via a 40- mile drive through the moun-
tains, to the Hurst’s Meziadin Lake campsite.
The drive is impressive. Waterfalls leap down
the hillsides from under the icefields above,
the group encountered an avalanche so close
that they could reach out and touch it and
_they discovered the unbelievable blueness of
.the northern lakes.

The following day, three 8 foot X 18 foot
inflatable rafts were rigged and put into the
water just above the confluence of the Nass
and Meziadin rivers. Immediately the first
rapids were encountered and for five days,
sboatment and passengers alike delighted in the
‘beauty and excitement of the river. The mys-
tique of the canyon is enhanced by a backdrop
_of mist-enshrouded, glacier-hung peaks. The
river has a very swift current, strong hydraulics
and white water rapids that challenge the
skilled boatman and thrill the passengers. Be-
tween rapids there was ample time for fishing
hiking and exploring. Once a mountain goat,
on an impossible canyon rim, delighted every-
one while bald eagles soared overhead. Another
,day, everybody was stunned by the sight of
seals swimming along side the rafts.

- Journey’s end was a small village called
Aiyansh, where the rafts were lifted out and
from which the passengers were transported

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he Hursts will be doing it again next year and
_ here’s always room for one more adventurer,

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