AY REPORT: AN ANALYSIS,

n original 200,

h compiled the oung Montreal ask force ldrew arge number of us branches oi

s in the com- he most com- ign ownership :rtaken in this

and the con- an help us to life of our own test significant

madian money 8 sellout of the. sources. There lerican capital ,past but as the ’0 Per cent of

the internal

generation of finances by the firm and their ability to raise external funds in

the Canadian capital market.” *As a direct consequence of foreign—

again chiefly American—involvement in our economy, the growth of Canadian culture in nearly all respects has been stultified. There can be no real reconcili- ation between large-scale foreign owner- ship of our means of production and the development of an identifiable national culture.

As the report says: “...the presence of

large volumes of foreign investment con- centrated in US hands increases the difficulty of developing a distinctive na- tional culture. This has potentially seri- ous implications since the economic and political strength of a country lies largely in the creation of a cultural, social and political milieu which favours in- digenous iniative and innovation. , “There is no way of leaving the ‘economic’ area to others, so that we can get on with the political, social and cultural concerns in our own way. There is no such compartmentalization in the real World.” .

The authors of the report also point out that a sort of vicious circle develops; the less national culture a country has, the greater the danger of foreign econ- omic domination. “The lack of a strong identity and a distinctive culture tend to create... a vacuum and a greater recep- tivityto foreign incluence and invest- ment. The ease of importing our culture from the UK or the US reinforces this tendency by reducing the pressure on Canadians to develop their own cultural distinctiveness.”

*The country’s reliance on an external technology has retarded the develop— ment of national autonomy. The report says: “Some 95 per cent of patents is- sued in Canada are registered to foreign owners, of which two-thirds are owned by United States residents...

“Another study shows that in a list of 25 countries, Canada is first in per- centage of patents which are foreign- owned and last in the percentage of

patents owned by nationals of the issu- _

ing country.”

This indicates that our technology has been moulded to meet the demands of nations other than our own and that if we are to achieve any form of sovereignty we must come to grips with a technolOgy oriented to specific Canadian needs and problems.

*The world’s economy is on the verge of being dominated by about 300 multi- national enterprisesudefined by the report as being “major corporations that spread their activities around the world and treat all; countries as their own”. Two- thirds of these multinational enterprises are American-controlled.

Some sobering statistics about these corporate monsters whose power rivals that of even the largest nations:

-Eighty per cent of all American direct foreign investment is accounted for by 200 firms.

-Sa1es of US -owned corporations op- erating in foreign countries amounts to about $200 billion a year.

-Multinationa1 corporations are respon- sible for 15 per cent of'the Gross National Product-the value of all goods and ser- vices produced—in the non-socialist world.

-This percentage will rise to 50 per cent by 1990 at which time sales of multinational enterprises operating throughout the world will be valued at around $2,000 billion.

-In the near future it will not be un- usual for these giant companies to have over one million employees.

-The book: value .of American direct investment abroad has increased from about $7.5 billion in 1929 to $70.8 billion in 1969 and is still expanding.

-The conclusion of the report is that these multinational corporations through their size and the consequent greater integration of national economics, are gaining more power than most national governments. There will have to be some kind of showdown.

The extent of the control of these multinational corporations in Canada is furthered amplified by these figures:

-1n 1968 the assets of firms which were 50per cent or more non-resident-owned were $50.7 billion. (It should be remem—

PERCENTAGE OF NON-RESIDENT OWNERSHIP AS MEASURED BY

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY ASSETS Food and beverages 31.3

bered that effective control of a corpor- ation can be gained by possession of as little as three per cent of its common stock.)

-As measured by taxable income— usually not the best guage because of the numerous tax loopholes which cor- porations can find—64 per cent of the manufacturing industry in Canada is foreign-owned. Ontario tops this indus- trial sellout parade with 70 per cent foreign ownership of manufacturing firms followed by the Prairies with 61 per cent, the Atlantic Provinces with 60 per cent and by BC with 44 per cent.

Foreign ownership in Quebec—con- sidered by the government to be non— Canadian as opposed to non-Quebecois—~ is somewhat below~national levels in all sectors except services and utilities.

—Over 8,500 Canadian firms are for- eigncd-controlled, at least 7,000 by A- mericans. This list has been growing in recent years by about 170 companies a year.

There are some important realizations about the shakey chances for Canadian survival contained in the Gray Report. It would appear that the Trudeau govern- ment is prepared to make at least token steps to arrest the trend that is marking our destruction. But neither the authors of the report, nor the government, nor the men who hold the real power—the corporate titans—are willing to make any fundamental changes to a economic and social system that operates only for the rich.

1t lookslike we’ll have to be content as colonials for some time to come.

TAXABLE SALES PROFITS INCOME 27.1 29.4 30.9

Tobacco 84.5 80.1 82.7 83.1 Rubber products 93.1 91.5 90.1 88.4 Leather products 22.0 21.4 25.2 27.3 Textiles and clothing 39.2 28.5 54.9 54.6 Wood 30.8 22.2 23.8 23.0 Furniture 18.8 15.5 20.4 23.2 Printing, publishing and allied 21.0 13.2 22.0 22.7 Paper and allied 38.9 40.7 39.8 39.0 Primary metals 55.2 51.1 62.4 64.4 Metal fabricating 46.7 45.0 64.7 62.6 Machinery 72.2 72.7 78.1 872 Transport equipment 87.0 90.6 89.8 88.7 Electrical products 64.0 62.7 78.0 88.1 Non-metallic mineral products 51.6 42.3 47.2 52.9 Petroleum and coal products 99.7 99.6 99.7 99.4 Chemicals and chemical products 81.3 81.1 88.9 89.1 Miscellaneous manufacturing 53.9 51.2 72.1 '72.6

Total - All Manufacturing 58.1 55.0 63.4 62,4

. . .THE BRUNSUJICKIAN ~

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