.Novmssn 21, 1969 '

FEATURE

UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

PAGE 9

Poverty, Politics, andPIofii in Smallweod’s Squid Jiggm Ground

i by paul macrae, CUP

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. (CUP) -- Newfoundland presents an almost classic case of how not to develop an underde- veloped region, only more so. The more so is Premier Joseph Smallwoodw

It’s been twenty y e a r s since Newfoundland stagger- ed into Confederation. That it did so at all is a tribute to Smallwood’s ability and hard work.

Now, the province has an unemployment rate of 10 per cent and the lowest per cap- i‘ta income and the highest per capita debt in thecoun- try. A report prepared for the Smallwood government (and subsequently ignored) indicated that the situation will get worse.

St. John’s reportedly has more millionaires per capita

than any other city in Can I I ada. And Newfoundland’s

potential wealth in fish, min- erals, and timber is enormous.

What’s wrong? the stud- ent’s council at Memorial University, th e province’s only university, called a rally to coincide with the Liberal party’s first—ever leadership and policy conventions. The rally, discussed what’s wrong, where Newfoundland is gomg. *‘

'Ilhe, student’s immediate reaction is to blame Joey, and they aremot alone. The : lead— ership .battle resolved almost

entirely around Joey’s per- sonality and the issues were buried in a landslide of mud. The convention was a leader- ship conVentio nin name only, and Smallwood must have known that when he started his minor Cultural Revolu- tion.

Looking at the record, it’s easy to blame Joey. The rec- ord, as told to me anyway, indicated he has sold the province down the river for a mess of promises. In the process the province h as spent millions outright grants, and millions more in tax and other subsidies to in- coming industries. The re- turn in jobs and personal in- come has remained meagre. Some examples:

The Electric Reduction Company phosphorus plant on Placentia Bay was Joey’s baby. And ERGO was happy to come. The company’s pol- lution record and standards have made it an undesirable tenant in other provinces.

ERCO, if you recall, was in the thick of a fluoride poison uproar at Dunnville, Ontario, two years ago, a con- troversy which has yet to die. Keenly felt here is ano- ther EIRCIO pollution triumph —the virtual destruction of Placentia Bay as a source of fish through the dumping of phosporous waste.

Although ERGO denies it,

a pollution expert who spoke to the student rally estimat-

Amerika’s prayer

by lan Boyden

Gentle Jesus, bless each bomb

We drop today on Vietnam

And keep our helicopters safe Fromnatives they fly low to strafe.

Lord of Life, increase our skill To build up added Overkill, And let no pacifist decry

The stronium-90 in our sky.

‘ _ Heavenly Father, "we entreat Let no one sell the Cubans wheat, And grant us power to chastise All insubordinate allies.

Holy Spirit, give us grace

‘To win the guided missile race, And help our scientists amass Vast arsenals of germs and gas

From further dwindling, Lord, preserve Our ever-shrinking gold reserve,

And we beseech Thee, come what may, Let overseas investments pay.

The world’s most upright Christian land, We ask these blessings at Thy hand— Be‘ Thine theglory, Lord on high, I.When women weep and children die.

Amen;

reprinted from the chevron, 9 december 1966

NOTE: The CADRE is‘ published _ by and for the University

of Prince Edward Island Student’s Union.

ed it would take 15 years for the bay to become fishable again. And meanwhile, as one of the Liberal leadership candidates remarked bitter- ly, Newfoundland fish must be marked as not from Pla- centia-Bay to be acceptable as exports.

ERCO was supposed to bring a measure of prosper- ity to the region, providing jobs and income. In fact, the company probably costs the government more each year than it brings in.

I was told that 12 or 15 companies own most of the provinces; mineralnproducing areas. A few mines are still operating, but in most cases the land lies untouched until it is profitable for exploita- tion. The mines now worked are worth hundreds of mil- lions of dollars, of which Joey’s government gets about $2,000,000 a year.

The Liberal government offered an attractive deal to one pulp and paper firm. The province put up about 30 mil- lion again $5,000,00 by the company to set up a plant. No losses guaranteed, largely publIi-cally financed, and en- tirely privatelyowned.

These are Joey’s deals, and

all are regarded with some anger by the Newfoundland- ers I talked to. A student told me there are two widely- held views about Joey’s ef- forts. The charitable view is that he doesn’t know how to

manage moneypand has been duped.

The other View is probably libellous.

Meanwhile the Newfound- lander pays millions to bring in private industries; money

' which could be used to cre

ate publically-owned indus- try. There are two advantag- es in following the second course: the profits will be- long to the people, and the

profits will cease to flow out

of the province as they do now.

There is no evidence that the three major leadership candidates a r e willing to tackle the problem from this angle, and no wonder. Both Crosbie and Hickman own businesses themselves, an d Crosbie is one of St. John’s millionaires.

Only “nuisance” candidates, like Randy Joyce, a fifth—year student at Memorial Univer- sity, cut through the person- ality for the issues. Reading in part from a weekly column he does for the student news— paper The Muse, Joyce told the 1,700 convention dele- gates: “I am convinced it would be a disaster to develop Labrador as Mr. Smallwood has tried to develop New- foundland.

“There appears to be two alternatives to this system

of exploitation,” Joyce con—_

tinued, “One is letting pri-

vate enterprise operate on a lease basis. The lease would be long enough for the com- pany to make a profit; on its expiry, the operations would then be run by the govern- ment and the profits could be applied to our province’s ur~ gent needs, such as education and health.”

The Smallwood delegates sat stony-faced t h r o u g h Joyce’s speech. The Crosbie and Hickman supporters ap- plauded and cheered his at- tacks on oJey, but were more subdued when he came to concrete proposals.

And the Smallwood speech? Well, for a while, we wonder- ed if he was even going to make one. Half his 30-min- ute speech was taken up by a demonstration of support.

The speech was pure Joey, No content, no discussion of the issues that had created the huge rift in the Liberal party, just a flamboyant call for unity. “We are one fam- ilyl”, he cried, “The Liberal family!”

No one was surprised when he won in the voting Satur- day. Joey controls Newfound— land. Buck Joey and you may lose your liquor license. Vote tery and the construction contracts may dry up.

But Newfoundland may be the only province in: Canada where the people will make a break from the business ideology of their leaders.