The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 5

PAGE FIVE The VANCOUVER SUN: June 12, 1971 5 Bourassa asks for a losing proposition A I I By KAYMOXD DUBE Victoria prelude: no to Bourassa we have the financial means to take such a chance. If Quebec, its particularities taken into account, intends to satisfy itself with a new deal which would guarantee a real intergovernmental consultation and co-ordination throughout the field of social security, why should it not be possible to come to An editorial and nationalistic in the Toronto Star, a politically independent daily. From an editorial on next week's Victoria constitutional conference in he Soleil, Quebec City, a politically independent daily. What is Quebec seeking basically? If it intends to obtain exclusive jurisdiction over the social security sector, it is difficult if not impossible to follow this route. The social affairs minister knows the figures loo well not to take into account that our province would be the loser all along the way, for it would henceforth be called upon to assume alone the obligations now met in part by the richest provinces.

It is in no way proven that Mnntreiil Slar The Quebec federal-provincial constitutional conference which opens at Victoria on June 14 has already been shadowed by the demands made by Premier Robert Bourassa of Quebec. major purpose of the conference is to repatriate the constitution that is, work out a by which it can be amended within Canada without requiring legislation by the British Parliament. But Mr. Bourassa has stated that he will not agree to any such amending provision unless he secures an agreement to revise the basic division of powers between the federal government and the provinces to give Quebec authority over the whole field of "social affairs." He wants Quebec to have "legislative priority" over income security, manpower, including professional training and manpower centres, social services, including those connected with the administration of justice, health services, including financing measures such as hospital insurance, housing and leisure. Puzzle for PM This virtual ultimatum has created a dilemma for Prime Minister Trudeau and his advisers.

If they refuse the Quebec government's demands, Mr. will presumably torpedo the conference and any hope of an agreement on repatriating the constitution or amending its archaic provisions will be gone. "It may be for years and it may be forever," as the old song puts it. But if the federal cabinet agrees to Mr. Bourassa's terms it would change the whole balance of the constitution in a manner that could cripple Canada as a nation.

Ottawa denuded Quebec. and the other provinces if they demand equal treatment would be given authority in all the fields of government which most concern the average family health, employment, security in old age, aid to the poor and handicapped, and much else besides. (The phrase "social affairs" is so open-ended that it can be extended almost indefinitely.) And since these are also the most expensive peacetime functions of a modern government, the greater part of the revenues now collected by the federal treasury would have to be diverted to the provinces. At the end of the process, the national government could be left with nothing to do but maintain the armed forces and run the post office. Canada would have become what the Creditistes of Quebec recently called for "a federation of sovereign provinces." And the ultimate break-up would be only a question of time.

Mr. Bourassa's proposals like most of the Quebec approaches make-or-hreak talks from one province to another must be able to carry their pension and other rights with them. Canadian citizenship would mean very little if a man could be denied an old age pension or unemployment insurance or medical or hospital care because he was a "foreigner" from another province. Pointless meeting If Premier Bourassa Insists on his demands, as a condition for agreeing to a new amendment formula for the constitution, there is no point in holding the Victoria conference. The BNA Act is unsatisfactory in its present form, and it is humiliating that it can only-be changed in London.

But it is better to put up with these things than agree to constitutional changes which could destroy Canada as a constitutional changes that have been suggested in Quebec City over the last decade thus tend to the separation of Quebec and the break-up of Confederation. They should get a polite but firm "no" in Ottawa. This does not mean that the federal government should not be prepared to discuss some changes in the responsibility for social services with the provinces. But there are two points on which it ought to insist. Uniform standards The first is that Ottawa must have the power to set the basic standards in all shared social services.

If these are left entirely to the provincial governments, standards are likely to fall, at least in the poorer provinces. The second is that Canadians who move DOOM DAY I am sure that an enemy of some kind is needed. Getting up every morning is a sort of inimical act. Harvey Wheeler, The Centre magazine LACOMBE support of his most dynamic ministers, Claude Castonguay, Jean-Paul L'Allier and Francois Cloutier, who have not hesitated in recent months to pave the way to the Victoria negotiations by claiming certain increased powers for Quebec. But there is strong doubt that the central government is ready to give unconditional blessing to the demands of tho Quebec authorities.

If, as is believed, Ottawa refuses categorically to consider or accept the Quebec position, it will be futile to think of other constitutional meetings because they would lead nowhere. It is, in a way, the last chance. By EEJEAN From am editorial in Le NouveViste, Trois-Rivieres, a politically independent daily. The next constitutional conference, to be held June 14-16 at Victoria, is of vital importance for the provinces and most particularly Quebec. Premier Robert Bourassa will not arrive empty-handed in Victoria.

The experience of last February, his first conference, has shown him the stands of the representatives of the other provinces and the central government. He is counting also on the Canadian book business is bad and By ROBERT to read new books in Canada. Ten years ago when I was first writing a daily books column for a Toronto paper, I could review just about every Canadian novel of even modest pretensions while simultaneously keeping a distant eye on British and American books. But lately say in the FLLFORD last throe or four years it's become increasingly clear that neither I nor anyone pise can keep track of what's happening. There's so much going on in Canadian prose fiction that only a critic devoting himself to it full time could pretend to know about everything.

For a while, as I picked -Punch A sense of sadness and disaster hung over Canadian books. The talk was of Gage and Ryerson coming under American control in 1970, of McClelland and Stewart possibly being sold in 1971, of the fact that the new independent publishing houses, starved for capital, were hanging on the ropes. This was all accurate; Canadian publishing is a sick-profession, and probably some form of government help (more extensive than Canada Council grants) will be needed to coax it back to health. In these terms it's a bleak scene indeed, and those publishers discussing their deficits over ever more numerous martinis are altogether right to be depressed. And yet, and yet, dammit, something very good has been happening behind all this, and it's essential in the midst of all the gloomy newspaper headlines and the solemn talk of deputy ministers and royal commissioners to assert this fact: rarely has there been a more interesting year Add two extra days to your Okanagan vacation by flying PWA.

P.S. Ask about our family fare -plan, Big Little Vacations (coming soon) and the great ing the last six or seven months, there's been every week or so a Canadian book worth celebrating. Only a few' of these books have been promoted as much as they've deserved: in promotion and advertising Canadian publishers, both independents and branch plants, are spectacularly backward. (There is a sense in which all you really need to know about Canadian book publishing is that its trade magazine is called Quill Quire.) Still, the books are there for those who want to seek them out; and at least some readers find them. Probably the book business in Canada needs all that sad publicity to eventual government action on its behalf; you can't, alter all rescue somebody until he cries for help.

But it would be unfortunate if, in our anxiety, we neglected to recognize and appreciate the fact that despite all the difficulties, Canadian writing in English is flourishing as never before. 1he rumors passed along to him. I am open to discuss this situation any time so please, Mr. Wasscrman, even though it is impolite, put up or shut up. JOCK WATER STON 7675 Kenlwood Street, North Burnaby THE ALUMNI ASSOC'N of th British Columbia Institute of Technology will ba holding their 2nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING at 8.C.I.T.

3700 Willinqdon Avt. at 8 p.m., Juno 23rd, 1971 in Room 129 special discount rates on Tilden-U-Drives. Count cn us. "I still treasure his first book, it is always at hand, a volume which has helped me as a writer more than I can say." LETTERS TO THE EDITO It should have been, by any sane reckoning, a year for celebration among Canadians who care about books and writers. The literary season recently ended was so rich in surprises and pleasures, in talents discovered and rediscovered and reputations renewed, that every gathering of publishers and writers and critics should From the Notebook section of Saturday Night, published monthly in Toronto.

Mr. Fulford is its editor. have buzzed with excited talk about the unexpected new surge of good writing in English-speaking Canada. Of course that wasn't how it happened. When publishing people met during the bleak winter of 1970-71 and I'm thinking particularly of one dolorous gathering organized by the secretary of state's office in Ottawa last February they talked not of talent but of business failures, not of new ideas but of old deficits.

India's burden Editor, The Sun, Sir Your news reports of late have been stressing that the troubles in East Pakistan with the resultant refugees to the Calcutta area are bringing cholera to that city. Anyone who has been there knows that this is bordering on the ridiculous. India's health problem is de-plurable at all times and it is perhaps only necessary to release the honest day to day statistics to cause an epidemic. Calcutta's water system is so chaotic that it is amazing to me that it has not killed the city's population before now. The pictures which substantiate these articles could be taken in any village.

This is not to criticize your articles. This is just the state in which India exists. JOHN PATTERSON 2(177 West Thirty-seventh A censure Editor, The Sim, Sir-Thc president of an organization as prestigious and powerful as the Canadian Medical Association carries a heavy burden of responsibility, As top executive for the CMA, he speaks with the weight of the medical profession to people whom doctors have the privilege of serving. Such a man must speak -knowlcdgcably and responsibly, else he does a disservice to both his profession and the public. In a time when young radicals arc accused of indulging in inflammatory rhetoric, when dissident minority Kroups are naid to make excessive demands, when environmental activists arc criticized as Ileitis Irresponsible and when youths of the counterculture are supposed to be non-constructive ami negative, It is shocking to read of the inflammatory, irresponsible remarks made by Dr.

II, D. Roberts, current CMA president, Dr. Roberts suggests that the higher rate of reproduction among Ihe unemployed (which we assume he can document) will be detri through the new generation of novels, reading this one or discarding that one, I had the uncomfortable sense that what we were seeing was an up-to-date version of what I once thought of as "warehouse publishing" the kind of novel-publishing that the Ryerson Press was famous for in the 1950s, dozens of nondescript and useless books silted up in the warehouse after being published for no better reason than that someone at Ryerson thought there was something virtuous in the mere idea of issuing Canadian novels. (There were Ryerson books in those days, I swear, that nobody but the author, the editor and the printer ever read right through.) Of course there has always been in Canada some tendency toward warehouse publishing, and I doubt if the impulse will entirely vanish for a long time: certainly there continue to be many new books published for reasons of piety rather than literary excitement. But right now what seems important to me is that, dur A Frenchman Editor, The Sun, Sir Re your article entitled "Climber narrates film of Annapurna conquest" (June 5).

It says: "Included in the French team were also Louis Lachcnal and from England, Lionel Tcrray." What. English, Lionel Tcrray? He was one of the best-known and best-liked French climbers. There was nothing English about him. H. McDONALD 1154 West 24th, North Vancouver Irresponsible Editor, The Sun, Sir In The Sun, (June 1) columnist Jack Wasscrman stated, "Behind the headlines in the current Hydro dispute wilh the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is another one of those situations in which a militant group is snapping at the leadership.

One of the key figures in this internecine warfare is a former officer of the union who has been steaming on the. sidelines ever since he was dumped in a local election." Mr. Wasscrman has made similar type statements in the past concerning other unions but in this particular case I wonder where he got his information? You sec, I happen to be the only former officer of this local union who lost out in a local election. I'm not unduly concerned that my reputation may be damaged by such a statement, I'm confident that the present leadership and more Important, the membership know me well enough to treat the article wilh the contempt it deserves. However, I am concerned about the completely irresponsible reporting that Mr.

Wasscrman displays. Labor relations in B.C. arc in a serious enough situation without ruinor-mongering whether It be in labor or management ranks. I am not suggesting that Mr. Wasscrman made up this statement as a fill-in for his column, but I do suggest thai ho check out more thoroughly FOR PREFERRED RISKS ONLY It Pays to Shop for Car Insurance YOU CAN SAVE MONEY ON CAR INSURANCE AT WESTCO PRUFIC MJE5rERn AIRLINES ftin, tfl 13 AUTOMOBILE I 1 ON ALL ADDITIONAL nniVPHS MatriPd i a in vnu fsmmmmmmsmmim ICQ Ukrainians Editor, The Sun, Sir In his recent state dinner speech in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, Prime Minister Trudeau spoke of the contribution Ukrainians have made to Canada, and of how they have retained their identity.

He went on to say that "those of your countrymen now in Canada, though many thousands of miles away from Ukraine, find themselves living within a political structure or framework of the same basic design as that in the Soviet Union." How could the prime minister of Canada equate the structure and political system of Canada with that of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? Such remarks indicate the ignorance of our prime minister who tends to regard the 15 different republics of the U.S.S.R. (such as Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Byelorussia just to mention several of the nations enslaved by Russia) as if they were ordinary Canadian provinces. And furthermore, it is regrettable that the prime minister doesn't know the difference between the one-party dictatorial communistic regime of the Soviet Union, and that of our Canadian parliamentary system of democracy. (Mrs.) AGNES KRIPPS (MLA Vancouver South) 772 West Fifty-second Firefighters Editor, The Sun, Sir I have to applaud the District of Surrey and the City of Port Coquitlam for the stand they arc taking on the welfare situation. This to me shows that maybe there is si 111 some Letters to the edilnr must lie signed by and brar the address of the writer.

The shorter the better. A pen name may be used only in special rases. The Sun may edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality or taste. INSURANCE COMPANY mental to the biological quality of the population. Therefore, he "quips," recipients of welfare should be sterilized before payment.

This smacks strongly of the warped logic of Hitler's pseudogenetic policies and the current attempts by 1 and Jensen to "prove" the genetic inferiority of black people in the U.S. The whole question of the genetic difference between lower and upper income groups is highly suspect. Environmental factors such as poverty, discrimination or wealth greatly modify performance in tests of such traits of I.Q. Implied in Dr. Roberts' remarks Is a genetic basis for the qualities which distinguish the welfare recipients and that the biological attributes of upper income groups are "better." Many of us would dispute the genetic basis of the differences and the use of economic or social status for the definition of desirability.

In any case, the known genetic diversity within human populations makes it highly unlikely that the kind of crude selection proposed by Dr. Roberts would have any perceptible effect for centuries. We feel that Dr. Roberts has spoken out irresponsibly and call on the medical community to censure their spokesman. The target of bigotry can be shifted by the merest puff of a whisper what would Dr.

Roberts have proposed for Japanese -Canadians in 1941, or for French-Canadians last year, or for Indians on reservations? We do not feel that a eugenics program can solve socio-economic problems and that people like Dr. Roberts only exacerbate misconceptions, prejudice and ignorance, DAVID T. SUZUKI (Ph.D.) I.INDA HALL (Ph.D.) DF.AN EZF.LL (Ph.D.) JnSKPII DICKINSON (Ph.D.) THOMAS SANDERS (Ph.D.) CLIFTON POODHY (Ph.D.) THOMAS KAUFMAN (Ph.D.) Cienetirs Group, University of B.C. hope for the silent majority. Finally, our elected officials are beginning to show some concern for the people who have put them in office.

I can only conclude that their action against employable welfare recipients will have a far-reaching effect, and I hope, in all sincerity, that other cities and municipalities throughout B.C. will follow suit. B.C. is now facing five months of a forest fire threat and I'm sure that if the powers that be were to act now, several hundred of these "employable welfare recipients" could be properly trained in the art of fire fighting. Keep B.C.

green. R. COULTER 6126 Denbigh Avenue, South Burnaby Thanks Martha Editor, The Sun, Sir Let me thank and congratulate you on a terrific article by Martha Robinson in last Saturday's Sun on Brian Rurid, the evangelist who was able to kick drugs and change his ways after he met Jesus. We need more articles like this, more truths like this for our muddled nation. (Mrs.) C.

HALTON 8G97 136 Surrey Chess coverage Editor, The Sun, Sir I would like to commend The Sun and staff concerned for the fine coverage of the world chess championship quarter final games between B. Fischer and M. Taininnov, concluded recently at UBC. The opportunity to play out, the games the way in which the masters did, was indeed a pleasure. I am sure B.C.

chess fans Join me in hoping The Sun will continue coverage of the semifinal series between Fischer and Larsen scheduled to commence July of this year In New York. A. E. ANDRUSCltAK Box 10, Lake Cowkhan HEAD OFFICE: 1927 WEST BROADWAY, VANCOUVER 9, BRITISH COLUMBIA FAST CLAIM SERVICE Fill in and return this coupon or phono today. No obligation.

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