Tiff MCGILL TRIBUNE
Tuesday, 7 October, 1986
Published by the Students' Society of McGill University
Volume 6, Number 5
Protesters Park It At PC H.Q. by Marc Wills A group of thirteen individuals, pro testing the processing of Namibian uranium by a Candian Crown corpora tion, occupied the downtown Montreal offices of the Progressive Conservative Party last Friday afternoon. The unlucky thirteen were dragged away by the police two hours after first squatting in the carpeted foyer of the Montreal PC headquarters on President Kennedy Ave. The group, made up of many McGill students, was demonstrating against Canada's handling of uranium mined in Namibia. Eldorado Nuclear, a Canadian Crown corporation, has for more than five years treated uranium ore drawn from a Namibian mine operated by the British multinational Rio Tinto Zinc. Namibia, a south-western African country, has been occupied and ad ministered by the South African govern ment since the end of World War I. The United Nations has ruled, with Canada's approval, that South Africa's occupation of Namibia is illegal and has conse quently disallowed the exploitation of Namibia's natural resources. Eldorado's contract to process Nami bian uranium runs until 1988 at which time, the Canadian government has said, it will suspend further importations. But the Direct Action Network Against Nuclear Racism, a Montreal-area coali tion of student and community groups which has undertaken since last April a series of protests against uranium shipments, has demanded the im mediate termination of Eldorado's cur rent contract with Rio Tinto. The protest coalition charges that Eldorado's processing contract is incom patible with the Canadian government's stand on Namibia and its professed op
PGSS Threatens To 'Go Public' Over Brief
position to South Africa's apartheid regime. Friday's demonstration comes at an important juncture in the recent Western bid to pressure the government of South Africa. Because of the public protests it has faced, Christensen Canadian African Lines, the shipping company which has been transporting the uranium ore from South Africa to the port of Montreal, an nounced last week it will no longer carry the uranium shipments. As well, last week Canadian sanctions
against South Africa were officially im plemented just as the Congress of the United States overwhelmingly approved a tough program of sanctions against the Apartheid regime. The American measures, unlike Canada's place a ban on the importation of uranium. A spokesman for the External Affairs Department's South Africa Task Force, reached by the Toronto Star in August, explained that Eldorado's contract with Rio Tinto could not be cancelled because of considerations of employ
ment in Canada and Canada's reputation as an international business partner. On Friday a gritty, and determined group of demonstrators argued that the contract could be rescinded as Montreal police officers plucked them from the of fices of the Progressive Conservative Par ty and plunked them unceremoniously into the back of a paddy wagon. The thirteen were charged with illegal oc cupation. The irony of the charge could not be lost on those familiar with the In ternational Court of Justice's ruling on South Africa's occupation of Namibia.
Studsoc Ignores Opposition To Fee Hike by Glenn Pierce Last Wednesday, Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) Council voted to uphold its endorsement of proposed tuition increases in a brief submitted to the National Assembly's Parliamentary Commisssion on Education. The in creases suggested in the brief would raise tuition by $500 each year until it reached $2500 in 1990. Council's decision was contrary to the terms demanded in a petition with 1592 student signatures protesting tuition in creases presented by Clubs rep Carlene Gardner to Council. Letters from the McGill Law Students Society and the Concordia University Students Associa tion (CUSA) Executive, both in opposi tion to tuition increases, were also presented. Gardner made a motion to withdraw Studsoc support of the increase from the brief, but it did not pass as presented. In stead, the motion was amended to a mandate for VP External Ian Brodie to "oppose all tuition fee increases which are not accompanied by the conditions
set out in the Students' Society/MAUT brief" at the Parliamentary commission hearing. This motion passed by a vote of 13-9. The brief is a joint venture of SSMU and M cGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT). An extremely lengthy discussion was the result of the highly debated motion. Gardner remarked that "the motion doesn't change anything. We need to keep our policies in line with the students' opinion. Our responsibility to them is greater than our responsibility to the M AUT." "This is more than the number of students that voted in the last (SSMU) elections, and it took only three days to collect them ," said Gardner, in reference to the 1592 signatures. Several reps spoke in suport of the petition, but some questioned its integrity because they said it provided too little informa tion to the student signators. In support of the motion passed, VP External Ian Brodie commented that the quality of education at Quebec univer
sities is at stake. "W e can no longer ex she said. "If tuition fees are raised, it pect the Quebec government to provide won't accomplish anything for us," she added. SSMU is the only Quebec stu for our increasing needs," he said. Also supporting the brief, Arts rep John dent organization to endorse such in Kaplan said that Council should repre creases. Longpré remarked that SSMU sent student opinion as expressed by the "should not break solidarity with the rest petition, but stressed that "there are bet of Quebec students." Brodie told Council that if they decid ter services in general which we stand to gain through a fee increase. If we don't ed to repudiate the brief, then SSMU come up with the money, the govern would lose its representation at the ment will have to and I don't think they Parliamentary Commission hearing. "The government will not negotiate the w ill." François Longpré, the Council Law terms of a brief that has been rep, noted that accessibility to post submitted," he said. C U SA co-president Scott White secondary education, especially in the Arts, will be jeopardized by the fee in responded by telling Council that his creases. In agreement, Arts rep Randy past experienced dictates that "the Flemmings said that supporting the in secretary (of education) would be con creases constitutes "giving up a lot of ciliatory to accomodating another gains that our predecessors have worked brief." damn hard for.” Further efforts to amend the brief were Karen Takacs, CUSA co-preseident, spoke to council in opposition of the debated, but none were successful. brief. "The commission is trying to Brodie and a representative of MAUT legitimize tuition increases, and if will present the brief to the Gratton McGill agrees with them they'll have Commission on Education in Quebec taken a big step toward the increases," City on October 14.
Cadieux: Questions And Answers by Janet Mitchell Quebec's recently appointed Minister of Labour, Pierre Cadieux and Member of Parliament for Vaudreuil spoke at M cGill last Monday to a gathering of Progressive Conservative M cGill. Cadieux arrived without a prepared speech but invited questions from students, suggesting that "an exchange is more important." The questioning began with the issue of Quebec's role in the signing of the Constitution. Cadieux was optimistic about the negotiations, maintaining that there is "goodwill on both sides" and that most Quebecers have the same
desires as other Canadians: "I'm a Fran cophone, but I don't want to be limited to the province of Quebec," he said. Another issue raised at the meeting was Free Trade. As Minister of Labour, Cadieux has been appointed to a priority committee for Free Trade negotiations and assured students that "everything possible" is being done to protect the in terests of labour. He lamented the absence of the Canadian Labour Con gress in the negotiations, adding that their refusal to participate can only hurt them in their campaign to prevent an agreement. One student asked if the by-election in
Pembina, Alberta last week would be a test for the Mulroney government, since this riding has long been a Tory stronghold. Cadieux admitted that a loss in Pembina would be "interpreted by the other parties" as a negative trend. The by-election, which took place the day after Cadieux’s visit, resulted in a narrow victory for the Conservatives. Asked about the general state of labour negotiations in Canada, Cadieux stressed that a businesslike, rather than an ideological, approach is necessary. There is a "feeling across the country," he said, "that now is the time to be more reasonable." He pointed out that the
emphasis has switched from raises in pay to saving jobs, adding that presently he is on "very good talking terms with labour unions." One question arose concerning the re cent resignation of former House of Commons Speaker, John Bosley. Cadieux denied that the resignation was forced by the Mulroney government. He said that Bosley tried to be "too reasonable" which resulted in his loss of control of the House. The new speaker, former Fisheries Minister and Tainted Tuna survivor John Frazer, should re establish the House as "a respectable
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by Melanie Clulow As the issues mount, and differences of opinion have politically more and more at stake, conflict between the Students' Society of McGill University and the Post-G raduate Students' Society deepens. Most importantly, the two representative bodies disagree on the proposed tuition fee increase and Studsoc's potential membership in Le Regroupement des Associations Etu diantes Universitaires (RAEU). At last Wednesday's meeting of PGSS, Genevieve Tanguay, Vice-President (Ex ternal) reiterated the Society's stance on tuition fee increases and its ensuing op position to the Studsoc/MAUT joint brief. "PGSS is definitely opposed to such a fee hike," said Tanguay. "Graduate students are poor and cannot deal with a doubling or tripling of fees." "If Ian Brodie does not retract (his pro increase position on the Studsoc Brief) we should go public and say we're against it. We'll do a press conference or send out communiques to journalists covering the Parliamentary Commission. We represent over 5000 students who never saw or agreed to the SSMU Brief." PGSS, in conjunction with other graduate societies from Quebec univer sities has devised a separate brief to sub mit to the Commission. On the RAEU referendum issue, it was resolved at the PGSS meeting to endorse the "no" position on the issue. Concern was expressed over the association's level of consideration of the special needs of graduate students. Said Tanguay, "The organization is totally undergraduate oriented. It gives us nothing." Tanguay further questioned Studsoc's eagerness to join RAEU in light of their obvious discrepancies over the tuition fee issue. RAEU has declared itself against all increases. "W hy would SSMU, who had declared itself pro tuition fee increases, want to associate itself with an organization so strongly against it?" she asked. Tanguay charged that the RAEU representatives "behaved like clowns" at the Parliamentary Commission hear ings and were openly criticized by Education Minister Claude Ryan for not following through on their criticisms of inefficient university administrations. VP (Administration) Daron Westman added to the PGSS position. He believes Studsoc wants to join RAEU in order to put forward a stronger presentation of its demand for a revamping of the loans and bursaries system. Said Westman, "ANEQ is considered too radical and confrontational in its approach, and as a provincial organisation it is dominated by CEGEP students. Basically SSMU wants to join a large body that isn't ANEQ. However, there are no positive arguments for joining." McGill's Students' Society has been unaffiliated w ith any p ro vin cial organisation since it left ANEQ in 1983.