Misery in the land of abundance

In the region of the Saguenay

Last January 15th, we were at Arvida (on the Saguenay River). The "white berets" who were at work, going from door to door, reported to us: In the whole region only one out of four fathers of families works. The rest are unemployed". This report was the result of their visits along certain streets in Kenogami, Jonquière, Arvida, Chicoutimi, North Chicoutimi and Bagotville.

Here are some detailed facts gathered from a visit to the country district of Carrières, North Chicoutimi, last year. And the situation is considerably worse this year.

In this particular section there were 21 shanties. They were inhabited by farmers. Three of the families worked at Arvida. The others were unemployed the greater part of the time. And only a few benefit from unemployment insurance. They live off the family allowance cheques and from the odd scrap of work which they can pick up here and there. And such work is getting scarcer and scarcer. To keep themselves warm, they are obliged to go out and look for wood, sometimes having to travel as far as four miles to get enough. They are obliged to beg it from farmers in the surrounding district. They bring it home in sleds drawn by dogs or by men. It is impossible to conceive of the cold in these wretched sheds. There is no foundation, no inner walls. The ice forms on the door. No running water, no inside toilet.

In one family, the little boy, Michel, aged 9, has to go and draw the water some five hundred feet from the dwelling. I saw the poor lad, frozen. He was obliged to stop every few feet to rest. The cold and the weight of the buckets almost brought him down. The poor lad is frail and weak from undernourishment! A living reproach to a criminally stupid system of finance which holds sway in that land of abundance, Canada. That a child should be brought to such conditions is a significant testimony of the heartlessness of men!

Gerard Mercier, writing of what he saw there, says:

In this same district of Carrières, I saw an invalid who could not use his hands. He lives with his brother-in-law who has been ill since he experienced a serious fire. When the invalid asked the government to allot him his pension, the answer was: Wait till you're twenty-one.

Those who are tenants pay $20.00 rent. Those who are proprietors pay $45.00, $50.00 and even $100.00 in taxes. And these amounts for houses (?) which measure 18 by 18 feet, one story only, no foundation.

Those who may be sceptical can go and see for themselves the country district of des Carrières, North Chicoutimi. And this, mind you, is not in the poverty-stricken province of New Brunswick. This misery exists in the province of Quebec, the province of Jean Lesage, the "taxer", in the constituency of Antonio Talbot, former minister in the National Union government, erstwhile henchman of the late Duplessis.

In Montréal

It is a far cry from the almost primitive district of des Carrières to the great metropolis of Montreal. And yet what like misery we find in the heart of this thriving city. To pass through the narrow streets of the older part of the city is to have no idea of what goes on behind the walls. Entire streets of penniless families! "I went into one house", relates Hervé Provencher, "and I met the man of the house with a twenty-five cent piece in his hand. He was going out to buy a gallon of fuel oil. The stove had been out for two days".

At a cost of considerable pain and misery he had gotten this twenty-five cents in an attempt to bring a little warmth into his house. But how long would a gallon of fuel oil last in a stove during the cold Montreal winter. And how expensive gallon by gallon! And the winter is far from over.

In Montreal, insecurity lies over families like a nightmare. They have rents of $85 and $100 a month to pay. The father, the breadwinner of the family has been thrown into the ranks of the unemployed. His unemployment insurance might bring him $30 a week. A mere pittance! Many a comfortable looking house might cause you to think of the happy contented families dwelling behind those walls. You are wrong in many cases. For if you were to enter you would find only a miasma of fear and worry, the lack of proper food, the lack of sufficient heat.

But go into the slums. Poor families here will pay $40 rent for three rooms in a basement, a hovel, fit only for the rats, a veritable fire trap for those living there. Here is one family in which there are eleven children. There is no bread, no milk. Other families have been broken up by want; children placed here, there and wherever there could be found individuals charitable enough to help look after them. And what heartache is occasioned by these separations. There is little happiness for these disinherited of the earth. And yet the poor are our brethren. They have hearts and sensibilities just as we have.

Along the north shore

The full-time workers of the Union of Electors, have been working along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, as far as Port Cartier. Irenée Brun and Bertrand Caouette report as follows:

There seems to be no limits to the misery we find here at Chute-aux-Outardes. Everyone is hard hit. There are heavy payments to be made on houses. Everyone is in debt to the finance companies for all they have. They are snowed under by hospital bills. Many heads of families are unemployed and their taxes continue to mount. At Shelter Bay some two thousand workers have been turned out of work. Many families receive no unemployment insurance benefits. We have met people who spent fifty and a hundred dollars in an attempt to find employment. No luck! And those who do find work are really plucked by the big companies. There are thus many families which have no revenue, no employment, no unemployment insurance. At Seven Islands, the big company there is laying off men everyday. Families are packed tight in their lodgings. In every house there are roomers and boarders who help pay the rent for these slums $125 to $175 a month in many cases. The cost of living is very high. Husband and wife are obliged to work. Those who are lucky enough to have the chance, run after money for all they are worth. And rarely do they have the occasion to see the color of this money, so quickly must they pay it over to the financiers. The remainder are unemployed. At Hâvre St-Pierre there is great misery and want. Money is scarce. The people there are buried in all sorts of debts. They don't know which way to turn. The population at Port-Cartier is completely fed-up; no roads, no running water, no electricity. The sick who are poor have no medical assistance. The hospitals are for the rich.

This is the story all along the north shore. And addition, the population there is afflicted with all sorts of rackets devised to pry the last few pennies out the people's pockets. The unions, for example, charge $14 just for entry into the organization. A young man will work, then will be let out so another can be brought in. That makes another $14. The people are up in arms over the manner in which immigrants are given preference for jobs. Many of them have been so infuriated that they have turned to Communism, or are ready to do so.

Matane, Témiscouata, Sorel

From St. Thomas Cherbourg in the county of Matane, the following report reaches us:

"In visiting from door to door taking subscriptions, I met a family whose father was in prison for a term of three months because he killed deer out of season. He killed these deer so that he could feed his family and help the hungry poor. Two other fathers of families have just come out of prison for the same offence. Poor men! No work, and not a cent to their names! We have met many who, in complete despair, have given up their land and gone to live in the city, cursing the regime which has brought them so much hardship".

From D'Escourt, county of Temiscouata: "Unemployment is widespread. Everyone round about here is upset. The farmers are leaving their fields to go and work in the timber yards. Others spend the Autumn working in the potato fields in the States. But the money they work so hard to earn is soon taken from them through taxes".

From Sorel, Urbain Lajeunesse, writes:

"The policies of unemployment insurance are certainly lamentable, to say the least. We might almost say that this department of the government exists to create difficulties instead of to help us. Not long ago, a man who had tried many times to get something from this particular haven of bureaucrats, finally decided to take the bull by the horns and find some sort of relief from his misery. So he broke 16 windows. The police arrived. He told them that he and his family were actually starving for food. Instead of giving him something to eat they carted him off to an insane asylum".

Ontario, Alberta and British Colombia

Here is a section of a letter which came to us from Welland, near Niagara in Ontario:

"Every week, men and women are laid off after having had work for only a few months. All the mothers in the region are obliged to go out and work. This is considered normal if one is to make ends meet. The other day a man said to me: "I had been out of work for a year. The job I have, I've held for three months. Yesterday I paid $300 in taxes; this afternoon they told me that tomorrow would be my last day of work." How many others are in this same sorry situation. That is why so many people are buying lottery tickets in the hope of being able to settle all their financial problems in one coup. Monster bingo games are held here every week. Everyone is hoping to hit the jackpot. And finally the financier fleeces the bunch!"

From Falher, Alberta: Oliva Aubin has, for the fourth time, lost an excellent crop. Other times, Mr. Aubin had insurance on his crops. This insurance cost him $240 a year. But he was unable to keep up such payments. For three years now he has been unable to pay his municipal taxes. And the interest goes right on mounting up. He fears he will have to go into bankruptcy. He has ten children. He started farming in 1913 a homesteader coming from Quebec. In Alberta, the cost of farm machinery can drive you into the poorhouse. Taxes are criminal in Alberta!

Vancouver, B.C.: Albert Gendreau who left his native Quebec for this province (with high hopes) has now extended his exile to a still further land; he has departed for Australia. Here are a few words he wrote us before leaving: "I have been out of work for four months. When I was thrown out of my job my boss had gone bankrupt to the tune of $200,000. He built houses which he could not sell, 75% of builders meet the same fate. In the heavy concrete construction business things are very slow. Everything is mechanized. A contract worth a million and a half employs only 22 mechanics. So I have decided to go to Australia where I hope to find work for three or four years. In my opinion, Canada is face to face with the greatest disaster in its history. On all sides we meet people begging. Even parishes cannot meet their interest payments. Three-quarters of the houses are for sale and so it goes on".

What are we to do?

The examples given above are only a few drops in the ocean of misery and insecurity into which our families have been plunged.

And Canada is one of the richest of the rich countries in the world! Has there ever existed a similar situation? Canada is ever so rich while Canadians are poor!

The simple fact is that the system of finance is wholly at fault. Goods are there in abundance. But money is rationed. That is why there is but one solution to the whole sorry mess; that is the issuance of a dividend of $25 a month to each and every citizen, issued by the Bank of Canada, without taxes.

It is vitally urgent that this social dividend be set on foot without any further delay. If not, then the fate which we dread the most will overtake this fair land. Socialism will come upon it; creeping Socialism is already making inroads into the very vitals of the country. And if Socialism comes, can communism with its true and naked dictatorship, be far behind? If the dividend is not forthcoming in the immediate future, it will not be long before Canada will become a member of the prisoner nations which lie behind the Iron or Bamboo Curtains.

Make war on misery through the dividend, and Communism will die in the bud!