Canadian Nationalism and the TWUA
Scope and Content Note: The TWUA has been having Canadian Conferences for at least 28 years. When the wave of nationalism swept Canada and the separatist movement swept Quebec, it was decided to constitutionalize the Canadian Conferences and to permit Canadians to elect their director. [This was accomplished at the 1974 convention.] Much of the nationalist sentiment in unions was led by Communists. The Communists who had been ousted from the UTW retained a few locals and for years had attempted to raid both the TWUA and the UTW. These and other Communist unionists took advantage of the nationalist sentiment. The Steel Workers lost many members in British Columbia. The Paper Workers finally held an election in which the Canadian members voted to form a separate union. The situation in TWUA never got that critical. Watson had long favored the election of the Canadian director; and, with the nationalist movement, the Union finally went in that direction. The selection of a director was still subject to the President's approval. While some Canadians thought this was unnecessary, Watson felt there would not have been any problems even if the Union had not gone to this system of electing the Canadian director.