File 2023-006/003(03) - Auto Pact

File consists of meeting minutes, notes and newspaper articles regarding the Auto Pact agreement between Canada and the United States of America (US). It includes copies of Jim Laxter’s articles for the Last Post titled ‘Lament for an Industry’ and ‘Canada’s resources: the piecemeal surrender,’ which talk about the decline of manufacturing in Canada and the dangers posed by the agreements like the Auto Pact to the Canadian automobile manufacturing industry, amongst other resources being traded or sold to the US. It also includes Prepas’ drafts of speeches on topics such as foreign ownership of Canadian companies, the need for Canada to be an ‘independent nation,’ the history of the automobile manufacturing industry in Canada, women in the workforce, unemployment, and the 1972 Canadian Federal Election and her notes on United States President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Canada. It also includes a draft and printed copy of Mel Watkin’s profile on the history of the Waffle Movement’s development within the New Democratic Party (NDP) and Jim Laxter’s candidacy for leadership of the NDP. File also includes Prepas’ drafted table of the percentages of workers working for Canadian domestic, partly-American, American and foreign firms and brief notes on the Vietnam War.