BRITISH COLUMBIA I listened to NDP leader Dave Bar- rett’s speech in October, (in reply to Premier Bennett’s address the previous evening). It seemed to me to be more of a eulogy to our parliamentary system than a reply to Bennett’s weaseling remarks about restraint. I should also add that I appreciate the long fight that Barrett and his NDP colleagues put up against Bennett’s legislation (although I think the NDP made a serious tactical error when they decided to disregard Solidarity’s stand against all the legisla- tion and decided to select only what they called ‘“‘the dirty dozen’’ for attack. I also think that the way the Socred hacks had Barrett physically thrown out of the legislature was a damn shame:) But hav- ing said all that, I must say that I don’t share Barrett’s love and veneration of our parliamentary system in this pro- vince. In fact I think it’s bloody awful and an insult to democracy. Let’s just look at what’s happening with our legislature. e The legislature is not truly representative of the voting strength of the two parties. The Socred’s got 49 per cent of the vote but they have 61 per cent of the seats. The NDP which won 45 per cent of the vote but only 39 per cent of | the seats. Obviously that is not right. Had we a system of proportional representation (where a party gets seats according to the number of votes it gets) we wouldn’t have this kind of a situa- tion. ¢ The government was elected on the basis of one program and after its elec- }_ tion proceeded to introduce a complete- ly different type of program, in fact one that in many respects was just the op- posite of what it promised. That is political dishonesty and political decep- tion. No party should be allowed to get away with that. In my view every party should be obliged to put forward a plat- form that clearly states its position on all major isues facing voters in the election. © No government should be allowed to introduce or ram through any major piece of legislation without first submit- ting it to adequate public scrutiny by all citizens and all citizen groups. This must include the right of all citizens to appear Harry Rankin before the legislature to present their views. And the opposition must have all the time necessary to debate any and all legislature, without opposition members being thrown out of the legislature. © No legislation should be tolerated which provides general directions only and then leaves it to deputy ministers to draft and implement regulations which are the real guts of the legislation. Yet that is exactly what is happening now with all kinds of legislation. What this does is to place the powers of govern- ment in the hands of appointed deputy ministers, of bureaucrats, who then proceed to run the province according to the needs of the special corporate in- System ‘insult to democracy’ terest groups that have their ears. The ministers, who are elected by the voters, are absolved of all responsibility. This violates the whole central concept of democracy which is that those who are elected must carry out the will of the people and be held responsible for everything the government and legislature do. e The government today has the right to perpetuate itself endlessly through redistribution of electoral ridings. That is just what the Social Credit government tried to do before this election; this is what it more than’ likely will do before the next election comes up. Some other way must be found to deal with the problems of elec- toral boundary changes. No govern- ment should have the divine right of kings to perpetuate endlessly its rule. I don’t know the answer to all of these questions or even to most of them but I think we have to begin looking at them to try and find some answers if we want democracy to survive in this pro- vince. The crisis that we have is not only an economic crisis, it is a crisis of our whole provincial parliamentary system. And just as we need a completely new economic policy in the province that will get us out of the recession (one that tackles fundamental questions such as public ownership of our resources and the building of secondary industry and public works programs and housing programs to provide jobs) so we need a program of fundamental parliamentary reform of our provincial legislature. That is the only way we can make our democracy meaningful. be rae uct, gage ERAS rm gE one ed PEOPLE AND ISSUES ga am at ah Sc i eo me rene OF Bist Baitish Columbia over the past two weeks has been shaped bya picket line. Unprecedented numbers of people have been directly involved in the public sector strike, or in support ac- tion — or will be in the days to come. honking, drivers waving in support, and all the other small gestures of support it must be a startling to come home and read in the papers that all of the public is against them. : There is nothing like a strike, of course, to reinforce all of | agencies inbaginesce gay i cca nN Ap NaI ‘a mass protest against a government and the pro-corporate policies it has enacted. The class lines are drawn and the language of commercial journalism has changed accordingly. |. Thus the Vancouver Sun writes, for example, that the strike has ‘‘crippled the school system”’, knowing full well the | negative impression the word “‘cripple”’ will leave, even if it is an inaccurate term for the situation. The Province writes that “Parents face chaos”; columns are filled with And then there is the Sun’s Majorie Nichols a usually lucid _ | writer, who evidently has drawn a line down the middle of her : Roget’s Thesaurus and is working on all the words on the its brand of terrorism” or of being a “secret unelected seine force . . . attempting anarchy.” And the leaders of the B.C. Teachers Federation are said to be The only positive note is reserved for the Social Credit legislature should be honored and who railed at those | reporters who did not cross. By respecting the picket line, she told them sternly, they were abandoning freedom of the press. It is asmall irony that at the same time all of this is going on, the corporate executives of newspaper giants Southam and Thomsom are in court in Ontario also insisting on their right to freedom of the press — in this case, the ‘‘freedom’’ of the For all of those people, — who have seen cars driving by , corporate director to shut down a newspaper at will. All of which merely goes to emphasize that when it comes to the commercial media ‘‘freedom of the press”’ and ‘‘objec- tive journalism”’ are terms that are easily bent to the needs of corporate publishers. * *k x e have a note from Vancouver’s Co-op Radio that the listener-supported station is placing special emphasis on its membership drive this year. Increased funding is needed since the station expanded its labor and fightback coverage with a new daily program, ‘‘The Rational,” through which the views of components of Opera- tion Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition are being aired. Since the Solidarity effort is getting somewhat less than fair hearing through the big-business dominsted media these days, the new program will offer Solidarity members the chance to communicate the necessity of the fightback against the Socred budget and bills in their own words. And the sta- tion is not about to receive donations from corporations to further this aim. The station, which through expanded facilities can now be picked up on Vancouver Island and 50 communities as far north as Prince George, kicks off this year’s membership drive Nov. 20, to run to Dec. 18. They hope to get 1,000 new and returning memberships, at a cost of $25 for first-timers, and $23 for renewing members. Donations, which are tax-deductable, should be made out to The Community Radio Education Society and sent to 337 Carrall St., Vancouver, V6B 234. Further information is available by phoning 684-8494. * * % 0%. report last week on Vancouver’s most right-wing alderman, Warnett Kennedy, and his attempt to scuttle the sister-city relationship the city has with Odessa in the Soviet Union, showed what an ignominious end his effort ‘ met. Council’s cold warrior suffered the ultimate humilia- _ tion, when his motion died without a seconder. But we also reported, erroneously as it turns out, that fellow Non-Partisan Association Ald. George Puil, himself no stranger to right-wing sentiment, was absent, and therefore not available to second | Kennedy’ ‘Ss motion. In fact, Puil was present for the debate, and refused, as did NPA Ald. Don Bellamy, to respond to Kennedy’s pointed en- treaties for a seconder. We only wish that all such cold-war efforts meet sucha fate — one which they richly deserve. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 16, 1983—Page 2 North Van pact seen as model | for exemptions A benchmark agreement on teachers’ seniority which | was scuttled last week following intervention by the pro-- vincial education ministry has now been approved follow- | ing a special meeting of the local school board Sunday. ° The agreement, between North Vancouver School Board District 44 and the North Vancouver Teachers’ | Association was hammered out during a marathon bargaining session Nov. 7 — hours before teachers and other education sector workers were set to join the | escalating walkouts — in a bid to negotiate an exemption from Bill 3 that could serve as a model for other teachers’ » associations around the province. It had been ratified by the teachers but was shelved by 2 the board when Deputy Education Minister Jim Carter in- tervened. The ministry’s action was an indication that | government was prepared to precipitate the escalating walkout by teachers in the hopé that education sector strikes would falter. The solidarity of the teachers strike clearly caught the. government by surprise, prompting Education Minister | Jack Heinrich to deny that the ministry’s intervention had | triggered the walkout. He also insisted that boards were autonomous, leaving the way open for North Vancouver to go ahead with its agreement. Trustees did just that on Sunday, voting to endorse its | provisions and to seek approval from Compensation — Stabilization Program Commissioner Ed Peck for an xe emption from Bill 3. Peck approved the agreement and the exemption re- quest later the same day. As with all agreements written in the shadow of the Public Sector Restraint Act, it does provide for reduction of the total number of teachers for ‘‘bona fide educational - or budgetary reasons.”’ But the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by the | Tribune, states that those teachers ‘‘to be retained on the - teaching staff of the district shall be those who have the greatest seniority, provided they possess the necessary qualifications for the positions available.’ Seniority is based on length of service with the school board, including past time and temporary work. The qualification provision is standard in teachers’ con-— tracts and is based on teaching certification as well as the - training and experience required for any given teaching position. Thus a social studies teacher with two years’ seniority would be laid off before a social studies teacher with ten — years’ service with the board. But an art teacher with only one years’ service might not be laid off is he is the only teacher with the necessary training and experience to teach art. — ; Where disputes arise over qualifications, the agreement © provides for establishment of a joint board-association — qualifications committee to which they can be referred for | a binding decision. The agreement also provides for a ‘‘re-engagement”’ of recall list of laid-off teachers. Subject to the normal qualifications provisions, teachers must be hired from the | list in order of seniority. ; They can remain on the list for up to three years during which time they can retain all medical and other benefits b paying premiums. They are allowed one job refusal befo: they are removed from the list. Should they opt for severance pay when they are lal 7 ‘off, however, they will be paid five per cent of salary f each year of service up to a maximum of two years’ salary although by taking that option they waive their right to on the recall list. The board is required under the agreement to gi teachers 60 days notice of termination with that termina tion to become effective at the end of any school term ( January or June). B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Larry Kue welcomed the North Vancouver agreement as well another similar agreement, in Coquitlam, reached Saturday. Both can be used as a pattern, he said, fo negotiating exemptions for teachers from Bill 3. However, certain provisions in the North Vancouvs agreement make it a better model, he said. Tribune moving Nov. 25 On Friday, Nov. 25, the Tribune will pick up everything and move one km east to new and bigger premises at 2681 East Hastings. The office, formerly occupied by the Canadian Area of the ILWU, is abo Globe Tours. The phone number will remain the same — 251-1186.