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~“! have only one real hero: Hitler” — News item quoting Nguyen Cao Ky.

‘Extend civic democracy,
reduce municipal taxes’

Municipal leaders lost no time
in making clear they are far
“from sold® on the Provincial
government’s proposal for amal-
Samation of Lower Mainland
Municipal services under a Reg-
ional District,

Municipal representatives to
be invited to a May conference
include Vancouver, West Van-
couver, North Vancouver City
and District, Burnaby, New West-
minster, Coquitlam, Port Coquit-
lam, Port Moody, Fraser Mills,
Pitt Meadows, Surrey and Delta,

Services involved in dis-
cussions will be hospitals, parks,
cultural facilities, police and
Sarbage disposal, Such Joint
Service Boards are seen as a
Possible forerunner to a full-
fledged metro organization,

“Municipal reorganization can
Only be judged by the way it
facilitates the extension of muni-
Cipal democracy and the trans-
fer of financial responsibility for
Services to the people, from our
homes to the big industrial and
commercial interests,” was the
comment of Nigel Morgan, pro-
Vincial leader of the Communist
Party to the Tribune,

“Larger municipal units for
administrative efficiency and
economy are inevitable, but the
Communist Party will oppose
with all its energy any and all
proposals that would create a
buffer between the local andpro-
vincial levels of government,
making it more difficult to obtain
tax reform and relief,

«Amalgamation for efficiency
certainly, but no special purpose
bodies with power to levy taxes
that are not elected on the prin-
ciple of direct representation,

®The main obstacle to muni-

.cipal democracy and urgently-

needed developments and tax re-
lief for our homes, are the
monopolies and selfish corpor-
ate interests, which place super-
profits before the welfc re ol the
people,” Morgan charged,

«The main burden of providing
for growing and costly urbaniza-
tion, is being forced onto homes
and small business, rather than
taxation based on ability to pay,”
he said,

« Any satisfactory plan of mun-
icipal reorganization has got to
start from that point, Municipal

The following letter unani-
mously endorsed by the Ross-
land-Trail NDP Constituency
Association, and addressed to
NDP national leader, T.C,
Douglas, M,P, (Burnaby-Co-
quitlam), speaks for itself,

Copies of the letter to Mr..
Douglas were also forwarded
by the NDP Constituency As-
Sociation to H, W, Herridge,
M,.P, (Kootenay West), Robert
Strachan, MLA (Cowichan-
Newcastle), International
Union, Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers, United Steelworkers

of America and the B,C, Fed-
eration of Labour,

At the annual meeting of the
Rossland-Trail NDP Constitu-
ency Association held in Trail
today, (Feb, 6) it was unani-
Mously resolved that a letter
be sent to you protesting in
the most vigourous terms the
Projected raid by the NDP af-

Kootenay NDP
appeals to Douglas

filiate the United Steel Work-
ers of America against the
Mine Mill Union in the Koot-

enays.

This protest is made on the
principle that we deplore any
division of the working people
which can only end in victory
for the bosses, and we further
point out the suicidal conse-
quences of this action politi-
cally,

It will be remembered that
the CCF failed to become the
government of British Colum-
bia by one seat, i.e. Rossland-
Trail in 1951. At that time
both Steel and the CCF were
rejected,

We urge you most sincerely
to use your good offices to
prevent this cannibalism, It
is not yet too late to save the
NDP in Rossland- Trail.

Yours sincerely,

Betty Donaldson,
Secretary.

governments need to be stream-
lined; but municipal democracy
has got to be safeguarded: and
strengthened, tax reliefon homes
has got to be provided, and the
independence and autonomy of
municipal government elevated
by the provincial government,
making available to them sources
of revenue that correspond with
their growing responsibilities,”
Morgan concluded,

LABOR ROUNDUP:

IWA getting ready
to place demands

With the B,C, forest industry
again piling up a record profit
intake for 1965, and the big oper-
ators expecting to do even better
in 1966, IWA localsarenowham-
mering out wage and fringe bene-
fit demands for this year’s wage
negotiations,

Despite a high ratio of lumber
orders, low stock piles and stead-
ily rising lumber prices, lumber
bosses are already getting into
high gear with their tear-jerking
‘hard luck’ propaganda in an
attempt to head off any wage in-
creases,

“These people,” says The
Barker, organ of IWA Local
1-217, “have never parted with a
penny for wage increases andim-
proved working conditions unless
it was forced out of them, This
year will be no exception . ..
profits of the forest industry have
been too high for many years, and
the employees producing this
wealth have never received their
fair share, . .*?

Reports from numerous IWA
locals preparing for the union’s
wage and contract conference,
scheduled for February 25-26,
would indicate that.a 50-cent-an-
hour wage hike in a one year

contract, plus additional vaca-
tion, sick, and other fringe bene-
fits will be the target set for
negotiations,

* OK OK

Mine- Mill Local 1036 at Wern-
er Lake, Ont, is voting on a
new two-year wage agreement,
Under the terms gained labor
rates will be increased by a
straight 50-cents an hour, while
tradesmen in the operation will
receive an 84-cent-an-hour wage
hike,

At this end of the country,
according to reports coming into
the PT, rank-and-file members
of the Steelworkers Union are
voicing strong opposition against
their leaders’ raiding of Mine-
Mill union jurisdiction, and
against similar raiding activities
on CLC affiliates,

* *

The Canadian Area of the In-
ternational Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU)
at its B,C, convention, now in
session, has forwarded a wire
to CLC President Claude Jodoin,
protesting Steel’s publicized
planned raiding of Mine-Mill,

ILWU President A.H, Barker
stated, “We deplore this kind of
publicity because we deplore any
raids on anybody or any union,”

Poor old taxpayer suffers
while taunts and barbs fly

By WM. E. STEWART
In anticipation of a big boost
in homeowner taxes this year
the provincial government and
Vancouver City Councilare busily
engaged in accusing eachother of
responsibility for the crime,

A different approach to book-
keeping leads Atty.-Gen, Bonner
and Mayor Rathie to a difference
of opinion, amounting to $100
million, on how much B,C, con-
tributes to the city.

An examination of the charges
and counter charges flying back
and forth between Victoria and
Vancouver leads one to the con-
clusion that both are right,

Bonner’s charge that Vancou-
ver City Council is responsible
for much of the mess it finds
itself in is substantiated by the
facts, :

Vancouver’s growth is being
checked by the C,P,R, This failure
of the heart of the city to grow
lies behind much of the revenue
crisis, City Council steadfastly
refused to come to grips with
this C,P,R, octopus which strad-
dles our port and parkland and
instead fritters around with big
speculators of the Webb and
Knapp variety with no regard for
the long term interests of the city,

Council refuses to levy an ap-
propriate business tax which
could bring an additional $5 mil-
lion to the city coffers, It took
the initiative to have the Muni-
cipal Charter. amended so that
municipalities can not apply the
general purpose mill rate against
machinery—thus saving its in-
dustrial backers millions of dol-
lars and passing this load onto

_ the homeowners,

Its assessment policy favours
business, real-estate and all rev-
enue producing property and
comes down heavier and heavier
against the non-revenue produc-
ing home,

Rathie’s charge that the prov-
ince does not accept a fair share
of city costs is even more legiti-
mate,

In this modern age of automa-
tion and space exploration educa-
tion costs are expanding rapidly
as the need for higher education
becomes more and more evident,

This year alone a modest,
though not nearly sufficient, ex-
pansion of school facilities plus
necessary upgrading of teachers
salaries will require an 11 per-
cent increase in the school budget,

Increased hospital costs, wel-
fare measures and other social
services which have no relation-
ship to property will have to be
picked up by the city and applied
to the general purpose mill rate,

Ukr. Cultural Centre
805 E. Pender St.
Vancouver, B.C.

You are cordially invited to attend a

TESTIMONIAL BANQUET

in Honor of Tom McEwen
(on the occasion of his 75th Birthday)

Saturday, February 12, 1966—6:30 p.m. |

Tickets at:
PT office , Coop Book Store and 502 Ford Bidg.

Seating capacity is limited; please reserve early

fener) | 126o PASE

So while the provincial gov-
ernment continues to argue about
who is paying it is quite clear
to the taxpayer in Vancouver
.that he is paying out while the
partners in crime try to deceive
him as to which shell the pea is
under,

Instead of caustic comments
from Bonner the legislative ses-
sion should immediaiely agree
to pay the full capital cost of
school and hospital construction
in B.C, and 80 percent of the
operating costs of schools,

Such action would be in keeping
with the responsibility of the
provincial government and con-
sistent with its tax powers,

The city for its part must be
compelled to carry through the
measures indicated earlier,

To achieve these aims will
require the utmost unity and
action between ratepayers, the
labor movement and all demo-
cratic minded sections of the
community,

$2.00 per person
Entertainment
Refreshments