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Background to B.C. transit crisis

WE SAY: NO FARE HIKE!

=, TRIBUNE
iI Neer 7

CP nat’! organizer
to visit B.C. soon

NELSON CLARKE

Nelson Clarke, national
organizer of the Communist
Party of Canada, will arrive
in B,C, shortly to lead anum-
ber of discussions in which
most of the provincial mem-
bership will participate,

Clarke will travelto areas
in the Lower Mainland, Van-
couver Island and the interi-
or, The discussions he will
lead will be a continuation
of the debate opened up at
the party’s national conven-
tion last March,

In addition to the new 3-
point program for Canada
adopted by the convention,
the growth of the party, its
press and the YCL will all
be discussed,

Bank of B.C. could be
good for the province

By EGBERT

There is no mystery about the
Opposition of the Senate commit-
tee to Premier Bennett’s plan
for a Bank of B.C, They argue
about the dangers of political in-
fluence . This is a stock argu-
ment against public ownership
in any field, More cogent is the
fact that as good Liberals. and
Conservatives, they speak for
definite groups of capitalists who
are not anxious to share their

control over capital with Bennett
or anyone else,

For generations, the enormous.

financial power of the banks—
the power to concentrate the say-
ings of the people and use them
for the benefit of those few, has
been tightly held by a small group
of Bay Street andSt, James Street
tycoons who make up the direc-
torates of the chartered banks,

With three new bank charters
in the works, there would appear
to be diversification of control,
which would be all to the good,
but we should not be misled by
the label “western” which al]
three proposed banks have
adopted, :

The Laurentide Bank, on the
surface the creature of two en-
terprising young Vancouverites,
is in fact controlled by Power

- Corporation of Canada, the East-

ern owners of the late B,C, Elec-
tric, Similarly, the Bank of
Western Canada, organized by J,
E, Coyne, has located its head
office in Winnipeg, but its control

is held by three Toronto financial
houses, The word “Western”
would seem to designate the vic-
tim, not the beneficiary, of its
operations,

One can sympathize, therefore,
with Bennett’s public position
that the provincial government
should hold the reins to prevent
the B.C, Bank from coming un-
der Eastern domination, Indeed,
why shouldn’t the government
participate in a bank? This is a
device that a People’s govern-
ment could find exceptionally

helpful in financing public enter-
prise,

It is possible that the close-
mouthed premier is speaking for
local financial groups, who want
to be free of dependence on East-

ern capital, If so, the net effect -

could be helpful to the develop-
ment of our province,

Bennett, however, is a devious
rogue, During his term of office,
he has at various times spon-
sored the schemes of Henry. J,
Kaiser, the Bank of America
crowd, and Axel Wenner-gren,
among others, And his man Bon-
ner is an unblushing advocate of
total capitulation to the U.S, It
would not therefore be out of
character for Bennett to use the
catchy slogan of a B.C, Bank as
a means of strengthening foreign

control over the sources of B.C,
capital,

oles and
On June 15 B. C. Hydro applied for a bus fare increase in the Greater Vente Hi
Victoria areas and touched off a battle between the provincial governmen
municipalities which had been simmering since the B.C. Electric takeover.

In the subsequent political
cross-fire between the munici-
palities and Victoria the issues
have become blurred andit would
seem useful to set them straight,

This is what lies behind the
B.C, Hydro application and the
sharp conflict with the munici-
palities:

When the provincial govern-
ment took over the B.C, Electric
in 1961 it acquired the money
losing transit system as well
as the profit producing electric
system , The transit system is
Operated under the terms of
franchise agreements between
_the various municipalities and
the B,C, Hydro (except in the
case of Burnaby),

These agreements stipulate
that the B.C, Hydro (as succes-
sor to the B,C, Electric) will
Provide adequate transit service
within the municipalities subject
to the terms of the agreements,
In the case of Vancouver the city
received payments of $293,000
annually from the Hydro for this
franchise,

These franchises were for 20
years and in Vancouver expire
in 1966, Victoria 1967, and the
last to expire is New Westmin-
ster in 1969, It is estimated
that the system lost $3 million
in 1963, Approximately $24 mil-
lion of that was lost in the
Greater Vancouver area and the
balance in Victoria,

In addition to that, the system
is quite inadequate and most of
the vehicles will require re-
placement within the next five
years,

For -these and other reasons,
Premier Bennett wants to dump
the transit system on the muni-
Cipalities, He offered them the
assets of the system, which are
valued at around $25 million,
for $1,

®
The municipalities, already
beset by spiralling taxes and
limited sources of revenue from
which to meet increasing muni-

cipal costs, are almost in panic.

at the prospect of having the

CITY IN DISTRESS? # the proposed bus fare increa
into effect, it will turn Vancouver (above) and Vic

transit deficit heaped on their
shoulders,

Thus underlying the battle be-
ing waged between the munici-
palities and the provincial
government is the desire of both
parties to be clear of any re-
sponsibility for urban transit, In
this struggle Bennett holds most
of the cards as he has demon-
strated by the way he has rigged
the Public Utilities Commission
(P.U.C,) hearings,

Transit and electric distribu-
tion were previously considered
as two parts of a single opera-
tion, and when the B.C, Electric
applied for a fare increase it
was obliged to show tothe P,U,C,
that it was not receiving a fair
rate of return on the combined
operation,

Just prior to the application
of the B,C, Hydro for this latest
rate. increase the provincial
cabinet passed Order in Council
No. 1692 separating electrical
from transit revenue insofar as
the terms of reference of P.U.C,
hearing for this increase are
concerned,

@

The municipalities, or any
other interested party, have their
hands tied behind their backs in
such a hearing because it is ab-
surd in advance to assume that
modern urban transit system
rates or service should be based
on profit,

Thus the municipalities, and
other interested parties have
condemned the hearings and
labelled them as window dress-
ing for Bennett, It would be
wrong however to assume that
the municipalities can be counted
on to adequately represent the
overall interests of the people
of B,C, in this battle,

Mayor Rathie has made it
abundantly clear on many occa-
Sions that he is not necessarily
Opposed to an increase in fares,

His interest, and that of other:

municipalities in this matter is
to get all the mileage they can,
through the utilization of the
popular opposition to a fare in-
crease, to back Bennett away
from his stated intention to dump

August 21, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBU

se comes a nightmare of freeways, parkades and bum
toria into traffic, says the article above.

: e
the transit operation on be
municipalities at the end of
current franchises, ‘

What is important for the lab
and people’s movements is Ye
Bennett’s arrogant gambit ,
forced the municipalities to uni ;
against the suicidal transit P° ‘
cies of the provincial eon
ment and in the course of thé
battle to put forward ce?
policies which sections of
labor movement, in particl
the Communist Party, have be
advocating for years,

e
Thus there is a wide desl

ns
of unity around three propositi®

‘which have been the base

labor’s transit program:

(1) That transit needs must b
regarded from the point of i
of the overall interests of at
community, not the narrow P!°
and loss accounts of the systé™

(2) That if transit is to”
operated and subsidized by
municipalities, it should be
of a utility district through Wr
the profits from the sale of ele
tricity offset the losses on trans

: e

(3) That a full study of a
transit needs of urban B. 3 is
long overdue and such a stl! a
the responsibility of the ey is
cial government. And, until rat
carried through, the present :
structure should not be alte?

G be

These demands need t0 i
pushed much more vigorously at
all democratic organizations i
this time, However, the core
the present movement rem
the opposition to any increas®
fares,

part

e

With all due respect to a
of the proposals being adi
by the municipalities, it fer
said in conclusion that thes och
of NO FARE HIKE is the bears
of this struggle and it rea
the task of the labor move™ Es
ratepayers, PTA’s, old a8@ 4p
sioners’ organizations and vide
zens’ committees to Bee
enough steam behind this a ne
to prevent a saw-off bettas a
municipalities and the pro op!
government in which the Pr ig
will be left with the shoF
of the stick,

or]
ported

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