on

TCR Dieta tg cD

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Tenants’ unity urged
to counter Socred bill

Pointing to a host of regulations that will
put tenant rights back decades, B.C.’s tenant
activists have marked the Solidarity Coali-
tion’s tenant rights week with a series of
regional information and organizing efforts.

Meetings in Langley, Richmond and two
areas of Vancouver last week drew renters
Out for discussions on the unwarranted evic-
tions and unconscionable rent hikes that
have already begun with the introduction of
the proposed new Residential Tenancy Act.
_ Organizers of the meetings, held follow-
Ing the distribution of thousands of leaflets
I several communities by the B.C. Tenants
Rights Coalition, collected dozens of names
Of those keen on forming area tenants’
groups, coalition chairman Jim Quail said.

In the few months since the introduction
of the new act, along with 26 other bills ac-
Companying the Socred government’s
budget July 7, large-scale apartment owners
have moved to take advantage of the new
Tegulations already enacted by order-in-
Council, even before the act has been passed.
_ The actions taken by landlords have been
in part monetary. The tenants rights’ coali-
tion has already noted hikes at one Van-
Couver apartment of 49 per cent, while NDP
‘MLA and municipal afairs critic Robin
Blenco has cited a 62 per cent hike elsewhere.

The new round of rent increases have hit
tenants who are among the poorest
Tesidents. Due to the Socreds’ removal of the
last of rent controls July 7, those in dwellings
that were limited to eight percent hikes yearly
hie those now targeted for astronomical rent

es.

For example, in the Vancouver case
tenants who had been paying an average of
$350 monthly for a suite have seen their rent
Skyrocket to more than $500.

Landlords have moved in other ways as
well, emboldened by the removal of provi-
Slons regarding evictions. Greenbriar
Holdings, which owns nine apartment
buildings in B.C., was recently the subject of
tenants’ demonstration following the public
disclosure of a memo the company had sent
to its building managers.

Tenant leaders have charged that the
Memo virtually instructed managers to
ngage in rank discrimination, to further

eenbriar’s plans to ‘‘attract and hold a

er class of tenant,’’ as the memo stated.

It instructed building managers to favor
enquiries from prospective tenants who are

Teésponsible working people, executives,
Newlyweds” and so on, over those from
Greenbriar’s traditional tenants — welfare
and Unemployment Insurance recipients.

“Hereafter, this tenancy class, plus
anyone who has recently moved to Van-

8nd to the sponsoring organization,

Some 400 people assembled in Vancouver's Commodore
Centres across Canada Saturday in marches and rallies d
to choose safe, legal abortions. The rally,

innipeg abortion clinic and Morgentaler’s wife,
free-standing obortion clinics and the removal of

Code, i 2,000 to the Morgentaler Cli ‘
"ied ae the Concerned Citizens for Choice on Abor-

couver, will have to pay us a security deposit:
one-half month’s rent plus another one-half
month’s furniture deposit,’’ the memo
stated. Under the current and new acts fur-
niture deposits can be charged only if the te-
nant requests a furnished suite.

The note ended with a cryptic comment
that really caught tenant leaders’ eyes.
Managers were advised that ‘‘there is
another class of tenancy that we have decid-
ed to ‘totally eliminate’ — we shall personal-
ly discuss this sensitive matter with you. Be
accordingly cautioned and advised.”’

While one can only speculate on what this
other ‘“‘class of tenancy’? may constitute,
tenants coalition chairman Quail told a
Mount Pleasant gathering Thursday that the
removal from the Rentalsman’s Office of
powers to adjudicate disputes over evictions,
and the new act’s regulations allowing
landlords to evict without cause, will force
tenants who are victims of discrimination —
for racial, sexual or any other grounds — to
fight a costly court battle to seek compensa-
tion.

Apartment and house dwellers aren’t the
only class of tenant to be hard hit by the
Socreds’ new measures. Quail noted at a
meeting of some 150 mobile homeowners
Sept. 27 that particular hardships because of
the high cost of relocating dwellings that
‘“‘aren’t that mobile’ face the homeowners.

Also appearing on the rental scene — an
inevitable consequence of such legislation,
tenant leaders say — is the Tenants Listing
Service, a company based in Mission that
has been shut down only because it lacked
the necessary licence.

The company, which owner Harold
Hagreen claims has a list of 4,000
“‘undesirable’’ tenants for sale to landlords,
can open its doors as soon as it meets a few
requirements under the Credit Reporting
Act.

“The provincial government has given a
clear signal that it’s open season on tenants,
having set an atmosphere for the destruction
of tenants’ and human rights,” said Quail.

“And that’s all the more reason why
tenants across the province should organize
and send their own message to Victoria —
that they won’t tolerate the abolition of te-
nant protection in this province,” he said.

Quail noted that active tenant organiza-
tions already operate in Port Alberni and
Victoria, ‘‘and in Courtenay, they’re very in-
terested in forming one.’’ Local Lower
Mainland tenants groups are in the planning
stages, and the coalition is strongly consider-
ing a speaking tour of Vancouver Island
communities in the next weeks, said Quail.

ballroom joined others in
emanding women’s right
which followed a march from the Queen

Elizabeth Plaza, heard Lynn Crocker, the head nurse at Dr. Henry Morgentaler’s

Carmen Wernii, call for legalized
abortion from Canada’s criminal
nics Legal Defence Fund

TRIBUNE PHOTO—DAN KEETON

: anton WEITER
ap IN CORTURTER ©
Roe yy OF VANCOUVER IS.

ays CORES:

AN OVER
aen'S BAN AREER
ER

Residents show large mockup of application for Downtown Eastside beach at rs-

cent public picnic.

Waterfront park needed

Don Larson, Create a Real Available
Beach committee, writes: CRAB —
_ Create a Real Available Beach committee
— is trying to get a waterfront park for
the citizens of the Downtown Eastside.
Most of these people live in tiny,
cockroach-ridden rooms in an area of
Vancouver that has the lowest number of
parks, and no access to the waterfront
whatsoever.

We are working for a 10-acre walk-to,
ground-level, water-access park to be in-
cluded in the upcoming Port of Van-
couver master plan.

It is noteworthy that Seattle hasn’t
forgotten the need for decent parks in the
quest to modernize their harbor. The
17-acre Elliot Park graces their central
waterfront district. And, it must be
noted, there have been plans for a central
waterfront park in Vancouver since 1952,

Rail service

John Cooper, chairman, E & N Steer-
ing Committee, writes: Once again, the
Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway is
threatened with extinction. Canadian
Pacific Rail has filed an application with
the Canadian Transport Commission re-
questing CP be allowed to drop the
dayliner passenger service on Vancouver
Island.

The E & N Steering Committee
believes this is but one step in a continuing
campaign by CP Rail to abandon the en-
tire line, passenger and freight service
together. The railway has already applied
to cut out the Lake Cowichan section.

Sept. 30 is the 95th anniversary of the
first scheduled train on the E & N
Railway, a vital transportation link which
was decisive in British Columbia’s join-
ing Confederation a century ago.

Unless this is to be the last ““E & N
Day,”’ individuals, groups and organiza-
tions on the Island must rally once again
to save the E & N. Public opinion saved
the dayliner in 1978, and will again, if

Question for Socred backers

Barbara Templeman, Vancouver,
writes: I’d like to throw out a challenge to
all those who totally approve of the
Socreds’ present repressive package of
bills.

Would you, who are clapping Big
Brother Bill on the back because he cut a
much-needed $50 a month for the 2,500
mentally and/or physically disabled peo-
ple from their pitifully inadequate
government grant of an average $530, be
willing to accept a proportionate cut of
$500 to $1,000 or more a month from
your own secure salaries, with the assured

TRIBUNE PHOTO—DAN K

on the same site as that proposed by
CRAB, at the foot of Columbia Street.

CRAB recognizes the primary indust-
rial nature of Vancouver’s port, and is
definitely not against the jobs the port
development can create. Weask only that
a green oasis of sanity and relaxation,
which Downtown Eastsiders as well as
the local workers can use, be available
between the industry to the east and the
office towers of the west. :

CRAB has forwarded reports on the
need for and type of park for the area, to
city council and the port authority. The
master plan is due for release Oct. 11. We
ask that the people of Vancouver closely
watch this event, and: tell the port
authorities they support the park by
phoning 666-3841, or writing the Direc-
tors of the Port of Vancouver. Corpora-
tion, at 2760—200 Granville St., V6C
1S4.

threatened

enough British Columbians demonstrate
their support.

Write the Minister of Transport, Hon.
Lloyd Axworthy, House of Commons,
Ottawa, KIA O0A6. No postage
necessary.

Appear at the hearings: Courtenay,
Oct. 4, Canadian Legion Hall, 367 Cliff
Ave.; Nanaimo, Oct. 6, city hall, 455
Wallace St.; Victoria, Oct. 11, city hall,
One Centennial Square.

Prepare a brief and present it at the
hearings. No advance notice is required
to speak. Or start a petition to present to
the CTC.

Urge your local council or regional
district board to support continued
dayliner service.

With the planned sale of the provincial
government-owned Pacific Coach Lines,
the threatened extinction of the E & N
dayliner service makes passenger service
on the Island an extremely endangered
species. Supporters of the E & N should

speak up now.

cost-of-living increases, annual increases,
and so on?

I very much doubt it. In fact, I think
the back-clapping would abruptly cease,
and be replaced by some very louc com-
plaining, if such was applied to you.

And you, Mr. Bennett — why aren’t
you setting a good example and applying
some restrictive measures to yourself,
and to all those who can well afford to
give up some of their many, many
benefits?

I’d like an answer, please!

tion,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— OCTOBER 5, 1983—Page 3