‘Yes’ campaign underway
in 18 B-C. municipalities

Continued from page 1
Ment’s willingness to allow testing
Of the U.S. Cruise attack missile in
Northern Alberta.

Allevato also noted the referen-
dum parallels similar action in the
United States, where the over

‘million strong nuclear freeze
Movement has put the issue of
halting further weapons produc-

fon on nine state ballots in time for
the mid-term Congressional elec-
tons,

In its literature on the vote,

ational Dismantle has pointed
Out that the question is reaffirma-
Hon of atwo-decade old agreement

een the major world powers
that was accepted by the United
ations.

“It is important to note that you
ae not just voting for or against
Peace, but rather for a specific con-
Cept that was negotiated by the
U.S. and the USSR and accepted
by the United Nations in 1961,”
Said the organization in a leaflet for
Voters,

For Many activists, a key factor
Of the peace vote is that is shows an
acceptance by Canadians of the
Oncept of Canada as nuclear
Weapons-free zone. ‘Such a move
lmplies the withdrawal from the
NATO and Norad alliances, by
Which Canada is tied into the U.S.
‘Military machine. The removal of
Auclear weapons from Canadian
territory would constitute a signifi-
fant step towards world peace,”’
according to Allevato.
throughout. the. province, the
Vote is being promoted by commit-
'6es formed of the broadest cross-
Sections of the community. Church
8foups, labor, community
Organizations and political can-
didates provided financial backing
combined efforts, selling
er Stickers and ‘‘Vote YES”’
Uuttons and paying for newspapers

ads and spots on local radio sta-
tions.

So far the list of communities
confirmed as holding referendums
include Campbell River, Castlegar,
three electoral areas in the Central
Kootenay regional district,
Courtenay, Duncan, Kamloops,
Kitimat, Ladysmith, Nanaimo,
North Vancouver district, Oak
Bay, Port Alberni, Saanich, Sum-
merland, Terrace and Vancouver.

Voters will have the peace choice
in Richmond when the city holds
elections in the fall of 1983, duetoa
unanimous city council vote
despite pressure against it from the
provincial and federal govern-
ments.

Richmond alderman and the
mayor adopted the referendum last
summer after receiving a letter
from the external affairs depart-
ment which stated that the Cana-
dian government would not be
concerned with the results of such
plebiscites, and gave the opinion
that such a vote might be illegal.

Pressure has come also from
Vander Zalm, who as the
municipal affairs minister virtually
encouraged reactionaries who ob-
jected to the peace vote to take
councils and city staff to court for
alleged misuse of civic funds.

Vander Zalm’s tactics claimed
some victims, with councils in
Prince George and, most recently,
Coquitlam voting to rescind their
earlier strong votes for the peace
ballot. Other civic centres, such as
North Vancouver district and Port
Alberni, voted for the referendum...
but Jaid the onus for raising the
necessary funds on the local disar-
mament activists.

Ironically, it was mayor Jim
Tonn of Coquitlam who raised a
convincing argument for the peace
vote’s legality shortly before the
council rescinded its earlier deci-
sion. Tonn’s still valid point was

that the wording of the municipal
emergency program bylaw gave
councils the power over civil
defence planning.

A referendum to determine the
public attitude toward disarma-
ment could constitute defence.
planning, said the mayor in an opi-
nion that mirrored that of peace ac-
tivists, who have always argued
that the only defence against
nuclear war is world disarmament.

Civic candidates in many
municipalities have pegged their
campaigns to a ‘‘yes”’ vote on the
peace question. In Port Alberni,
long-time alderman George
McKnight has made peace ‘‘about
one-third of his platform,’’ said
school trustee Gary Swann, who is
the school board’s liaison to the
Alberni Valley Coalition for
Nuclear Disarmament.

NDP MLA Bob Skelly has
voiced his support for the cam-
paign, which also has a pledge for
the full $600 cost from the Port
Alberni labor council. The United
Native Nations has donated $100
towards the effort, while the
Lutheran Church gives its space
rent-free for meetings, according to
campaign organizer Morene Isaac.

Even with the full cost already
pledged, volunteers are out selling
bumper stickers and buttons han-
ding out literature from a table in
the local shopping mall and phon-
ing in to open line shows, she said.

‘‘We’ve found that people are
far more knowledgable about
disarmament than we thought they

* were — we feel there will be a very

strong yes vote,”’ said Isaac.
Courtenay city council voted
unanimously for the disarmament
referendum after receiving a letter
from Ottawa mayor Marion
Dewar, who had written all
municipalities with populations
over 2,000 urging them to adopt the

Ss

kG

Fo,

YES"

REFERENDUM POSTER . . . a vote for the future.

peace vote, said local activist Janet

Fairbanks.

The recently formed Nuclear
Responsibility Society has its ‘“Yes
Committee” working hard at pro-
ducing a leaflet and raising funds,
while two civic candidates — alder-
manic hopeful Phil Frost and

: mayoral contender Jim Dow — are
_including the peace question in

their campaings, said Fairbanks.

“We have people in our group
ranging from high school students
to old age pensioners, and from
several different political perspec-
tives,’’ said Rosemary Goodwin of
the nuclear disarmament group in
Terrace.

The decision to hold the peace
vote passed third and final reading
last week from a district council
that has been ‘‘very supportive’

‘and committed civic funding for

the referendum, she said.

The sentiment for peace activity
is high in Terrace, said Goodwin.
‘We had a booth at the Jaycees
trades fair. On two hours notice,

we had enough people to staff it for
two days.”’

In Vancouver, where all can-
didates from the Committee of

Progressive Electors push the peace ~

vote, the End the Arms Race Com-
mittee has two major activities
planned. ;

A “‘big blitz’’ is set for Saturday,
Nov. 13 when EAR’s “‘Yes’’ com-
mittee will take to the streets to
hand out literature urging a
Positive response to. the peace
plebiscite, said Griffiths of Opera-
tion Dismantle. Volunteers should
gather at EAR’s office in the Fair-
view Baptist Church at 1708 West
16th during the morning.

And on Sunday, three MPs
noted for their disarmament views
will speak at 7:30 p.m. at Tupper
High School. Paul McRae
(Liberal, Thunder Bay-Atikokan),
John Fraser (Vancouver South)
and Bob Ogle (NDP, Saskatoon
East) are one of several ‘‘teams of
three’? MPs visiting 20 Canadian
cities on a ‘‘bridge to
disarmament” tour.

——

By FRED WILSON

the politics of B.C.

80vernment.

Previous decision.

The clear and fundamental
Choice before Vancouver voters
On-Nov. 20 is new and historic in

The establishment forces of the
Non Partisan Association have
been opposed before, but this
time it faces a labor slate which
Not only represents a radical new ~
direction for Vancouver politics,
but. which is also a viable alter-
Native, ready and able to assume

__ The fact that the alternative is
the labor-based Committee of
gressive Electors and its allies

©n the unity slate of the Van-
Couver and District Labor Coun-
cil and that it could form a pro-
labor administration on city
Council, parks board and school
dard, has presented Vancouver
with a decision different from any

With just two weeks remaining

M the campaign, COPE’s cam-
committee has estimated

the possibility of majorities being
Elected to both city council and
Parks board, as well as retaining
the COPE majority on school
board. That prospect has struck a
Parangic nerve in the NPA camp

and motion behind the COPE
campaign.

As a result of that assessment,
COPE has decided to put its cam-
paign into overdrive by increasing
the size of its budget and mobiliz-
ing between 300 and 500 people
for a massive election day effort
to pull out the vote. :

The confidence building in the
COPE campaign is based on a
series of early successes, including
the rally of 500. at the Queen
Elizabeth Playhouse, and a tide
of support flowing into its
campaign offices on Commercial
Drive from all over the city.

The unknown factor is the
disposition of the about 25 per-
cent of the vote taken by TEAM
in 1980, but COPE workers
report substantial support in the
former TEAM strongholds of
Vancouver South, Kitsilano and
Point Grey.

COPE is betting that the
strongest pole of attraction for
the swing vote is the unity slate of
the Vancouver and District Labor
Council which unites COPE with
mayor Harcourt and his three in-
dependent aldermanic can-
didates. The VDLC slate has
become a dominant factor in the
campaign, proving again an old

Hint of majority ignites

argument that unity is a magnet
which attracts more than just the
sum of the groups which come
together.

The labor council compaign
has taken concrete form in
175,000 poll cards, 35,000 of
which have been reserved for elec-
tion day. Municipal employees
and teachers, recognizing that

‘their jobs and security are at
stake, have made major com-
mitments to mobilize votes for the
unity slate. Building Trades,
fishermen, bakers and other sec-
tions of the labor movement have
also kicked in with funds and
campaign workers.

The bottom line is that the left
needs two additional seats on
both council and parks board to
form majorities. For council, all
incumbents are in the field, but
the NPA’s Nathan Divinsky,
Warnett Kennedy and Don
Bellamy can be beaten, and NPA
defector Helen Boyce could also
be in trouble running as an in-
dependent. If they are to be
beaten the front runners are
COPE’s Libby Davies, Carmela
Allevato and Sol Jackson. Carole
Walker, running on Harcourt’s
slate, is a long shot, but she may
benefit from a shift to the left.

COPE campaign

The unity slate is itself an ad-
vantage with a clean slate for pro-
gressive voters, while the right will
divide among 18 serious alder-
manic candidates for 10 seats on
council. In addition to the 10
NPA candidates, there are two
TEAM candidates, Helen Boyce,
and five aldermanic candidates of
David Ingram’s tax revolt group,
TRAC. The TRAC group is
cause for consternation in the
NPA which has appealed to its
supporters not to “‘split your
precious votes.”’

There are two vacant spots on
parks board, with COPE’s Libby
Davies running for council and
the NPA’s Russ Fraser retiring.
In addition, both chairman Doug
Mowat and NPA commissioner
Alan Bennett are vulnerable, and
COPE’s Jim Quail, Joe Arnaud,
Tim Louis and Connie Fogal are
all good chances to join Pat
Wilson on the board.

Harcourt’s own position, while
difficult to assess, is helped most
by the internal divisions in the
NPA slate. The NPA mayoralty
candidate Jonathon Baker has
miscalculated public support for
the provincial restraint program
and taken it to extreme lengths,
calling for slashes of up to 50 per-

cent in the budgets of city depart-
ments. His extremist remarks
have forced the NPA’s leading
alderman George Puil to
repudiate him publicly.
Foolishly, Baker responded by
questioning Puil’s credentials as
an NPA’er.

The NPA campaign can’t be
shrugged off lightly. It is clearly
flush with funds and determined
not to be organizationally
outclassed as it was in 1980. It ap-
pears that the NPA has failed to
overcome its basic problems: its
tired, establishment group image,
and its right wing policies of
slashing services and supporting
megaprojects at a time when there
is a growing public consensus that
cutbacks and layoffs must stop.

There is hardly anyone who
wouldn’t predict an increase in
COPE’s vote. At question is
merely how large the increase will
be.

At COPE headquarters, the
current concern is to ensure that
its estimation of possible major
gains is understood by its sup-
porters and workers. If the
message gets out, the additional
campaign funds needed and the
volunteer workers for election
day will roll in.

and gen r
; generated a wave of energy

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 5, 1982—Page 3