VANCOUVER that is the voice of your concerns. of your paper. The Trib: 50 years observi From its inception, the Pacific Tribune has been an invaluable tool in the building of labor and people’s movements. In 1934, the Proletarian Publishing Association was formed which launched a financial campaign for a paper which would report the true needs and desires of the working class (at that time the B.C. Workers’ News). The main means of raising funds in 1934 was not that much different than today — through the sale of certificates of various denominations amongst working people across the province. (Today we sell contest tickets — at $2.00 each). The inscription on the certificate set out the aims of the soon-to-be launched paper. It read: “In the struggle for better working conditions and the defeat of capitalism, I hereby subscribe to the Proletarian Publishing Association the sum of $________ as the first step towards building a worker’s paper for B.C. that will fight for the betterment of the conditions of the working class and for its final aim — the abolition of capitalism.” The money came from the grass roots of the people in B.C. From the unemployed, restaurant workers, loggers, miners, longshoremen and fishermen. . To this day the means of keeping the workers press alive is much the same. Donations come from you — the working class — who see your interests and needs represented in the pages of theTribune. Now, as in 1934-35 the successful completion of our drive for $100,000 will keep the Tribune publishing in 1985-86. In this special MAY DAY edition of the Tribune — we mark the 99th anniversary of the International Workers’ Holiday and the 50th anniversary of the Tribune — we ask that once again, you “dig deep” and donate to the paper This year’s drive (which represents $2,000 for each of the Tribune’s 50 years) is the largest target ever and if achieved will be a wonderful tribute to the builders of our press and to our future. : Today’s edition of the Tribune is the biggest and most colourful edition ever produced — we seek your continued support for the growth and development GREATER VANCOUVER Amount Quota Raised Bill Bennett 800 88 Burnaby 6,000 1,290 Coquitlam 2,700 1,348 Kingsway 7,500 1,385 New West. 2,500 1,445 Nigel Morgan 2,200 --- Niilo Makela 700 512 North Van. 3,000 1,407 Olgin 700 400 Richmond 1,600 85. Seamen 500 948 Van. East 11,000 5,902 Van. Fishermen 800 --- West Side 4,900 832 FRASER VALLEY Chilliwack 350 --- Delta 750 202 Langley 700 320 Maple Ridge 2,800 - 120 Surrey 5,000 1,154 White Rock 1,600 45 KAMLOOPS-SHUSWAP Kamloops 1,000 162 Shuswap ° 800 --- ng May Day we OKANAGAN Penticton 600 28 Vernon 1,500 48 N. COAST/INTERIOR Correspondence 2,500 350 Creston 400 250 Fernie 250 --- Powell River 600 201 Prince George 150 --- Sunshine Coast 800 220 Terrace 100 --- Trail/Castlegar 900 90 VANCOUVER ISLAND Campbell River 2,000 441 Comox Valley 1,500 42 Nanaimo 2,900 1,380 North Island - 400 14 Port Alberni 1,600 267 Victoria 3,200 1,389 Miscellaneous 2,690 Total Achieved to Date: 25,056 Blame province for the rise in city taxes Some political newspaper columnists make honest factual mistakes, and correct _ them. A few are occasionally just too lazy to do the needed research and get their facts and conclusions all screwed up. Then there are those who have the facts and distort them to serve their own narrow partisan interests. Mike Tytherleigh’s column in the Pro- vince Apr. 19 headed “Taxpayers merely reaping fruits of voting day” is a good example. | Tytherleigh isn’t stupid; he’s malicious. He makes the statements, for example, that taxpayers who live on the west side of the city are facing a whopping tax increase because they elected “Harry Rankin and his buddies.” The facts, which are known to all reporters and to Tytherleigh, are as follows: @ Property assessments on the west side of the city are up about 10 per cent this year, May Day Greetings to all our friends in the labor movement Surrey Alternative Movement fighting for progressive municipal government 596-1355 while property assessments on the east side of the city are down. According to the assessment authority, the reason for this is that property values in the west side of the city have gone up while on the east side they have gone down. Despite what Tytherleigh says, “Rankin and his buddies” are not responsible for changes in property values in the city. @ The assessments are made by an assessment authority appointed by the pro- vincial government — Tytherleigh’s buddies — which operates under rules and regula- tions established by the government. It decides whether property values have gone up or down and assesses properties accord-. ingly. Vancouver city council has nothing to do with the assessment authority or with changes in the assessed value of properties, and neither do “Harry Rankin and his bud- dies.” For Tytherleigh to say that “Rankin and his buddies” are responsible for “whopping tax-increases” faced by west side taxpayers, is therefore an outright lie. The assessment authority provides the city with a list of all of their Vancouver C.R.A.B. Create a Real Available Beach e foralarge eastside working class waterfront park with community facilities. Phone: 684-7978. Harry Rankin assessments. These are totalled up, and city council then divides the total assessments by its operating budget and then comes up with the mill rate for the year. That is the only function the city has in the whole taxation procedure. The city’s budget was up this year, com- pared to 1984. That was inevitable. It was up because (a) the cost of goods and services paid for by the city has increased, (b) the city is being compelled to take over essential services that are being cut down or cut off entirely by the provincial government (by Tytherleigh’s buddies), and (c) citizens voted two years ago to pay for the building of a new Cambie Street bridge, a cost that should have rightly been borne by the pro- vincial government which demanded a new bridge for Expo 86. Council was faced with three options. It could raise taxes. It could cut its budget by cutting back on services and laying off city employees. The third option was to find other sour- ces to cover the increased costs of the oper- ating budget. This is the course.that the Committee of Progressive Electors and the labor-backed majority took. We transferred $2 million from the 1984 budget surplus, we transferred another $4 million from our U.S. exchange reserve, and we transferred still another $7 million from the interest earned on the city’s property endowment fund in 1984. NPA and TEAM aldermen fought this tooth and nail, but the labor-backed majority prevailed. As a result there will be no tax increase for the average homeowner in Vancouver this year. There will be no cutbacks in servi- ces and there will be no layoffs of city employees. The responsiblity for any tax increase for west side homeowners should be placed where it belongs — on the assessment ‘authority and the government which appointed it and laid down the rules — on Tytherleigh’s buddies. DERA extends our best wishes on May Day to all our friends and supporters DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION 9 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1M9 Phone: 682-0931 MAY DAY GREETINGS for peace, jobs and socialism Greater Vancouver Regional Committee ees Communist Party of Canada MAY DAY GREETINGS — in solidarity with Vancouver’s working people, for peace, jobs and a better city for everyone. 2066 Parker Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 2L5 254-4180 3 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 1, 1985 es ee ee ee Na same tH