ee

VANCOUVER WORST IN CANADA

food in the safe!’’

cor
men

or the farmer.

world market price.

also

“Don’t worry about the money — I think we'd better put the

Profiteering on
our daily bread

While the furore about the world shortages of wheat and the -
subsequent upward pressures on prices has died down somewhat,
the price of bread to consumers in this country has not gone down
respondingly — despite Otto Lang’s glib assurances in Parlia-

tu;

Recently Lang established price ceilings on wheat destined for
the domestic market for the purpose — at least on the face of it —
of maintaining stable bread prices.

The results have been most gratifying: but not to the consumer

National Farmers Union president Roy Atkinson pointed out
that the federal wheat policy provides “a built-in opportunity for
price exploitation by millers and bakers.” :

At the same time, farmers have been losing anywhere upwards
of 60 cents as bushel on much of their wheat — the price ceiling on
wheat for the domestic market is that much below the prevailing

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in Regina
did some research into the bread price issue. It pointed out

— Morning Star (London)

that the actual cost incurred in producing a 20-ounce loaf of bread
amounted to roughly 17 cents including the price paid to the farmer
for his wheat. But the price tag on a 20 ounce loaf is somewhere in

the neighbourhood of 40 cents.

all — profiteering.

million.

The difference between the cost — 17 cents — and the price —
40 cents — goes, of course, to packaging, transportation and, above

Meanwhile, the farmer, who sends approximately ten percent,
of his wheat to the domestic market, loses hundreds of dollars. And
all at a time when the price to the farmer, after many lean years, is
favorable. Overall, it’s estimated that the government’s ceiling on
domestic wheat prices will cost Canadian wheat farmers some $40

And the consumer will have gained nothing.

In reaction to Lang’s point on the legislation that it would
assure stable prices to the farmer and to the consumer. Atkinson
commented that “‘it is typical of the kind of double talk and illogic
for which the minister has become increasingly notorious.

Housing crisis demands
speedy action by gov’t

By MAURICE RUSH

Housing costs across Canada and
in B.C. are racing ahead with the
speed of Secretariat, the famous
race horse. But action by federal
and provincial governments to
meet the crisis are moving at the
speed of a snail.

This fact emerges from the latest
figures on rising housing costs and
from the release of the details of
the federal government’s new
“‘Assisted Home-Ownership

. Program.”

The housing situation varies
acrossfCanada, but in all major
cities prices have risen con-
siderably, with the sharpest in-
crease in the past year since the

_mid-1960s.

The Vancouver Real Estate
Board reported last week that the
average cost of houses sold in Van-
couver under the multiple listing
service jumped to $39,400 in July
from $33,000 in January.

They point out that houses sold
under multiple listing are the lower
cost homes (more expensive
homes sell on exclusive listing),
therefore the figures should be
considered low. Most revealing
though, is the sharp rise in the
seven months period.

A sampling of figures released by
real estate boards across Canada
on the basis of multiple listing sales
reveals that in the first six months
of 1973 compared with the same
period last year, that Vancouver
showed the sharpest rise in housing
costs than any other city in Canada.

In that period Halifax showed an
average price increase of 1.7 per-
cent; Montreal, 3.1 percent; Ot-
tawa, 10 percent; Toronto, 23.6
percent; Winnipeg, 18.5 percent;
Edmonton, 10.2 percent; and Van-
couver, 28.9 percent.

The major reason given for rising -

prices has been the declining
number of available homes and
high interest rates.

This latest point confirms the
charge made in a recent pamphlet
_issued by the B.C. Provincial Coun-
cil of Carpenters, which showed
that half the total increase in hous-

ing costs since 1961 is due to higher
interest charges and only one-tenth
to higher wages.

The carpenters union gives the
example of the mortgage interest
rate on a $30,000 mortgage on a
$37,500 home. If the six percent in-
terest rate charged in 1958 applied
in 1973 monthly payments would
be $191.97. But since the rate of in-
terest is around 10 percent, the
monthly mortgage payment is now
over $268.

Singling out the main culprit in
the scandalous housing situation,
the carpenters union proves by
facts and figures that money
lenders take 51.8 percent of today’s
housing costs. This accounts for the
fabulous profits being reported by
every large real estate and invest-
ment company.

Not only are Canadians denied
the possibility of acquiring their
own home unless they are in the
upper income brackets. The hous-
ing crisis is also hitting apartment
-accommodation.

A rate of 3.4 percent vacancies is
considered average to enable
apartment seekers an opportunity
to find adequate dwellings. In Win-
nipeg the apartment vacancy rate
is 3.9 percent. But in Vancouver it
has dropped to less than one per-
cent, which gives apartment
owners a powerful lever to force up
rents.

And indeed, that is exactly what
they are doing. Landlords are
resorting to all kinds of devices to
squeeze tenants, who. are getting
very little support from the provin-
cial government in the form of
protective legislation.

In face of the aggravated housing
crisis in Canada, the new housing
policy of the federal government
announced recently looks pretty
anaemic. While it may help a tiny
‘number of people desperately
needing housing, it is not designed
to tackle the housing crisis in any
serious way.

The response to the first adver-

tisement published by the govern-
ment on its new Assisted Home-
ownership Program brought, ac-
cording to a spokesman for the
Vancouver Central Mortgage &
Housing Corporation, about 1,000
phone calls a day. This attests to
the urgent need for housing. —

However, the program is
wrapped up with so many restric-
tions, red tape, and limitations,
that it appears to be deliberately
designed to keep down the
applications to a minimum. CMHC
officials report that although there
has been about 1,000 calls a day, it
has boiled down to ‘a couple of
dozen applications being processed
now and two or three have already
been completed.”

Two of the most serious restric-
tions are: first, that the program
includes a National Housing Act
mortgage at 9% percent to be
reviewed after five years; second,
you can get assistance on buying a
house if you can find or build a
house in the range of $24,000 to
$33,000.

The 942 percent interest rate en-
sures that there will be a very large
monthly payment to cover interest,
principle and taxes. And secondly,
where does one these days find a
house to build or buy for around
$24,000?

The B.C. Provincial Council of
Carpenters in its recent pamphlet
put forward the most realistic and
practical plan for tackling the hous-
ing problem. It calls for mortgage
money to be made available at 6
percent; that the provincial
government use its enormous sur-
pluses to make such low interest
mortgages available, and press the
federal government to do likewise.

This measure, together with
their proposal that all provincial,
municipal and federal land be
taken off the market and made
available on a policy of leasing
land, not selling it, to keep land
costs down for housing.

The carpenter’s union points out
that if its proposals were acted
upon the monthly cost of owning a
home could be reduced by $125 a
month.

Unions urged

to back

prices rollback drive

The campaign to roll back prices
and curb profiteering was taken to
the B.C. Federation of Labor con-
vention this week by the
Vancouver-based Co-ordinating
Committee of Concerned
Organizations.

The committee was granted per-
mission by the labor federation to
have a table and distribute its
material to delegates. Featured at
the prices display was a_hard-
hitting leaflet dealing with the ris-
ing cost of living.

Entitled ‘The Dwindling Staff of
Life,’ the front page of the leaflet
gives two illustrations showing
what has happened to the price of
bread and milk. It shows that

~ whereas one dollar bought 13

loaves of bread in 1939 it now buys
2. and 1/3 loaves. In 1939 one dollar
bought 10 quarts of milk, now it

buy 2% quarts.

The leaflet points out that while
wages rose only 7.3 percent in 1973,
profits rose by 35.4 percent. It
states that food prices have jumped
23 percent to the highest point in 22
years, and gives the example of
B.C. Packers whose profits jumped
by 228 percent for the second
quarter of 1973 over 1972.

“The monopolies try to blame
labor and farmer. Food shortages
are held responsible, while the
government admits Canada
produces ten times as much food as
it needs. Prices jump even where
wages and the farmers returns
don’t. Between the farm gate and
the dinner plate food costs soar 270
to 300 percent.”

The leaflet says that only by a
concerted campaign by labor and
concerned organizations can the
public compel action to cut back
prices, halt profiteering-

TEENAGE

| MORTGAGE | OLDAGE

‘7 —

“THE THREE AGES OF MAN —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1973—-PAGE 3