MOVIL Uc

W ith all the counting and re-counting still going on

from the October 30 elections, Canada remains
pretty much in a kindergarten ‘‘eenie-meenie-miney-mo”’ state
of uncertainty, as to whether it will be a Tweedledee, Tweedle-

dum of Theedledam that willrule-the-roostfor the next period.

of time, or a hybrid combination of all three.

Whatever it turns out to be, it won’t last long. Rest assured
on that. Ali the soluable, and insoluable problems that obtained
before, during and after those elections, are still with us, and
they just don’t go away by ‘“‘talking’’ about them or trying to
forget them. The cost of living goes up, unemployment goes
up, inflation goes up. In fact if anyone can tell us about any-
thing that doesn’t go up or down, other than those things
affected by the laws of gravity, we will send them a one year
subscription to the Pacific Tribune absolutely free.

‘‘Prime Minister’ M. Trudeau, with the political fortunes of
the Liberal Party uppermost in mind says “‘I will form a
government. . .”.

Tory leader Stanfield, with all the warmth of a friendly
undertaker, without even a majority of one and with Tory
Party fortunes in mind, says, ‘‘I am ready to form a govern-
ment oa

NDP Lewis says, ‘‘there will be no deals but’. . . the
NDP will do what is best for Canada, providing of course that
““best’’ is also the best for the NDP. Much like saying what is
good for MacMillan-Bloedel is ‘‘good”’ for B.C.

There you have it, the current roundelay, in which partisan
fortunes take precedence over peoples’ needs, only don’t make
the mistake of saying it out loud nor too direct.

In this speculation pro and con of who or what the next
‘“new’’ government may consist of or do, there is a wide-
spread clatter going the rounds that ‘‘the people have always
got most benefits from a minority government’’. Whether that
was ever so is open to argument and doubt. It’s a damn
certainty they got little or nothing from a top-heavy partisan
administration, Tory or Liberal. Generally the people gotitin
the neck, while corporate monopoly got itinmaximum profits
and partisan pay-off swag. :

This ‘‘minority’’ theorum of ‘‘betterment”’ is very largely
just another illusion. Anything worthwhile that the Canadian
people have squeezed out of ‘‘majority’’ or ‘‘minority”’
administrations, Tory or Liberal serving monopoly capital,
they had to struggle long and hard for it, and once winning it
often saw it whittled away piecemeal, as they are now experi-
encing with numerous social legislation, unemployment
insurance being one shining example.

A horde of office bureaucrats, not to assist, but to make
sure that a man without a job doesn’t get unemployment
insurance. . . if they can help it. Which was preferable in the
great depression of the 30’s; a Liberal ‘‘not a five-cent piece
fortnemployment’’, or a Tory’s promise to ‘‘cure unemploy-
ment in 30-days’’ by slave camps and slave wages. The
difference now is only one of degree!

As we have said, all the issues remain, to germinate and
grow; unemployment, the lack of homes, health needs which
barely scratch the surface, social security (whatever that is
under capitalism?), inflation, with its projected wage and
price freezes, which provides for a deep freeze for the former,
plus a nice soft thaw for the latter because that touches on
corporate profits, and since we must never discourage ‘‘free
enterprise’’, prices must ever and always retain the status of
a ‘‘sacred cow’.

A great philosopher once said that “History repeats itself,
once as a tragedy, next as a farce... .”’ The “‘farce”’ in
Canadian politics has been repeated many times, that of
terminating six-months or a year of ‘‘minority’’ government
with a land-slide sweep for one or the other old-line party
majorities, as though that would, could or will change
anything. . . other than fasten the corporate leeches tighter on
the body politic of the people.

Why not try a fundamental change for once — like
Socialism?

Burnaby teachers take stand

Betty Griffin, President of the
1,150-member Burnaby Teachers
Association commended Educa-

tion Minister Dailly Wednes-
day for her proposed legislation
for provincial financing of
basic capital costs of education.
“We look forward to more
moves in this direction,’’ she
said, and emphasized that “‘full
federal and provincial funding
of education is absolutely
essential.”

Mrs. Griffin also expressed
concern over education cost
increases— in the case of com-
munity colleges, 18% times in

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1972—PAGE 2

the last twelve years — and
stated that she hoped the new
government would ‘‘shift the
tax burden away from the
individual taxpayer where ithas
become intolerable. During the
last seven years the individual
tax burden has increased over
600%,’ she noted, ‘‘while
corporations have increased
200% and natural resources only
50%.”

‘‘We hope that the Education
Minister, in suggesting legis-
lation to provide provincial
funding will consider the need
for a shift in the tax base.”

Taxpayers forced to subsidize

developers of Block 42-52 }

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

Vancouver taxpayers .are
being compelled to pay con-
tinually increasing subsidies to
the developers of Block 42-52
(the Fairview Corporation con-
trolled by Eaton’s, the Toronto-
Dominion Bank and the Bronf-
man interests) due to the shame-
ful give-away agreement City
Council signed with that corpora-
tion in 1966.

One of the latest examples is
the parking lot under Block 52
which City Council agreed to
operate for the developers. The
parking lot is showing a
deficit of $32,000 a month instead
instead of the $13,000 a month
profit it was supposed to show.

The city’s Board of Adminis-
tration estimates that the loss
will be $600,000 by the time
Eaton’s opens its new store on
February 7, 1973. And if the
store doesn’t open then, the loss
will be all the greater.

The second example concerns
B.C. Telephone and the buying
of Block 42 by the developers
from the city.

B.C. Tel was supposed to build
a tower 500 ft. high on Block 42.
For that it requires air space
rights. But Fairview Corpora-
tion can’t sell the air space
rights to B.C. Tel because it
doesn’t possess them — they

-weren’t covered in the terms of

the agreement. The developers

must now first secure the con-

sent of the City of Vancouver.
When the city proposed to the

developers

developers that they should exer-
cise their option to buy Block 42
on February 1, 1973, as per the
agreement, (and they would
then have air space rights), the
turned the city
down, even though Block 42 will
cost the city $10.5 million and the
city has agreed to sell it to them
for $7 million.

The reason the developers
aren't interested in buying
Block 42 at this time is simple,
and they were quite frank about
it. They're much better off
paying a low rent in the form of
low interest on the $7 million
than they would be if they went
out and borrowed $7 million in
the market place on which they
would have to pay higher inter-
est.

On top of that they have noth-
ing to lose by renting because

when they eventually do buy, -
the rent will be credited as part

payment! So they'll now wait
until Feb. 1st 1982 and see what
things are like then. As you can
see they have the best of all pos-
sible worlds. They can’t lose no
matter what they do or when
they do it!

In the meantime, of course,
we'll continue to subsidize
‘them — through losses on the
parking lot, and through the low
rents charged for Block 42.

This is the type of agreement
that this Council has signed, one
after the other, with big devel-
opers. They will be a chain
around the necks of taxpayers
for many years to come.

“BUT THIS IS HOUSING FoR

THE PooR...1F THEY AREN'T
Poor NOW THEY WIU- BE
WHEN THEY HAVE BOUGHT
A House...”

Rights of civic
campaign workers

The PT has received a num-
ber of enquiries from civic elec-
tion workers as to what their
rights are in entering apart-
ment blocks to distribute
literature or canvass tenants.
Following is Section 47 of the
Landlord and Tenant Act
amended April 3, 1970:

‘‘No landlord, his servant, or
agent shall impose any special
restrictions on access to the
rented premises by candidates,
or their authorized repre-
sentatives, for election to the
House of Commons, the Legis-
lative Assembly, any office ina
municipal government or a
school board for the purpose of
canvassing or _ distributing
election material.”

The Act provides that any per-
son who contravenes this
section is guilty of an offence
and on summary conviction is
liable to a fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars.

Have you renewed: your PT sub
yet?

ERNIE KNOTT is running for

school board seat in Milnes Lan

ing in Sooke District 62, near Vie

toria. J eee

‘Upgrade transit’

The Citizens’ Co-ordinating
Committee for Public Trans!!
and the Amalgamated Transl!
Union (Bus Drivers) are jointly
sponsoring a petition addresse
to B.C. Hydro calling for the
upgrading of the present
system. ; :

The petition is for all residen's-
in the Greater Vancouvel
Regional District and is being
circulated this week. Text of the -
petition reads: C

“To Board of Directors, B-™:
Hydro: As the first steps in te”
establishment of a Greater Van
couver Regional District raP!
transit system, we the under
signed of the district urge yous
to: 1

e Establish now a number o
major —_ inter-municipal
routes.

e Purchase immediately
least 100 modern transit buses:

e Increase the frequency % :
bus service by at least
percent to the 1956 level. :

e Reintroduce the dow?
towner pass in Vancouver. k

e Finance a system of pa
and ride stations througho?
the district.” ae

“We expect to get 10,000 sign?
tures,”’ said CCCPT chairm”
Bruce Yorke this week.

at

‘There appears to be By
tation on the part of pub
authorities to act, hence

gentle prodfromthe citizenshe

become a_ necessity,” °°
Yorke. a

BANQUET

In Honour of the Ambassador of the U.S.S.R.
BORIS P. MIROSHNICHENKO
: Sunday, November 26th, 1972
DOGWOOD — B.C. PAVILION — P.N.E. GROUNDS
Cocktails: 5 P.M. — Dinner 6 P.M. — Admission $5.00

Ticket at Co-Op Bookstore, 341 West Pender St.
Auspices: Canada-U.S.S.R. Friendship Society P

‘

EE

e« Xmas gifts

e Books

MINI—BAZAAR:
and TEA

Sunday, December 3, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
3365 Victoria Dr.
e Homecooking, Honey, etc.

e. Children’s Toys

e White Elephant

ae es gee ag ea