The latest skirmish in the battle for a
ward system has left Vancouver mayor
Gordon Campbell in dismay and defeat.

To recap briefly: the mayor and his
NPA majority had proposed a “Socred
acceptable” Vancouver Charter amend-
ment which would allow for a ward sys-
tem in Vancouver if 60 per cent of the
voters approved and if the plebiscite
included the number of wards, boundaries
and the number of representatives per
ward. The amendment was originally con-
ceived by Vander Zalm when he was
municipal affairs minister.

In a display of political opportunism,
Campbell wanted to rush in and hold a
plebiscite in January, 1988.

On July 28, we introduced a motion at
city council that recommended a ward
plebiscite in conjunction with the 1988
civic election. Here’s why:

@ Off-election year plebiscites tradi-
tionally have low voter turnout — 15-20
per cent compared to 50 per cent during a
general election. After the NPA has
insisted that 60 per cent of voters must
approve a ward plebiscite, to allow a small

minority of voters to decide would make a
farce of the process;

© A speedy plebiscite would pose severe
limits on a ward boundary commission
and curtail proper public discussion;

@ The new plebiscite will not just ask if
voters favour wards (we know the public
does). It must define precisely the boun-
daries, the number of wards and represen-

” tatives. Given the 60 per cent requirement

for approval, it is essential that voters be
aware and informed of the questions being
posed in the plebiscite;

Bruce Eriksen

@ An off-year plebiscite would cost
$330,000. After all the pious “restraint and
cutback” sentiments expressed by the
NPA, Ald. George Puil couldn’t swallow
that unnecessary expenditure;

@ Finally, the plebiscite is important. It
deserves proper preparation and the grea-
test voter involvement that is possible dur-
ing the civic election process.

Campbell could hardly believe it when
four of his NPA associates left him in a
lurch and helped defeat his bid for a Janu-
ary plebiscite. Instead, a majority of coun-

4

cil members approved a plebiscite for
November, 1988, as the logical and proper
way to go.

What next? Clearly the most important
issue will be to ensure that an impartial
ward commission conducts extensive
community hearings to determine fair and
representative wards. COPE favours a 12-
ward system and the minimum number
needed to satisfy the recognition of real.
communities.

We will advocate wards and boundaries
that are:

© Readily identifiable by name;

© Contain a commonality of interests
and socio-economic backgrounds;

@ Do not divide communities.

COPE and its many community acti-
vists have a lot of work to do in the coming
months to ensure that the process of arriv-
ing at a plebiscite is open and democratic.

We have won a victory in getting the
November, 1988 plebiscite. Now we will
have to concentrate on working with the
public to get the best possible boundaries
and wards.

~

Points from Chinese report clarified

aspects of his theoretical and practical
work in later years which proved harmful
to the building of socialism in China. That,
in a nutshell, is the assessment of Mao’s
leadership by the Chinese Communist
Party.

Maurice Rush, B.C. provincial leader,
Communist Party, Vancouver, writes: In
the news report of my speech to a report-
back meeting on China (“How socialism is
changing: USSR, China”, Tribune July
22, 1987), your reporter did some editor-
ializing in the opening paragraphs, creat-
ing some wrong statements which I felt
should be corrected.

Your reporter wrote that the “period
from the mid-Fifties until Mao’s death in
1976 is now characterized as a “catas-
trophe’ by China’s current leaders.

Since the news report covered my
speech to the meeting, the implication
might be drawn by your readers that I had
made that statement which was not the
case. What’s worse, the statement is not
correct. It is important to keep the record
straight and to clanfy what the present
leadership of the Communist Party of
China considers to be the main lesson of
Mao’s leadership.

The Chinese Communist -Party’s cen-
tral committee adopted an extensive reso-
lution in June, 1981, assessing Mao’s
leadership. As it. was explained to the
Canadian Communist Party delegation,
the Chinese leaders consider that Mao was
mainly responsible for two serious “‘left-
ist” mistakes which set back the party’s
work of building socialism in China. One
of these was the “Great Leap Forward”
and the other was the “Cultural Revolu-
tion” which the Chinese comrades charac-
terized as a “catastrophe” for China.

Nevertheless, the current Chinese party
leaders differentiate between the contribu-
tions Mao made in his earlier years in
applying Marxism to Chinese conditions
and the mistakes he made in his later
years. They declare that their aim is to
build socialism with Chinese characteris-
tics and that their ideological position is

based on Marxism-Leninism and Mao
Zedong Thought.

In other words, they accept those
aspects of Mao’s early work which they
consider highly important in analyzing
Chinese reality and they reject those

Ward system is on the agenda

Bruce Yorke, Committee of Progressive
Electors, Vancouver, writes: As you know,
COPE succeeded on July 28 in Vancouver
city council in winning, by a 6-5 vote, a
motion by Ald. Libby Davies that -pro-
vides for an important step towards get-
ting a democratic ward system. for
Vancouver.

The motion guarantees that a specific,
binding plebiscite on the ward question
will be on the ballot during the regular
November civic elections in 1988.

Mayor Gordon Campbell, in a dishon-
est manoeuvre, issued a special memo
prior to the vote, urging council to hold
the vote in January, 1988. It was dishonest
because he wished to be seen in favour of a:
ward system while his actual intention was
to maximize the possibility of defeating
the ward system prior to the November,
1988 elections. >

Campbell wanted the plebiscite held in
January, 1988 in order to minimize citizen
input at public hearings, especially on the
question of ward boundaries and the
number of wards.

More importantly, he wanted the pleb-
iscite held at a time when experience shows
that a low voter turnout could be
expected — about 20 per cent, as recent
byelections have shown.

Under the new Social Credit law, it

takes only 40 per cent, not 50 per cent, to
defeat a ward plebisicite. Hence, it could
have been defeated by as little as eight per
cent of the electorate (40 per cent of 20 per
cent) if the question were to be put in
January, 1988, as Campbell urged.

Campbell didn’t want to run in the
November, 1988 elections having to pre-
tend to be in favour of a ward system and
simultanously to have the question on the
ballot, because it is a matter of public
record that five of his present Non-
Partisan Association council memebers
oppose the ward system.

But now it will be on the November,
1988 ballot.

Given all these factors and the addi-

tional one that COPE has only two —

members on council at present, it was a
remarkable political accomplishment for
COPE.

As a long time community activist who
has twice run for mayor, mainly on the
ward issue, and having been elected four
times as an alderman, I can say that a ward
system is now an attainable goal. This is
the time for neighbourhood groups to
unite their efforts to achieve a ward system
with democratic boundaries (no Gracie’s
fingers) and with as many distinct neigh-
bourhoods as reasonably possible repres-
ented by a ward alderman.

2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 12, 1987

COPE Fest Aug. 23

The Committee of Progressive Electors
will be taking its annual garden party into
the big time this year with a “COPE
Summer Festival” in Vancouver’s Trout —
Lake Park.

Set for Aug. 23, the festival lineup
includes music, entertainment, children $
activities, and speakers, headlined by COPE —
alderman Libby Davies. There will also be 4
wide variety of food, from ethnic dishes t0
barbecued salmon. Z

The festival events kick off at 2 p.m. 11
the southwest corner of Trout Lake park.
Childcare will be available.

ellen

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