Vol.. 6. Qn»
Vancouver, British Columbia
Friday, February 21. 1947

Five Cents

No. 8

US-CANADA WAR PACT
IS THREAT TO SECURITY

By HAL GRIFFIN

Canada has just concluded a de facto military
alliance with the United States, by process of elimina-
tion directed against the Soviet Union, by design
committing the Canadian people to any war Ameri-

can imperialism may provoke and threatening the
_ (Continued on Page 8 — See ALLIANCE)

By ROBERT LAXER

OTTAWA.—Canada’s armed forces will hence-
forth be modelled after those of the U.S., according
to the recent joint Canadian-American announce-
ment. The statement further provides for exchange

between the two countries of all operational facilities
(Continued on Page 8 — See STATEMENT) ;

Nearly every .one in

to live.

Shanghai Alley in Chinatown.
gone beyond the entrance to know the conditions un-
der which hundreds of Chinese workers are forced
Number 502, a seven-storey building owned

“By JIM
Vancouver has heard of
Few, however, have

Greenland

Although the Danish government has issued a denial, the U.S. is trying to
i buy Greenland, whose cryolite mining center, Ivitgut, is shown here, for one.
lion dollars, posing a further threat to Canada’s security.

BULLER

decorated in years, the plaster
has gaping cracks, and they
are ill-ventilated and difficult
to heat. Their tenants have
no choice. Faced now with
eviction, they have no other
place to go.

On February 1 the
posted eviction notices

company
stating

are trespassers and the owner in-
tend to take legal steps to de-
molish the premises. (Signed)
THE OWNER.”

None of the tenants has re-
ceived any formal letter, but a
company agent has made two
calls on tenants, threatening that
unless they vacate their rooms
the doors will be barred and
their property confiscated.

Tenants have stated that they
are prepared to move, provided
suitable accommodation can be
found. They are not, however,
prepared to move into the street,
as the Marshall-Wells company
seems to expect.

Demolition of this building can
not be undertaken until a special
order is granted by J. F. Walker,
federal shelter administrator. This
week, a delegation consisting of
John ‘Turner, secretary, Vancou-

(Continued on Page 8)
See CHINESE

Big business
hits at labor

Ag OPosals made by the Mining
cin lation of B.C. to the provin-
mine et “are. designed to
trag the effectiveness of the
Geen movement,” Jack
,. 28ll, executive secretary of
(CCr,) -C. Federation of Labor
?, charged this week.
© Mining Association, in its
domie qed that “no person not
ont et €d in B.C. shall be eligible
as ‘ection or appointment as a
3 cena representative.” This
tional ° bar national and interna-
, ePresentatives from taking
ateg In the negotiations of affili-
local unions in the province.
© operators’ group also went
ecord as opposing the check-
and union security, closed _ shop
ing Ae. Rand formula from be-
bo, ~CorPorated in provnicial la-
© legislation.
tire aaa obvious that the en-
Mobilis. or movement must be
labor zed to counteract the anti-
Green designs of big business,”
atlas se told the Pacific Tribune,
is ng the importance of the
Wee oe mass labor lobby.
ed we unions have already nam-
lobp delegates to the Victoria
tive Y) nd are carrying on an ac-
areas campaign in all industrial
to'win wide public support

fo .
Boecta united labor brief’s pro-

brieg

on pr

The Civic Reform president
charged that the new Civic Non-
Partisan council,
cessor in the handling of the BC-
Electric franchise, is trying to
slip something over on the people
by the familiar method of keep-
ing information secret until the

last minute.”

The question to be asked Van-
couver ratepayers March 5 is: “Are
you in favor of the council of the
city of Vancouver having power
to pass bylaws without the assent
of’ the electors, in any of the
years 1946 to 1954, inclusive, to
borrow from time to time by the
issue of debentures sums not to
exceed, over the said period, fifty

million dollars in the aggregate, in

‘like its prede--

Free hand in spe
sought by Non-Partisans

Actual wording of the ballot in Vancouver’s $50,000,000
plebiscite was made available to the Pacific Tribune as it
went to press by the Civic Reform Committee through its
president, John Stanton. “Although it is to be voted on in
two weeks we have only just been able to obtain the text of
the ballot frém the city hall,” Stanton said.

accordance with the provisions
of the ‘Vancouver Enabling Act,
1935, Amendment Act, 1946,’ the
said borrowing to form part of
what is commonly known as the
‘ten-year plan’?”

Vancouver Labor Council has
called on the chairman of the
city council’s finance committee,
Ald. George C. Miller, to explain
the plebiscite to its next meeting.

John Turner, Labor Council se-
cretary, told the Pacific Tribune:
“What the city council is asking
for is a $50,000,000 blank check to
borrow what it likes, when it
likes, at what interest it likes,
and on whatever projects it likes.”

pending

Bumps to remain.

Motorists, bus and taxi rid-
ers, cyclists and other sections
of Vancouver’s commuting pub-
lic are adyised to resign them-
Selves to another six months
of riding over the bumps — or
embark on a campaign to stir
up their city council, A€cord-
ing to City Engineer Charles
A. Battershill it will take that
long to get the streets back in
shape. There is a shortage of
Paving material.

Now Vancouver’s Civic Non-
Partisan administration, which
laid exactly two miles of new
permanent pavement between
1936 and 1944, is investigating ©
the possibilities of establishing
the civic-operated paving plant
approved by a past generation
of ratepayers 35 years ago, but
never built. Of the original
$100,000 voted for the project
a 1912, $70,000 is still avail-
able.

Citizens organize protest against
mass eviction of 500 Chinese

by the wealthy Marshall-Wells interests, alone houses
500 Chinese, who pay six dollars a month for each
of the small rooms they rent. No one would live by
choice in any of these rooms, for they have not been

“, . all persons on the premises\

Major issues coming before
this session of the legislature
include the important Golden-
berg Commission recommen-
dations on municipal finance,

the Sloan Commission findings
on forestry, the proposed exten-
sion of the PGE, the BCElectric
franchise, and amendment of the
Provincial Elections Act.

Storm signals are already out
on the Goldenberg report. Despite
the government’s announcement
that it intends to implement the
recommendations, reactionary big
business interests are endeavoring
to utilize sectional demands, and
reactionary municipal administra-
tions to defeat them. Already
Nanaimo City Council has made
known its opposition to. the pro-
posals for a business tax based
on ability to pay and to the in-
creased assessment to place the
property tax load on those most
able tg pay so as to make pos-
sible a reduction in the mill rate
and relief to small homeowners.

Vancouver’s Mayor McGeer and
other big business spokesmen
have expressed similar disagree-
ment with the report.

These reactionary tactics must
be exposed and popular opinion
mobilized to prevent the Coalition
from retreating before big busi-
ness pressure, as it can be ex-
pected to do.

A first class row is anticipated
on the report of the Elections Act
Committee. Opposition Leader
Harold Winch served notice dur-
ing the debate on the throne
speech that he intended to protest
undue interference by the Hart-
Anscomb cabinet in the govern-
ment-appointed committee’s work.
Winch asserted that the obstruc-
tion and interference the commit-
tee had encountered was unpre-
cedented in his 14 years legisla-
tive experience. It is reporteq that
early committee proposals to ex-
tend the franchise to all citizens
are being watered down to give
the vote to Chinese and East In-
dians to the exclusion of the Na-
tive Indians of B.C. and Japa-

(Continued on Page 8)
See THIS WEEK