TEAM ADOPTS FULL WARD PLAN
PNE Act exposes sham|
of media objectivity |

ing the Sunand Province, willl
doubt be furious at the decis
of the TEAM members
meeting on May 30 whichoP
for a full ward system for tal
couver. Previously TEAM

ident of the B.C. Branch of the
Canadian Bar Association
charged that the Act ‘‘clearly
violates the rule of law’’.

These contracts should be
voided. They, allow commercial

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

The Establishment is howling
withrageabouta section of the
Pacific National Exhibition
Incorporation Act, passed at the

° . 2 RS 1m,
oe a ae eee promoters to use our public advocated a two tier yea
which the-P NEE” hasawith the facilitiesforafractionof what withsomealdermenelee jot
BC Jockey Club. the Van- they would have to pay any- large and some elected i
souver Canucks ofthe National where else. They are nothing wards. tw!

less than give-aways; we are sub-
sidizing these promoters (the
Canucks and Playland are both
U.S. owned )-to the tune of hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars an-
nually.. They are legalized
robbery, anaffront andinsultto Gibson, Hardwick and Mei
public morality, enteredintoby were absent, as was Mayor
a self-appointed and self-per- _ lips. : jon!)
petuating P.N.E. Board respons- _ I predict that thisdecls) 4
ible to no one. the TEAM membership W! gst!
And now the Establishment- be.accepted by the top bree
owned media hasthegalltotry TEAMor bythe majority’ oft
andtellusthatthelegislature, aldermen. They will taket acl
the highest law making body in . action to upset it. A full wait
our province, isnot therule of tem is just a little too fra
law, that when it passes legisla- cratic for them. They area the
tion voiding suchimmoralcon- of what might happe? rhe
tractsit is breakingtheruleof people of each neighbor F
law! It takes the stand that are allowed to choose the?”
_private commercial contracts, aldermen. ; ett
even when they involve the give- The TEAM membershiP 0!
away of publicly-owned facil- ing came out for the divis’ eh
ities, are above the law.

the city into 20 wards basé are}
As far as I’m concerned the

cognizable community orate
P.N.E. Incorporation Actisa the abolition of the corp" es!
good thing. These contracts vote (votes given to bus. tht
should be voided and new ones firmsthathave propery iif
drawn up. If these promoters city), and putting ! oe
are willing to pay areasonable affiliations of candidates © iil
price— the going price— for the
use of our facilities, they have
nothing to fear. If not, they can
application of the three com- _go elsewhere and build their
mercial groupsforanewstation own facilities.
and at the May 1 meeting of the et
council called for a public The top brass of TEAM and its
television station instead. Establishment backers, includ-

Itis significant thatomly
TEAM Aldermen—Mazatiiif
Harcourt — supported a,
ward system. Alderme? of
rich, Pendakur and Bot 4
were opposed, while Alder al

Hockey League, the B.C. Lions
and Playland Amusement
Park.

The Vancouver Sun in anedi-
torial headed ‘‘Natural Justice
is Being Outraged’’ described
the Actas ‘‘destructive of public
morality’’,a‘‘damnableassault

* on the very foundations of or-
ganized society’’ (adding that
that society is ‘‘basedontherule
of law and the sanctity of the
contract’’) and “legalized
robbery’.

John MacAlpine, Vice Pres-

GUILTY!

LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE

Widespread opposition to establishment of
third commercial television station

Considerable opposition toa
third commercial television sta-
tion in Vancouver is expected for
the first hearing held by the
Canadian Radio-Television Com-
mission on June 11 at the Hotel
Vancouver.

The decision to granta licence
for athird station was actually
made about a year ago but the
hearings were later scheduled
after several citizen’s groups
brought pressure to bear.

Three applications have been

made for the third station, all of
them espousing the rhetoric of
community programing but all,
in fact, commercially-backed
stations. One of the applicants,
CHAKO Broadcasting, has the
financial support of Woodwards,
Finning Tractor and the Koerner
family fortune.

Neighborhood Radio, one of
the groups opposing the applica-
tions and itself involved in the
community workshops and
radio programing, pointed out

that the applicants have all
sought the endorsement of com-
munity organizations but have
done nothing to involve these
same organizations in pro-
graming or in consultation.

The Vancouver and District
Labor Council alsoopposedthe
Progressive Electors
has been campaigh! “op
That’s a compliment 10
as well asa tribute to8) fo)
sense of the TEAM be a?
ship which now realize)

hey have christened this latest political monstrosity

jf The Majority Movement. Last week’s ‘PT’ featured

a page of it from its 4-page splash. Littered among its imme-

diate aims is one in particular: ‘‘One Private-Enterprise
Candidate in Every Riding.”’

This conglomeration of a Majority Movement is, of course,
anti-socialist, anti-NDP, anti-democratic, anti-social, anti-
most everything except the sacred right of exploitation. In
this century Canadians have experienced many such political
and democratic abortions. Committees of 1,000 or 100, Black
Hundreds, Citizens Committees, strike-breaking com-
mittees on the ‘‘Right to Work’’, etc. etc., all basically anti-
working class, and all for ‘‘freedom:and free enterprise, ’’ two
elements that basically run counter to each other. But this
Majority Movement off shoot is highly symptomatic of the
crisis and decay in local bourgeois ranks, coinciding with the
general crisis of capitalism as a whole, and its inherent desire
to remodel the democratic process to better serve its own
interests.

After 20 years or so of Social Credit ‘‘freeenterprise’’, the
lands and resources of British Columbia were sold, traded,
and/or given away for next to nothing..The giveaway of the
vast Columbia River water resource is a fair sample of these
‘free enterprising’’ steals. There were others, many others.

With its ‘‘free enterprise’’ incumbent holding downa
majority in successive legislatures, Social Credit could even
ignore and reject the desires of vast segmentsof the people
besides the working class: teachers, the medical profession,
individual or groups whose views on economic or political
affairs ran counter to Social Credit. This ‘‘free enterprise’
had them all gagged and bound by restrictive legislation and
petty persecution.

Then came August of 1972 and a decisive NDP victory at
the polls, all strictly in keeping with the democratic process.
The Socreds were routed, the Tories left to philosophize in the
bush, and the Liberals fared little better. Anew day and ‘‘a
new deal’”’ had dawned for B.C.

Not a socialist dawn by any means, but a dawn which gave
promise that the rape and robbery of ‘‘free enterprise’’ would
and could be decisively curbed. That the process of curbing is
making fair headway may be seen in the howls and lamenta-
tions of The Majority Movement. ‘e

‘‘We, the majority, are represented by three parties in
Victoria,’’ sosays the MM blurb. If that’s the case gentlemen,
what’s your beef? ‘‘Let’s unite,’* you say. The record shows
that Tory, Liberal and Socred have united very well on major
issues, like giving away a province and with it, its peoples birth-

right, but on the lesser issues where politicalopportunism |

seeks fullrein, you cannot generate enough of your brand of
“unity’’ heat to boil an egg, far less ‘‘restore free enterprise
government to British Columbia.’’ British Columbians are
not of a mind to turn the clock back:

The pages of history are replete with Majority Movement
attempts to subvert the democratic process by fostering illu-
sions, cheap trickery, and, in not a few cases, ultimate violence
— all by gross distortion of alleged ‘‘differences between so-
cialism and free enterprise.’ A ‘‘free enterprise’? Tory
government smashed the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and
imprisoned the founder and leader of the CCF, J.S. Woods-
worth, on charges of seeking to set up ‘‘a Soviet government”’
in Manitoba. And Ginger Goodwin was shot to death in the
woods of British Columbia for refusing to become cannon
fodder in World War I ‘‘to make the world safe for
democracy,”’ i.e. of the Majority Movement brand.

Why do you think ex-premier W.A.C. Bennett and his
Socred apostles engage in their lachrymose tours through the
province, if not to yearn for another opportunity at ‘‘a free-
enterprise candidate in every riding’’. . . another opportun-
ity to bamboozle the people and squander their resources heri-
tage, if not to better serve the big ‘‘free-enterprisers’’ of Big
Business?

For the NDP and its supporters that ‘‘M.M. Message”’ is
clear; get on with the spade work for a genuine socialist B.C.,
and let the free enterprisers howl!

Grievance Board. ants

tS Berd

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1973--PAGE 2

+

this city needs and wants. it A
But I amsure the may? in!
TEAM aldermen will 02 i
to opposea full ward sy pli)
Council because the Snatill
ment has miade it clear”
opposed. If the TEAM? | og
ship will now get oul?
paign forits position, 4 of
is already doing, vot lt
majority can be won i
ward system Whe" Oh

Plenegte takes place
To air tenant
issues June

My

OL
An important meetine te
cern to Vancouver ten? ji)

Committee of Council ° ect”
Services holds a public
in No. 1 Committee Ro mee
The issues before t ons och
willbe: the implica? (jAt
new Landlord and Te? he ‘if
and the functions % — gal!
couver Rental Acco™

The Vancouver Tenor’ {
ganization presente’ ott
both of these \ inl
questions to earliel ons i
the committee. Cir vite
organizations are "eel
present briefs t0 ee
Those wishing to dr ofl
advise the City Cler™
June 7, 1973.

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