LRT needed
now says CP

The Greater Vancouver
Regional District is being ‘taken
to the cleaners” by the provincial
government and locked into: a
scheme which will effectively rule
out light rapid transit in the Lower
Mainland for years to come, the
Communist Party said this week.

The Greater Vancouver
Regional Committee of the party
made the statement in an open
letter to the GVRD’s transporation
committee which is holding a
series of public hearings to gather
public input on the exact location of
LRT stations and right of ways.

The CP called on the GVRD to
boycott negotiations with the UTA
and instead establish its own in-
depdendent regional transit
authority to negotiate LRT with the
province. A funding formula of 37.5
percent of capital costs from both
senior levels of government and 25
percent from profits derived from
development of the land along the
right of way was suggested, with
the province picking up 100 percent

* of operating deficits.

Phase two of the GVRD study
would be most effective, the-CP
said, if it made a quick decision to
join with individual municipalities
and purchase the entire right of
way for the two LRT lines, and put
the land in a publicly owned land
bank.

“With full ownership of the right
of way the economic benefit of the
LRT system will come back to the
municipalities, help pay for the
capital costs, and afterwards be
lasting source of income for local
government,”’ the CP said.

VAS-10-78 NC

of

Ae) iS

By FRED WILSON

With the Vancouver civic
election now two weeks past and
with the results almost finalized —
all but for 1,500, disputed affidavit
ballots — we can look back with
some hindsight and draw con-
clusions.

The first thing that stands out is
that with NPA-endorsed can-
didates winning seven of 11 council
seats, five of seven parks board
seats and seven of nine school
board seats, the election certainly
resulted in a significant shift to the
right in terms of the political focus
of civic government.

But having said that, it would be
a mistake to conclude, as some
superficial analyses in the mass
media have, that the people have
swung to the right or that they have
given mayor Volrich a mandate to
carry out his right wing policies:

The victory of the ward
plebiscite, with 51.7 per cent of the
voters and 94 of 134 of the polls
voting pro ward, is the .clearest
evidence that there was not a right
shift. The ward system was very

Polarized vote and ‘at |
combined to produce NPA mgjority

deliberately linked to progressive
civic reform — by both proponents
and opponents — and its victory is
a direct contradiction of NPA
policy. ~ :

Neither can Harry Rankin’s
50,102 votes, more than any other
candidate, be reconciled with an
alleged right swing. In fact, Harry
Rankin was the only candidate to
receive better than 50 per cent. of
the vote, and this achievement was
in spite of the most pointed red-
baiting campaign against him in
some years.

What actually happened to give
the NPA its overwhelming
majority was a polarization of
electoral support behind the right
and the left at the expense of
TEAM, the centre coalition which
had dominated Vancouver politics
since 1972. TEAM lost 167,644 votes
over 1976 and saw its share of the
popular vote reduced from 37.2 per
cent to 29 per cent.

When it became clear that
TEAM’s fortunes would follow the
Liberal Party downhill, the NPA
backroom strategists worked out

=——=PEOPLE AND ISSUES

operations to restore failing eyesight but despite the

f ever there was confirmation of what we’ve been
saying for a long time — that high food prices can
be attributed in the main to corporate profiteering in
the food industry — it was the report by the Centre for
Study of Inflation and Productivity which stated, in a
submission to the first ministers’ conference, that
food industry profits rose by a whopping 63 percent
per unit of output this year.

Even the usually staid Centre, an advisory agency,
was compelled to point out that food processors have
engaged in what can only be seen as blatant
profiteering — deliberately and arbitrarily raising
prices to meet the foreign competition whose prices
are artifically inflated because of the-exchange rate
on the Canadian dollar. :

It also effectively debunked the myth-that labor
costs push prices up, pointing out that prices, during
the first half of 1978 rose 2 1/2:'times faster than labor
costs. Ore ey

W e had no sooner reported that $5,000 had been sent

by Canadian Aid for Vietnam Civilians to provide
emergency relief to flood-stricken Vietnam than Kay
Inglis notified us that yet another $5,000 in cash
donations had been sent in November, the result of
what she termed “an overwhelming response”’ to the
appeal.

But as we note from a press release just received
from the embassy of Vietnam, the need is ever more
urgent. According to the statement, flood damage has
now been tragically compounded with massive storm

damage to what was hoped to be a bumper rice crop’

in northern Vietnam. 3
The embassy called it ‘‘the worst natural calamity
in Vietnam in 35 years” and appealed for continued

humanitarian aid. Donations can be sent to Box 2543,

Vancouver, V6B 3W8.

* * ok :
R riends who remember him from his pioneering
research work in the labor movement some 30-odd
years ago, will be saddened to hear of the sudden
. death of John Wigdor. He died Nov. 23 in Toronto,
where he had been living for the past 36 years, felled
by a heart attack.

Although a native of Montreal, John was well
known in Vancouver for his for his pioneering work in
founding the Pacific Coast Labor Bureau which
opened its doors in 1938 offering research services to
the labor movement.

He left Vancouver in 1942 bound for Toronto to take
up work for the Workers’ Educational Association
and later for the United Electrical Workers but he left
behind a well-established bureau — which continues
to this day as the Trade Union Research Bureau
under the direction of Emil Bjarnason.

In recent years, John had undergone a series of

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 1, 1978—Page 2

difficulties he had continued his work, occupYing..a
prominent position in the Canada-USSR Association.

Our condolences to his wife Hazel, his son Robin
and daughter Anna. * * *

_S Bruce Yorke and Helen O’Shaughnessy headed
Note for a well earned vacation this week, they
dropped off a letter recently received from Elias
Stavrides who left Vancouver for his native Athens
about two months ago.

Elias was of course inquiring about the outcome of
the civic elections in B.C., but he also took the oc-
casion to report on the substantial gains of the left in
municipal elections there, where the Communist
Party of Greece tripled its vote and elected 31 “red
mayors.” "

“T had the fortune and pleasure to witness our
victory in my own suburb where our candidate got 27.
percent of the vote in the first round, and in the
second round we won with 54 percent,”’ Elias wrote,
“It was so magnificent the night of the victory that
people were out in the streets dancing until daylight. I
wish you were there. . . Or should I wish that I will be
there when the day comes for such a thing in Van-
couver.”’ # ie oe

T he latest project of the Downtown Eastside
Residents’ Association is a contest of some literary
merit which will grab the attention of such writers as
the Vancouver Sun’s editorial writer Linda Hossi
and Province columnist Chuck Davis. se

They are two of the judges for a most unusual essay
contest sponsored by DERA and open to any in-
dividual receiving any form of income assistance
from the government. The subject of the essay is
“What is it like to live on income assistance” and the
prize is material goods up to value of $1,000. The prize
is not cash because it would be merely snatched up by
Vander Zalm or some other government agency by
deducting it from future assistance payments.

So far DERA has about 40 entries, but they would
like a lot more before the contest ends January 7. The
essay can be any length you wish and the contest is
open to anyone on GAIN, veterans allowance, han-
dicapped allowance or any other form of income
assistance. ;

The federal government is partially financing the
contest with a Canada Works grant which is giving a
couple of people some part time employment at
DERA. It would be just the stuff that red neck
columnists would love to get a hold of in order to
slander everyone concerned for wasting taxpayer’s
money. But DERA was a step ahead of the game this
time and in addition to Hossie and Davis, the judges
include Bruce Eriksen, Harry Rankin—and Doug
Collins.

their successful plan to take over
city hall. Even though many in the
NPA wanted an extreme right
wing option in Bill Rathie, the
cooler heads struck a deal with
Volrich and forged a conservative
coalition of the old NPA forces and
right wing Liberals that defected
from TEAM. :

The crucial question in the
election was, as TEAM fell into
disarray, which side would pick up
the support of the centre of the
political spectrum, and as it turned
out, the NPA-Volrich coalition was
in the best position to do that.

The left also made advances and
did broaden its support as well, but
not as much as the NPA. With one
less candidate than in 1976, COPE
increased its total vote by 62,499.
Its average aldermanic vote in-
creased from 15,134 to 21,607. On
the other hand, TEAM’s average

aldermanic vote dropped from
- 24,116 to 20,039.

One important factor that added
to the strength of the left was the
unity. gesture of COPE in
nominating only eight aldermanic
candidates. That decision made it

_ possible for a full reform slate to

take shape in the labor movement,
where the Vancouver Labor
Council endorsed the full COPE
slate plus Mike Harcourt and
Darlene Marzari, and at the polls.

It is significant that the VLC
aldermanic slate polled 245,080
votes — not far behind the 252,847

votes that went to the NPA,”

although it had only seven can-
didates. But the VLC slate polled
far more than the 204,762 votes
received by TEAM, whichis a good
indication of how the vote polarized
‘between strong choices, rather
than simply shifting to the right.
The other big factor which
contributed to the victory of the
right was, of course, the un-
democratic ‘‘at large’ system
which once again denied large
areas of the city their choice of
political representation. Grand-
view Woodlands, for example, a
stable community of 27,000 people,
voted this way for city council:
Polls 13, 14, 15C, 16B, 23C, 39:

1. H. Rankin (COPE) 1,494
2. B. Eriksen (COPE) 1,037
3. J. Swanson (COPE) 861
4. M. Harcourt 844
' 5. D. Marzari 789

arge’ system

6. L. Davies (COPE) 774
7. §. Jackson (COPE) 757
8. H. Boyce (NPA) 749
9. W.Kennedy (NPA) 728
10. P. Murphy (COPE) 718

To take another example, if Kit-
silano had -its say about who to
elect for school board, the new
board would line up with four
TEAM trustees, three COPE
trustees and two NPA trustees.
(Based on polls 56A, 56B, 57A, 57B,
60.) :

The poll by poll analysis reveals
the real significance of the victory
of the ward plebiscite. COPE
emerged from the election the
leading political force in a number
of communities including Down-
town, Grandview Woodlands,
Cedar Cottage and Fairview. In
each of these areas COPE polled
about 35 per cent or better of all.
votes.

In other areas like Kitsilano,
West End, Vancouver South and
Hastings Sunrise, COPE is a major
contending force that counted 25 to
"30 per cent of all votes cast. And in
each of these areas, COPE’s school -

board slate, which did extremely as

well through the whole city,

received between 30 and 35
cent of the votes.

TEAM also has its strongholds,

in Point Grey and the western half

of Vancouver South and Kitsilano,

and would undoubtedly benefit :

from a ward system.

at-large system is seen in the

underrepresentation for both

~COPE and TEAM which received
26.1 per cent and 25.9 per cent re-

specitively of the aldermanic
votes, but each have only one
alderman each out of 10.

It is for these reasons that the —

ward plebiscite victory is so
crucial to the left. and reform

movement in Vancouver. No effort
must be spared to ensure that the —
majority decision is carried out —

and that the 1980 elections be on the
basis of wards. '
In the meantime, we are stuck

_ with the job of winning concessions

from the NPA majority. It will be
tough, but very possible to take
advantage.of the divisions within
the Volrich-NPA coalition and
score some victories for the people
over the next two years.

Continued from page 1

council recognize the ward
plebiscite victory by asking Vic-
toria for a charter amendment at
the next session of legislature, set
up an independent commission in
Vancouver to decide on the details
of the ward system, and finally
pass the necessary by-laws in time
for the 1980 election.

Volrich said after the meeting
that he would ask the new council
to establish a commission to study
electoral reform “in general’.
Downtown Eastside Residents
Association president Bruce
Eriksen, who was also denied the
right to speak to council, predicted
that Volrich was trying to man-
euver in order to revive his old

proposal to increase the size. of |

Ward decision defied -

council while leaving elections at
large.

“This argument about ‘the
majority not being large enough is
garbage,” Eriksen said, ‘‘If that
line were pursued we would have to
call the whole election null and
void because the only candidate
that received 50 percent of the vote
was Harry Rankin.”

Tuesday evening the COPE
executive mapped out a campaign
to force council to take action on
the ward system that will be kicked
off with a public meeting on
January 28. :

If city council reftises to accept 3

the plebscite decision it will be at
its peril, Yorke added, ‘“‘Volrich
can not prevent the introduction of
a full ward system for our city by
November 1980.”

The undemocratic result of the —

per