BRITISH COLUMBIA May Day. It scarcely seems a year since the last one came and went. Last year, of course, we marked the 100th anniversary of the international page issue. This year, we're a little more modest in our effort. The thing is, we don’t want to have on behalf of the working class on May Day. : But we’re not certain if we'll always have the resources to put out large, full-color issues. To use some figures: we have about $10,000 in:on the yearly financial drive so far. We have seven weeks to go to meet the target of $98,000 by the time of the Victory Banquet on June 20. workers’ holiday with a celebratory 32- to get too modest. We like thinking big By this time last year, we'd raised $11,000 on a target of $95,000. And we were sounding the ‘may day’ signal then. We'd really rather not sound the distress signal on the occasion of international May Day. We'd rather talk of victories, such as the increased participation of youth at peace walks around B.C. last Saturday. We like to pay tribute to Vancouver’s annual walk, which continues to draw unprecedented — in Canadian historical terms — numbers of people to call for an end to the arms race. And we'd rather — and we will — sound the hope that B.C.’s workers, including its public school teachers, achieve a key victory and 10 from B.C. bound for women’s congress B.C. women will be well represented by the delegation that has been selected to attend the upcoming World Congress of Women in Moscow. Ten women activists from trade unions, peace groups, unemployed organizations, community organizations and churches in B.C. will be part of the 60-member Cana- dian delegation that will be in Moscow from June 23 to 27 to participate in the largest congress ever organized by the Women’s - International Democratic Federation (WIDEP). The rest of the Canadian delega- tion is made up of 10 Native women, 10 Francophone women, and 30 women from other provinces. Delegates will have the unique opportun- ity to discuss with some 2,000 women from all across the globe a plan of action to implement the 372 proposals contained in the “Forward-Looking Strategies” docu- DERA extends our best wishes on May Day | to all our friends and supporters DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION 9 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1M9 Phone: 682-0931 ment adopted by the 18,000 delegates at the Nairobi women’s conference two years ago. The Vancouver branch of the Congress of Canadian Women as the B.C. affiliate to the WIDF was responsible for inviting women from all areas of the province and diverse social groups to attend the confer- ence. Susan Dahlin, Vancouver president of the CCW, said that response to the invita- tions was good. The national committee in Toronto was responsible for the final selec- tion of delegates. The B.C. delegation is made up of: Susan _ Dahlin, CCW; Gene Errington, Canadian Union of Public Employees, B.C. region and Women’s Research Centre; Mary LePlante, Hospital Employees Union; _Larisa Tarwick, CUPE Local 2409, Terrace; Zella Taylor, Prince George Committee for Nuclear Disarmament; Kim Goldberg, writer, Nanaimo; Deborah Mac- Donald, unemployed activist and CCW president, Nanaimo; Kit Stevenson, Angli- can Church of Canada; Danni Tribe, Uni- ted Fishermen and Allied Workers Union; and Milnor Alexander, president of Greater Victoria Disarmament Group. Two other B.C. women will also be pres- ent at the congress. Rosemary Brown, former NDP MLA will be a national dele- gate to the congress, and Nadya Niechoda, ‘representing the Vancouver branch of the Federation of Russian Canadians, will attend the congress as an observer. Any readers wishing to make a contribu- tion to the fund being established to send Dahlin as the B.C. delegate from the CCW or for any other delegate can contact Dahlin in Vancouver at 254-3066 or by writing to the CCW at P.O. Box 65703, Station “F”, Vancouver, V5N 1K7. The World Congress of Women is con- vened approximately every five years by the WIDF. MAY DAY GREETINGS — in solidarity with Vancouver’s working people, for peace, jobs and a better city for everyone. 2066 Parker Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 2L5 254-4180 [OPE 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 29, 1987 May Day! May Day! May Day! _ overturn the ruinous Bills 19 and 20. The thousands of British Columbians who turn out yearly to march for an end to cruise missile testing in Canada, for the scrapping of the U.S. Reagan administration’s insane Star Wars scheme, and for success in the upcoming arms talks, need a paper like the Tribune to carry on the struggle on the analytical front. Those in fight against reactionary labor legislation have come to count on the Tribune to be there in the thick of the fight. So in sounding our ‘may day’ on May Day, we’re urging our friends to make that extra effort and ensure that Tribune is there for the struggles — and the May Days — ahead. Megamarkets are coming. The food store chain giants now have Vancouver as their newest market to exploit after the Non- Partisan Association city council approved a proposal from a subsidiary of the Weston conglomerate to open a megastore on South East Marine Drive. Despite strong objections from the Committee of Progressive Electors alder- men, and also from NPA aldermen George Puil and Don Bellamy, the new NPA accommodated the wishes of real estate promoter and megastore lobbyist, Brian Calder. Calder, of course, is the former NPA president. The COPE aldermen argued that the proposal to allow megamarkets to be situ- ated on industrial zoned land is a multi- million dollar gift to the large store chains which will drive other, well-established retail stores out of business. In the past, city council has denied the use of industrial land for the purposes of mega- markets. But, as soon as the new NPA coun- cil was installed, the big store owners were before them urging the policy be reversed. Yt ated: irch, rally stresses unity os Megamarkets are NPA gift to food conglomerates COPE’s Bruce Yorke asked council to defer any decisions and to allow public debate after the second report is down. Needless to say, the NPA refused. There is mounting and justified suspicion and uncertainty over the budget-as city departments, workers and the public specu- late over the service cuts and other changes that the NPA has on its hidden agenda. The way that the NPA has handled the 1987 budget process is typical of their con- tempt for open and democratic civic government. There is a superficial public process, but it only obscures the real deci-- sions being made secretly behind closed doors. Those decisions follow closely behind the Socred’s decision-making in Vic- toria. This month, another particularly disturb- ing development became a feature of city council meetings. City staff have become the victims of vicious personal and political attacks from NPA aldermen. Sharp debate — hopefully, intelligent — is to be expected in the political arena. But the NPA aldermen are sinking to all- Combined with the wide-open, unregu- lated store hours already approved by the NPA council, the latest decision signals far- reaching changes for Vancouver’s retail market. As the big chains divide up the shopping dollar, the small retailers and local consumers will ultimately be the losers. The lure of cheaper food prices will also ulti- mately be shown to be illusory, as we learned through the experience of self- service gas stations. The 1987 city budget of $335 million is ostensibly to receive final approval by council on April 28. However, the real city budget is yet to come. The budget, which was discussed at the April 13 public hearings, did not contain the results of private discussions (among a few senior staff and the mayor) on the political five- and 10-per cent reductions the city manager has demanded of each depart- ment, nor did it contain the request from the police department for extra personnel. Without these on the table, the delegations at the hearings were left with little more than a shadow-boxing exercise. Libby Davies Bruce Eriksen time lows by publicly attacking staff, and in a petty, humiliating and destructive way: Aldermen Puil, Jonathan Baker and Ralph Caravetta in particular have insulted and attacked staff repeatedly. Is this the result of Mayor Gordo# Campbell’s promise that he would bring decorum, respect and dignity to the city council chambers? The mayor has simply sat and watched this ugly spectacle. Coming up, in the weeks ahead: ®@ May 7, at the finance and priorities committee, Len Remple (owner of Laidlaw and other waste disposal companies) is back again with a proposal to privatize reside tial garbage collection. He failed in 1981, but will he get what he wants this time? @ May 14, the finance and _ priorities committee will finally review the findings the five- and 10-per cent departmenta reductions. The recommendations will g° to city council on May 26. Delegations wil be able to get the “five and 10” report by April 30 from the city clerk’s office at city hall. .