Socreds want total control of finances Wipeout of civic democracy The Social Credit government intends to introduce legislation which would centralize total con- trol over all public spending by mu- nicipal governments and public or- ganizations in the hands of the cabinet. If it becomes law, the Socred cabinet would have the power to appropriate the bank accounts of any municipality, city or public or- ganization if it decides that the pub- lic body has too much money or is not managing it properly. Other parts of the legislation would require all public bodies to institute accounting procedures in line with provincial guidelinés and to submit capital and operating budgets to the cabinet. The cabinet would also appoint auditors to go over the accounts of public organi- zations. These recommendations and others are contained in a 100-page' white paper issued by the Provincial ministry of finance, called ‘‘a New Financial Administration Act.’’ It has been distributed to municipal councils and to public organiza- tions affected, such as the Bar As- sociation. Sept. 30 has been set as the deadline for responses. A spokesman in the Vancouver city finance department confirmed to the Tribune this week that if the white paper becomes law it would give the cabinet ultimate total con- trol over all city operations. : The paper went before the city’s finance committee Thursday as the Tribune went to press. Trail mayor Charles Lakes, president of the Union of B.C. Mu- nicipalities said he was astonished at the proposed legislation and pro- mised it would be “‘priority number one” at the UBCM convention later this month. Other municipal spokesmen called it ‘‘a threat to democracy’’ and one municipal: official was quoted as saying: “‘If this were 1933 and you were working for Hitler, you would shake the hand of the man who wrote this.”’ The white paper on financial ad- ministration is the latest of a series of proposed legislative initiatives by the Socreds which together would almost wipe out any mean- ingful municipal government in B.c. In 1977 then minister of muni- cipal affairs Hugh Curtis introduc- ed amendments to the Municipal Act which gave the minister the power to overrule any municipal zoning or planning decision which he believed ‘‘contrary to the public interest.’’ In 1978, then finance minister Evan Wolfe declared that the province would put legislative restrictions on municipal budgets, freezing all budgets to a five percent increase. Although the legislation was never introduced, the restric- tions were imposed in most muni- cipalities. Earlier this year, muni- cipal affairs minister Bill Vander Zalm announced plans for a new planning and land use act which, among other things, would estab- lish a provincial appeal board which would hear appeals and overrule the planning decisions of any municipal or city council. The new proposals of Curtis, this time as finance minister, would give cabinet power to intervene in the most fundamental civic matters and, in effect, have veto power on any or all items in a civic budget. Matters of personnel manage- ment, employee relations and col- lective bargaining are also included in the proposed legislation and would involve cabinet approval for all collective agreements between public employees and municipal- ities and school districts. - Take a last look at waterfront view By ALD. HARRY RANKIN The development of Pier B.C. is one more example of how the NPA and developers collaborate to mis- lead citizens and divert public funds into private business coffers. It started out innocently enough, as just a trade and convention cen- tre and cruise ship facility. The cost of the convention centre was to be limited to $25 million. City council was asked to contribute $5 million to the centre and agreed to do so. Council also decided that it would not be responsible for the operation of the centre or any oper- ating deficits and that the centre, which would be used primarily to serve private business interests, would pay taxes the same as any other private business in the city. I supported those decisions be- cause the building of the centre would provide jobs and-I felt the other decisions protected the city’s interests. That was on Sept. 26, 1978 and the NPA did not have a majority on city council. In the November, 1978 civic elections, the NPA won a majority and lost no time in reversing the de- cisions of city council. On January 9, 1979, immediate- PEOPLE AND ISSUES~ E lsewhere in this issue, readers will see the background article on the upcoming United Nations vote on the accreditation of the deposed Pol Pot government of Cambodia, written by international journalist Wilfred Burchett. It is based, in ad- dition to his already extensive knowledge about Cambodia, on a tour to that country earlier this year. But the conclusions that he drew from that tour — even though he was not along i in drawing them as the companion piece on page 10 demonstrates — obviously did not sit well with the government of France where Burchett now lives. The government of Valery Giscard d’Estaing, like its counter- parts in Britain, Canada and the U.S. has of course continued to support the ousted Pol Pot regime despite its genocidal record. And critics of the regime and of the western countries’ policy towards it have been the target of various punitive measures — including the deportation last month of the editor of the magazine for which Burchett was writing, Afrique- Asie. The action against Burchett was considerably less drastic but no less punitive. In a letter last month, following his return from his Cana- dian speaking tour, he noted that after he had tracked down a miss- ing piece of luggage he found that it chad been ‘“‘done over,”’ presum- ably by customs officials. And just to make it known that he had been Officially received, they had taken a copy of his Rook ‘North = the 17th Parallel’’ — his first book on Vietnam which criticized French colonialism — — ripped it in half and stuffed the two pieces in two separate compartments of his suit- case. ee W;: have a noted from the B.C. Peace Council this week, telling us that Jonathan King, a biology professor at the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology and a promi- nent peace activist in the United ’ States, is to be in Vancouver next week. A public meeting for King has been set for Sept. 19, 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Chuch, 49th and Oak in Vancouver. It is sponsored jointly _ by the Coalition for World Disar- mament, the Co-operative Cam-. pus Ministry at the University of B.C. and the Vancouver School of Theology. “_ * &* rom Betty Griffin, B.C. co-ordi- nator for the Tim Buck-Norman Bethune Centre Fund, comes word that the total for dona- tions and pledges in this province has reached $77,861 — a signifi- cant part of the more than $300,000 raised across the country to rebuild the centre. She says that the aim is to reach $100,000 in cash and pledges by the end of Septe:nber. And on that note, we should add that the telephone number for the B.C. in last week’s display ad was incor- rect. For the record, the number to call for donations and pledges is Sa in Be sas i mee TRIBUNE— SEPA. aL > oe ly after it took over, the NPA ma- - jority bulldozed decisions through council which provided that: @ Theconvention centre would be exempt from property tax. (This meant a loss to the city of between $600,000 and $1,000,000 a year and was in fact a subsidy to private business); @ The city would take over the operation of the centre and be re- sponsible for any operating deficits, which could run into mil- lions of dollars annually. This was another subsidy out of public funds for private business interests. Since then things have gone from bad to worse. The cost of the centre has now gone up to $52 mil- lion and I have no doubt it will ex- ceed this amount before it’s finish- ed. City council decided to contrib- ute another $3 million from public funds to cover ‘‘over-runs’’ on ac- cess roads and utilities. The complex has now been ex- panded from a trade and conven- tion centre and a cruise ship facility to include: @ A 14storey office tower, 264 feet high that we need like a hole in the head; @ A 22-storey hotel 296 feet high for wealthy business people and well-heeled tourists. - If you want to see what the har- bor and the North Shore look like from any street in that area, take your last look now because the view won’t be there when all these towers go up. But that still isn’t all. Marathon Realty (the CPR) is planning a huge commercial de- velopment in the area with more office towers. Project 200, another CPR development, will expand with more office towers. Dominion Construction plans some office towers in the area. — The way the developers operate, in conjunction with their friends on council, is now clear. First of all, they reveal their plans only one step ‘at a time. They get council to agree to a reasonable development pack- age and then reverse council deci- sions to make them more favorable for developers. They promise initially not to ask for public subsidies but we end up paying millions of dollars annually - from public funds into the pockets of private developers and other big business interests. I have consistently opposed all these changes and sellouts of the original plan and I will continue to oppose them. I do not agree that public funds should be used to sub-- sidize private business. I do not be- lieve that all these hotel and office towers are needed. I think it is hypocritical for city council to cut back on services to people and to refuse to build affordable housing on the grounds that we must be careful how we spend our money and then turn around and vote mil- lions to business interests that don’t need a subsidy, whose profits are the highest in their history. Rentalsman says rent Rent controls are disappearing in B.C., Rentalsman Jim Patterson admitted last week. Three years ago, 70 percent of rental units in B.C. were covered by rent controls. Today only 55 per- cent are covered, and Patterson es- timated that if current trends con- tinue it will drop to about 30 per- cent in only the next five years. To be covered by rent controls a three bedroom unit must rent for $400 per month or less; a two bed- room unit at $350 per month or less and a one bedroom or bachelor for $300 per month or less. Rent in- creases are putting most rental controls disappearing units far beyond the allowable limits. The recent announcement by the Socred government that tenants who pay up to $700 per month can now apply to the Rent Review Commission to appeal ‘‘excessive increases”’ will have little — almost negligible — effect on the crisis fac- ing thousands of tenants. If a further twist of the screw was needed, Patterson claims he has a budget crisis in his office and he has been forced to cut service by 20 per- cent. He is now advising tenants to solve their own problems before lining up for help at the Rentals- man’s office. r—— VERNON challenge cevelopers | In an attempt to head off the — complete takeover and control 0 Vernon city council by land de velopers and speculators, Vernon labor council secretary Bert Nilsson has announced that he will be rut- — ning for alderman in the Nov. 15 election. ie A candidate in two previous” elections, Nilsson polled strong votes each time, missing election only by a few hundred votes. ‘ “ “J will likely be the only pro- gressive candidate in the field,” Nilsson said in an interview this” week, pointing to a lineup of call- didates for council “who are either 5 land speculators, developers Of — others associated with them.” The land speculators and des9 velopers want to take over to’ control of council to push throug j expansions of the city limits in OF der to provide services to new de- velopments, he said. “Tf they have their way it is al will be pursued that will mean large taxpayer subsidies to developers and. large increases in property taxes to pay for these subsidies. A most certain to follow that policies i election,’’ he said. Two years ago the developers put up five candidates for five va- cant seats with the goal of adding — 99 acres on the north side and 300 acres on the east side of the city to Vernon. Both parcels are in the ag- ricultural land reserve and so far the expansion plans haven’t been ~ successful. great deal is at stake in a This year the developers are run: ning at least three candidates and — are pushing for a huge consolida- tion to bring into Vernon the Gold- stream; Okanagan Landing and — BX areas. “The land speculators and de- 1 velopers have now pinned their hopes for huge profits on the city — making a major expansion with a — commitment to support develop- — , ment of all kinds in the area. My position is that Vernon needs to be cautious in adopting policies of ex- pansion. The experience of Kam- loops and Kelowna is mixedat best. It may be better to contract certain # < oe pl on Re i? ~ services, like sewers, to outside | areas, rather than by aking: them} in,” he said. Several of the projects being” ‘. pushed by the developers have re- ceived lukewarm treatment from ~ H the regional district board, which — has members drawn from the entire Vernon region, and the developers - now feel that they can get more out of Vernon city council througha ci- ty expansion, Nilsson added. : Editor: SEAN GRIFFIN Associate Editor: FRED WILSON Business and Circulation © Manager: PAT O’ CONNOR Published weekly at Suite 101— 1416 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, B.C. VBL 3X9..Phone 251-1186 . Subscription Rate: Canada $10 one yr.; $6.00 for six months. All other countries, $12 one year. [ umber class reall registration number 1560. ag