ON OF oe:

CASTRAT |

PUNJABS SHOULD el
BE. COMPULSUR) : -
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Tribune manager Fred Wilson points to racist slogans stencilled on the door to the apartment
where he lives in Vancouver aimed at several East Indian families who also live in the block.
Obviously not merely the work of cranks, the signs were put on with a stencil and echo the slogans
voiced by several fascist organizations.

PLEBISCITE ON FIVE-YEAR PLAN

—Sean Griffin photo

Affirmative vote urged

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

Next October, Vancouver voters
will decide by plebiscite whether or
not Council may borrow some
$58.45 million in the 1976-1980
period to finance a number of city
projects.

Chief among them are $22.45
million for engineering and police
and fire protection; $17 million for
park development and acquisition,

Trials set

Fifty-three Mount Currie Band
members charged with obstructing
a public highway following the
forced removal of their blockade
July 18 were remanded to October
2 after their court appearance last
Wednesday.

Band lawyer Eugene Kwan
stated, however, that one member,
Melvin John Williams, would be
tried August 28 in a test case on the
issue.

Of prime contention in the case
will be the dubious document
presented by the = attorney-
general’s department which states
that the land had previously been
turned over to the government for
highways department use.

$8.25 million for community
recreation facilities, and $10
million for housing.

A plebiscite last year for $65.7
million was narrowly defeated.

I made it clear to Council this
year that unless the amount
allocated for housing was upped to
$10 million, the five-year plan
would not have any support. I was
compelled to resort to this sort of
“political blackmail” to get
Council to agree to do something
about housing, which has always
been put at the bottom of the list.

The cuts in this year’s five-year
plan, as compared to last year’s,
are mainly in the area of com-
munity and parks programs,
especially those for the East End of
the city. That’s typical of this

Council.

I wanted the plebiscite submitted
to voters as a package, but Council,
voting in committee, decided
otherwise. The ballot was to be
split into four parts. The reason for
this is so that TEAM and the NPA
can campaign for a “‘yes”’ vote for
the ballot on funds for engineering
works and a bigger police force,
and at the same time campaign for

a ‘‘no” vote on housing, park and
recreation facilities which would
help working people and the or-
dinary citizen, but which have no
interest for big business interests.

At the council meeting of
Tuesday, July 22, the five-year
plan came to council for final
ratification. There have been a few
minor changes to the over-all plan,
but basically it remains the same. I
presented a motion to delete
paragraph D of the finance com-
mittees’ report which dealt with
separate ballots for all items.
There was a very acrimonious
debate with Alderman Kennedy of
the NPA pointing out that he would
campaign vigorously against the 10
million for housing. Alderman
Kennedy has a knack of polarizing
Council against himself and did a
splendid job of mobilizing it on the
single ballot principal. I am happy
to say that the majority of council
members are united on the five-
year plan.

Although the current five-year
plan has a number of_ short-
comings, my position is that we
should vote ‘‘yes’’ on the ballot.

B.C. TEL. STUDY

Corporate links
still the

The federal department of
communication’s  recently-
completed study of the purchasing
policies of B.C. has disputed the
common criticism that the com-
pany hides its profits in the inter-
corporate maze but in so doing has
suggested other criticisms that
raise anew the issue of B.C. Tel’s
corporate links.

The federal study had been
commissioned by provincial
minister of transport and com-
munications Robert Strachan
during the recent intervention by
the NDP government against B.C.
Tel’s application for a rate in-
crease.

The Canadian Transport
Commission last week granted the
company a 10 per cent interim rate
hike with hearings for a further
increase slated for September.

Criticisms that B.C. Tel. does
most of its purchasing among the
subsidiary companies of its parent,
General Telephone and Elec-
tronics in New York, were upheld
by the federal study. It found that
some $250 million in orders —
about 82% of total business — were
placed with GTE-controlled
manufacturers, but added that as
far as it could determine, the
prices paid were comparable with
competitor’s prices.

However, in disputing the claim
of overcharging, the study did
point out that technological. in-
novations chiefly newly-
developed switching equipment —
was not introduced even after

issue

in other systems such as those r
by Bell Canada. =
The only apparent reason fol
B.C. Tel’s reluctance to introduce |
the new switching equipment was |
the fact that it was not available”
from the GTE manufacturers,
Automatic Electric, but only from
a competitor, Northern Electric, 4
subsidiary of Bell. 3
The study also’ pointed out thal
B.C. Tel., also held back on #}
modernization decision in 1969 as!" |
waited for Automatic Electric ® |
develop ‘equipment that [® |
competitor had already put inl
operation. al
The conclusions prompted
Strachan to voice the charge thal |
the company was providiN® |
‘second-rate’ service because bug
its intercorporate links. The se
vice has also been provided at #
higher cost to consumers than ™
most comparable cities acr0S |
Canada. ae
The federal study also sub
stantiated Strachan’s charges a5 ity
pointed out that B.C. Tel. might
presently have a smaller capi, |
burden if it had introduc@ |
modernized equipment when !
became available from Norther
Electric instead of waiting {0'|
comparable equipment to. }
manufactured by the “family
company. ms
Since the alleged costs ¢
modernization are the burden ?
B.C. Tel.’s case for a rate 1
crease the company’s corporat
links will continue to be the issue”
the September hearings. a |

similar equipment had been in use

Information on 1935 |

|
;

Corbin strike sought |

The United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union Women’s
History Project is seeking in-
formation on, among other events,
the Corbin miner’s strike in 1935.

Research so far on the strike has

uncovered the statement sworn by -

Dr. Robert Elliott following the

brutal police attack on strikers and.

their families.

“I have written three letters to
attorney-general Sloan to try and

settle the strike by arbitration, but”

he apparently believes in beating

women and men up instead df

using common sense. .. .” i :
Dr. Elliott’s statement W”

gleaned from a report on the st!

’ and the police attack in a 1935 18°

of-the Vancouver Sun. ‘
The project hopes to complete!
research work some time in the #
at which time it will be gathe
together and published. ;
‘Tf you have any information” |
the Corbin miners’ strike or 0
events of interest to the projé
contact Women’s History Proj@
UFAWU-WA, 138 East Cord0!
Street, Vancouver 4, B.C.

observer status in the UN, which both the U.S. and Canada
are said to support, the word has been passed on to
Canada to do the dirty work. If doing it lacked any sem-:

Two views on the Canadian government postponeme
“In Jerusalem, the Israeli government praised Cana
today (July 22/75) for requesting the postponement.” vi

ot being in the inner circles of the ‘‘diplomatic”’ corps

and consequently not knowing all the chit-chat, we are
somewhat stumped in this regard. But our political nose
tells us from the putrid stench emanating from Ottawa,
that there is something more than slightly rotten in the
state of Denmark.

Canada has requested that the UN postpone its Toronto
conference scheduled for the beginning of September
because of the attendance of Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) delegates at that conference.

Ostensibly, of course, hecause the political atmosphere
in Canada is not calm enough to have the PLO as our
delegate guests, and as minister MacEachen puts it quite
bluntly and dumbly, we can’t open Canada’s doors wide to
“terrorists.” :

There are of course other and much more pressing
reasons for the Trudeau postponement of this conference.
~ The dictates of U.S. imperialism with its criminal
agencies of the CIA-FBI vintage don’t welcome such a
conference. Genuine. peace and mutual understanding
among all the peoples of the Middle East would be poison
to these Yankee buzzards. So on the flimsy grounds that
the PLO is persona non grata, even though it holds a full
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 1, 1975—Page 2

blance of ‘‘honor’”’ at least our Trudeaus et: al, demon-.

strated their ability to peddle cheap ambiguities, to

preserve their Jewish Zionist vote, and to lay bare an ©

inherent bias and prejudice, which are not now, nor ever
will be, components of peace.

While we have been long-time exponents for the State of
Israel to exist and flourish prosperously, for its people
within their own community, and in peace and friendship
with their neighbors in the Arab world around them, we
have never subscribed to the idea that they should prosper
at the expense of millions of Palestinians; annexing their
homes, their villages, their lands, and condemning
countless thousands of Palestinian outcasts to live, suffer
and die in the tent colonies of an arid desert.

For minister MacEachen or any other to accuse the PLO
as being ‘‘terrorist,’’ therefore necessitating the post-
ponement of a vitally important UN conference on the
habitat of Canada (under U.S. dictat) is the sheerest
humbug.

Not so long ago the same gang were condemning the
people of North and South Vietnam as “‘terrorists’’ for
heroically defending their lands and homes against U.S.
aggression which was assisted by Canada’s home-bred
merchants of death. Now of course, even with the Quangs
on our hands (again by U.S. dictat), we are slowly lear-
ning different, and the painful need to face up to the
realities of life . . .which are not the “‘realities”’ as seen by
‘the Fords, Kissingers, Schlesingers, MacEachens et al

Khaled Mouamar, president of the Canadian
Federation, said the decision was “cowardly
shameful. “The government of Canada has forfeited ‘
right to govern Canada because it is letting Israel dicta, |
Canadian policy. The government has been intimida ihe
by the wealthy Zionist lobby and acted against
Canadian tradition as supporters of the United Nati
Charter.” He could have added, ‘‘in line with U.S.
Zionist conspirators to block all possible avenues to p@
in the Middle East.” :
Meantime the Trudeau double-talk diplomacy 8°
forward with a reckless disregard for truth and dece™
and as any member of such a posh Liars Club will in
one Big Lie always requires a bigger and better one fo
plausible cover-up!

RIBUNE

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