enor ~. SENSE eae) Seconp SESSION OF -~ BRITISH COLUMEIAS TWENTY-SEVENTH _.. fee, LEGISLATURE ~ XX iors — OPENS / ie MR. PREMIER. vee FIRST Socreds fail to tackie major needs of province : The Throne Speech at the open- ing of the Legislature last week Was more significant for what it left out than for what it contained, Charged Nigel Morgan, B,C. Communist Party leader in a Tadio broadcast last Sunday in which he said that some of the People’s most pressing needs were missing in the speech. Speaking on his popular broad- Cast, “The Legislature and You,’ which is heard every Sunday at 6:55 p.m, on CKWX, Morgan said that included in the speech were . wide range of more-or-less Toutine matters, These included what is being appropriately dubbed mini-médi- Care; amendments to the Public Schools Act; minor changes in the Lands, Minerals, Natural Gas eS Forests Act; pollution control €gislation; new dyking and park authorities; highway and PGE Tailway extensions and a new museum for Victoria, But left out of the Throne Speech, said Morgan, “was any mention of what Premier Bennett and his government intends to do about the pressing financial crisis facing B,C, cities and mu- . Mcipalities, “Or the government’s resources Policy, including the long -de- Manded changes in forest man- agement licences, gas exports, be New Parson’s Plan under which U,s, monopoly interests are scheming to drain off B,C, water for U.S, benefit.” “Unanswered, too,” said Mor- aN “was widespread dissatis- action over B,C, Hydro’s exhor- bitant bus fare hike, or the’ Profiteering and price-fixing of the foreign-controlled oil and Petroleum monopoly that is ex- Ploiting this province.” Morgan added, “No indication Was given of public takeover of B.C, Telephone (which charges twice as much per month as the infinitely superior, civic-owned Phone service in nearby Edmon- ton and Calgary); or the auto- Mobile insurance racket, which upped rates by a whopping 25 percent on January ist. “Nor was any action indicated on long-promised improvements to the Workmen’s Compensation Act; the needed changes in social and labor legislation; or jobpro- tection guarantees to cope with growing mechanization and auto- mation,” Morgan said that the bestnews in the Throne Speech was the projection of increased grants for education, However, whether the much-vaunted increase will | be sufficient to provide any re~- lief from the bill on homes re- mains very much in doubt. “Particularly,” said Morgan, “in light of the Bennet. govern- ment’s record with B,C, Hydro electric light reductions, thenew medicare scheme, and their miserly bus fare handout to pen-- sioners of a dollar amonth—very aptly likened to trying to satisfy an elephant with a peanut,” The Communist Party leader drew attention to the fact that in Edmonton and Calgary, all the LEGISLATURE EN § _ s Ess Fes] ANS ~ 1130 K.C. CK WX 6:55 P.M. SUNDAYS COMMUNIST PARTY’S WEEKLY RADIO COMMENTARY by NIGEL MORGAN art QNY NIGEL MORGAN pensioners are carried free dur- ing non-rush hours by the tran- sit system, and asked: “Why not passes for pensioners for the hours 10 to 4 in the Greater Vancouver-Victoria area?” Morgan charged that the gov- ernment’s announcement on medicare was “obviously devised to obtain maximum political divi- _dends with minimum costs to the government.” It isnot surprising, he said, that it has received en- thisiastic support from big in- surance company executives and the medical fraternity, whose consistent and vehement opposi- tion to any genuine, comprehen- sive, government health plan is; well-known,” He reminded his listeners that B.C, has had an all-inclusive health insurance plan onthe stat- utes since 1936 when it was adopted by the Pattullo govern- ment, but never implemented be- cause of doctor opposition, “Far removed from the com- prehensive health plan recom- mended by the Hall Commission, or the Saskatchewan health plan; the Bennett scheme (like that of Alberta and the one proposed for Tory Ontario), is to provide by way of partial subsidy, a very limited service through existing insurance companies, for people below a specific income level,” PETITION DRIVE IN HIGH GEAR Burnaby Council sends fare protest fo PUC Burnaby municipal council this week decided to pass on to the Public Utilities Commission a protest against high bus fares for old age pensioners, The action arose out ofaletter from an old age pensioner, Ap- pearing before the council, Mrs, E, E, Collicut said she and many: others could not afford to pay 70 cents a day on bus fares, She was supported by Council- lor Jim Dailly who said that more support should be given by all municipalities to help old age pensioners to protest the bus fare hike. Meanwhile, .it is reported this week that senior citizen’s organ- izations are pushing ahead with their campaign to press the pro- vincial government for action on bus fares, Thousands of petitions have been printed by radio sta- tion CKLG and are circulating widely, The ‘petition is addressed to the Lieutenant-Governor-in - Council (the Cabinet) and reads: “The bus fare increase means — an additional financial burden for old age pensioners, It virtually prohibits them from using their only means of transportation for necessary shopping, doctors’ visits, etc, y “In order to alleviate this un- due hardship to pensioners, we the undersigned respectfully re- quest that the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor-in-Council prevail on the B,C, Hydro Authority to grant free bus travel passes for old age pensioners,” = Don Wilson, editorial director for CKLG, told the Pacific Tri- bune that an appeal is being made to students to take the petition into the schools to support the fight of the old age pensioners, Petitions are available from old age pensioners or by phoning CKLG, 681-7511, and copies will be mailed, Plans are also moving ahead for a delegation of twelve pen- sioners to meet with the provin- cial Cabinet before the present session of the Legislature ends, The Cabinet has been written for an appointment but a date has not yet been set, Medicare fight looms Cont'd from pg. 1 If the provinces introduce piece- meal plans like this, it will hold back implementation of the Hall recommendations on a national scale,” Pat O’Neal, B,C, Federation of Labor secretary, expressed similar sentiments, He said, “This has all the earmarks: of the patchwork plans of Alberta and Ontario and I think this is very tragic, “It’s most regrettable,” O’Neal added, “he (Premier Bennett) wouldn’t introduce a plan simi- lar to Saskatchewan’s, which evi- dently is a model plan and was wholeheartedly endorsed by the Hall Commission, “I don’t think the people of, B,C, should accept any Substitute for a full, comprehensive medi- cal care plan, The premier should have gone ahead on his own, We. need it, we can afford it, and we should have it, “Premier Bennett’s plan ap- pears to be tailored to meet the prejudices of the B,C, Medical Association and not the needs of the people of the province,” con- cluded O’Neal, 2 Also joining in the protest over the limited plan put forward by Premier Bennett was Joe Corsbie, executive director, CU and C Health Services Society, which is B,C,’s second largest pre-paid health plan, He said; “Our board of direct- ors feels there is a need for a | comprehensive plan andthe proy- ince could have gone ahead with one on its own,” See ee eee ee ee ee ee Legislative Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Services Report. SIGN AND SEND Full Medicare Plan NOW ! Premier W. A. C. Bennett, | endorse the recommendations pro- posed in the Royal Commission on Health | urge your government to enact legislation immediately in order to make possible the introduction of a comprehen- sive, universal health services program for all the citizens of British Columbia. AGOIESS 553 ¢ eine 20 P.S. — 1 WILL NOT ACCEPT A CHEAP SUBSTITUTE | a ee i eh oe eee ee (The above postcard has been issued by the B.C. Federation of Labor. They have been printed in large quantities and are available at the B.C. Federation of Labor office, 517 East Broadway, Vancouver). January 29, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3 yer