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ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS.

EDITORIAL

More ‘dynamic’ budgets

S eptember 28 was ‘‘a bright day for British Columbia

and a bright day for a great united Canada’’.- So

said Premier W.A.C. Bennett when he turned the switch to

unleash the mighty electric energy of the Peace River power
project.

Bubbling with high-voltage bonhomme before a vast
audience of ‘‘distinguished’’ and other guests, some 3,000 in all
in the vast underground powerhouse of the Peace, Premier
Bennett told his audience that Peace power will ‘‘fit in with a
national power grid’’ and (softly please),. with U.S. power
grids.

What the ‘Prime Minister’ didn’t tell them was that $100-
million or more was what the U.S. monopolists had short-
changed him on his Columbia River deal and which was to have
financed the Peace River power project. To have done so would
have spoiled the Bennett-Wenner-Gren ‘‘dream” of a decade
ago when the B.C. taxpayer was less sophisticated than now on
Socred give-aways and financing.

So it was ‘“‘Bennett’s Day”’ with the Premier at the control
switch turning loose half-a-million horse-power from the giant
generators of the Peace. When all ten generators are installed
the total capacity is estimated at 2.3 million kilowatts. The
official opening ceremonies also featured a spot of Social
Credit ‘‘christening’’, names which will in all probability be
changed by a later generation of Canadians.

The project itself is now designated as the ‘“‘W.A.C.
Bennett Dam”’ while the greater body of water created by the
dam will now be known as the “Ray Williston Lake’, named
after Socredia’s Minister of Lands. Forests and Water
Resources, whom timber baron H.R. MacMillan (one of the
gala opening guests) described as ‘‘a man who had done a first
class job in his cabinet post by bringing immense forestry
development’. As one of the prime beneficiaries from Socred
forestry deals, HRM should know.

Then the Peace underground powerhouse, reputedly. the
largest in the world, was christened the “Dr. Gordon Shrum
Powerhouse”’ after the present chief of the B.C. Hydro. ~

Coupled with turning the switch on Peace power, Bennett
promised the next provincial budget ‘‘the most dynamic ever”’

Cradle of democracy?

T he military junta ‘‘government” of Premier Papo-

douplous in Greece won a “‘landslide vote” last

Sunday for its ‘‘new constitution” — 95.2-percent in favor, 4.4-
percent opposed.

Close to half of Greece’s eligible voters, the thousands in
jails and concentration camps, those under ‘‘house arrest’’, or
still allowed a transcient ‘freedom’. didn’t vote at all.

The “new constitution’’ proscribes free elections, denies
freedom of the press, assembly and association, prohibits all
trade union organization and/or the formation of political
parties, etc. It also denies all state protection to the citizen
from the excesses of police or other fascist terror. All that is
now fully ‘‘legalized”’ by a ‘“‘new constitution’’ with a 95.2-
percent “‘majority”’ approval. :

Obviously the same type of “free election” in Greece as
U.S. occupation and its CIA “‘advisers”’ have elevated to a high
degree of perfection in South Vietnam, plus a number of Latin
American military and fascist dictatorships — all in the name
of ‘‘democracy”’.

ESOS
PACIFIC TRIBUNE

s/c) Iribune

‘West Coast edition, Canadian Tribune

Editor—TOM McEWEN Associate Editor—MAURICE RUSH
Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine No. 3, 193 E. Hastings St.,
Vancouver 4, B.C. Phone 685-5288.

Subscription Rate: Canada, $5.00 one year; $2.75 for six months.
North and South America and Commonwealth countries, $6.00 one year.
All other countries, $7.00 one year. Authorized as second class mail by the
Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash.

APPEAL BOARD URGED

Charter of Tenant Rights”

demanded from city hall

“The human rights of the
majority of citizens to suitable
and economic accommodation
must be placed ahead of the
property interests of the
landlords . . . Clearly there is
going to be a housing shortage
and the already immense power
of the landlords will be
increased, unless something is
done to establish a balance,
something real and immediate.”

This was the appeal of
Vancouver’s growing tenant
movement last Wednesday when
Bruce Yorke, acting secretary of
the Vancouver Tenants Organiza-
tion Committee, appeared last
Wednesday before the city
council committee studying the
rental situation. More than 150
people packed city council

‘chambers for the session.

Pointing out that it was the
function of government : ‘‘to
protect the interests of the vast
majority — the 150,000 who
presently are tenants — and to
afford them some reasonable
protection,’ Yorke made the

- following points in his brief:

““A superficial estimation
indicates that rents in this city
have gone up approximately $10
per apartment. per month this
past year. On the other hand our
estimates based on a quick look
at the increase in taxes, is that
total operating costs per
apartment have only gone up
$2.50 to $3.00 per suite per month
inthe past year. . .”’

“What do we propose in the
way of action . . .? Since it has
been established that the city has
the legal authority to enact
rental legislation, we propose
that you recommend that a
tenants bill of rights be drawn up
and given legal authority. What
we are talking about is a Charter
for Tenants, something which
would end our present second-
class status.

“Such a charter would provide
guarantees with regard to leases
and security of tenure, would
require considerable advance
notice for any rent increase,
maintenance and repair
provisions, sanitary and health
protection, and a Rental Appeal
Board where groups of tenants
represented by their
organizations could bring the
light of publicity to bear on the
actual conditions. Let this be the
form of rent regulation that the
City of Vancouver enacts.

“Furthermore, we propose
that the city council could itself
set guidelines on justified rent
increases. It would be no trick at‘
all with IBM equipment, for city
tax records to be utilized, so that
as a bi-product, the average
increase in taxes per suite per
month could be calculated each

year.
é

“Tt is a well known fact that
the total operating costs of
apartments are 2.5 times the
amount of municipal property
taxes. Consequently, if the city
were to obtain the average
increase in taxes per suite per
month it would be very easy to
multiply this by 2.5 to obtain a
good idea of the total increase in
all apartment operating costs.

“Each year the city could
publish this figure and make it
available to the Rental Appeal
Board. Hence ‘control’ would
again be instituted not by a large
body of administrators, but by a
relatively small Board, whose
actions would be subject to
public scrutiny. In our view these
propositions of ours are viable
and we urge that you give them
your serious consideration.”’

Yorke said the tenants
organization is “based upon the
principle that it is necessary for
the tenants to form block
associations to negotiate with
landlords with regard to rents

‘Re-elect Rankin’

More than 40 civic election
workers of the Harry Rankin
Election Committee last Monday
enthusiastically determined to
spare no effort to re-elect
Vancouver’s fighting alderman
in the coming election.

Meeting in the Pender
Auditorium, the meeting also
agreed to give its full support to
the new civic organiztion, COPE
=~ Lhe. -Committee. of
Progressive Electors — which
was set up a few weeks ago to
unite trade unions, ratepayers
and tenant groups. The executive
was instructed to work closely
with COPE in the upcoming
elections.

Opening the meeting
Alderman Rankin pointed to
some of the important issues
which will dominate the
campaign, including the issue of
amalgamation, regional
government, freeways and
housing. Lashing out at TEAM
and the NPA, Rankin said they
have a lot of theoretical ideas but

no sound plan for the City, of.

Vancouver. yj cnelye t

In the discussion which
followed members pointed out
that the committee had helped
establish COPE and will con-
tinue to help the newly-formed
civic political organization — the
committee sees its first
responsibility as that of re-
electing Alderman Rankin.

“We must not take his re-
election for granted — big
business interests want him out
of City Hall,” one executive
member said.

Speakers in the discussion
lauded Ald. Rankin’s
achievements on city council in
his fight on housing, tenants
problems, taxes, rapid transit,
the ward system, amalgamation
and freeways, as well as other
issues.

The new progressive civic
organization, COPE, will hold a
further conference this
Wednesday at the IWA Hall on
Commercial Drive to take plans
a step further for participation in
the December civic election. It is
expected that there will be a

.wide, discussion , on _ program, , del
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issues, as well as other plans.

and rental conditions. . . We see
the combination of public
legislation and tenant
associations as the solution to
the regularization and equali-
zation of conditions and establish-
ment of ‘fair’ rentals.”’

A brief submitted to the city
council committee by the
Vancouver and District Labor
Council urged the city to enact
by-laws or- regulations which
would:

Require landlords to give
reasons for evicting tenants;
require landlords to post rental
rates; require three months
notice of rent increases where no
lease exists; provide one year
leases, at fixed rates, for
responsible tenants; provide
adequate repairs and
maintenance by landlords;
provide penalties for any
landlord found guilty of breaking
these rules; set up a provincial
board of appeal to which tenants
could take complaints of unfair
practices.

Backs city —
beach plan

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

How would you like to see a
waterfront walk-way from
Kitsilan Beach to Alma Street,
complete with a sand beach 100
feet wide, a park and lawn area
50 to 250 feet wide, and parking
area for 624 cars at beach level?

It could become a reality in the
near future. City Council has a
report before it now on the

“subject with a decision likely to

be made this month.

The estimated cost of the
project is $2.1 million plus
riparian (access to water) rights
For another $500,000 a four lane
lower roadway could be added
from. Balsam Street to Alma
Street, but this would’ cut the
width of the park and lawn strip
by 80 feet.

As an alternative: to beach
level parking, Council could
acquire property for parking
between Point Grey Road and
Fourth Ave., but would cost
another $1.6 million,

@

If our policy is to be the
greatest good for the greatest
number, then I think we should
adopt the walk-way scheme and
drop the proposal for a lower
roadway. It’s more important to
have a place where thousands of
people can picnic, swim and sun
tan than it is to have another
roadway for cars.

Our beaches are becoming
more crowded every summer. A
new walk-way, sand beach and
park from Kitsilano would be a
welcome addition. So would an
extension of the beaches at
English Bay, which is another
project that Council should look
into.

City Council will decide on the
Kitsilano-Alma Street walk-way
soon. If you favour the idea as I
do, why not send a letter, brief or
delegation to Council with your

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