PUC ruling ires Prince George PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. People in this city who voted in favor of Prince George Gas Company to supply natural gas, and turned down a bid by Inland Natural Gas Co, Lid., are irate becauss of a Public Utilities Commission decision this week ordering Prince George Gas Company to buy its gas from Inland, which in turn gets it Pulp-Sulphite IWA confer British | Columbia’s _ biggest union—International ‘Woodwork- ers of America — and Pulp and Sulphite Workers will consider a merger in line with plans for the two internationals to merge in the United States. Pulp and Sulphite, although it has only 5,500 members in the province as against IWA’s 34,000 | is the biggest union internation- ally, with ‘160,000 members to IWA’s 95,000. Merger talks between the two international unions will begin July 12 in Chicago, with Can- adian representatives of both unions present. Earlier this year, while visit- ing Vancouver, IWA international president Al Hartung spoke of plans for an eventual amalga- mation of 2,500,000 unionists covering the entire woodwork- ing industry from stump to finish- ed product. ROOFING Duroid, Tar and Gravel Gutters and Downpipes Reasonable NICK BITZ AL. 4141 E RECTOR CIGAR _ Only Union Made Cigar in Vancouver. Hand Rolled Finest in Dutch & Havana Tobacco SOLD AT HOTELS or 214 Union St., Vancouver CET Th Vancouver 4, B.C. Please enter m TRIBUNE. Clip and Mail Circulation Department Tribune Publishing Company, Ltd. Suite 6 - 426 Main Street, y subscription to the PACIFIC from _ Westcoast Distribution Company Ltd. . Prince George Gas Company had expected to buy direct from Westcoast and sell gas at a low price to consumers, but the PUC announced that Westcoast is only willing to sell to Inland, an as- sociated firm. “Prince George Gas will pay to Inland, in the initial years at least, a price adequate to ensure that a contribution will be made by consumers in Prince George to the overall costs of that part of the Inland system but for the creation of which} they might never have been in a position to receive gas. at all, ruled the PUC. ‘ So Prince George Gas Company has to pay through the nose to the “middleman” instead of buy- ing directly from Westcoast. This week Inland was awarded franchises. to supply natural gas to 25 interior B.C. communities. They are: Quesnel,Williams Lake, Merritt, Savona, North Kamloops, Sal- mon Arm, District of Salmon Arm, Enderby, Armstrong, Dis- trict of Spallumcheen, Vernon, Glenmore, Kelowna, Westbank, Peachland, Summerland, Pentic- ton, Oliver, | Osoyoos, Grand Forks, Trail, Warfield, Rossland, Kinnaird and Castlegar. The PUC withheld final ap- proval at Kamloops where In- land’s application may be op- posed. Pipeline drivers walk off jobs Some 70 truck drivers this week walked off their hauling jobs on the gas pipeline through- out the Fraser Valley, protes- ting against “no agreement with the company after eight months of negotiations.” ‘ Drivers want B.C. wage rates of $2 an hour, instead of the $1.73 paid by the pipeline company. “The pipeline _ people oan ecial privileges it is impossible He grant,” said Joe Witeford, business agent of Local 213, Building Material and Fuel Truck Drivers. ed $4 for one year (_] $2.25 for 6 months [] HAWKES AVE. WARD L. BuRRARD KING EDWARD BurRaARD INLET CYPRESS WaRD ‘T. GULF OF GEOREIA. FRASER Si. ive-ward system advocated by Effie Arbitrary action of Vancouver City Council in restricting debate on changes in civic government and coming up with an undemocratic ‘‘four-man salaried board’ ad- ministration decision was blasted this week by Effie Jones, president of Civic Reform Association, one of the organizations which desired to place its views before council but was prevented from doing so. The NPA-dominated council reached its decision following discussions on briefs submitted by Vancouver Board of Trade, the general purposes committee and Ald. George Cunningham. A Civic Reform Association brief was never discussed, and CRA spokesmen were given no opportunity to present their views. The plan cooked up by city council will entrust civic admin- istration to a four-man board composed of the mayor, one al- derman (on “full time” pay) and two top civic officials (probably city comptroller Frank Jones and city engineer John Oliver). - ' The board will “sit” continu- ously and form a new department which will have jurisdiction over all other departments. City council may also be in- creased to 12 members, with three-year terms and four alder- men elected annually. This would tend to tighten Non-Partisan As- sociation control. : “Vancouver citizens must not let city council put through this reactionary scheme,” said CRA president Effie Jones. “It comes close to containing 337 West Pender St. WEDNESDAY CLOSING Commencing Wednesday, June 20 until further notice We will be closed all day Wednesday PEOPLE'S CO-OP BOOKSTORE all the undemocratic features of the rejected city manager plan. In place of one appoint- ed manager, it has a small com- mission running the city, with council acting as a rubber stamp.” Vancouver needs a larger coun- cil, but aldermen should be elect- ed from wards, continued Mrs. Jones. The CRA brief proposed division of the city into five wards. “With the absence of a ward system, citizens have no way of taking up problems except by placing them _ directly before council,” said Mrs. Jones. “Mon- treal, Toronto and Winnipeg all have ward systems, and Vancou- ver is the only large Canadian city lagging behind.” A ward system in Vancouver would have these advantages: @ Make it possible for citizens and organizations to take matters up directly with their aldermen. - @ Ensure representation to all parts of the city and over- come a situation such as lack of representation for eastern sections of the city. It would MA. 5836 June 1, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 7 overcome the possibility of one part of the city electing all or nearly all representa- tives. @ It would make elections more democratic in that a citizen seeking office would not have to rely on a strong city-wide organization with large financial resources to be elected. “The ward system is a proven form of civic democracy which is widely used in Britain and has proven its value in civic govern- ment and in promoting civic con- sciousness among the people,” continued Mrs. Jones. “Vancouver citizens must pro- test city council’s plan to restrict democracy, and demand introduc- tion of a ward system along these lines: five large wards with two aldermen elected from each ward, plus a Board of Control of four members and the Mayor to be elected by city wide vote. The board of control would function as the executive of the council, as in other cities. “This proposal would provide Vancouver with a city council of 15 members, which is still not too large when compared with other cities, : “Variations of these proposals to give Vancouver a larger coun- cil would also be favored by Civic Reform Association. “It is the opinion of the CRA that this plan would mark a big step forward to more democratic and efficient civic government.” Delegates to the 79,000-mem- ber Vancouver, Lower Main- land Trades and Labor Council will probably discuss the city council plan at their next meet- ing June 5.