A century of the
Nanaimo tradition

by Hal Griffin

Wood and pulp have replaced the coal which is still
Nanaimo’s greatest resource. But the raw pulp produced
by the big Harmac plant shown at left — 600 tons a day —
is exported, and with it the iobs that hold the key to
Nanaimo’s future growth and prosperity.

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ber 26, 1954

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Where will they find jobs?

From Vancouver to Halifax men looking for iobs are anxiously
thronging National Employment Service offices while Prime Minister
Louis St. Laurent, like his predecessor, William Lyon Mackenzie
King, a quarter of a century ago, refuses to recognize their plight
and the need for government action. It is estimated that in Van-
Couver alone 25,000 are without work.

BCE plans to rook
city on natural gas

“The B.C. Electric is planning
to prevent Vancouver citizens
from enjoying the benefits of
Cheap natural gas.” This was
the charge made this week by

Effie Jones, independent candi-
Gate for alderman.~ “The com-
bany intends to sell gas to con-
Sumers at about one dollar per
thousand cubic feet. This means
that the consumer will be charg-
ed, to get it from the main pipe-
line through Vancouver io his
ome, twice as much as it costs
0 pipe it all the way from the
eace Kiver to Vancouver.”
“This typical B.C. Electric
Squeeze is borne out by BCE
Vice-president H. C. Mainwaring’s
statement to the Canadian Insti-
tute of Mining and Metallurgy on
November 15. He said the B.C.
Electric ‘still hopes for a bounti-
ful supply of natural gas at 25

percent below its present. rates
for manufactured gas.’ In other
words, the price would still be
about one dollar per thousand
cubic feet.

“yet Alberta gas is exported
to Butte, Montana, for 10 cents
per thousand cubic feet, and the
Westcoast Transmission Company
revealed that the cost of trans-
porting gas from Edmonton to
Vancouver would be 23.3 cents,
the cost of gathering it 5.9 cents,
bringing the total cost to 29.2
cents per thousand cubic feet.

“Tt would seem to me we have
had enough experience with the
B.C. Electric, particularly on
transit fares, to have learned the
lesson not to tet them get their
hands on this wonderful new
fuel. That is why the issue’ of
public ownership is even more
significant today than at any
iime in the past.”

NATURAL GAS

FOR BS.

FIRST,

LPP DEMANDS

THO

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The Doukhobors’ own story

told by Bert Whyte on page 2

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PT TE aT |

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