Halt to closures demanded More than a dozen delegations pressed Burnaby’s housing com- mittee to place a moratoriym on the closures of illegal basement suites during the current rental ac- commodation crisis in Burnaby Monday night. “We're in a critical situation,” spokesman for the Burnaby Citi- zen’s Association, Dave Fairey told the packed meeting of over 300. Burnaby’s housing inspector has been involved in an, extensive search for illegal suites — many of which are duplexes converted into fourplexes but also many basement suites — and laying charges against the owners. Tenants have been on the short end of the stick, served with evic- tion notices and forced to find non- existent housing with the Lower Mainland vacancy rate approach- ing zero. Betty Griffin, on behalf of the Burnaby Communist Party club, recommended that tenants cease being harassed until better housing is available and that the provincial government take immediate action to provide affordable housing for students attending post-secondary institutions. She appealed to the committee and audience that a housing con- ference be convened ‘“‘to examine the best method of assembling land and financing the kinds of housing best suited to Burnaby’s housing needs.”’ - Students from the Pacific Voca- tional Institute, BCIT and Simon Fraser University stated that their housing needs had not been met by the government and that they were the hardest hit by the building in- spector’s new-found zeal. Over 3,000 SFU students need housing ‘‘right now,’’ and 2,050 PVI students, because of the lack of on-campus accommodation, found illegal basement suites to be the only housing available. Hamish MacKay from the Car- penters Union Local 452 voiced the union’s call for low-cost housing and said that a housing program, funded by all levels of government would not only put people in houses but would put thousands of unemployed carpenters and trades- men back to work. Canadian premiere of two Cuban films: Death of a Bureaucrat (1963) dir. Thomas Gutier- rez Alea @ 4a satiric comedy (60 min.). Arts Cuba (1978) dir. Claude Jutra @ documentary about the arts in Cuba (60 min.). Robson Square Cinema, Robson & Hornby, Vancouver Sat. Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ‘Tickets — $3 advance at Co-op Books or $3.50 at door Sponsored by Cdn. Cuban Friendship Association Scheduled to perform this week in the international Festival of Political Song, six members of Bargain at Half the Price posed for pictures before leaving for Berlin, GDR, site of the Festival. They are, seated at centre, Jim Carlin; clockwise from left, foreground, Craig Phillips, Jamie Gidora, Dave Jensen, Jan Wishinski and musical director Steve Gidora. Socreds aim to raise gas price to oil level Continued from page 1 McClelland did respond, how- ever, to widespread public criticism of B.C. Hydro and to overwhelm- ing public opinion in Northwest B.C. to the Aluminum Company of Canada plan to build a second hydroelectric project, Kemano II, to fuel Alcan’s Kitimat smelter. On Alcan, McClelland an- nounced that ‘‘there will be no more private development of B.C.’s rivers,”’ although this state- ment was qualified by the energy policy document to allow for ex- , ceptions. In an attempt to divert public criticism from B.C. Hydro, Mc- Lelland also announced that the B.C. Energy Commission will be replaced by a new “B.C. Utilities Commission.’ The new commis- sion, he said, ‘‘will be responsible for full regulation of both the elec- oy and gas sections of B.C. Hy- 0.” Rush panned the proposal to regulate Hydro as ‘‘a cosmetic change.”’ Its main purpose is to take public pressure off Hydro, he said, and it ignores the real changes needed in the crown corporation. ““B.C. Hydro should be changed from top to bottom,”’ Rush said. “Tt is now run like a big business concern catering to the needs of the big monopolies. Its structure . should be democratized to include representatives of labor and con- sumers in its leading bodies, and the entire rate structure should be revised to favor the public and not the corporations.”’ The NDP’s D’Arcy said that he had reservations about the dis- 1938 sitdown a documentary film on the post office sitdown is now being prepared. | am looking for photographs and people who were involved. Richard Payment 1845 West 12 Ave. Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2E7 Ph. 733-2322 membering of the energy commis- sion because its public advisory role will now be absorbed into McLel- land’s ministry ‘‘which means the public may not have the same ac- cess to information produced at arms length by the commission.”’ D’Arcy said that the “whole question of energy pricing is left so vague as to make the policy use- less.’’? But Rush said that the sec- tion on energy pricing is ‘‘one of the most serious features of the pol- icy which lays the basis for the gov- ernment to proceed with plans to boost natural gas rates to B.C. con- sumers.”’ ; The energy policy states that “the price of energy commodities must continue to be adjusted to re- flect long-term replacement costs and the value of the resource.”’ It goes on to state that “compelling reasons’ to hold prices below mar- ket levels are outweighed by the | need to secure self-sufficiency. The statement amounts to a sug- gestion that the present two-price system for natural gas which has B.C. consumers paying ‘less than half the export price of natural gas will be ended, Rush said. “‘This is a surrender to the big U.S. oil com- panies who control natural gas pro- duction in B.c. and who have de- manded for some time that natural gas rates be increased to corre- spond in value to oil. This will mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to the oil com- panies,’’ he said. The CP leader said that natural gas prices should be frozen at pres- ent levels to encourage wider use of the resource. Nt The strength of today’s re- form movement in municipal affairs is undisputed. Aldermen like Vancouver’s Harry Rankin, North Vancouver’s Ernie Crist, Burmaby’s Fred Randall and mayors like Coquitlam’s George Laking poll tens of thousands of votes for reform policies. : The individuals, however, impressive as they are, are the voices of a civic reform move- ment in the Lower Mainland go- ing back almost 50 years. That sands of people in ratepayer, te- nant, community and political organizations. And it has been one of the most successful peo- ple’s movements in Canada. A glimpse of the record and some of the past successes has been chronicled in a new book published by a group of veterans of the struggle for civic reform entitled Your Worship, Mem- bers of Council. Produced by the Municipal History Society, headed by retired civic activists Harold Pritchett, Karl Zuker and Jean McKenna, the book is structur- ed around the recollections of individuals who were active in the reform movement from 1940 to the present. Some of those interviewed, like Effie Jones in Vancouver, Harry Ball in Burnaby and Mickey Beagle in Queensbor- ough are pioneers of the pro- gressive civic movement whose organizations were forced to be contended with in the years following the war. Jones led the Civic Reform Association (CRA) in Vancouver through a series of elections culminating in her 1947 campaign for mayor, the now legendary ‘‘high fare Jones — low fare Jones”? cam- paign. The CRA continued to field candidates in later years, one of them a young school board candidate named Harry Rankin. Ball was elected to Burnaby municipal council from 1943 to 1947 running on a straight La- _ Building of civic movement recalled movement has involved thou- ik 6 vou won a "counci. 8 bor Progressive Party (Com- munist Party) ticket when Burn- aby still had a ward system. In 1947 Ball ran for the reeve’s po- sition (mayor) and lost by about 700 votes: Others whose. stories are re- counted in this book are better known. Dusty and Betty Green- well, Bruce Yorke, Ray Gar- neau, Eileen Dailly, Betty Grif- fin, Beth Chobotuck, Wilf Len- nox, Dorothy Lynas and Eunice Parker have records of service going back over the past two decades, and their organizations like the Hastings Community Centre association, the Burnaby Citizens Association and the Association of Coquitlam Electors are still important facets of the Lower Mainland’s community life. Oral history at its best, how- ever, has its limitations, and this book could not be listed as a his- tory, although flashes.of history emerge. Neither it is a guide to municipal issues, although fun- damental issues like taxation, civic democracy and transporta- tion, and past struggles around these issues, are woven into the book’s 100 pages. What makes this book worth seeing are the veterans them- selves who, for the first time, have had at least a part of their story told. The book is on sale at Co-op Books or from any mem- ber of the Municipal Historical Society. —Fred Wilson Zi AG phillip david rankin stone paul mcmurray — barristers & solicitors 500 ford bldg. 193 east hastings st. vancouver, b.c. v6a 1n7 682-7471 co CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING J COMING EVENTS MARCH 29 — Keep this date oper: for annual Mac-Pap celebration. FEB. 18 — Watch election returns at election night social starting at 8 p.m., 4824 Dumfries, Van. Food and refreshments. Adm. $1. Spon- sored by the Kingsway Club. Pro- ceeds to CPF. LEGAL SERVICES Rankin, Stone, McMurray, Bar- risters and Solicitors. 500 Ford Building, 193 East Hastings St., Vancouver 682-7471. COMMERCIAL Jewellery and Watch Repairs. Reasonable charge. Phone 254-7678. Canadians for Democracy in Chile has record, Los Parros Live in Vancouver. $6 each. Phone 254-9797. Turn your old postcards and stamp- ed envelopes into cash. For further info phone 939-0020 or write to: S & H Postcards, 1023 Westmount Dr., Port Moody, B.C. V3H 1L1. Half of proceeds go to the Tribune. ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable. New roofs and alum. gutters, 277-1364 or 277-3352 HALLS FOR RENT RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for rentals. For reserva- tions phone 254-3430. WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL — Available for banquets, meetings, ‘etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or 685-5836: UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL- TURAL CENTRE — 805 East Pen- der St., Vancouver. Available for banquets, weddings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 15, 1980—Page 11