Problems
ignored
in budget —

Continued from page 1

In fact MacEachen advanced no
plan of any kind. His only proposal
* was to terminate MURBs — tax
breaks constituting a subsidy to
private interests building rental ac-
commodation — at Dec. 31, and he
was compelled to withdraw this
three days later in face of a con-
certed threat by builders across the
country to halt work on all con-
struction projects.

. Despite the deepening recession,
MacEachen offered no govern-
ment plans to provide jobs for the
unemployed, for whom he held out
prospects of continuing unemploy-
ment at a rate of 7.8 percent.

Nor did he forecast any re-
duction in the rate of inflation,
which he expects to run at 9.5 per-
cent over the next six years.

Speaking to the AFL-CIO cen-
tennial convention in New York
the same day MacEachen pre-
sented his budget, CLC president

Dennis McDermott said it contain: ~

ed ‘‘nothing about economic
reform, nothing about economic

stimulation, no help for the .

homeowner, nothing about in-
dustrial strategy, nothing about
‘unemployment, nothing about
anything.”

In Toronto, the Communist
Party’s central executive com-

mittee said it was “‘evident that’

both the Liberal and Tory parties
have no solution to the crisis except
~ to put it on the backs of the
people.”

Denouncing the budget for its
pretensions to “‘restraint, equity
and renewal,’’ the statement
countered: ~ .

“Restraint? Only the working
people are suffering restraint
through unemployment and a de-
cline in living standards.

“Equity? The rich are getting
richer and the poor poorer. Ten
percent of the population earn as
much as the other 90 percent. The
pretence that the budget will hurt
the rich is so much hogwash. There
is no attack on corporate wealth,
no measure to ensure a genuine
redistribution of income. Wages
continue to lag behind the rate of
inflation.””

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Parley shows women far
from attaining equality

Here’s a quiz for you to test
your knowledge about the condi-
tions of women in the labor force.

Do women now get paid as
much as men for work of com-
parable value? Are women now
quickly moving out of the female
job ghetto into well- paying non-
traditional work? Do govern-
ments treat their women
employees better than private sec-
tor employees? Is the overall
economic situation of Canadian
women improving?

. If any of your answers to these
questions is YES, then you’re all
wrong! This was made abundant-
ly clear at a conference on
Nov. 13 called by the Vancouver
Status of Women, Women in
Trades and the B.C. Federation
of Students. Representatives of
federal, provincial and municipal
governments and MLAs and
MPs were also invited to sit on
panels at the conference. Alder-
man Bruce Eriksen and I also at-
tended and participated in the dis-
cussion. The mood of those spon-
soring the conference was one of
alarm and anger, and for good
reason too.

The brief presented by the
Vancouver Status of Women
pointed out that the status*of
Canadian women in the work
force continues to deteriorate, in
spite of all the fine talk by politi-
cians about equality in our coun-

'} try. Women workers continue to

be concentrated in the low paying
jobs which offer little security and
no opportunities for advance-
ment.

Many women in our country
who want to work can’t do so, or
are forced to accept part time
work because low cost quality
child care is not available for
them. _

Girls and young women are not
educated to become engineers,
scientists, technicians or skilled
tradespersons — jobs that offer a
higher degree of economic securi-
ty. Instead they continue to be
steered into the traditional oc-
cupations for women: secretarial,
clerical, sales,-service, teaching
and nursing. These occupations

are rapidly disappearing with the
growth of micro-chip technology.
In addition to that, the policy of
governments at all levels today is
to cut back in social spending and
this hits women workers the
hardest.

On the job, women workers
continue to suffer sexual harass-
ment from their supervisors and
others.

Speakers at the conference also
pointed out, and brought along
the statistics to prove it, that
federal and provincial cutbacks in

Harry
Rankin

er

for women to get into the higher
paying jobs that have been closed
to them.

Pacific Vocational Institute is
cutting back apprenticeship train-
ing programs from 705 seats to

268; Malaspina College from 312 _

to 132; Camosun College from
123 to 84; Selkirk College from 64
to 34; Northwest Community
College from 55 to 30; Capilano
College is reduCing its quota by 69
seats and Vancouver Vocational
Institute by 320 seats. —

The Vancouver Status of
Women pointed out that what
women in Canada need includes
the following:

~ @ Quality, low cost childcare

at the workplace and at training -

and educational institutions;

@ Mandatory programs. for
the hiring and advancement-of
women in both the private and
public sector;

@ A national retraining pro-
gram for clerical and service
workers who are being made
redundant by technological
change; _

@ Mandatory programs in all
educational institutions so that

make it even more difficult now.

women have access to engineer-
ing, applied science, technology
and skilled trades training;

@ Guaranteed income while
on training programs;

@ Legal protection against
sexual harassment.

One of the immediate needs of
course, is to conduct a fight
against the cutbacks in training
programs, cutbacks being in-
stituted by both the federal and
provincial governments. It’s
worth pointing out that while the

federal government in its Nov. 12

budget cut back grants for social
services (health and education
among them) by some $500
million, it increased arms expen-

ditures by 38 percent bringing.

them to $7,000 million. This extra
$2 billion for. war, added because
of pressure from those two insane
nuclear war advocates in the U.S.

— Reagan and Haig — is money |

down the drain, only increasing
the prospect of an early destruc-
tion of the world. Canadians

-must realize that we can’t have

both bombs and butter. If we’re

- going to increase our arms expen-

ditures, then more cuts in living
standards will result. It’s us or the
bombs and under present policies
the bombs are winning out.
COPE aldermen on city coun-
cil will.do what we can to help
achieve equality for women in the
work place and Bruce Ericksen
and I will be raising this question
in council soon. One of the ques-

tions that city council must face

up to when negotiations for a new
collective agreement open up next
year is equal pay for equal work
for all city employees. That
means, for starters, an equal base
rate for both inside and outside
employees.

.| dova and Powell streets. We

from Vancouver alderman Bruce Eriksen toward building his Brit-
ish Columbia equivalent of the Ontario Conservatives’ ‘‘Big Blue
Machine,” he need not bother asking. He’s already had one.

In its current fund-raising campaign, Social Credit is distributing
pamphlets throughout the province offering a “‘free gift’? (No, Vir-
ginia, it’s not a lump of coal) to all contributors.

The pamphlet states: “‘The British Columbia Social Credit Party
would like to send all who contribute a free gift of a gold-colored, pro-
vincial contour lapel pin.” ;

When Eriksen saw the pamphlet he was so moved by Smith’s appeal
that he decided to send him two Gracie bucks, issued by the Downtown
Eastside Residents Association and bearing the advice: ‘‘Present this at
any welfare office. Lose $50 a month. Do not pass Go.””

His accompanying note’said,,“‘I hope this will do as much good for.
the Social Credit party as the government has done for the people on

welfare.”’
Ex

F

| f Social Credit president Bernie Smith is expecting to get a donation.

_PEOPLE AND ISSUES

In due course Eriksen received a letter of thanks from Smith and his
lapel pin. “‘Obviously they’ll take anything as a contribution,”’ he says.
“People should send them more Gracie bucks.”’

The only question now is what color best describes Social Credit’s

renovated political machine. One of our readers suggests gold, the

symbolism of which would be appreciated by its corporate beneficiar- ~

ies and benefactors. But considering the party’s prospects, we think
black is the only appropriate color. ; a
* * * ae *

Ww: can remember Jack Davis speaking as federal minister of fisheries
to a UFAWU convention some years ago and telling fishermen
critical of his policies, ‘I don’t care if 99 percent of you are against me,
I am convinced I am right.”” He was wrong, as only arrogant techno-
crats who ignore the human factor can be wrong, and his Davis Plan
now is generally recognized as having been disastrous for the fishing in-
dustry. ;

But Davis is still around, as Socred MLA for North Vancouver-Sey-
mour and chairman of the Rapid Transit ’86 committee, which opened

- astorefront office at 2614 Commercial Drive last week.

At the official opening, Davis exuded confidence that the proposed
elevated rapid transit line will not be as disastrous as its critics believe —
and the critics inclu
majority of citizens. His recitation of potential benefits for property
owners, however, revealed to whom heis listening, just as he listened to
the B.C. Packers fishing monopoly, which profited handsomely from
the disastrous Davis Plan.

~ Missing from the Tribune’s mast-
head as associate editor Fred Wil-
son leaves to accept an appoint-—

-coverage and analysis of civic and

virtually all the residents affected, let alone the - } ’ municipal affairs,

fin will be contributing material un- _

pected early in the new year.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOV. 20, 1981—Page 2-

want the
BC Place |
traffic’ —

’ Don Larson, co-chair of Save
the Downtown Eastside Com-]
mittee, writes: We would like to
express our concern at any poss-
ibility of car traffic being sent in
the direction of the Downtown
Eastside from B.C. Place.

People -of the Downtown
Eastside will not be spectators at
B.C. Place events such as pro}
football and soccer games. They

should they bear the pressure of |
any traffic flow from the B.C.
Place stadium.

Five thousand out of a total
7,000 Downtown Eastside resi-
dents are elderly. We feel that]
there would be a real danger, es-}
pecially at night, from automo-|
bile traffic coming from the
60,000-seat B.C. Place facility. |

_ Traffic in the area is already

trailer trucks regularly clog the |
streets. A further increase in}
traffic from such a large facility
would simply not be acceptable
to this community.

shown by Greater Vancouver |
commuters as they move
through this community. The
traffic light at Main and Hast-
ings and the two immediate
lights on Hastings to the west are |
regularly beaten by vehicle traf-
fic. Itis as if drivers don’t believe |
that pedestrians walking in this
area are human beings.
We do not need more traffic}
moving onto Hastings, Cor-]

need less traffic; and we need a}
strong anti-eviction bylaw. Fi-
nally, weneed to protest the lack
of an early social planning study |
on the effect of the whole B.C. }
Place project on all the sur-
rounding satellite communities.

Wilson takes

post for CP

A well-known name will now be

ment as organizational secretary
for the B.C. provincial committee
of the Communist Party. =

Wilson came to the paper in De

cember, 1972 as business and circu-
lation manager and has been on the

staff since that time except for’a

year in 1976 when he left to take 2

~ position in Toronto as general sec-
retary of the Young Communist

League. He returned following 4
vacancy in 1977 and was soon after
appointed associate editor.

in several areas, but was instru-—
mental in developing the paper’s

Former Tribune editor Hal Grif-

also rarely own cars — so why} |

heavy. Cars, buses and semi-| |

We would also protest the}
lack of basic respect already}

j

-. Asastaff writer hewrote articles »

til a new appointment is made, ex-

a