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the premises, since the charge could only
be proven if the landlord failed to re-rent
the dwelling within two months at a rate
exceeding 90 per cent of what was sought
of the original tenant.

A $30 fee is charged for use of the arbi-

trator. But the bill allows either party to
Opt out of the process, giving landlords the
advantage and forcing tenants to seek re-
dress through the courts for items such as
faulty plumbing and broken refrigerators,
In addition to evictions.
_ Landlords are limited to one rent
Mcrease within a twelve-month period,
with three months notice required for
most dwellings and six months notice for
most mobile home pads. But there is no
ceiling on the amount of increases, which
have averaged at least twice the amount of
Current cost-of-living increases, the coali-
tion charges.

The last of rent controls, which pro-
tected lower-rent dwellings, were abol-
ished by order-in-council last July. Rent
Teview, a less satisfactory process but
which still constituted some form of con-
trol on rents, is now eliminated along with
the Rentalsman.

For almost any rent hike, tenants must
now take the landlord to court, involving
Costly legal fees that will be prohibitive to
Most tenants affected by rent hikes —
those in lower rent dwellings, where a
vacancy rate of less than one per cent
prevails.

_ Bill 19 applies new provisions to evic-
tions, allowing landlords to oust tenants
for various reasons, such as conversion of

4 rental unit or owner‘occupancy. Land-

Eviction still issue
in new tenancy bill

lords may now evict tenants upon serving
two months notice, or six months in the
case of mobile home owners.

The bill also introduces a new
concept — the “fixed term tenancy agree-
ment” whereby tenants automatically
vacate after an agreed upon period of
time. : j
““What else is that but introducing evic-
tion without cause through the back
door?” asked Jim Quail, chairman of the
tenants coalition, at the demonstration
outside the Rentalsman’s office.

Quail told the demonstrators, repres-
enting various tenant groups and member
organizations of the Lower Mainland
Solidarity Coalition, that the new bill inno
way reflected demands placed by tenants
during the period of so-called consultation
after Bill 5 was withdrawn.

“This new act will function as little
other than an eviction mill,” said Lane.
“T andlords will be able to evict tenants for
the most frivolous reasons, and get rid of
tenants who have been standing up for
their rights.”

“There is no restraint in public expendi-
tures here. The courts will be full time
doing the job formerly done by the Ren-
talsman at less time and less expense,” said
the B.C. Fed’s Kramer.

Lane also noted the bill will force more
costs onto municipalities through increased
inspections under their standards-of-main-
tenance bylaws.

The coalition demands the scrapping of
Bill 19, and its “Charter of Rights” calls
for rent controls, return of the Rentals-
man’s office, and protection for hotel and
rooming house residents.

Tenants Rights Action Centre co-ordinator David Lane (c) and Downtown Eastside Residents
Association worker Sue Harris (r) were among some 50 people who demonstrated against the
Socreds’ new tenants’ bill outside the Rentalsman’s office in Vancouver Apr. 6.

‘Build Solidarity Il’, urges CP meet

The people of B.C. need Solidarity II,
Says B.C.’s leading Communist.
€ Socred-big business alliance and the
new fightback were the key features of the
penal address B.C. Communist Party
fader Maurice Rush gave to delegates
aS for the 25th biennial convention of
€ provincial wing of the Communist Party
of Canada last weekend.
Solidarity, with all its weaknesses and
ack of firm leadership by some of its lead-
€rs, demonstrated the power of united mass
action,” Rush told the convention delegates
In a wide-ranging speech that centred on
Political development in B.C. during the last
0 months.

“What is needed today is a massive re-

newal of the Solidarity fightback — a
Solidarity II to meet the stepped up right-
Wing offensive. This is the most urgent task
facing the labor and democratic movements
In B.C. And it is the central issue to which
this convention must address itself,” said
Rush in setting the tone for the three-day
Meeting.
__ The party leader’s speech set the Solidar-
ity fightback against the backdrop of B.C.
a8 a province firmly in the grip of multi-
National corporations with all the attendant
ills that economic setup implies.

Utilizing facts to provide both an analysis
and a warning, Rush pointed to the rela-
tionship between the provincial govern-
Ment, the Employers Council of B.C., and
the Fraser Institute as partners in the crime
Of keeping the resource-rich province in a
hewer-of-wood, drawer-of-water state of
industry. ;

The 76 delegates from party clubs around
B.C., joined on: the opening night by dozens
of guests gave the 50-year veteran of the
communist movement a standing ovation
following the address.

Earlier, Vancouver alderman Harry
Rankin opened the convention by bringing
greetings from what he called “the best
parts” of city. council, school and parks
boards, referring to the elected officials
from the Committee of Progressive Electors.

City council’s progressive majority has
maintained city services in the face of the
Socreds’ cutbacks, and has spoken out sev-
eral times for world peace, he noted:
“That’s our job here, and your job to spread
this around B.C. It’s a massive task, but we
either take it on or succumb to what Victo-
ria orders.”

“The new budget brought down by the ~

Socreds in the current session of the legisla-
ture carries on where the July 7 (1983)
budget left off. . .it represents a vicious atack
against living standards and social security,
heaping new heavy taxes on the public,
while making giant concessions to the multi-
national corporations and the banks,” said
Rush.

Added to that is “the second new feature
of the right-wing offensive. . tthe attack now
underway against trade unionism in B.C.

“The drive against the unions is an
important part of the right wing’s objective
to make B.C. an area of high profits on
investment for the multinational corpora-
tions and to create conditions for the exploi-
tation of resources and labor similar to
those existing in third-world countries,”
Rush warned. 5

Rush noted the threatened Labor Cod
changes — outlined in the leaked docu-
ment “Draft 34” — which would outlaw
secondary picketing and political protests,

. among other hard-won rights.

Meanwhile, “the employers are demand-
ing that unions accept long-term agree-
ments. ..without any increase in wages or
only minor increases, and are demanding

pa

UFAWU’s Bert Ogden takes to the microphone to discu:

ss problems of the peace movement and

labor issues at the B.C. Communist Party convention last weekend.

workers give up many rights won over years
of struggle,” said Rush.

The third area of the Socred-employer
offensive is the policy of privatization, said
the CP leader.

“The Socred government and the big
multinationals are as one in their determi-
nation to retain B.C. as a raw material hin-
terland...these multinationals want to
make maximum profits by exploiting B.C.’s
vast but rapidly declining resources (while)
exporting capital to other parts of the world

where they can move to once our resources _

have been used up.”

All of B.C.’s resources face extinction —
forestry through Tree Farm licencing to
large corporations and new regulations

_ allowing self regulation by the companies:

energy through the sale of “firm” hydro
power to the U.S. and the cancellation of
the Crown corporation, B.C. Petroleum,
which regulated natural gas sales; and the
fishery through offshore oil exploration and
other measures.

To that is added the sellout of B.C.’s
mineral resources, such as coal through the
ruinous northeast coal project, and unpro-
cessed iron ore and copper, he noted.

“The alternative proposed by the Com-
munist Party is a new economic policy in
which the province will use its resources to
create manufacturing and processing indus-
tries to maximize utilization of resources
and manage them to provide jobs, security

See CP page 11

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 11, 1984 e 3