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Seastaane

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RE Fenian Sree amen oo

ae

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1969

SOCRED GIVEAWAY
OF RESOURCES HIT

eee mm 6=SCté‘é#~NNeevércorrce’s
_ policy proposed

The giveaway of B.C.’s resources to foreign and
Canadian monopolies by the Bennett government, and
the fight to restore public control of these resources and
use them to create modern processing industries and
thousands of new jobs in B.C., is the central issue in the

arin tines

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Saati eigenen Iaecag

——aenernidatseseiaenee enti .

amrmer~

ag

“let the nations explore the planets together in peace,’’ was the message on this impressive float
€ntered in the 1961 May Day parade by Vancouver's Civic Outside Workers. The slogan is even more all natural resources to the

id today as man moves ever closer to opening up the vast areas of space to exploration.

val

THOUSANDS LOSE VOTE

present election campaign.

This was the stand taken by
the B.C. Communist Party early
this week in its election platform
announced by provincial leader
Nigel Morgan following a
meeting of the party’s provin-
cial executive.

Charging the Bennett govern-
ment with having acted as the
broker for the big foreign
monopolies to which it has
turned over most of our forest,
mineral, oil and _ water
resources, the Communist
platform calls for “the return of

MOOK On

ExPLOR’

people, and their development

Socreds scuttling democracy

va a desperate bid for re-election August 27 Premier
ro Bennett and the Socred government is riding
sUghshod over the democratic rights of British
Olumbia citizens.
ee voters barely more than a week to get on the voters ans
Columbia ae day last Tuesday, tens of thousands ca m
Ole on aN have been disenfranchised and denied an opportunity
“tection day.

Addi ; : : :
tha dding to this scandalous situation was an announcement this week

the provincial cabinet had approved—only one month before the
“idi : a complete reshuffling of polling divisions in 41 of B.C.’s 55
ue: Many of these ridings are held by opposition parties and

alee: 4re borderline ridings which could go either way in the
‘Hon,

t Be Wholesale reorganization of polling divisions was calculated to
Parties monkey wrench into the election machinery of Sppgsinon
ra a Particularly the NDP. The Socred government knew about
Pry posed changes for some months — giving eu Ue to
ete Nze their election machinery — but opposition parties were
“ompletely in the dark.

singe? have been no changes in the polling divisions in B.C, ridings
~ 1966. An official in the chief electoral office said that many
S$ could have been made earlier but had been held up by the
0 ele ' Obviously the reason was to announce them all at once, close
_ clon day, to achieve the greatest advantage for the Socreds.

Change

The polling division changes mean that opposition parties will not
have proper maps or voters lists of people in polling divisions, with
the result that election work will be thrown into confusion.

The announcement by Premier Bennett of a mid-summer election
has also caught thousands of people away from home on holiday, with
no way to find out whether they were on the voters list and no
opportunity to do anything about it. If they were not on the voters list
by Tuesday, July 29 there is no way they can now get their vote.

An indication of the problems created by Premier Bennett’s snap
announcement was revealed in the Comox riding, a strong working
class area. Enumerators had only completed 10 to 20 percent of their
work when the election was called and enumeration stopped.

Officials of the Campbell River and Courtenay Labor Council
charged this week that hundreds of voters will lose their franchise.
One of them said that residents have no way of knowing if they are
on the voters list and post office officials have told them that it is
doubtful that all cards confirming a voter is on the list will be
delivered by postmen before the Tuesday deadline.

It is estimated that upwards of 5,000 fishermen may be in danger of
losing their votes along with thousands more among loggers, miners
and construction workers. University student spokesmen have also
condemned the calling of the election at a time when many of them
will find it impossible to vote.

This week officials of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers
Union demanded establishment of advance polls in many fishing
centres to enable those who managed to get registered to vote.

through democratically con-
trolled Crown corporations.

“Put the people’s interest first
by processing and manu-
facturing of resources in B.C. to
provide thousands of new jobs
and obtain a better return for the
people from our rich and varied

resources,” says a key plank in

the platform.

The platform also calls for a
graduated tax on resources
industries with the aim of
encouraging BC. manu-
facturing. It proposes a capital
gains. tax and an increase in the
provincial levy on _ large
corporate and private incomes.

Urging tax relief for the
public, the program calls for
repeal of the iniquitous Provin-
cial Sales Tax which would save
the people $176 million a year on
living and construction costs.

Other key planks in the Com-
munist platform call for:

@ A new deal for education by
repeal of the School Act amend-
ments (Bill 86); adequate allow-
ances for education, hospital,
low-cost housing, welfare and
capital costs for freeways and
inter-urban transit facilities: an
end to university tuition fees
and an annual stipend for
students.

@ Repeal Bill 33 and all
restrictive labor laws and outlaw
the use of injunctions in labor
disputes; a Labor Bill of Rights
to guarantee freedom of associa-
tion, full collective bargaining
for all, the right to strike and
picket, and a voice for labor in
planning and determining the
benefits of automation;
bringing of minimum wage and
labor standards into line with

See RESOURCES, pg. 8