Westin e

Auninde

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1972

Ss CORPORATIONS

VOL. 33 No. 47

DEFY B.C. PUBLIC

[

——

COPE aisinelion hailed

ANGIE DENNIS, nominated
November 14 to represent
COPE in the  mayoralty
contest, has been greeted all
over Vancouver as the real
expression of the demand in
this campaign for a change of
policy at City Hall.

The 29-year-old teacher,
already proving to bea strong
contender for the office of
mayor, has had wide publicity
including several appear-
ances on television. Support
from trade unions, tenant's
groups and pensioners’ organi-
zations has affirmed her state
ment that “the time has come
for the average citizen to be
represented in civic govern-
ment.”

(See COPE campaign pg.
12)

City labor backs Rankin

Delegates from the Van-
Couver and District Labor
Council adopted a motion at
their meeting Tuesday night
which calls for labor’s endorse-
ment of incumbent alderman
Harry Rankin in the Vancouver
Civic election. The motion,
presented during the Executive
report, noted Rankin’s con-
Sistent ‘ ‘progressive and pro-
labor position.”

Also included in the motion
Was a further recommendation
that local unions ‘‘choose and
endorse progressives of their
Own choice.’’ Scores of letters
had been received from trade
unions asking for endorsement
of COPE. Another letter, from
the United Steelworkers, called
upon the Council to uphold poli-
Cies and principles of the Cana-
dian Labor Congress and
endorse the NDP.

In the debate that followed the
Presentation of the motion,
NDP supporters among the dele-
gates betrayed the divisive
Nature of the Area Council’s
decision to runa full slate. John
Squire, Local 580, Retail, Whole-
sale and Department Store

4

Union, called upon the delegates
that “if they couldn’t vote for the
NDP, at least don’t vote for
COPE.”’ He emphasized his
rejection of Harry Rankin by

BRUCE YORKE, tenant's leader
and COPE aldermanic candidate
this week challenged  state-
ments by TEAM’s mayorality
candidate Art Phillips. See story
on page 12.

shouting his negative vote when
the question was put.

Rising to support the motion,
Jim Malange, Local 115, Oper-
ating Engineers, pointed out
that ‘‘after the smoke clears
from the campaign, we wanta
functioning council.’ COPE has
done everything in _ their
power,’ hesaid, “‘to bring about
unity. What other position can
we take?”’

Despite vociferous opposition
from a handful of delegates, the
motion passed by an_ over-
whelming majority.

Letters were also received
from other municipal groups
requesting endorsement. The
North Vancouver Association
for Community Action, succes-
sors to the old Labor Election
Committee, was endorsed and
received a $100 donation from
the Council.

The Burnaby Citizen’s As-
sociation was also endorsed and
notice of motion was given fora
$500 donation, the same as inthe
previous elections. Delegates
also gave support to Jim Dugan,
an aldermanic candidate in

Richmond.

B.C. Tel & Westcoast
to fight takeovers

By MAURICE RUSH

Two giant U.S. corporations have served notice on
the people of B-C. that they intend to defy public opinion
and the NDP government and fight any move to place

them under public ownership.

The twoareB.C. Teland West-
coast Transmission. Both are
U.S.-owned companies which
dominate their respective
utility fields in B.C.

First to throw out the chal-
lenge to the people of B.C. was
B.C. Tel. On Tuesday, Nov. 14,
company president J. Ernest
Richardson told shareholders
in a report on the company’s
operations that ‘‘shareholders
should have confidence that we
will take every step necessary
to protect their interests’ to
prevent the company being
placed under public ownership.

He was followed two days
later, on Thursday, Nov. 16,
with a similar statement from
Westcoast Transmission chair-
man Kelly Gibson. In his report
to company _ shareholders,
Gibson defied the provincial
government and said that “‘the
provincial legislature does not
have the constitutional power to
expropriate either the shares or
the assets of the company.”’

Gibson promised _ share-
holders that the company was
determined to contest any
provincial expropriation at-
tempt and indicated that high-
priced legal counsel had been
hired to fight any takeover bid.

Premier Dave Barrett and the
NDP pledged during the provin
cialelection campaign that B.C.
Tel would be placed under public
ownership during the term of
office of an NDP government.
After the election, in October,

Premier Barrett repeated that
B.C. Tel would be taken over
within the next four years and
indicated that his government
can be expected to consider also
the takeover of Westcoast
Transmission.

B.C. Tel is a subsidiary of the
New York General Telephone
and Electronics Corp., and has
an almost exclusive monopoly
over telephone services in B.C.
Through its interlocking con-
nections with subsidiary com-
panies, all owned by the New
York octopus, the B.C. public
have been milked by excessive
phone rates which are among the
highest in Canada.

B.C. Tel must have-some in-
fluential friends in Ottawa be-
cause last August it was granted
a rate increase by the Federal
Transport Commission even
though the Commission said it
did not find complete justi-
fication for the difference in
rates charged by B.C. Tel com-
pared to rates in other parts of
Canada.

The public have long de-
manded that B.C. Tel be taken
over and made a public utility.
But the Socred government
refused.

Westcoast Transmission,
which has almost a complete
monopoly over natural gas in
B.C., and exports huge quan-
tities of B.C. gas to the U.S. at
rates lower than that paid by

See B.C. TEL. pg. 12

B.C. Fed set stage

for labor advance

—See analysis, pg. 11