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Lede amar 3 —
REJECT SPLITTERS

NDP parley endorses

civic election unity

By MABEL RICHARDS

Despite the frantic efforts of
Trotskyist League for Socialist
Action personell within the New
Democratic Party, rank and file
delegates to the latter's annual
city convention voted te
approach COPE with the view of
working out a joint program for
entering candidates in the next
civic election.

Ignoring the fact that the
Committee of Progressive
Electors grew out of organized
labor through action of the
Vancouver Labor Council, the
Trotskyist element insisted that
the NDP should run a full slate of
candidates in the civic field,
presumably with or without the
sanction of organized labor.

Two delegates from Local 1-
217 of the I.W.A. made it clear
where they stood. One of them
said, “‘As a trade unionist, a
member of the NDP and a
supporter of COPE, I find no_
difference in principle in what
we fight for in the field of civic
politics.”

He pointed out that COPE had
grown out of the organized labor
movement, and that it was
completely possible to work in
close liaison with them to oust
NPA from city hall.

The other delegate from IWA
said that NDP membership
should not indulge in wishful
thinking ; that the co-operation of
.all progressive elements in the
city was necessary to win
representation on council.

Harold Rittberg, of the Little
.Mountain NDP club, wrote in a
pre-convention constituency
newsletter: ‘““COPE’s represen-

- tative on council, Harry Rankin,

needs to be supplemented, not
competed against. We do not and
should not split the progressive
vote arrayed against the NPA
and TEAM. The COPE program

and ours are virtually identical.
Therefore, our party should form
a coalition with COPE to present
our views and work with them to
bring the view of the people to
city hall.’’ He spoke in the same
vein during the discussions at the
convention.

“If ever a political party
seemed imbued with the, death
wish, it is ours’, said a woman
delegates. ‘‘There seems to be in
the NDP a growing anti-labor
bias, and we are growing more
middle-class all the time.”

Another woman spoke on the
need for grass roots unity if the
NPA are to be defeated. A long-
time member of the Ratepayers
Associations which have done
much to expose tax inequalities
in city management, this
spokesman reminded the NDP
membership that there has long
been a need for a united front of
progressive electors in
Vancouver.

In answer to one of the
Trotskyist spokesmen urging a
full slate of NDP candidates, a
delegate said sharply, ‘‘If he
wants to burn himself like a
Buddhist monk in front of city
hall, let him go ahead, but let
him doit alone. . .”

At the close of the first day of
the convention there were’ 75
delegates registered. Four of

them were from affiliated labor

unions.

Not all the delegates approved
the entry of the NDP into civic
politics. The decisions made at
the city convention still have to
be approved by the provincial
council.

Asked for his reaction to the
NDP decision to enter city
politics in co-operation with
COPE, Alderman Harry Rankin
said he welcomed any move that
would bring about unity to defeat
the reactionaries in city hall.

March for Millions Walk

As many as 50,000 people may take part in the Vancouver Miles
for Millions Walk which takes place on Sunday, May 3. The 25-mile
trek will get under way from the Seaforth Armouries at the south end

of the Burrard St. bridge.

Proceeds from the Vancouver walk last year went to many
international charitable organizations, including $10,000 for medical
aid to North and South Vietnam through the Canadian Aid to Vietnam

Civilians. i

Forms for the walk are now available ‘at 615 Homer St. For
information phone 688-2932 and 683-3031.° ae

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 24

Share-the-debt scheme
lets Victoria off hook

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

The provincial government is
bringing pressure on Van-
couver to relinquish its borrow-
ing rights and to voluntarily
assume responsibility for debts
incurred by other munici
palities.

It’s another one of those share-
the-poverty schemes that
Premier Bennett is noted for,
whereby municipalities must
help each other out of financial
difficulties, thus leaving the
Premier free to invest provincial
funds in his hydro projects for
U.S. and Japanese industries.

This scheme is called the
Municipal Finance Authority.
The Authority would take over
all responsibility from
municipalities for the borrowing
of money for water, sewer, and
pollution control projects. It
would decide how much a
municipality may borrow, where

it will be borrowed and at what >

rate of interest and other
conditions.

If any municipality should
default on its debts, then the
Authority has the power to levy a
special tax on all taxable lands
and improvements in, the
province to make up the deficit.

The Authroity would be com-
posed of persons appointed by
Regional Districts. Although the
Greater Vancouver Region has
about half of the population of
B.C., it would have the right to
appoint only 4 members out of 31
and would have only 18 votes out
of a total of 50. Vancouver, which
has about a fifth of the prov-
ince’s population, would have no
direct represeniation whatever.

The Authority would be headed
by a 7 member Board of
Trustees. The Greater Van-
couver Region would appoint
only two. Again, Vancouver
would have no direct rep
resentation.

Each member municipality
would have to contribute to a
Debt Reserve Fund to cover
defaults by any member munici-
pality. Vancouver’s contribu-
tion would be $175,000 a year
which would be held by the
Authority for 20 to 25 years. In
addition, the city would have to
make an annual contribution of
up to $26,000 to an Operating
Fund to keep the Authority

going.

GREETINGS

TO ALL OUR FRIENDS

POINT GREY CLUB

GREETINGS
MAY DAY - 1970

FOR
UNITY. - PEACE
& FRIENDSHIP

FROM

Joe Bobey &
~< Family
VERNON, B.C.

As far as I can see, there are
no advantages to Vancouver
joining this debt-sharing
scheme, - only. disadvantages.
Vancouver should keep its right
to make its own decisions about
how much it will borrow and for
what purpose.

The problem that some muni-
cipalities have in making loans
shouldn’t become the respon-
sibility of those who have a good
credit record. We don’t want any
share-the-poverty scheme put
over on us just to get the
provincial government off the
hook. What we need is not less
provincial responsibility for
municipal borrowing but more.

I believe the provincial govern-

Canada’s social register.

[ n the unceasing battle against inflation by M. Trudeau

and Company, it may now be confidently assumed
that"M. Trudeau is winning; not against inflation, but against
the working people. And that covers a lot of people not listed in

“Blect me leader,” the Tory R.B. Bennett told 4
Conservative convention back in the beginning of the Hungry

_ 30’s, ‘‘and I will cure unemployment in sixty days.”’

“Elect me,’ M. Trudeau could have told a Liberal
convention nearly forty years later, ‘‘and I will treble
unemployment in less than two years.”’

Any amateur economist capable of determining how many
beans make five can see at a glance that the Trudeau

ment itself should loan money |
directly to the municipalities at
low interest rates. It has ample
funds at its disposal for this
purpose in the form of the many |
pension funds it now hold for |
teachers, policemen, municipal |
employees, as well as Canada ©
Pension Plan funds. .

Why should B.C. munici-
palities sell bonds on the U.S.
market-at over 9 percent interest
where they are bought up by U.S. —
pension funds when we have—
pension funds of our own in B.C.
that could be used?

I think Council will turn down”
Bennett’s Municipal Finance

Authority. It should.

“crackdown”? on inflation is nothing more than a crackdown Of

the work force of the nation, with massive unemployment as

the end result — if not stopped dead in its tracks. The parasitic”

force that lives on the sweat and maximum profits extracted
from the work force, are doing very well with their inflation,
for them prices and profits were never better, and if a few
parasitic hangers-on should go under in the “clean-up,” 5?
what? It has happened before. *

Another interesting feature of the Trudeau inflation gouse —

is the fact that not once since his inflation roulette got rolling
has M. Trudeau missed a beat in his holiday junketting safaris
to far away sporting places, skiing, swimming, etc., t .
glittering night life of Paricitica. Now posing as the ‘‘swinger-

now the ‘‘statesman”’ and a poor imitation of either— all at the
taxpayers’ expense. A typical jaded gigilo, not from the effects
of inflation, but as one hell bent on keeping it rolling, without
any necessity of belt-tightening, because that’s what he was
“elected”’ to do!

It is well to keep in mind also, while pondering the price of

bread, milk, potatoes, etc., for the family table, that M. |

Trudeau and his pocket-picking ‘“‘statesmen,”’ while exorting
everyone else to tighten their belts and avoid the urge of Olivet
Twist to ask for more, are not backward in asking an additional
six or eight thousand dollars to be added to their own take
home-pay, a stipend already more than twice what most ®
them are worth to Canada or the Canadian people.

If they manage this latest heist on the public treasury, that
won't be inflationary — according to them. Inflation seeming}
only happens when workingmen demand that their pay
envelope comes somewhere near to the high cost of keepin
themselves and their families alive.

To that, of course, the Trudeau inflationists alsohave 4 pat
answer, which shows them not only unfit to govern, but 17 the
process, callously cynical of the people from whom they deriv
that authority.

Ah, they say, “if you don’t help us fight inflation, we wi
have to apply our own cure — deprive you of a job altogethe ;
That is the price you must pay, tighten your belt voluntarily;
we will do it for you.” They talk of unemployment as th?
working men and their families were merely dead zeros ye
tallied up on a computer machine!

“IT will cure unemployment, ” roared R.B. ‘‘Iron Heel t

the 30's. “I will cure inflation,’’ shrugs Trudeau in the
while he totes ythe Barbaras around, »but OUR job will be “%
price. :

‘