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Socreds sold GVRD a lemon
in run down B.C. Hydro buses

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

Most of us have had the ex-
perience of buying a ‘“‘lemon’’, a
car or appliance, new or used, that
gave us nothing but trouble and
never would work properly. Of
course we didn’t know what we
were in for when we bought it.

But what would we say about a
person who bought a lemon know-
ing it was'a lemon? We’d say he
was stupid, had holes in his head,
had lost his marbles.

Yet, that is exactly what the
Greater Vancouver Regional
District did when it agreed to take
over the B.C. Hydro bus system on
April 1. It took: over less than
nothing. It took over an annual
deficit of close to $100 million
dollars a year. It took over a run-
down bus systeni, with a high
percentage of buses over 30 years

April 26 will
draw 2,000 -

Organizers of the anti-nuclear
protest slated for Saturday, April.
26 anticipate that 2,000 demon-
strators (and, if the weather is sun-
ny, thousands more,) will turn out
for the march from Kitsilano
Beach at 12 noon across the Bur-
rard Bridge to the Vancouver
Aquatic Centre.

The marchers, encouraged to

carry Signs protesting nuclear
weapons and the environmental -

hazards of nuclear power, will
assemble at the Sunset Beach Park
besides the Aquatic Centre for the
rally portion of the program. There
they will hear speakers, a musical
program and have the opportunity
to see the literature and display
booths of the groups involved in
organizing the day of protest.

Housing meet

The housing crisis in Greater
Vancouver, and its solutions will
focus a Communist Party public
meeting Thursday, April 24, 7:30
p.m. at the Trout Lake Centre in
Vancouver.

Speakers include Communist

Party greater Vancouver Chair-

man Fred Wilson and unionist and
CP spokesman Bert Ogden. Also
speaking will be a representative of
the newly formed Association to
Control Mortgage Rates.

old, that will cost tens of millions of
dollars to replace. B.C. Hydro
deliberately let the bus system run
down because it knew it would be
getting rid of it soon. The smirk on
the face of Robert Bonner, head of
B.C. Hydro, is understandable; he
has just pulled off the best caper of
his career.

How will these deficits and new
costs be covered by the GVRD? By
increased taxes on gasoline, by a
surcharge on B.C. Hydro bills. The
first tax was an extra 3 cents a
gallon on gas, but that will soon be
increased. When the deal was made
we were told that the surcharge on
B.C. Hydro bills would be 24 cents.
It has already gone up to 61 cents
and will be going a lot higher. And
let’s not kid ourselves, there is more
than a 50-50 chance that property
taxes will also go up to cover the
deficit of the bus system. And the
bus fares will be going up shortly
too and will continue to go up every
few months.

How, you ask, could the govern-
ment of B.C. and B.C. Hydro
possibly get away with such a deal?
How could they sell it as something
“‘good’’ for the residents of the
Lower Mainland? They did it by
two main methods.

The first was by false promises to
the effect that this was a means by
which the bus system could be im-
proved, light rapid transit brought

‘ to the Lower Mainland, etc. None

of this is going to happen. —

The second was to get the sup-
port of key people within the
GVRD to overcome the strong op-
position that had developed to buy-
ing such a lemon. The Social Credit
cabinet and B.C. Hydro could
count on the support of many
Social Credit mayors and aldermen
throughout the GVRD. But Van-
couver was the key area. Here the
plan would succeed or be defeated.

How did the government deal
with this problem? Quite simply. It
appointed mayor Jack Volrich and
alderman Mike Harcourt to its Ur-
ban Transit Authority. From then
on they acted as agents of the pro-
vincial government within Van-
couver city council and within the
GVRD. To say that they had a con-
flict of interest would be to put it
mildly; they ceased to serve the
voters who put them in office when
they accepted appointments to the
Urban Transit Authority. Of
course they didn’t have much trou-

‘PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 18, 1980— Page 2

ble in getting the NPA, most of
whom are tied to Social Credit in
any case, to go along with them.

The media has carried reports
quoting James Lorimer, the NDP
transportation critic, as being
critical of the deal made between
the GVRD and the provincial
government on the bus system.
That’s to be welcomed. But
Lorimer’s criticism doesn’t square
with the fact that former NDP can-
didate Mike Harcourt joined with
the Social government to impose
this deal on the people of the
Greater Vancouver area.

It looks as if in the November
civic election, we will have two
mayoralty candidates, Harcourt
and Volrich, both of whom sup-
port a transit deal that is essentially
bad for Vancouver.

Succ readers may already have
heard the reports on radio or televi-
sion, but here the report is straight
from the source: The Tribune is in
the process of becoming certified
with the Vancouver and New
Westminster Newspaper Guild
with the bargaining unit to include
full staff.
Actually the staff’s membership
in the Guild reaffirms a relation-
ship going back nearly 40 years
when the paper’s editorial staff was
included as part of a Guild local.
Since that time, however, the cold
war, the small size of the operation
and the intricacies of collective
bargaining stood in the way of con-
tinued membership — until now.
A collective agreement is to be
established some time in the future.
* * *

e never thought that we would
have occasion to quote —
favorably that is — statements by
evangelist Billy Graham who has
become probably the world’s best
known salesman for corporate
Christianity. But his remarks last
month in an interview with the So-
journers, a religious monthly
magazine, and reprinted in the
evangelical weekly in the GDR, Die
Kirche (The Church) mark
something of a departure from the
days when he gave his blessing to
the U.S. war against Vietnam and
waged a crusade against com-
munism. The remarks are the more
remarkable considering that he is a
co-religionist of president Jimmy
Carter, perhaps the only Baptist

and a new awareness of their con-

VLC pushes unity

for 80 election —

Following a. series of meetings
with the Committee of Progressive
Electors (COPE) and the Mike
Harcourt for Mayor Committee,
the Vancouver and District Labor
Council this week took a substan-
tial step towards building a united
reform vote in the 1980 Vancouver
civic election.

A motion at Tuesday evening’s
regular labor council meeting in-
structed the executive to ‘‘prepare a

comprehensive plan for labor par-—

ticipation in the civic election in
Vancouver’’ and to bring it back
for. the May 25 meeting of the
council.

But VLC president Syd Thomp-
son madeit clear that the intent was
to support a united reform slate.
“Tn all likelihood it means Har-
court for mayor, the COPE can-
didates and Marzari, if she runs,”’
he told delegates.

Since Vancouver alderman Mike
Harcourt declared his candidacy
for mayor in early March, without
consultation with COPE or the

labor movement, the unity ques-

tion has smouldered below the sur-
face of events, especially when it

became known that Harcourt was -

attempting to put together a partial
slate of NDP members to run with
him, a move which threatened to
split the reform vote.

At its annual meeting in March,
COPE declared that it was
prepared to talk to Harcourt but
warned that “‘unity is give and take,
not taking all and giving nothing.”’

In the past four weeks the VLC

_executive held three meetings, one

with Harcourt, a subsequent
meeting with COPE president
Bruce Yorke and COPE alderman
Harry Rankin, and a further
meeting Tuesday with Yorke,
Rankin, Harcourt and his cam-
paign manager Ron Wickstrom.

_ The result of the meetings, if not

‘PEOPLE AND ISSUES

who is better known.

“The present arms race is a terri-
fying thing and it is almost impossi-
ble to overestimate its potential for

disaster,’’ he said in the interview. - .

“T believe that the Christian
especially has a responsibility to
work for peace in our world. Chris-
tians may find themselves working

and agreeing with non-believers on.

an issue like peace. But our motives
will not be identical . . .

“During my travels in recent
years I have spoken to a number of
leaders in many countries. Almost
to a person they have been concern-
ed and pessimistic about the
nuclear arms race . . . I guess I
would haveto admit that the older I
get the more aware I am of the kind
of world my generation has helped
to shape and the more concerned I
am about doing what I can to give
the next generation at least some
hope for peace. I have fourteen
grandchildren now, and I ask
myself, ‘What kind of world are
they going to face?’ ’’

Graham also spent some time
travelling — and preaching — ina
number of socialist countries and
his impressions from those visits
are also revealing:

“The opportunities I have had to
visit Yugoslavia, Hungary and

~ Poland have been very significant.

I went with many stereotypes in my
mind but I came away with new
understanding especially of how
the church exists and in some in-
stances thrives in these societies —

full unity, indicated that it will be |
possible for a united vote to shape —
at the polls, and that there will bea
more vigorous campaign by the
labor movement itself around 2
united slate. e |
“It had been indicated earlier
that NDP candidates of some
stature’’ would be fielded, Thomp-
son reported, ‘It now appears that —
that is not going to happen.”
The Tribune has learned that
there was virtual unanimous agree
ment among labor council ¢x-
ecutive members that additional
half slates or candidates were unac-
ceptable. |
“The labor council executive
unanimously supports political ac
tion at the civic level,’’ Thompson -
said in his report to delegates, “But
it requires the willingness on the
part of affiliates, officers and
members to participate in a meal: ©
ingful way. It means money and
bodies.” ee |
Labor council participation 1
the election could include raising 4
substantial campaign fund, open
ing an office and hiring a0
organizer, Thompson said. |
“Affiliates can do a masterful
job in federal and provincial elec-
tions,” he said, citing his own [WA -
local which provided $35,000 i
staff and donations to the NDP in
the last federal election, ‘Why
can’t we do that in the civic elec:
tion.”’ =|
Some members of city council -
are ‘‘equal to politicians anywhere
— Rankin does a masterful job for -
working people. He deserves the
support of the labor movement.
Harcourt also does a job for us at —
city hall,’’ he said. a
“If you break the tribe at city
hall, you have the key to the whole —
thing,” he added, ‘‘Electing work- —
ing people there means dollars and
cents in our pockets.”’ |

|
‘

cerns about peace. I was especially
impressed with the concerns ©
various Christians expressed about
PEACE: 4; |
“I do not think the present dif-
ferences are worth a nuclear wat.
There is no denying that there are
differences between us. But there
are many things we have in com-
mon, especially on an ordinary
human level .. .’’

* RE * .

W. had a note from Rita Tanché
that Mike Freylinger, who retired a
short while ago from a lifetime of
trade union activitism in the wood -
industry and who has been
member of the Tribune’s ‘400.
Club”’ fund raisers, was admitted
to hospital where he is undergoing
treatment for cancer. q
His son Ted tells us that he isin _
Mission Memorial Hospital and is -
receiving visitors in Room 222.
Visiting hours are 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. -
daily. -
Our hopes are with him in the -
battle against the disease which, if
money were spent researching it in-
stead of bankrolling fighter planes, —
might have already been beaten.

* * & &
Fo those who haven’t had a-
chance to hear the songs of —
Bargain at Half the Price for a —
while — and for those who would —
be happy-to hear them at any time ©
— we’re told that the group will be
appearing at the Soft Rock Cafeat
1921 W. Fourth Ave. in Vancou- |
ver. |
. The date for the appearance is —
Thursday, April24,9p.m.-12p.m. —