Bnitish Columbia

Byelection defeats Socred policies

Seldom has a single byelection made such
a comment on the policies of an entire
government — at least not in the history of
British Columbia.

That Social Credit was in trouble before
the voters of Boundary-Similkameen trek-
ked to the polls June 8 was well known.
Opinion surveys found New Democrat Bill
Barlee had a narrow edge over Socred
opponent Russ Fox.

But the stunning NDP victory in the
farming riding that has never in its 22 years
elected anything other than Socreds consti-”
tuted a massive repudiation of everything
that characterizes the provincial govern-
ment today. Barlee captured 52.9 per cent of
the votes while Fox trailed with only 35.4
per cent, in a dual-seat riding that the
Socreds won hands down in 1986.

Much has been made of the fact that the
personal style of Premier Bill Vander Zalm

had much to do with the election upset.
Undoubtedly it did.

He visited the riding five times, and the
chorus of boos and jeers that greeted him at
public meetings on each occasion should
have told the Richmond businessman that
something was amiss with this strategy.

The premier has apparently learned
nothing from the defeat and has displayed
his characteristic arrogance in stating he’ll
never change his spots. But that isn’t the
sole reason for the byelection defeat.

Boundary-Similkameen votes “rejected

‘not only Vander Zalm, but also the policies

of the Socred government,” B.C. leader of
the Communist Party Maurice Rush said.
These were policies that were sprung on

. the electorate safely after the election, which

the premier won in a classic style-over-
substance campaign. against former leader
Bob Skelly’s New Democrats.

These include privatization, the ill-
managed and insidiously misnamed “de-
centralization” program for regional gov-
ernment, the anti-labour legislation of Bills
19 and 20, tax and social service policies, the
premier’s neanderthal anti-abortion stance,
and Victoria’s support for free trade with its
disastrous implications for the wine and
fruit farmers who populate ridings like
Boundary-Similkameen.

Vancouver-Little Mountain Socred MLA
Doug Mowatt admitted as much when he
told The Vancouver Sun following the by-
election that other factors besides the
Vander Zalm style could be responsible. He
alluded to legislation and the privatization
program.

Vancouver South government MLA
Russ Fraser referred to “mistakes” the
premier had made and suggested that
change was necessary to avoid an all-out

Women’s congress hits free trade

The fight against the federal Conserva-
tive government’s trade deal topped the
agenda as women from across the country
gathered in Vancouver last weekend for the
15th convention of the Congress of Cana-
dian Women.

The convention, held for the first time
outside of Toronto, brought together 61
delegates and observers from five provinces
and international guests from Cuba, El Sal-
vador, Chile and the United States.

In her opening address to delegates, out-
going national president Virginia Thomp-
son noted the significance of holding the
convention in Vancouver. “The Canada-
wide right wing backlash against women is
being carried out in this province without
any disguises. In 19 months of majority
government, Vander Zalm has succeeded in
leading the way in ruthlessly carrying
through a right-wing agenda,” she said.

Thompson said the women’s movement
was “one of the first to recognize the disas-
trous effects” of the Mulroney trade deal.
“The fight to defeat the deal is by far the
most critical issue facing all of us at this
time,” she said. =

Noting that local chapters of the CCW

are already involved in coalitions to fight
free trade, she warned, “Time is running
out. The free trade issue encompasses all of
our concerns as a women’s organization
from Canada’s contribution to world peace
to quality childcare for our children,” she
said.
Delegates called for an early federal elec-
tion to defeat the trade deal and decided to
contact fellow affiliates of the Women’s
International Democratic Federation
(WIDF) in the United States and “urge
all-out opposition by American women
who will also be victimized by the Mulroney
trade deal.”

Lonnie Nelson, a U.S. trade unionist and
poet representing Women for Racial and
Economic Equality spoke in moving terms
of the millions of victims in her country of
the “right-wing, war policies of the Pen-
tagon and the transnational corporations.
These policies threaten us all,” she warned.

Chilean delegate Patricia Gamboa, a
former exile who resided 11 years in Can-
ada, noted that, “In Chile, we have many
women in prison, many women who are the
mothers, wives and sisters of the disap-
peared.” She said CCW chapters could
organize letter writing campaigns, noting

that just a letter or card received by these
women from women in other countries was
“enough for us to keep up the battle.”

The Federation of Cuban Women dele-
gate Catherine Riban said: “‘At the time of
the revolution only 10 per cent of women
were in the labour force. They were prosti-
tutes, maids and some elementary school
teachers. Today, women make up 39 per
cent of the labour force. We are doctors and
dentists and teachers and technicians.”

Delegates condémned the Meech Lake .

Accord and called on the CCW and the
Ligue des Femmes in Quebec to “jointly
develop and circulate a cross-Canada peti-
tion calling for withdrawal of the accord.”

Other resolutions called for universally
accessible, 24-hour non-profit quality child-
care, keeping abortion out of the Criminal
Code and financially penalizing provincial
governments that refuse to include abortion
in their medical plans, and meaningful
negotiations for a just and equitable settle-
ment of Native land claims and recognition
of full aboriginal title.

In executive elections, Jeannie McGuire,
a community worker in Toronto, was
acclaimed as the new president.

By EUNICE PARKER

The Federation of Canadian Munici-
palities wrapped up its annual convention
in Halifax June 6 with a strong demand
for a full federal government commitment
to restore and improve Canada’s decaying
roads, sewers, bridges and other basic
municipal services.

However, guest speaker External Affair.
Minister Joe Clark did not commit the
Mulroney government to do anything but
hold “innovative discussions” on the fed-
eration’s proposals.

The FCM has lobbied. the federal
cabinet for several years to jointly sponsor
a Canada-wide program to rehabilitate
and expand municipal infrastructure
across the country. A 1985 special task
force study recommended a five-year, $15-
billion program to tackle the urgent prob-
lems facing our towns and cities, with costs
shared evenly among municipalities, the
provinces and the federal government.

This “‘big fix” program would not only
prevent the serious deterioration of exist-
ing urban roads and water systems but

year span.

would also create 300,000 jobs over a five--

PARKER

Resolutions at this year’s convention
re-affirmed FCM support for the program
and also criticized the imposition of new
federal taxes which will increase costs of
municipal repairs.

Delegates. were disappointed when
Clark failed to announce any firm federal
action, but were pleased their ongoing
campaign has at least forced the govern-
ment to agree to direct negotiations with
the FCM.

_Roads, sewers mean jobs — FCM

On other issues, the federation called on
member municipalities to study housing
needs in their jurisdictions and for the fed-
eral government to provide for municipal
input into the planning process for social
housing programs. Delegates also called
on provincial governments to alter financ-
ing arrangements with municipalities.

Under the FCM plan, a specific portion
of income and sales tax revenue would be
directed to local authorities, replacing the
current system of conditional provincial
grants to municipalities.

The convention also passed a resolution
calling on the federal government to rein-
state door-to-door mail delivery, to stop
the closure of rural post offices and end the
franchising or contracting out of postal
services. ;

At the initiative of Toronto alderman
Jack Layton delegates from nuclear-
weapons-free municipalities met for an
exchange of ideas. They gave tacit appro-
val to a future conference possibly to be
held concurrently with next year’s FCM
conference, set for Vancouver.

Ald. Eunice Parker is a member of Coq-
uitlam district council.

defeat of the Socreds in the next full elec
tion.

Key among these is the ham-handed way
the premier interfered in the privatization 0
the Expo lands in Vancouver — a program
itself protested by many British Colum
bians — in a bungled attempt to allow :
friend and supporter Peter Toigo to PUP
chase the.prime piece of real estate. d

The B.C. Federation of Labour ina ae
reported that 30,350 jobs will be lost in
food processing and agricultural industtes
alone, if the free trade pact is ratified. Tarill-
free borders, which the Socreds support,
will facilitate the cheaper importation BS
U.S. grown fruits and vegetables, and dalty
products.

Numerous opinion polls have found e
majority of British Columbians — includ-
ing from among Socred voters — supp!
women’s right to legal abortion. Vander
Zalm’s initial reaction to the Supreme
Court of Canada’s striking of abortion
from the federal Criminal Code was to VOW
that the province would henceforth refuse
all funding to hospital-performed abr
tions, and would oppose the planned abot
tion clinic in Vancouver. While the premier
has been forced to backtrack on the first
issue — faced with a revolt that extended to
his own caucus — his fanatical opposition
to abortion reflected badly on the Socred
party, and it has left an indelible impress!O2-

The Socreds have been quick to claim
credit for the slightly enhanced economic
performance in the province over the past
year. While this has far more to do with the
cyclical upswings and downswings of the
capitalist world, voters are at least assured
of one thing: Socreds have no intention ©
sharing the wealth with ordinary British
Columbians.

Two budgets under Vander Zalm’s lead-
ership have drastically raised fees for
senior’s long-term care homes, hiked medi-
cal premiums and have tied those increases
to civil servants’ wage hikes and doctors
fees. Changes to welfare, including a cut 2
support for single parents, have rais¢
angry voices across the province.

Rush said B.C. voters have rejected “the
Socred budget which heaps new ta
burdens on the people and favours the
wealthy.

“The public will not stand for another
(former premier) Bill Bennett caper, where
the leader steps down and a new leader }S
put forward in the hope that he will wit
public support and perpetuate the Socreds
in office,” he said.

“The only remedy is for Vander Zalm
and the Socreds to resign and put theif
policies before the electorate of B.C.,” Rush
stated.

L ae

—

“Our deepest —
sympathy to
Rose and family
on the death of
our beloved
comrade Tom
McEwen.”

— Lil Greene and
Ray Stevenson and
families.

2 « Pacific Tribune, June 15, 1988