OsOWk CT Te ee eee FRIDAY, OCT OBER 24, 1969 Wri VOL. 30, NO. 43 Une eS 10¢ ais GIVEAWAY TO U.s. a recent peace meeting in Los 15, he spoke to a large rally of D eH BENJAMIN SPOCK speaking ot Govern: On Moratorium Day, Oct. His Baers employees in Washington for an end to the Vietnam war. ; y in Vancouver on Wed., Nov. 5 in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre is q tall peace aetna wide support and promises to be one of the largest n the city’s history. (See details on page 12.) Dockers reject contract offer wa B.C. Longshoremen this week voted down a new al :. contract, which would have ended their strike in ey ports. nitile a is reported that the = xecutive had recom- a acceptance of the agree- Seah, Proposals by union ao it was by no means a A aeeus recommendation. yet er for rejection, not as nerce plete, showed some 74- nt against acceptance. heindee contract proposals ents a wage increase of 85- anothe ess the board, plus binge 50-cents per hour in aE enefits, covering a two- Tate Period on a present base — $3.99-per hour. dy Kotowich, ILWU Area (i members were ‘‘not happy” about those terms of the new contract which would permit the employers to extend work shifts up to 12-hours or more if they so decided. Considerable oppo- sition was also felt on the issue of work rules and the cutting down of work-gang sizes. With the ILWU strike now in its third week, the over- whelming rejection vote of the members will undoubtedly serve as instructions to its nego- tiating committee to get back to the bargaining table and come up with something better— particu- 2 «Presi i. dent. stated, many. union .<- See LABOR COUNGIL pg. A vast giveaway By MAURICE RUSH of B.C. natural gas to the U.S. was announced last week in a 90- year deal under which a U.S. company will receive up to 850 million cubic feet of gasa day at rates far below those paid by B.C. users. This latest sellout of a vital B.C. resource came in an agreement signed on October 10 between Westcoast Trans- mission Co. Ltd. and the El Paso Natural Gas Co. It combines all previous contracts into one package which vastly increases the amount of gas the USS. company will take from B.C., ~and reduces the’ price they will have to pay for it over the long run. The agreement must now go before the National Energy. Board of Canada and the U.S. Federal Power Commission for authority to implement the deal. Over the years U.S. natural gas fields have been exhausted and U.S. monopoly interests have been anxious to increase their gas supplies from B.C. and other Canadian sources without arousing public opposition. The gas is wanted not only for use in the American Northwest, but also for use across a wide expanse of the U.S. Westcoast Transmission Co., is the company which was granted the franchise to build a pipeline by the Socred government aS a handout to Bennett’s great friend, Frank McMahon, and is now actually U.S.-owned. It has entered into this latest giveaway agreement with another U.S. monopoly, El Paso Natural Gas. BELOW B.C. RATES The main provisions of the new agreement provide for delivery to the U.S. of 725 million cubic. feet a day starting Nov. 1, 1971 at 30.5 cents per thousand cubic feet. Nov. 1, 1972 it is to go up to 800 million cubic feet a day at 31.5 cents a thousand cubic feet. By Nov. 1, 1973 deliveries to the US. will rise to 850 million cubic feet at 32.75 cents a thousand cubic feet. The : greement is to last until October, 1991 and prices after 1973 will increase at the rate of one cent per thousand cubic feet each five years. A survey conducted by the Pacific Tribune in February of this year showed that the average homeowner in Vancouver using natural gas pays. about $1.10 for a thousand cubic feet — or more than three times what El Paso Natural Gas will pay for the same. amount under the new agreement. B.C. Hydro, which last year reported a 34 percent profit on its sale of natural gas, bought the gas from Westcoast Transmission for 38.4 cents a thousand cubic feet (1965 figure), which. is still considerably more than the U.S. company will pay. Despite that, B.C. Hydro has made a vast profit from the sale of the gas to consumers. In actual fact, B.C. users of natural gas are paying higher rates in order to subsidize the export of the gas to the U.S. ata cheaper rate. Undoubtedly this latest deal will have the backing of the Socred government. The public should demand from the federal government that the National Energy Board turn down this latest deal, and veto any further deals of this kind until a Federal policy has been evolved which will ensure the fullest use of this valueable resource in an overall energy policy which places Canada’s needs first. OLD BUDDIES. Westcoast Transmission’s Frank McMahon shown shaking hands with his old golfing buddy U.S. President Richard Nixon. The 20-year deal announced last week under which the U.S. will get B.C.’s natural gas at subsidized rates will bring glee to both their hearts and to the monopolies which will make millions from the deal. i He