BRITISH COLUMBIA

AUUC housing
project marked

Flanked by long-time members of
the Association of United Ukrain-
ian Canadians, 91-year-old Nick
Sawchuk, a member since 1918 of
the AUUC and its predecessor, the
Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple
Association, slides his shovel into
the ground Dec. 5 to officially
begin construction of the new
Ukrainian senior citizens’ housing
project in Vancouver. Conceived
many years ago but finally put on
the planning table in 1985, the pro-
ject calls for a 26-unit housing pro-
ject adjacent to the AUUC Hall on
East Pender in Vancouver's down-
town eastside. Construction, which
actually got underway before the
sod-turning, is slated to be com-
pleted by August, 1988.

Letters

Unity still issue in Surrey vote

Steve Gidora, Surrey Committee of Pro-
gressive Electors, writes: The ballots cast in
the civic election in Surrey Nov. 21 have
changed — albeit in a limited way — the
face of the municipal council “and school
board. A new civic organization of New
Democrats has entered Surrey’s electoral
scene, and this holds promise for future
co-operation with the left-of-centre forces.

A split in the right-wing civic political
forces and the emergence of a new centre
group, the Surrey Civic Electors (SCE), a
group of NDPers endorsed by the three
Surrey New Democratic Party constituency
organizations, have begun a process that

Peace on Earth

) BESS
FRONT: 5"
aR Tt Oo vu

Guar P

Greetings
from the

Centre for

Socialist Education

S25

You are are invited to attend a
special forum on:

Lessons of Cold War in the Trade
Union Movement (1940’s- 1960's).

Sunday, Jan. 10/88, 2 p.m.
Ukrainian Hall, 805 E. Pender St.,
Vancouver.

Speakers from:

Woodworkers — Ernie Knott
Mine-Mill — Al King
Fishermen — Homer Stevens
Civic — Jack Phillips

could elect a progressive majority to council
and school board.

The election results also indicate that the
Surrey Coalition’ of Progressive Electors
(Surrey COPE) played a key role in this new
development. The positions that were not
contested by Surrey COPE were easily won
by the SCE.

Although the SCE left a position open
for incumbent Bill Fomich, a New Demo-
crat and a member of the Surrey Municipal
Electors, and encouraged voters to include
him on their ballots (therefore essentially
backing a full slate of NDP candidates),
Surrey COPE candidates were still able to
make significant gains in the aldermanic
race and hold their own in the school board
contest. But the election results show that
the combined vote given to Surrey COPE

' and SCE candidates would, had genuine

centre-left unity prevailed, elected another
school trustee and at least two more alder-
men.

The electorate responded to Surrey
COPE’s call for unity by giving Steve

Gidora 3,519 votes, Terry Lawrence 3,065 .

and Gord Savard 3,010. This was accomp-
lished through support from the teachers
and the Canadian Union of Public

Employees, Local 728, for Savard and

broad community support for all three Sur-
rey COPE candidates.

It has become obvious that Surrey COPE
has a consistent and growing block of the
progressive vote. A 58 per cent increase in
votes for myself (2,230 votes in 1986) is one
of the main indicators.

Surrey COPE has come to the conclusion
that the SCE has largely contributed to the
demise of the co-opted NDP support
enjoyed by the pro-developer SME since its
inception. It will now be possible for the
SCE to build a broad alliance that should
include Surrey COPE and other commun-
ity groups.

This will become necessary in the near
future because it is certain that the split in
the pro-developer forces is only temporary.
It should be remembered that SME and the
Surrey Non-Partisan Association still con-
trol council and school board.

The 25,000-plus voter turnout is a wel-
come improvement. But in real terms it
probably means that eight out of every
potential 10 voters did not vote.

It is clear that the electorate is willing to
support an SCE-Surrey COPE alliance.
Surrey COPE’s portion of the progressive
vote represents 30 to 40 per cent of SCE’s
base. Mayor-elect Bob Bose (SCE) received
10,683 votes, Gary Robinson took the one-
year aldermanic seat with 7,367 votes and
Jack Finnbogason was elected school trus-
tee with 9,851 votes. There is no doubt that
our supporters voted for these candidates as
well as other SCE contenders.

Common ground must be found between
the two groups. Surrey COPE, in the same
spirit as its predecessor, the Surrey Alterna-
tive Movement, appreciates the involve-
ment of the NDP in municipal politics and
at the same time invites co-operation. Unity
of the progressive community will accomp-
lish the greatest good for Surrey.

On behalf of the 100 members of Surrey
COPE, I would like to thank all the suppor-
ters for their hard work and financial con-
tributions. Our candidates did very well
when one considers that we ran a campaign
on a mere $4,200 budget. And most of all,
we would like to give a special “thank you”
to the voters, who demonstrated their sup-
port for a policy of progressive unity.

Thanks offered
to Supporters

Peter Ramsey, Victoria Action
Society employment counsellor and
aldermanic candidate for the Victo-
ria Organization of Independent
Civic Electors, writes: Thanks to
my friends and supporters who
helped us capture 1,989 votes
(about 43 per cent of the votes
necessary to win) in the Nov. 21
election for alderman.

Mayor Gretchen Brewin was re-
elected along with three new
aldermen, two of them members of
the New Democrats along with the
left-leaning Martin Segger, an
author and member of the Save
Our City coalition. Jan Green-
wood, a registered nurse, and Pieta
Van Dyke, active in James Bay
politics and a long-time member of
the B.C. Government Employees
Union, will give the mayor some
much-needed support on a council
that retains a one-vote majority for
the Socreds.

I hope to see action in the next
three years around a harbour
commission (to protect the rights
of the fishing fleet and recreational
boat-owners), a city-funded youth
centre and native cultural centre,
more funding for community cen-
tres in low-income areas such as
Vic West and Fernwood, and an
emergency evacuation plan for a
nuclear accident in our waters (I’d
rather see nuclear-armed warships
banned outright). And the provin-
cial government’s so-called “de-
centralization” plan must be stop-

ped.

Meanwhile, I will continue to
work in the anti-poverty move-
ment in Victoria and work for
peace and nuclear disarmament.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 16, 1987 e 13