Dag were eters Bem” Or A ET SA el oe roan Coa Me alte ate ee Pthaserrae take Fe 4D re ae enema Ree EN EE Si Nd Pree In ae for eel games with Sovie Some time touring the city and meeting Pose with well-known Central Army Club ih es goalie, Viadislav Tretiak. “oma T t teams, the Canadian junior papkey aR the.Don Mills Flyers spent with various Soviet hockey personalities. Here, members of the team —Tass photo Is EDC providing guarantees? Loans to Chile denounced Nickel Belt NDP. MP John Rodriguez last week urged the federal government to bar Canadian banks from lending Money to the military junta in Chile. Rodriguez, a former resident of Guyana, said in the Commons that the loans from the banks made it Seem as if the Canadian govern- ment condoned the violations of human rights in Chile perpetrated by the Pinochet dictatorship. Rodriguez cited the junta’s bloody record of repression against _ the Chilean people, noting that according to United Nations reports, 30,000 Chileans had been killed and more than 100,000 im- Prisoned since the fascist coup in September, 1973. €2) Sale specials Assorted art publications Records Annual ee Book Sale ‘Storewide 20-80% OFF | Fri., Mar. 25 to Sat., April 9 from USSR. ..... .50% OFF (overstock). . . . 40% OFF People’ S Rese Bookstore 353 WEST PENDER, VANCOUVER — 685-5836 Despite that record and despite - federal government condemnation of the atrocities, he said, the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Nova Scotia are being allowed to lend $8.2 million each, and the Toronto-Dominion Bank $4.2 million as part of a $125 million loan to the junta by a US.- dominated banking consortium. Predictably, the statements in the House of Commons prompted the response’ from» Fernand LeBlanc, parliamentary secretary for external affairs, that the loans to Chile were ‘‘a private tran- saction” and that it was not government policy to interfere in- business deals. The hands-off stance, however, does not extend to Crown cor- 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except Sun. porations, particularly the Export Development Corporation which has been deeply involved with the Chilean junta and may well be providing guarantees for the latest Canadian bank loans to Pinochet. Established under the Export Development Act in 1969, the EDC provides financial assistance to Canadian exporters including guarantees on foreign investment and guarantees to banks against losses incurred in financing either the Canadian supplier or the foreign buyer. The EDC has offered con- siderable assistance to Chile since 1973 and, in fact, the Crown cor- poration now holds $18.7 million of Chile’s debt to Canada; to the Latin America and Caribbean Inside Report. NDP MP Rodriguez had earlier asked questions in the Commons about the transactions with Chile of the EDC but received no replies. He was told by the then minister of industry, trade and commerce, Alistair Gillespie, only that “Crown corporations have not been required by Parliament to answer detailed questions on their administration and operations.” RANKIN Cont'd from pg. 2 taking advantage of this. new legislation can be as high as 60 percent in the first year and average 45 percent over a five-year period. So there you have it. Ottawa and Victoria are conniving together to give a bonanza to the developers at public expense. The developers get subsidies to build. They get tax shelters and can use the apart- ments as a means of avoiding income tax. They are exempt from rent controls for five years. They are guaranteed excessive high profits, and they have a guarantee that rent controls will be abolished ~ in the near future. And what do the people get? They get screwed, that’s what. Our TEAM-NPA majority on city council is in on this con game. They, together with their business backers, look on city council as a useful agency to increase their profits — at public expense. This is what we’re up against in . the Grandview Woodlands battle. over rezoning. If the developers get away with it here, no residential area in the city will be safe. Phone rate hike unjust says VLC Cont'd from pg. 1 which it says was 8.93 percent last year — is not high enough and wants ahigher rate of return for its shareholders. Essentially the B.C. Tel application boils down to a demand that the federal govern- ment through CRTC allow it higher corporate profits. Among the many briefs challenging B.C. Tel is one by the Canadian Federation of Com- munication Workers, which represents 26,000 Canadian telephone workers including 10,000 employees of B.C. Tel. The CFCW challenges the company on its expansion plans and asks the Commission ‘‘consider whether B.C. Telephone should be granted higher rates to finance expansion that does not increase service but only decreases staff.” A major brief submitted by the Vancouver. and District Labor Council is still to come before the Commission hearings. The brief asks that the B.C. Tel rate boost be rejected on three main points: First, that rate increases are not justified in relation to the com- " pany’s excess profits; second, that customer service has deteriorated to a very low level; third, that B.C. wage earners are already saddled with high living costs and lower income under the federal govern- ment’s AIB program and that B.C. Tel should be forced to hold the line on rates. Challenging the company’s claim that increased labor costs are a major part of their rising costs, the VLC brief says these claims are completely misleading. It points out that according to B.C. Tel’s own financial statements, salaries and wages as a proportion of operating expenses declined from 44 percent in 1974 to 42.1 percent in’ 1975 despite wage in- creases won in 1975. It further points out that the net operating profit per employee increased by 49.1 percent in 1975. Criticizing the Commission for granting B.C. Tel an increase in rates of 19.8 percent in 1976, the labor brief charges that the boost ‘was given ‘‘despite excessive profits and profit increase, in- creasing equity earnings, a declining number of employees, anda reduction in the proportion of labor costs to total operating costs. The facts show that these rate increases were unjustified and that no further rate increases are warranted for the coming year.” Exposing the falseness of B.C. Tel’s claim that it must increase earnings in order to be competitive — modernization ‘in the capital market, the VLC brief points out that the Pelletier Report of 1975 concluded that its U.S. parent companies use dividends made from B.C. Tel to purchase equity issues in the company in order to retain control. Charging B.C. Tel with providing inferior phone service to its customers, the VLC brief says that “there has been no marked im- provement in the quality of telephone service in B.C. in recent years and no indication of a significant improvement in 1977. Frequent wrong numbers, in- complete calls, dead lines, delayed connections, line interference and system breakdowns are still characteristic of the B.C. Telephone Company operation.” Claiming that B.C. Tel customers have for years been forced to pay rates at or above those of other major telephone systems in Canada in spite of in- ferior service, the brief says: “Now customers are expected to pay more so that the company can embark on an extensive program of installing modern switching systems which other major carriers have had for years.” It points out that the Pelletier Report indicated that B.C. Tel . purposely had delayed in- troduction of new switching systems since 1959 because its intercorporate supplier, Automatic Electronic Company, had been unable to supply the products needed for modernization, even though such products were readily available from other sources. By 1975, says the VLC brief, 50 percent of the Bell Telephone system in Ontario was connected with the modern. Crossbar .or . Electronic type of automatic switching equipment, while 90 percent of B.C. Tel’s system was connected to the old step by step type of equipment. “The Vancouver Labor Council submits that it is grossly unfair to expect that British Columbians must continue to pay higher telephone rates to facilitate the of the ~B.G: Telephone system when irresponsible management and inferior service have charac- terized the system for so many years.”’ The brief concludes by calling on the CRTC ‘“‘to act responsibly on behalf of British Columbians in curtailing price inflation and the wholesale attack on living stan- dards by refusing any further rate increases in 1977 for the B.C. Telephone Company.”’ CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING COMING EVENTS NOTICE APRIL 2 — Tour South America from Macchu -Pichu to Rio, Saturday, April 2nd, 1924 Mc- Nicoll, doors open 7:30 - films and slides begin 8:00. Light refreshments. $3.00 adm. $2.00 old age pensions and students. Proceeds to P.T. Drive. ‘MAY 7 — Keep this date open for Harry Rankin’s Birthday Party, Saturday, May 5th at the Russian People’s Home. FORSALE _2 HOLLY TREES, 8 feet tall. Proceeds to the Pacific Tribune. Phone 594-9371. BUSINESS PERSONALS MOVING? CLEANUP — Wanted articles for resale. All proceeds to P.T. Phone 526-5226. “THE GOODIE BIN.” WINNERS of prizes at Mac Pap Social, March 5, 1977. 1st prize donated by A. McKay - A. Muryn. 2nd prize donated by Ukrainska Knyha - W. Sal. Door prizes won by W. Pigura and E. Gardner. HALLS FOR RENT UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE —_ 805 East Pender St., Vancouver 4. Available for banquets, wed- dings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436. WEBSTER’S CORNERS HALL — — Available for banquets, meetings, etc. For rates: Ozzie, 225-4171 or 685-5836. RUSSIAN ‘PEOPLE’S HOME — Now available for rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 1, 1977—Page 11