Costly energy policies continue

By MAURICE RUSH

The decision by the Socred
€0vernment this week to-go ahead
with the building of the con-
troversial Revelstoke dam is a
Serious blow to the best interests of
B.C. If allowed to stand it will
determine the nature of B.C.’s

nergy policies for some years to

Come, and will launch the province
on a costly and wasteful energy
Program for which the public will
have to foot the bill.

Environmentalists have been
Strongly opposed to the dam which
when completed will flood 28,000
acres near Revelstoke, and create
havoc with the environment in the
mountainous region. Present plans
Call for flooding of the area in
Which a serious land fault, on the

Ownie slope, will be under water.
‘An avalanche in the man-made
lake might lead to a flood which
Could engulf Revelstoke and cause
loss of life and property.

Despite these serious threats to

€ environment and the public the
Cabinet decided to go ahead with
the dam which will create B.C.

ydro’s biggest single power
Source, some 2.7 million kilowatts.
But much more is involved in the
decision to go ahead with the dam

an environmental concerns and
Public safety, serious as these are.
Involved is the whole future of
€nergy development in the
Province.

The cabinet decision was a
victory for B.C. Hydro chairman
Robert Bonner and his big business
approach to running the province’s

‘Revelstoke blow to B.C." |

- €nergy resources and crown

Corporation. Bonner’s policies
have been characterized by in-
Creased export of hydro resources
to ‘the-U.S.; and the’ creation of

large blocs of hydro power to feed
the big corporations with cheap,
below cost power, while saddling
the public with high rates, and
huge debts to pay for this program.

Under Bonner’s direction B.C.
Hydro exports of electrical energy
to the U.S. have climbed by leaps
and bounds. New transmission
lines are being built to link B.C.
more completely with the U.S.
energy grid in the Pacific Nor-
thwest. Bonner wants increased
production of hydro in B.C. to meet
growing commitments to the U.S.
He is also on record favoring the
export of water from the Columbia
River system to the U.S.

Under Bonner’s leadership it is
projected that the debt for B.C.
Hydro will climb to some $12 billion
by 1990, of which the $1.2 billion
Revelstoke dam will be a part.
Other costly projects are also in
the cards, suchas Hat Creek. This
debt will be a charge against the
public and they will be expected to
pay for it through higher rates and
taxes.

The Socred government and its
appointee, Robert Bonner, are
determined to maintain a hydro
rate system which discriminates
against the public and favors the
big bulk users, mainly the forest
and mining companies. This
system was originally set up by W.
A. C. Bennett when he took over the
B.C. Electric and established B.C.
Hydro.

At the present time the big forest
and mining companies in the
province consume electricity at a
cost to them of 13 mills. It costs
B.C. Hydro 23 mills to produce it.

Artists conception of the Revelstoke dam.

cent to the bulk users. The public
pick up the bill for this by paying
higher rates and taxes to meet B.C.
Hydro’s growing debt. :

When the Revelstoke dam was
first projected it aroused strong
opposition, not only from environ-
mentalists, and citizens in Revel-
stoke concerned with the danger to
their city, but also from others
concerned with the direction of
B.C.’s energy policies.

The issue became so hot that the
provincial cabinet was forced to
set upa special cabinet committee
to hold hearings and bring a
recommendation to the govern-
ment. That recommendation came
last Monday when the chairman of

Allan Williams, announced a go-
ahead on the dam.

The most controversial issue to
arise in the hearings before the
cabinet committee was a_ brief
presented by three UBC
economists which called for a
complete overhaul of B.C. Hydro
policies. The brief urged that top
priority be given to reforming the
entire rate structure which would
end the favorable rates to big
companies, and which would
compel these companies to stop the
present wasteful use of hydro

energy by using waste materials

from their industry.

The UBC economists pointed out
that a change in hydro rates would
lead to lower rates for the public,

, wee An

and would remove the need for
expensive projects such as the
Revelstoke dam and Hat Creek for
some years to come, thus lowering
the indebtedness of B.C. Hydro.
They said that such a revision of
rates could lead to a reduction in
B.C. Hydro’s debt from an
estimated $12 billion in 1990 to only
$1 billion.

By opting for the B.C. Hydro
plan, to proceed with the Revel-
stoke dam, the provincial govern-
ment has rejected the demand for
basic changes in the B.C. Hydro
operations, and has set B.C. on the
course of large-scale expensive
energy development which would
benefit mainly the big corporations
and the U.S.

UFAWU issues

Cont'd from pg. 1

fishermen by the UFAWU were in
Contravention of the Combines
Investigation Act.

“Mass support of the labor
Movement combined with the
determination of fishermen to take
Strike action forced passage of
Special legislation subsequently
Mcorporated in an amended
Combines Investigation Act
€xempting collective bargaining
Y fishermen for minimum fish
Prices,

“Since then, the large fishing
Monopolies have stepped up their
attack on the de facto bargaining

Nights enjoyed by fishermen since ~
1893. ;

“In court actions, as well as’in

€alings under Canada Pension,
Unemployment insurance,
Workers’ compensation, the
Monopolies insist that fishermen
are co-adventurers, fellow
businessmen - — anything but
Workers.

“When fishing vessel crew
Members were included under the
new federal labor code proclaimed
M 1973 and applications for cer-

fication were filed by our union,
the fishing companies moved to
Challenge the legislation and the
applications on consititutional
Srounds, questioning the legal
Interpretation of themselves as
€mployers and fishermen as
_ €mployees for bargaining pur-
Poses. That action is now before

€Supreme Court of Canada and a-

€cision is pending.

“In any event, fishermen still
face a difficult and protracted fight
to obtain the full bargaining rights
Ong ago won by other organized
Workers.

“Meanwhile, in the fall of 1975,

“This is a subsidy of nearly 50°per

federal combines investigators
again raided UFAWU offices,
carrying off with them to Ottawa
some 3,000 letters and documents.
No reason was given for the raid;
nor was any investigation made of
the real monopoly in the fishing
industry, the B.C. Packers
(Weston) — Canadian Fishing
Company (New England fishing
Company combine.

“Tn the fall of 1976, the Combines
Branch followed up by scheduling
secret hearings of the Restrictive
Trade Practices Commission in
Vancouver, summoning leading
members of our union and B.C.
Federation of Labor to testify.

“Union members protested this
Star Chamber inquisition. Mindful
of the fight 20 years previous which
threatenedtoaccomplish its aim of

AE

Labor protest at Combines hearing in Van
_ Branch has returned to the attack on the union with charges now befcre the courts.

the committee, labor minister

anti-combines

destroying our union (in the U.S.
the International Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union was in fact
smashed by just such anti-
combines legislation), they
picketed the hearings.

“Their demand was for public
hearings and full disclosure of
evidence. In other words, if the
unions was to be emasculated, its
members wanted the perpetrators
to do their dirty work in the full
light of day.

“On the picket line were
represenatives of Vancouver and
District Labor Council, and New
Westminster Labor Council, B.C.
Federation of Labor and the
Canadian Labor Congress, as well
as many individual unions. The
Combines Branch chose to call off
the hearings.

ye Deny

MY PUBLIC

couver, Dec. 1976 demanded hands off U

-“This summer our union was
shocked to hear that seven of its
members have been charged with

unlawfully impeding the
Restrictive Trade Practices
Commission’s investigation, the

penalties for which under the
Combines Investigation Act range
up totwo years in jail and/or $5,000
for each offence.

“Our union has never taken issue
with the principle of the Combines
Investigation Act, although it
shares with other unions serious
misgivings about the failure of
successive governments to use the
legislation in curbing monopoly
practices.

“Tt should be used against the
monopolies, including those which
conspire to fix fish prices to the
detriment of the consuming public.

Le

FAWU. The Combines
—Sean Griffin photo

* a

The UFAWU is not a combine.
Fishermen are at the mercy of the
fishing monopolies and their only
protection is their own organized
strength as expressed in British
Columbia by the UFAWU.

“It is ironical that the Trudeau
government, which perverts the
intent of the Combines ‘In-
vestigation Act, is itself under
attack at Ottawa for participating
in a uranium price-fixing cartel
and using its power under order in
council to make disussion of it
illegal.

“There can be no question that
the Combines Investigation
Branch, its political masters and
the fishing companies are the real
conspirators. Their aim remains to
weaken and destroy the UFAWU.

“We ask your help to:

e Write or wire Francis Fox,
solicitor-general, and Tony Abbott,
consumer and corporate affairs
minister, demanding they drop the
criminal charges against UFAWU
members.

e Demand that the Combines
Investigation Branch cease once
and for all its harassment of the
UFAWU. If they want hearings,
then they should be in public, and
they should be part of a full in-
vestigation of the real monopolies
— the food combines, including
those in the fishing industry.

e Write or wire the provincial
minister of labor, Alan Williams,
demanding the same rights for
fishermen under the B.C. Labor
code as provided for other British
Columbia workers.

“We know that once again you
can be counted on for fraternal
assistance, since the attack on the
UF AWU is equally an attack on all
organized labor.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 16, 1977—Page 3