By MAURICE RUSH

Most People are aware of the Socred
Bovernment’s attack on social services,

ant, labor and human rights under the
puise of restraint.

But what has gone largely unnoticed is
€ massive sellout of B.C.’s resources
hich is taking place at the same time.
The right wing offensive against the peo-
ult*Ple is being accompanied by economic poli-
agcies which are turning the province’s
»dg.F eSources Over to the major companies at an
ore@larming rate and strengthening the raw
ate. material nature of B.C.’s economy. That
noj>xPlains the reason for the enthusiasm of
; tothe Employers Council and the Fraser Insti-
tute for the Socred government’s right wing
onpolicies. »
era] The Socred government and the big
Ouyresource monopolies are as one in their
jordetermination to retain B.C. as a raw mate-
es'rial hinterland, aiming to reap huge profits
ousfrom the export of raw materials. They are
physeeking to tighten monopoly control over
» these resources and in the process discour-
-onage the development of processing indus-
atetries in B.C. The program is faciliated by the
in(government’s privatization policy and its
eg commitment to the interests of the
isly“private sector.”

nd, When Jim Matkin, president of the
{t-mployers’ Council, appeared before the

MacDonald Royal Commission on Eco-
omic Prospects, he expressed the view of
he big resource monopolies as well as that
f the provincial government when he said
that B.C. should remain a province depend-
ent on its Taw material economy. “There is
nothing wrong with being hewers of wood
and drawers of water as long as we are good
hewers of wood and drawers of water,” is
he way he put it.

The policy of big business and the Socred
government is most clearly expressed in
B.C.’s ailing forest industry on which B.C.
depends and which accounts for 50 cents of
every dollar _in B.C.’s economy. B.C.’s
forests are being decimated. Recent studies
indicate that unless a massive reforestation
program Is undertaken, B.C. faces the pros-
pect of 60,000 forestry and allied jobs being
wiped out.

Four or five major forest companies,
‘}headed by MacMiilan-Bloedel dominate

Licences. Under the government’s privati-
zation program new regulations have been
introduced which allow the forest compan-
ies to police themselves, giving them virtu-

ally free rein to do whatever they want to
maximize profits,

Along with these measures has gone a
liberalization in the collection of stumpage
and other royalties which have allowed
forest companies to cut their payments to
ithe provincial government by some $150
{million ayear. This is an outright subsidy to
‘the forest companies from the public
‘treasury. saat

At the heart of the crisis in the forest
industry is the present Tree Farm Licences
system and the failure to-turn the industry
from raw material exports to manufactur-
ing and processing. The licences were first
introduced on the pretext that the only way
to ensure a perpetual yield and proper forest
management was to turn over huge tracts of
public forest lands to private companies.
The theory was that the private companies
would provide adequate reforestation in
order to ensure a continuous supply of
; wood. The present crisis in the forest indus-

try proves that premise was entirely wrong.
Rather than ensure perpetuation of our

the forest industry through the Tree Farm ~

forests the present policy is leading to the
most rapid destruction of forests in the pro-
vince’s history.

If B.C.’s forest industry is to be saved an
entirely new forestry policy is needed. The
Communist Party at its provincial conven-
tion in April spelled out what that policy
should be. It called for the immediate
launching of a massive reforestation pro-
gram, for action to turn the industry from
raw material exports to manufacturing of
wood products in B.C., including fine paper
products, a furniture and pre-fabricated
housing industry, and a halt to the export of

logs.

It also called for legislation requiring that
capital derived from exploiting public
forests be reinvested in B.C. to create new
industries and maximum employment. A
key proposal is that the Tree Farm Licences
be phased out, that major forests companies
like M-B be nationalized, and that a public
forestry policy be launched under which
publicly-owned forest lands would be pub-
licly managed in the interests of the people.

Power, gas exported

_ A massive sellout of hydro power and
natural gas is also underway. Recently the
government and B.C. Hydro applied to the
National Energy Board for permission to
double the export of firm power — Hydro
power that cannot later be altered or
cancelled — and to permit contracts with
U.S. companies to run for a large number of
years. This marks a giant step towards a
new energy policy which will see huge
amounts of hydro exports go to light up Los
Angeles, Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena —
to power their industries, including war
industries.

If the Socreds and B.C. Hydro get the
licences they have applied for it will ulti-
mately change the face of the province. It
will lead to the flooding of B.C.’s valleys
and farmlands to provide hydro energy for
the U.S. It will have a disastrous affect on
our environment and destroy much of the
habitat on which Native Indian people
depend, as well as destroy our fisheries. It
will saddle future generations with astro-

‘nomical debts to pay for the building of

large dams. Above all, we will see our
hydroelectric energy directed in a north-
south flow to the U.S. which will lead to a
further integration of Canada to the U.S.
and saddle us with a continentalist policy
which will be damaging to Canadian inde-
pendence.and sovereignty.

To facilitate the large-scale export of B.C.
power to the U.S., Robert Bonner, chair-
man of B.C. Hydro, recently proposed that
B.C. should finance the building of a trans-
mission line from the B.C. border to Cali-
fornia at the cost of millions of dollars. The
pricing policy of B.C. Hydro in B.C. is also
being changed to put much of the burden of
costs on the public and to subsidize the
giveaway program.

The Socred government has decided that
power will be sold to the U.S. ata minimum
of 1.8 cents a killowatt hour, which is about
one-third of that paid by the people in B.C.
In addition, the government has agreed to
offer bulk users in B.C. — that is large
industrial and commercial enterprises — a
30 per cent cut in hydro rates if they will use
more power. At the same time B.C. Hydro
recently announced a six per cent increase in
rates to the public. Here again is the bias of
the Socred government in favor of big busi-
ness: lower rates for bulk users, low rates to
California customers, and higher rates to
the B.C. consuemrs who will be subsidizing
the giveaway program.

Instead of large scale exports of hydro to
the U.S. the government should be consid-
ering plans to take advantage of B.C.’s
hydro resources to develop manufacturing
and processing industries which will help
strengthen the economy and overcome the
serious unemployment crisis. Industry seeks
to locate where there is a plentiful and cheap
supply of hydro energy. Instead of exploit-
ing that advantage the Socred government
and B.C. Hydro are planning to sell that
advantage to southern California for
immediate profit and long range loss to
B.C. and its people.

Multinational control

The Socred government has also taken a
major step towards turning over complete
control of the natural gas industry to the
large multinational oil companies. One of
the first victims in the government’s privati-
zation program was the B.C. Petroleum
Corporation, originally set up by the NDP
government when it was in power. It was
the most successful Crown corporation in
terms of meeting public needs. Under its
administration, natural gas rates to the pub-
lic were kept down, prices to the U.S. were
sharply increased, and profits from the
Crown corporation made possible substan-
tial grants to civic governments.

The Socred government has now handed
over marketing of natural gas to the private
oil companies. This represents a sellout to
the big oil companies which control market-
ing as well as production of natural gas. The
result is that rates charged the U.S. are being
negotiated downward while large increases
in rates charged the B.C. public are under-
way. Profits of the big oil companies are
expected to skyrocket as they cash in on the
sellout of one of B.C.’s most valuable
resources.

NE coal giveaway

The most highly publicized giveaway has
been the northeast coal deal under which
the government is subsidizing mining com-
panies to the extent of $2 million to ship
huge quantities of high quality metallurgical
coal to Japan to manufacture steel which
we later buy back at high pries. Secret nego-
tiations have been going on between the
Socred cabinet and Gulf Canada Resources
for another huge deal near Dease Lake.

The plan being discussed by the cabinet’s
committee on economic development

See SOCREDS page 10...

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 9, 1984 e 3

i a iil