A, A Ok BS

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Strong policies shelved
as NDP convention has
eyes fixed on election

By DAN KEATON

Delegates to last week’s New
Democratic Party convention met
in a mood of optimism that their
party will form the next govern-
ment. The convention, held Oct.
16-18 in Hotel Vancouver, was low
on controversy but high on support
for the current leadership, in-
cluding provincial leader Dave Bar-
rett, who was acclaimed for a
twelfth term.

_ Key resolutons called on the an-
ticipated future NDP government
to implement a program of low-
Tent, union built public housing,
land banking and rent controls, ex-
tended rather than reduced health
care and social services, and
equal pay for work of equal value
for women in government jobs.

Other resolutions decried -cur-
tent inadequate GAIN rates, called
for extended child care facilities
and attention to the needs of older
women.

High among environment mo-
tions adopted was a demand for
scrapping the proposed Hat Creek
thermal power project, while labor
Tesolutions centered on
technological change and the right
of forest-and agricultural. workers
to decent housing.

Barrett set what may be the cor-.

nerstone of the provincial party’s
election platform when he an-
nounced NDP plans to subsidize
mortgages for homeowners by
seven percent. Under this scheme,
mortgages would be offered at 13.5

- percent through a special agency

created under the B.C. Savings and
Trust Corporation Act, enacted by
the previous NDP government but
hever proclaimed.

Much of the cost for this would
be reclaimed through taxes
generated by increased jobs in the
resultant exanded housing in-
dustry, and a few cents more per
bottle on liquor tax, he said.

Barrett’s mortgage scheme and
his disparagement of the private
banking system’s profits coupled
with the federal government’s
‘phoney’? deferred mortgage plan
fitted well with later resolutions on

creation of public housing and con- «

stituted perhaps the most positive
note of the convention.

Less inspiring was Barrett’s
assessment of the important
natural resources question. He de-
nounced ‘‘the subsized giveaway of
our resources” --but offered few
solutions for reversing this trend,
other than to note that the
“abyssmal”’ reforestation program
could be enhanced by putting
unemployed persons to work plan-
ting trees, and to promise that coal
carrying vessels for the Ridley
Island project would be built here
instead of abroad as currently plan-
ned. \
He fared little better on the con-
stitutional question. While
acknowledging that there are

“regional needs’’ and ‘‘language.

disputes,’ he said it is important to
“get the constitution behind us,”’
failing to mention Quebec and the
nationalities question or the issue
of native land claims.

Barrett stressed a positive role
for Canada when he denounced the
arms buildup, asserting that this
country must take a position of
peace internationally.”’ This point
might have packed more punch
had he suggested how ‘“‘we in
Canada take the middle road’
when this country is tied
economically and militarily to the
Us:

Additionally, reiteration of the
NDP’s demand that Canada
withdraw from NATO and
NORAD and a call for the im-
mediate ratification by the U.S. of
Salt 2 would have added substance
to this positive note.

Lack of. controversy was
perhaps the most outstanding
feature of the convention, the ma-
jority of resolutions passing handi-
ly with little heated debate on the
floor. Delegates received motions
in much the same way as they
received Barrett’s speech, with
warm enthusiasm for ideas and
policies calculated to win the sup-
port of the broadest cross-section
of social democrats.

One of the most important reso-
lutions was that dealing with re-
establishment of the B.C. Housing
Corporation to construct an
‘unspecified amount of low-cost,
‘government subsidized ~ housing
built by union labor with rents fix-
ed at 25 percent of gross family in-
come or market rent, whichever is
less. Complementary resolutions
called for implementation of land
banking, with land acquired from
several sources, including ex-
propriations from large corpora-
tions, as well as provincial subsidies
of non-profit housing and strict
rent controls.

Of the labor resolutions consid-
ered, only two demanded any com-
mitment from an NDP govern-
ment. The first called on the cur-
rent Socred government to consult
with workers affected by upcoming
new minimum housing standards
for work-site accommodation, and
a pledge that the NDP if elected
would do so.

Canadian Farmworkers Union
president Raj Chouhan was called
to address the convention on this
point and used the occasion to call
on the NDP to change the Em-
ployment Standards Act to include
farmworkers, for which he receiv-
ed a standing ovation.

The second resolution called on
a future NDP government to ex-
tend full bargaining rights to the
province’s teachers. Other motions
reaffirmed the party’s commit-
ment to seek new policies on the ef-
fects of technological changes on
the work force, and denounced the
federal government’s cutbacks of
the VIA rail passenger service.

In the field of health care, the
resolutions which made it to the
floor were perhaps the most indica-
tive of NDP priorities. While the

-resolutions book contained mo-

tions calling for universal, free den-
tal and medical care and subsidized
non-profit clinics, those considered
and carried concentrated mainly on
reorganization of health care facili-

ties and services, with little finan-
cial commitment demanded of an
NDP government.

Delegates voted for integration
of health and social services with
community input into decision
making, for regulation and exten-
sion of long-term care and home-
maker services, and for legalization
of midwifery.

On women’s issues, the conven-
tion committed an elected NDP
government to set an example by
instituting the concept of equal pay
for work of equal value in all gov-
ernment positions. The party was
also mandated, if elected, to estab-
lish pre-employment programs and
a job creation strategy for older
women entering the work force,
these motions arising from a pro-
vincial study conducted by the
party’s Women’s Rights Commit-
tee.

The convention also reaffirmed
its support for universal, free
2Ahour child care without com-
mitting an NDP government to its
implementation.

Little attention was given to the
question of energy resources, other
than resolutions calling for utiliza-
tion of wood wastes as a source of
electrical power and demanding the
scrapping of the controversial Hat
Creek thermal power project.

Delegates passed three last-min-
ute resolutions supporting demon-

_strations against the CAIA (Cana-

dian Association — Latin America
and Caribbean) conference, the
Nov. 21 CLC demonstration
against high interest rates, and the
B.C. Organization to Fight Rac-
ism. Delegates also voiced their op-
position to B.C. Tel’s proposed
privately-owned phone system, In-
terconnect, endorsing the Tele-
communication Workers Union’s
campaign.

A standing ovation greeted Nic-
araguan government representa-
tive Olga Avile, who outlined her
coun:ry’s problems since the suc-
cessful revolution two years ago.
Speaking through a translator, she

warned of the dangers her fledgling

government faces from hostile
forces, chief among these U.S. im-
perialism, which has sought to iso-
late Nicaragua economically under
the threat of military intervention.

Election of table officers saw all
incumbents returned without op-
position. Re-elected are Gerry
Stoney, president; Anita Hagen,
first vice-president; Joy Langan,

second vice-president; Dave Stu-

pich, third vice-president; Jim Mc-
Kenzie, fourth vice-president;
Roger Howard, treasurer.

Elected to the provincial execu-
tive of the party were Paul Barnett,
Stephen Boggis, Rosemary Brown,
Johanna Den Hertog, Joe Deno-
freo, John Mika, Donna Sacuto,
Russ St. Eloi, Yvonne Storey, Bob
Williams.

Absence of any opposition slates:
for leadership positions and lack of
controversy over the policies and
direction of the party indicate the
NDP has agreed to bury its differ-

‘ences and opt for a middle-of-the-
road program in the election antici- »

pated within the next year.

ed

DEMONSTRATORS . .
penheimer Park rally.

CORPORATE
LEADING
US TO

. Stage symbolic b

CONTROL

p INCTION

ELIAS STAVRIDES — FISHERMAN PHOTO

urning of coal at Op-

Moratorium on Hydro
megaprojects sought

Demonstrators representing
environmental groups from
across the province marched
through downtown Vancouver
Oct. 16 calling for a moratorium
on B.C. Hydro’s numerous
planned megaprojects.

Chanting, ‘‘Damn B.C.
Hydro, not’our'rivers,”” ‘‘Fire:

~Bonner, not the'coal,” “‘Native’

people have rights, stop B.C.
Hydro” and other slogans, the
approximately 70 demonstrat-
ors paraded from Oppenheimer
Park to the B.C. Hydro build-
ing on Burrard St.

The demonstration followed
a morning mini-conference on
B.C. Hydro’s planned projects,
part of the week-long open con-
ference held Oct. 11-18.

The theme of Hydro’s rape of
B.C.’s natural resources was
aptly displayed in the colorful
float preceding the marchers
featuring two mountains — one
covered with green vegetation
and the other painted brown
bearing dead vegetation around
a miniature ‘‘smokestack’’
belching smoke from real coal.

This theatrical approach con-
tinued in front of the Hydro
headquarters with a mock inter-
view of acostumed “‘Mr. Robot
Bomber’’.

The ‘‘Bomber’’ character, a
parody of Hydro chairperson
Robert Bonner, offered
numerous ‘‘justifications”’ for ,
the devastations of large scale
industrial projects to the merri-
ment of the crowd.

On the serious side, John
Walker of the Hat Creek Action
Group, one of the organizations
opposing the temporarily shelv-
ed Hat Creek thermal power
station, began by noting that

‘all the groups here support the
demands at this demonstra-
tion,’’ including calls for a gov-
ernment-sponsored full public
inquiry into B.C. Hydro’s pro-
jects, a moratorium on all pro-
jects until the inquiry’s comple-
tion, and prior settlement of all
native land claims.

Stressing a theme recurrent in
many of the speeches, Walker

called for unity of the various
groups engaged in regional
struggles around the province,
stating, ‘‘B.C. Hydro doesn’t
want us to see their whole energy
plan, and their hookups with the
multinational corporations.”’
This theme was echoed by
Arne Thomilinson. of the

- UFAWU which has been ‘‘long

on record as opposing the mega
projects,’’ according to
Thomlinson. Restating the need
for a full public inquiry into
Hydro’s schemes, he urged
marchers not to limit their strug-
gles to just one issue, stressing
that ‘‘we need an energy policy
for all of Canada.”

‘The people of B.C. Hydro
aren’t just sitting around in
meetings, they’re taking action
— we have to take action too,”’
said Native representative Nilak
Butler of the Society of the Peo- ,
ple Struggling to be Free.

George Mermanson of the
United Church of Canada’s
Division of Mission in stating
his church’s historical support
for native land claims declared,
“It?s important we realize we:
face a life-and-death struggle
between super technologies and
the environment.”

B.C. Hydro chairperson
Robert Bonner was not the sole
person responsible for un-
popular projects, because the
Crown corpo: .on was ‘‘only
acting out the policies of the
Social Credit government,”
asserted Peter Deverell of the
Hat Creek Coalition.

Mike Down of the UBC en-
vironmental interest group, said
many students, such as those in
forestry and agriculture will face
bleak job prospects in the future
because of the adverse affects
Hydro’s projects will have on
forestry reserves and farm
land.

Othe speakers included
Nadine Asante of the Terrace-
based Skeena Protection Coali-
tion, Randy Hadden of the
Peace Valley Environmental
Association, and Laurie
Gourlay of SPEC, Nanaimo.

PACIFIC TRISUNE—OCT. 23, 1981—Page 3