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Wilf Lennox (left), Ray Cox.

eh hs
pe

. . two of SAM’s candidates.

SAM in Surrey race

The Surrey Alternative
Movement (SAM) has entered
Surrey’s municipal race this fall
with four aldermanic and a school
board candidate.

SAM contested last year’s
election in Surrey but has since
been joined by the left wing of the
Surrey Municipal Electors (SME).
The former SME members, in-
cluding a number of executive
members, joined with SAM earlier
this year when it became apparent
that the SME had abandoned its
previously held reform program.

SAM chairman Frank Izzard
introduced the candidates at a

public meeting September 25 in’

Surrey. Aldermanic candidates
include veteran civic activist Wilf
Lennox, CUPE leader Bill
Morrison, steelworker and tenant
worker Ray Cox- and longtime

Surrey resident Vi Swan. Harry
Harrison, retired school board
maintenance man, is the sole
school board candidate.

The reform program of SAM has

been drawn from the civic

program of the Vancouver and
New Westminster Labor Councils
and adapted to the- specific.
problems of Surrey. Main program
points include the establishment of
a ward system, acquisition of
parkland and ecological reserves,
tax reform, and the formation of a
Surrey Housing Development
Corporation to provide low cost,
quality housing.

Vancouver alderman ‘Harry
Rankin and New Westminster
Labor Council secretary-treasurer
Tom Baker addressed the meeting
and urged SAM to-fight for the
involvement of working people in
civic reform.

By Ald. HARRY RANKIN

Vancouver’s demolition by-law
is entirely inadequate and is not
serving the main purpose for which
it was intended — to maintain a
good stock of lower price ac-
commodation.

Demolition of rental housing has
been averaging about 730 units a
year and has risen gradually
during the past four years. The
majority of the units demolished
have been lower priced rental
units; the areas most affected have
been the inner-city, West End,
Kitsilano and  Grandview-
Woodlands. In the majority of
cases the units demolished were
structurally sound and entirely
suitable for continued use. They
were replaced by higher-cost units
with new tenants. The major cause
of this destruction of perfectly good
housing is the greed of developers
for maximum profits, aided and
abetted by provincial and federal
legislation which provides tax
incentives and tax shelters for
developers.

In .addition to the above, the
stock of lower-priced housing is
also being depleted by the
following factors:

e Seven hundred units are closed
annually for health and safety
reasons. In most cases this is
because the owners refuse to
upgrade these units. They allow
them to deteriorate to the point
where demolition. becomes
necessary. This could be stopped if
the Standards of Maintenance By-
Law were applied properly. .

e Demolition of single family

Poor evaluation for ‘PREP’

An evaluation report in the
department of human resources,
obtained. by the Tribune, has
backed up criticism of Bill Vander
Zalm’s PREP program. :

The official report of the
ministry’s evaluation program
reported that Vander Zalm’s much
lauded job finding prograrh has
placed few people into jobs who
would not have found employment
on their own.

“Tt appears that there has been
no action to date taken to develop
the rehabilitation aspect of the
PREP program,”’’ the report says.
“Therefore, the program is

primarily catering to job ready
individuals who have not been
chronic income assistance cases
and would probably have stood the
best chance of finding employment
on their own.” :
Even at that, the report points
out, figures have been padded by
classifying part time or temporary
jobs as full time employment.
Earlier this year, Vander Zalm
was caught using Canada Man-
power’s job placement service to
make his PREP program look
good. Manpower sent a job ap-
plicant to fill a spot at the Down-

town Eastside Resident’s
Association office and DERA vice-
president Bruce Eriksen found the
Manpower form stamped
PREP?”

Another part of the evaluation
program’s report took issue with
Vander Zalm’s fraud _ statistics
used against the Vancouver
Resources Board. The minister
fixed the results, apparently by
drawing his figures from a selected
list of cases, rather than from a
random selection. Moreover, the
report said, most of Vander Zalm’s
charges were “suspected frauds.”’

a

‘e Demolition bylaw needed

units averages over 700 units a
year. These are usually replaced
by singlefamily higher priced
structures or duplexes.

e About 1000 a year of lower-
priced housing units are lost an-
nually simply by increasing prices
so much that they are taken out of
the low-cost category. .

There’s a debate going on in City
Hall now, both among the
bureaucrats and the aldermen,
over what to do about this
situation, especially the demolition
by-law.

A good demolition by-law will by
no means solve the problem, but it
can certainly help to preserve
affordable housing. What the city

needs is absolute and unconditional
power to stop any and
demolitions. Then we can go abdul
applying it in the interests of
citizens. And the yardstick for this
must simply be will any)
proposed demolition and its
replacement increase or decreas?
the supply of affordable housing. ff
the answer is positive, ©
demolition can go ahead. If it
negative, then it should not
permitted. *
Any demolition permit should
require that any affordabl
housing demolished be replace
with at least an equal amount |
affordable housing within W
economic means of the reside’
being displaced. 1

AIB debates too much
for Kamloops council

Kamloops city. council had a
chance to. join with the labor
movement in demanding the
immediate end to wage controls
last week, but the opportunity
proved to be too much for the right
wing majority on the council.

Alderman Nelson Riis responded
to the request of the Kamloops and
District Labor Council with a
motion that the council petition for
the end of controls. Riis claimed
the controls were harming the
Kamloops economy by holding
purchasing power down and cited
figures to show that wages had
effectively been controlled but
prices had not.

The council’s right wing took up
the motion as an ideological
challenge as four council members
came with written addresses. Most
vehement was a_ stumbling
alderman Claude Richmond whose
anti-labor tirade wandered so far
from the point he was called out of

‘order. Richmond’s attack made a

PEOPLE AND ISSUES

splash in Kamloop’s papers, but he
was to back up his allegations in
the council debate. When cross-
examined on his claim that union
demands were ruining Kamloop’s
business, the alderman failed to
name a single instance of his
charge. Then asked by Riis why
business should’ not agree to

‘aldermen Riis, Howard Dack a!

Netiot

oe

cs

exercise equal restraint as laboh
he replied categorically, “Busine®
has already agreed, several we
ago.”

Kamloops mayor Mike Latta
brought a written anti-labor speec!
as well, only to preface his atta
with the thought that “problems #
this, political magnitude do 10!
belong in our council chambers:
> After 45 minutes of the debat®
alderman Dianne Kerr could tak
no more and moved an amendme
to Riis’ motion to call for a
phasing out of controls, which, ®
course, is what the feder
government already intends to 4

The amendment passed Ww!
Tony Romano, to their cred
opposed.

CRBs continue
VRB struggles

Community resources board
and VRB supporters will me

October 26, 8 p.m. at 616 Eas!
Cordova, Van., to discuss né
forms of activity around humé!
resources issues followifig th?
proclamation of Bill 65 and ¢
official abolishment of the Va
couver Resources Board.

W ith this issue we open ‘‘People and Issues’? — a column

of a different kind. As its title implies, it-will touch on a
wide range of issues, some of them calling for a full
editorial assault, some of them the target of a satirical
barb. Just as important, we intend in the column to draw
attention to people whose activities, while perhaps not the
stuff of which headlines are made, are often as much a part
of the progressive movement as are those of its more

prominent leaders.
i * * *

Ithough the people of this province long ago turfed him -

out of office, “Flying Phil’? Gagliardi has managed to
find his way back into the public eye. This time it’s because
of his announcement that he intends to flout the new
“buckle up’’ seat belt law, an announcement that was ac-
companied — predictably — with free enterprise notions
about the right of the individual to choose. But if his
typically redneck attempt at civil disobedience won him a
spoton the front page, it was the actions of the Gagliardis in
challenging the law elsewhere that gives more serious
cause for concern.

For years, the Gagliardis — the old man as well as his
sons — together with a host of anti-union contractors,
succeeded in thwarting the organizing attempts of building
trades unions and put up several Sandman Inns in various
locations throughout the province with non-union labor.
Now, following a year-long organizing drive, Local.40 of the
Hotel, Restaurant, Culinary Employees and Bartenders
Union has won certifications at six of the 14 Sandman
operations. :

But the Gagliardis, in a letter to labor minister Allan
Williams, have challenged the automatic certification
granted at the Williams Lake Inn. Their reason? — the true
wishes of the 28 employees have not been carried out, they
claim. In fact, Bob Gagliardi tells us, the employees are
opposed to union membership and should have the right to
express their wishes.

Whether Williams takes any action to alter the -cer-
tification remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. The
only right that the Gagliardis are concerned about is the
“right-to-work’’ — the same “‘right’’ that Williams had
uppermost in his mind when introduced Bill 89, the
amendments to the labor code into the Legislature last
month. And it’s “right-to-work’”. employers like the
Gagliardis who will benefit most now that that legislation
has been proclaimed.

* * *

wis the advent of U.S. president Carter’s much-

publicized ‘‘human rights” campaign, and even before,
a compliant establishment press has printed scores of
horror stories about Soviet dissidents being incarcerated in
psychiatric hospitals and subjected to mental tortures for
their dissent. The media campaign has, of course, assisted
the U.S. in pushing anti-Soviet resolutions through various

mental health conferences such as the one recently held in’.

Vancouver. But the voting.at the most recent conference —
held last month in Honolulu — reveals just how threadbare
is the U.S. campaign. :

Although British, U.S. and Australian delegates were —
able to push an anti-Soviet resolution through the Congress,
a fact which was duly reported in the media,.none of the
reports bothered to mention the method by which motions
are passed. In fact, there were only 19 countries voting in
favor of the resolution while 33 countries voted with the
Soviet Union. But since votes are apportioned to a par-
ticipating country on the basis of its financial contribution,
the U.S. was able to outvote Nigeria, for example, by a
margin of 30 points to one. :

Even with its vote-buying, the U.S. only won the
resolution by two points.

* * *

t has nothing on the millions, both in dollars and man-

hours, being spent on the real thing, but the mock-up of Subs

the Trident submarine, pictured in last week’s Tribune

nevertheless represents a good many hours spent in -~

developing the idea and creating the final product. ce
structed from a trailer owned by John and Rita Tanche ?
White Rock, the mock-up was originally conceived by JO
and designed by Albert Hannuskela. From that beginniné:
Stan Padgham’s handiwork, combined with Pete Plantier? |
skills as an electrician, Jack Savard’s and Bill McDonald*
mechanical wizardry, Fred Bianco’s precise welding and
Jamie Gidora’s artistic touch with a lettering brush turne
the idea into a 10-foot by 16-foot submarine model.
Intended to dramatize the danger posed by the Tridet!
nuclear submarine slated for installation at Bango!
Washington, the model has been used by the Fraser Valle).
Peace Council to highlight its campaign for signatures of
the Stockholm Peace Appeal. It will be seen in, Vancouvé
October 15 when the B.C. Peace Council marks I
ternational Day of Action to End the Arms Race with
petitioning blitz.
Wie hoy
inally, we offer a special note of thanks to long-tim
Tribune supporter Fred Bassanoff of Burnaby wh?
even though he was in hospital, tendered a donation of gal
to the paper. Bassanoff, who has always figure

prominently on the list of donors during the annual financl®
drive, alsomarkeda birthday on Sept. 11 — in this case; h
93rd.

Editor - MAURICE RUSH ?

Assistant Editor SEAN GRIFFIN.
Business and Circulation Manager — FRED WILSON

Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive,
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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 7, 1977—Pad