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Vancouver needs

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By MAURICE RUSH

A S the people of Vancouver
ence Pate to celebrate the
a anniversary of their city
Wey, are faced with the big-
ey challenge in the city’s
ee the need to establish
eee system of civic
ihe now lamentably
: & at city hall.

ayeeee is no better. cause to
direct Sega citizens can
Divers eir efforts in this an-
ay eg year than to rebuild
stro Clvic government on

nger democratic lines.

Consider these facts:

aaa mcouver has fewer
sa aldermen than any of
Seeman major cities in Ca-
ey (10 aldermen and_ the
“tee In some cases each
= Cuver city council mem-
: represents

4 about three
mee people than in a
cities, Yr of . Canada’s major

including O
Hamilton, g Ottawa and

8
Van
Cal
of

Stal nearly one-third of
- vers history its politi-
Ife has been in the grip
ce called the Non-
finn ese a -coali-
bikes oe iberals and Conserva-
ah a € NPA has kept itself

Wer for almost 25 years
Se of powerful financial

ecau
backi :
king from big business,

and

hae to a thoroughly
Mocratic structure of
Severnment,

(

e
hall ake Meetings at city
nu
ran to the point where
Dine Bier Vancouver news-
‘ery ott ave felt compelled to
Browth _ .28ainst them. The
cet m in the number of se-
eetings has increased in

Cosi a to the fear of our

Bubit. eaaig” of .the -voting
feos t reflects their desire

Public Scrutiny,

Sig ;

in On the four largést cities
Vinnipe (Montreal, Toronto,
Only: 8, Vancouver) it is the

t 0 “d A :
Some ne which’ does not have
n govern-||"

Ment form of local
tem, ere as the ward. sys-
up thein oe: citizens can take

wet Problems directly

€ become increasingly |

‘ eep- - Saks : I
from ‘DB: ‘the — city’s: business

system

with an elected representa-
tive. Incidentally, only a few
months ago the people of Cal-

gary voted in a plebiscite to+

establish a_ward system.

@ Vancouver. has..a_ thor-
oughly undemocratic Board: of
Administration made ‘up of
two appointed non*elective
officials who actually. run: the
city. It is a two-headed. form
of city manager plan, a plan
which has been promoted for
many years by reactionary big
business groups. This plan has
evolved out of the four-man
Board of Administration
which formerly included the
mayor and one other elected
official.

e Now a. further reaction-
ary proposal has been put for-
ward and is under study:. that
is the plan to. hold elections
évery two years instead of the
present system where half the
council are elected each year.
This plan, if adopted, would
be a further step in the direc-
tion of entrenching officials
and removing them further
from the people’s control.

* * *

After abolishing the ward
system -in 1937, the real big
step towards. abrogating - civic
democracy in Vancouver came
in 1956 when the NPA city
council decided -to set up the
Board of Administration.

When city council discussed
setting up the Board the city
clerk, Ron Thompson, made
the most pointed criticism of
the plan which - still stands
good today. He put his finger
on what is in fact the main

weakness in our civic govern-:

ment. He said;

“In my view it is contrary
to the true spirit of demo-
cratic. government for any
person or group of persons

representatives of the peo-

ple to be completely vested ’
with power to make all ad-.

ministrative © decisions.”

The present system of gov-

ernment is’ based on election.

of a small council of 10 and a

— ili.

other than the duly elected.

progress on 75th

BU0;2RRARI

e Sec

HAWKES AVE.

KING EDWARD

tion |

anniversary

Burrard INLET

Roars

CYPRESS

WwarD T.

of the city.

vote. Half the council is elect-
ed each year and the mayor

every two years. City council
then appoints the Board of
Administration.

The system of city-wide

elections is at the heart of
most of Vancouver’s problems
because it ensures the election
of a reactionary city council
and denies the eastern half of
the city, which is predomin-
antly working class, from
gaining representation at city
hall.

The balance of electoral
strength in the west half of
the city ensures each year
that candidates and policies
overwhelmingly favored by
nearly half the city east of
Main Street are rejected.
Many times the working peo-
ple east of Main Street voted

\to elect ratepayer, labor and

reform candidates only to see
them defeated by the vote in
the western half of the city.

| “Dhis state of affairs is illus-

‘trated by the following: Of the
present 11 elected members of”
city” council (including | the

mayor) seven -live in Kerris-
dale, none live east of Cam-

mayor through @ city-wide [bie,and none have’ lived east

GULF OF GEoREIA.

of Fraser ‘since 1954-
same ‘Situation. prevails in
other civic boards. such as
schools board, two-thirds of
whose present membership

This

‘llive west of Granville Street.

This situation. has in the
last few years lead to a. grow-
ing demand for the establish-
ment of a ward system in Van-
couver, many of whose: work-
ing class communities are
seriously neglected because
they have virtually no voice
at city hall.

Vancouver needs a com-

plete overhaul of its system of.
‘civic government. The aim of.

civi¢ reform should be to. es-
tablish a civic government
much closer to the people and
large enough to attend to the
needs of a rapidly expanding.
city.

In recent months the Civic
Reform -Association and rate-
payer groups have advecated
the abolition-of the Beard of

“Administration ‘and the elec-.

tion. of-a larger city council

based on division of the eity:

into. a number of wards.

FRASER SI.

4 B.C: Electric
| political machine the: NPA]

‘| years ahead, -*

PLAN FOR A WARD SYSTEM IN VANCOUVER. This map prepared by the Civic
Reform Association shows the proposed division of the city into five wards. The CRA
advocates that four aldermen be elected in each ward — 2 each year — along with a

five-man Board of Control to ensure more direct representation at city hall for all parts.

The Civic Reform Assogia-
tion plan calls for five wards
(see map on this page) with
four aldermen elected in each
ward, two each year, with a
four-man Board of Confrel
and Mayor elected in a city-
wide vote. This would give
Vancouver a city council, of
25 members with the Board of
Control and Mayor acting as
the. executive, aes

3798°
While such a systeny of
civic government would ,n9t
solve .all the _ city’s ills, at
would restore greater control
by the voters over city. hail;

it would bring. elected repre- ;

sentatives closer to the peo- ;
ple, and give wider represen:
tation to all parts of the ¢jty.
It would also be the means
of -writing-finis to the domin—
ation of city hall -by big pose
ness’ corporations: such a? the
through ‘their

The ‘winning of a ward‘Sys-
tem for Vancouver in this 4n-,
niversary year would mark a
big step forward.in the fight °
for civic democracy ano place
Vancouver in a positich™ to
tackle the. great and. complex ©
problems, facing the-city indhe .

; ta A

Lite £

“March 31, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5