:

- 80vernment’s

i

1

'
|
i

By MAURICE RUSH .

The federal-provincial con-
ference of finance ministers met in
Ottawa this week in the midst of a
growing crisis for the Liberal
anti-inflation
program and growing speculation
that it may be ended in its present
form some time this year, long
before the scheduled expiry date,
Dec. 31, 1978.

Called by finance minister
Donald Macdonald, the meeting
with provincial finance ministers
Was set many weeks ago to review

48

RUSSO

Friday, February 4, 1977

VOL. 39, No. 5

a
Shas

ea

the government’s anti-inflation
program and provincial govern-
ment participation. An agreement
signed with the provinces last year
is due to come up for renewal in
March. In recent weeks, however,
it became clear that some
provinces wanted to opt out of the
program.

The AIB and the controls
program received a severe setback
when the new Quebec provincial
government decided to withdraw
from the federal program. The
Manitoba NDP government has
been under severe pressure to

Finance ministers meet in Ottawa

reverse its position and withdraw
its support of the AIB. Last week’s
NDP provincial convention
adopted a strong resolution urging
the Schryer government, which
has been floundering on the issue,
to end its participation. There has
also been strong pressure on the
NDP government in Saskatchewan
to reverse its stand. The federal
NDP has also called for a complete
review of the program in
Parliament in April.

In a front page story before the
Ottawa meeting, the Financial
Post, headlined a story on the

PACIFIC

finance ministers’ meeting that
“Early and troubled end coming
for AIB.” The story said that
“there is mounting evidence in
Ottawa that controls will end
sooner than that (1978),’’ and
reported that a document had been
prepared by the AIB and finance
department setting out a de-control
strategy. ;

It’s obvious from the events of
the last few days that the Liberal
government is shifting its position
because of a number of reasons.
There appears to be three major
factors in their consideration:

First, that the decisive sections
of big business in Canada now
appear to want an early end to
controls, particularly on profits,
and now consider that the controls
have served their purpose of
limiting labor’s wage demands and
cutting living standards, and that
big business stands to gain more in
profits by having the program
revised.

The position of the Ontario
finance minister Darcy
McKeough, calling for an im-
mediate end to profit controls, to

see CONTROLS, ps. 3

flag as they conduct a peaceful memoria
wing machine gun fire last week. The march was one 0

Tens of thousands of Barcelonians fill the city’s downtown streets carrying the outlawed Spanish Republican

| “March of the Dead” for five progressive lawyers killed by right
f many held throughout Spain. Right wing political

violence continues to mount this week as the people of Spain stepped up the struggle for democracy.

The Labor Relations Board was
expected to make a decision this
week on the controversial firings of
top officers in ‘the Burnaby fire
department which will have broad
implications for the collective
bargaining rights of public ser-
vants.

The controversy surrounds the
unprecedented. and high handed
action of Burnaby mayor Tom
Constable who summarily fired
three assistant chiefs when they
refused tosignan “‘oath of loyalty.”
to fire chief Thomas Nairn.

The issue began with the ap-
pointment of Nairn to the top job in
the fire department five months
ago. Nairn, the former Yukon fire
marshal, was chosen over the

“Tf teachers are denied the right
to run for school boards, then you
have to look at the municipal
Councils and all the possible
Conflicts of interest there.”

That was B.C. Teachers
Federation president Bill
Broadley’s reaction to statements
by education minister Pat McGeer
that the issue of teachers sitting on
School boards was ‘‘being

_ McGeer, Smith repudiated

‘Teachers have right to run'—BCTF

McGeer had said that his
department would examine the
question, adding evasively that he
was responding to “numerous
complaints.”

However his statements were
made only days after Jock Smith,
chairman of the Surrey school
board had charged that school
boards were in danger of being
“dominated by teachers,” citing

evaluated.”

coming to

the case of Burnaby where three

~ Polluter's art show

Vancouver

C _ Reed Paper Ltd.’s travelling art exhibition, “Changing Visions: the
Canadian Landscape,” the bitter symbol of the paper company’s
Pollution of northern Ontario waters, is expected to open in Vancouver

February 6.

_ Wherever the exhibition has been shown elsewhere in Canada, it has _
been the target of demonstrations by anti-pollution groups, Native
‘Organizations and others protesting thé company’s policies,
_ The Reed Paper Ltd. plant in Dryden, Ontario was responsible for
the mercury pollution of the English-Wabigoon River system which
resulted in symptoms of the dreaded Minamata disease among the
_ Native population who depend on the river for fish.
__ Reed was also the recipient of a multi-million dollar timber rights
_Biveaway from the Davis government which has thrown Natives off

‘their traditional hunting grounds.

The Vancouver showing of the exhibition is scheduled to open in the

couver Art Gallery.

a :

teachers were recently elected
from the Burnaby Citizens
Association.

~ Smith, a trustee noted for his
redneck views, also stated that he
didn’t think that teachers should be
allowed to sit on school boards.

Broadley responded that the
issue was one of people having the
right to run for public office. “As
long as people know who they’re
voting for,” he told the Tribune
Tuesday.

Teachers are not eligible to run
in the district in which they work
although they can seek office in
another district.

That right was only won after a
lengthy campaign, however, as
legislation did exist until 1966
which denied teachers the right to
run for school boards in any
district. :

Broadley also: pointed out that
teachers could only gain a
majority on a board if the voters
wanted them to — as was the case
in Burnaby.

“They were democratically
elected just as Jock Smith was
democratically elected,’’ he said.
“Is he saying the electorate made
a mistake?”

The BCTF president suggested
that behind Smith’s attack may
havebeen a desire to strike back at

teachers and added, “‘he’s still
smarting from the blows to his
credibility.”

Smith was repudiated last year
by both parents and teachers when
he attempted to establish a value
school in Surrey. More recently, he
encountered opposition following
the school board’s decision to ban
the BCTF’s slide-tape presentation
on racism.

The three BCA trustees in
Burnaby may themselves have
been targets of Smith’s tirade since
they won a decisive mandate on a
reform program and have since
reaffirmed the accountability of

‘the board to the electorate.

Smith sought to justify his views
on the basis that others shared
them and stated: ‘School board
trustees have questioned for years
if teachers should be on boards.”

In fact, the B.C. School Trustees
Association, at its convention last
year, rejected a motion calling for
denial of the right of teachers to sit
as trustees.

A number of trustees, including
Smith, have continued the cam-
paign however, and having failed
to win support from other board
members, have apparently ap-
pealed directly to the provincial
government.

heads of the senior officers in the
department, breaking a long
standing practice to hire from
within the department.

Nairn’s appointment created a
morale problem throughout the
department. In October the entire
force signed a petition to Nairn
declaring that they could not
support his. appointment or
presence in the department.
Morale worsened when the Labor
Relations Board ruled in favor of
the employer after the union
grieved the hiring procedure that
resulted in Nairn’s appointment.

The matter came to a head this
month when the new Burnaby
council voted five to three to take
disciplinary action against the
three assistant chiefs. Constable
summoned Basil Pontifex, Harry
Anderson and Bud Morrison and
ordered them to submit a letter
which included the oath of loyalty,
anadmission of disobedience and a
pledge to obey orders together with
an agreement of new _ job
procedures other than those laid
out in the collective agreement.

The men submitted instead a
statement prepared by _ the
Firefighters Union which

represented their position: They
were then dismissed.

“T have yet to be told why they

are fired,’’ Burnaby Citizens
Association alderman’ Fred
Randall explained to the Tribune
this week. ‘There has been no
proper explanation.”
_ Randall, who voted against the
hiring of Nairn and against the
disciplinary action, was removed
as fire department liaison official
in January and replaced by Allan
Emmott of the right wing Burnaby
Voters Association. A committee of
the mayor, Emmott and city
manager Shelley brought in the
recommendation for discipline
almost immediately after the new
council was installed.

Still another assistant chief who -
is presently on vacation could
see DISMISSALS, pg. 12

™