FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1969

PROMISED BAN BROKEN

LOG EXPORTS RISE

PHONE MONOPOLY
FLEECES PUBLIC

B.C. pays highest rates in Canada

B.C. telephone veers poy the highest retes in Conede te « mon-
opoly which controls 94 percent of all telephones in the province. This

=> Pacific

ee

TRIDAY, MARCH 27, 164
VOL. 25, NO. 13

>"10¢

writes

Hold Columbia hearings

ieee
A but, Gee bed to pre
Send He opgeition to the treaty

vinces, tncheding B.C. and Seat
schewan, Will be followed by

pany, B.C. Teleph te P
ond lost yeor showed « net profit of $10.9 million, « 15 percent gain
ever 1962. Despite numerous demands thet this utility company be
placed oem public ownership, the Socred government continues to
protect

Hed by U.S. teleph corporations

The operations of thie chant
wae fecemtly ow
pored in two articles carries
ie The Pieherman,”” by lebor
feererther and writer Bee fwan-

ALLL) ecoamegnady

Comparing the rates in B.C
ons her pleces, Swenkey

“te Edmonton, where the ofty
ORO ated pet mare
oypstem, the rate ie 04,7

For twee that amout — $1.35 ~
ont ihe support for the MeMaggh- scm oan shone. bn Tamonte

pory.
te B.C. are oo high,” acketwan-
hey, whem (he teleptome Imdbwet ry
te chaasafied as 6 public witty
thd commen ander the juriedeton
Of the federsi board of trane-
port?

Rete Wereeses can culy te
Sade wih the agreement of the
Roerd of T reneqort Commissicn
ore Whiel ts waypened te pret
oct the interests of (he pubic

High profits
Pwankey shows how 6 lelepiuane
momepoly 6h ertiMeiaily infiete
We come © show 6 how rate
of profi end bow tis ts done
by TLC. Telephone and its parent
ses

the tele Prone

US-owned
compeny

charges

oll trattic
be weed by Asoucteted T ehepiome
aot Telegraph Atooctated in ture
ls owned by General Telephone
and Electronics. All of these are

5. corporations

“B.C, Telephone tuys te oup
ples and services from Awome-
the Electric, Gomietes Direct
ortes and Cane@en (1.C_) Tele
prunes and hupplies

“Now 4 jest happens Ghat the

will beer

" the log

ONT PAGE STORY APPEARED MARCH 27, 1964.

The U.S.-owned B.C. Telephone
Ompany came under sharp fire during
past week for the exhorbitant rates it
arges B.C. users of private phones.
.C. Tel’s rates are the highest in
anada, and since it has a complete
onopoly of this utility, the public are
ntirely at its mercy.

Here is a rundown of monthly rates charged for
Private phones in cities across Canada:

Winnipeg - $3.90; Regina - $4.15; Calgary -
25; Fredricton - $5.40; Halifax - $5.85;
en” 955 Toronto - $5.95; VANCOUVER -

Pointing to the wide discrepancy in rates
cross Canada, and the fact that rates are lowest
ere there is public ownership of the telephone
stem, (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba),
® Vancouver Sun’s Penny Wise wrote’ last week
at ‘‘I’ll wager we can expect no phone reduction
sts until the government takes over. . .”’

The B.C. Telephone Company’s information
nager Colin G, Patterson attempted to defend
@ company’s policy. But his argument that the
ites are higher in Vancouver because more
ple are covered does not hold water, because
Service in Toronto and Montreal, which
ers more phone subscribers than Vancouver,
have lower rates.

FOR YEARS THE PACIFIC TRIBUNE HAS CAMPAIGNED AGAINST HIGH RATES CHAPGED BY B.C. TEL. THIS

Take over B.C. Tel.

The Pacific Tribune has waged a campaign for
many years against the high rates and has urged
that the U.S.-owned utility be placed under public
ownership. While rates remain high the profits of
the company continue to rise although they are
supposed to be ‘‘regulated’’ by the Board of
Transport Commissioners.

According to the Financial Post, B.C. Tel’s
operating revenue in 1968 rose 10 per cent to a
record $139.4 million. Its profit after taxes is
given as $16.9 million - a rise of 10 per cent.

But, as the PT has often pointed out, the true
profit picture is never revealed by this company
because of the corporate structure through which
the company buys supplies, equipment, directory
listings and advertising.

For purposes of rate fixing,.B.C. Tel claims a
rate of return on its investment of 6.84 per cent,
but it has been widely known that many of the
company’s profits are hidden. As part of the U.S.-
owned monopoly setup some companies from
which it buys its supplies report almost double
that profit.

The only way the B.C. public can escape from
the toils of this monopoly is take it over and make
sure it is run by a democratic board on which
labor and the public have representation. The
Communist Party, the NDP and labor have
demanded public ownership. Now many other
voices are being added to this demand.

Tribune

<<”

VOL, 30, NO. 16

10c

Seven-fold increase
from Island centres

By MAURICE RUSH

Despite assurances from the forest companies and
federal and provincial governments that there will be a
voluntary ban on log exports from B.C. there has been a
seven hundred per cent increase in such exports to Japan
from Chemainus and Crofton on Vancouver Island during
March 1969 compared to March 1968.

According to'a Canadian Press
report, hidden away on the
financial page of one of
Vancouver's daily newspapers.
log exports to Japan for March
1969 rose to 10,625,914 board feet
In March 1968 the two major
export centres on the Island
accounted for 1,568,644 board
feet

This week forestry officials
said total B.C. log exports for the
first three months of this year,
up to the end of March, totalled
40 million board feet; 2.6 million
more than for the same period
last year

This spectacular boost in
log exports came at the peak of
shortage when the
companies and the two levels of
government were giving assur-
ances to the International Wood-
workers of America and the
public that a voluntary ban on log
exports would be put into effect
because of the serious log
shortage.

Charging betrayal of its
“assurances’’ the IWA wired
Lands and Forests Minister Ray
Williston last Saturday
protesting a permit being issued
to Cattermole Timber Ltd., to
export more than 4,000 logs.

The IWA has. strongly
protested log exports when
thousands of its members are out
of work because of a shortage of
logs. The union has called for a
complete ban but the federal
government, with B.C. govern-
ment approval, decided on a

voluntary ban by the companies
who publicly agreed. However,
Ottawa said it will consider a ban
if the voluntary ban is not
successful

The Socred cabinet approved
the Cattermole log export to
Japan claiming it was part of an
arrangement with two Japanese
firms agreed to prior to the ban
going into effect

Expressing alarm about the
cabinet's decision, IWA Regional
President Jack Moore said it was
“contrary to assurances that
we've had from both provincial
and federal authorities that log
exports would cease ... we
can't seem to get the govern-
ment to put a stop to exports.

Federal Minister of Fisheries
Jack Davis told the IWA that
Crown Zellerbach and Pacific
Logging may be shipping logs
for some time. It’s obvious that
the undertaking given by the
forest monopolies to voluntarily
impose a temporary ban on logs
was intended to lull the public.
They have no intention of putting
the ban into effect — unemploy-
ment or not. There is too much
profit in it for them to stop.

Moore said: ‘‘The most
alarming development for us is
this latest permit, issued just a
few days after the legislative
session was over. Why wasn’t the
matter brought before the House
so it could get close scrutiny? If
the log shipment is being made to
meet a previous obligation what

See LOG EXPORTS, pg. 2

THE NDP

CONVENTION

—SEE EDITORIAL, PAGE 2

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