Mining monopolies in B.C. have virtually brought the industry to a
halt and caused thousands to be laid off as part of their pressure
campaign to force the NDP government to repeal its mining
legislation. There is now serious concern that the NDP government is
preparing to surrender to this pressure and revise its legislation at the
next session of the legislature in November.

CP TO SUBMIT BRIEF

Electoral changes aire

By NIGEL MORGAN

The Redistribution Commission
charged with recommending new
provincial electoral boundaries for
B.C. recently began _ public
hearings. Those appointed by the
government to bring down
recommendations include Justice
T. G. Norris, (B.C. Appeal Court) ;
Professor F. Bowers (UBC); and
Lawrie Wallace (deputy provincial
secretary), with assistant Ken
Morton, the Chief Electoral Of-
ficer; and Vancouver lawyer Peter
Leask as legal counsel.

The commission which hopes to
complete hearings by October 31,

TRIDENT

: Cont'd from pg. 2.
_ Seattle peace group, ‘““Women Act
- for Peace,’ pointed out that the
Trident is not just another sub-
marine and Bangor is not just
- another sub base. .‘‘Trident.is a
-first-strike weapon ... . It is a
monster ._. It is a doomsday
weapon,”’ says the leaflet.
Each Trident sub is 550 feet in
length, twice the length of a
football field; weighs 16,000 tons; is
twice the size of the Polaris sub; is
nuclear powered and capable of
submerged speeds of 40 mph.
Pointing out that the Trident is
“the most devastating weapon yet
created by man,”’ the leaflet says,
“one sub in the Mediterranean,
firing it’s missiles underwater
could destroy all the cities and
towns in the USSR. A sub in the
Caribbean could wipe out all major
population centres in Canada and
the USA. A Trident in the South
Pacific could level cities and towns
in China and Japan.” :

is scheduled to report to the fall
session of the Legislature in time
for the next election, expected next
year. The provincial executive of
the Communist Party, together
with other parties and
organizations, are preparing a
submission to the hearing. This
will be the first redistribution of
Legislative seats since the Angus
Commission 10 years ago.

The terms of reference for the
new redistribution provide:—

e No less than the present
number of 55 ridings;

e No more than 62 — a possible
increase of seven;

e Consideration for the future of
two-member constituencies, in-
cluding five Vancouver ridings,
Victoria and the three-membe
ririding of Point Grey;

e The recommendation that
proposed electoral boundary
changes be made by October 31.

-One of the major questions under
consideration is whether the
number of voters between rural
and urban constituencies are
equitably distributed. It has been
estimated,
Vancouver’s actual vote provides
approximately four times the rep-
resentation of the Kootenay con-
stituency of Columbia. Delta, as
another example, should be en-
titled to about 16 times the repre-
sentation of the northern riding of
Atlin. By dividing the number of
voters in B.C. by the 55 con-
stituencies it has been estimated
that the metropolitan areas of
Vancouver and Victoria are only
entitled to 27 seats. Yet, based on
population, they should actually
have 31 of the 55.

Large, far-flung, scattered rural

for example, that—

By MAURICE RUSH
Will the NDP government’s
recent retreat before the pressure
of the natural gas monopolies be
followed in the near future by a
retreat before the pressure of the
big mining corporations?

This question came to the fore
again this week with a report on
the financial pages of the Van-
couver Province by Southam press
financial writer Nick Hills. In a
story entitled, ‘B.C. gov’t ponders
mine tax overhaul,’”’ Hills wrote:
“The B.C. government is believed
to be seriously considering
changing its mineral tax policies in
order to try and get British
Columbia’s mining industry
moving again.”

Hills adds: ‘‘It is understood that
Premier Dave Barrett will move
Leo Nimsick, minister of mines
and petroleum resources out of his
sensitive portfolio. ... At the same
time, serious talks are under way
between senior government of-
ficials and some of the province’s
leading mining companies. One
government participant in these
discussions said, ‘There will be
significant developments in a
couple of months.’

Hills concludes his article by
saying, ‘“‘When the changes come,
perhaps during the fall session of
the provincial legislature to begin
in mid-November, the government
is expected to insist that outside
market forces have caused the
recession in the mining sector and
forced it to make domestic tax and
royalty changes.”

Drawing of this scenario by Hills
indicates that the talks may have
gone beyond the stage of com-
mitment of major concessions to

and undoubtedly require additional
representation by population to
represent them properly.
Among proposals being ad-
vanced by the Communist Party in

its brief are increases in the
number of MLAs to the 62 allowed;
increased representation in the
metropolitan and other centres.
where dramatic shifts in growth
have occurred; province; single-
member constituencies; and in-
troduction of the proportional rep-
resentation principle, long ad-
vocated.

té

the mining industry, and that the

~time, place and reason for adop-

ting an about-face by the NDP
government — as it did on natural
gas — is already being actively
considered.

B.C.’s mining industry has been
on a sitdown strike against the
provincial government’s Mineral
Royalties Act for a long time,
much longer than the gas com-
panies. They have -virtually
brought the mining industry to a
halt in many parts of the province
as part of their pressure campaign
to blackmail the government into
abandoning its new mining
legislation.

At first, the mining companies
tried to force the government to
abandon the legislation when it
was first introduced in the
legislature through a series of
public protests which were held
throughout B.C. and on the steps of
the legislature. Having failed in
their public campaign, the mining
industry changed tactics. They
decided on slow strangulation and
shutdown of the industry as the
means of bringing the NDP
government to its knees.

It now appears that the Barrett
government may be about to
surrender to the mining cor-
porations as it did to the gas
monopolies. As the Tribune
warned at the time of the change in
natural gas pricing: once the
government decides on a course of
surrendering to the blackmail

tactics of the big monopolies, in- ”

stead of fighting and exposing
them to the public, there is no end
to the downhill slide.

This was illustrated by two other
events this week which indicate
that the big monopolies, having
sniffed success in the gas industry,
are now demanding more. Last
Monday the president of Shell
Canada Ltd., C. William Daniel,
came to B.C. and announced that
while the NDP government’s
recent concessions on gas prices
were ‘‘a setp in the right direction”’
he said he was not satisfied and
demanded more ‘‘incentives” for

matural gas and oil production.

Daniel’s statement, which was
given wide coverage in the media,
followed by a few days the widely
publicized speech by MacMillan
Bloedel president D.W. Timmis
before the Vancouver Board of
Trade last Friday in which, in
addition to attacking labor’s
demands for higher wages, lashed

out at the NDP governments
forestry regulations and warn
that unless conditions are ma
more favorable for investm
capital it will go elsewhere “‘fo

is more mobile than labor and W
seek out the healthiest (meaniné
profitable) climate.”’

The latter course is what Mat
Millan Bloedel has been doing fo!
many years. It’ has _ exporte'
hundreds of millions of dollars ® |
exploit labor in other countries ane |
to realize larger profits. In
porting large blocks of capil
MacMillan Bloedel has also be
exporting thousands of jobs alone
with the capital and raw or sem
processed wood products. ¥

The NDP government is court
disaster if it continues along
present course of surrendering
big business blackmail. It shoul
expose the tactics of
monopolies and make a pub
issue of it, taking the fight to U™
people, rather than relying
backroom discussion with
corporate captains, and surr
dering to their demands one afte!
the other.

GRIEVANCES

Cont'd from pg. 1
to handle mail backlogs, with
first offering the work to regula!
employees. The CUPW conten@
that these agreements have
been lived up to by the post offieé

Frank Walden, western regioné
director of the CUPW, told the)
Tribune Wednesday that loc@
postal officials were “(just play!”
games” with the union. He sa!
that the post office’s recent refusal
to meet with union stewards wé
an example of that. “We havé
scores of documented cases where
they have met with stewards, y®
management last week refuse’
meet them,’’ he noted.

CUPW officials have said th@
despite all of the problems faced
postal workers, there will be
wildcat strikes. Walden said |
they will continue to try to rea
agreement on all local jssue>
which, regardless of the outco
of the national negotiations,
have to be resolved.

“Tf we can’t resolve anything ip
the time period the conciliati”
board has to bring about a S®&
tlement, we will have no altel
native other than to close
Vancouver post office’ Waldé

_ declared.

The Soviet Union is waging a major attack on cancer. Photo shows surgery being performed at the caf
institute in Moscow. The Soviet Union is co-operating with international institutes in the fight to cond

constituencies have always been, cancer.