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GOQ-AHEAD , PETER. ...

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| YANK HIS FEET!.... Nationalize the

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Challenge against chemical
company taxes in N. Van

The appeal against the proper-
ty tax assessments of Hooker
Chemicals, Mohawk Oil and Er-
co Industries opened Wednesday
in North Vancouver District.

North Van activist Betty Grif-
fin and the Committee for Fair
Assessments launched the current
action before the B.C. Assess-

ment Appeal Board after a

preliminary appeal to the Assess-
ment Authority’s court of revi-
sion in February failed.

Griffin is charging that the
three properties are vastly
underassessed according to the

- real market values of the

strategically located waterfront

properties on Burrard Inlet im-

See wea the Second Nar-
rows Bridge.

While assessments on the
average single family family
home in North Vancouver
District rose by 65 percent in 1981
over 1980, industrial properties
were assessed at an average of on-
ly 12 percent more, and the
Hooker, Erco and Mohawk pro-

perties rose by only an added six

percent.

Hooker Chemicals has also
been the subject of an ongoing
controversy over its potential for
a chemical explosion disaster. A
large public meeting in North
Vancouver District in July to con-
sider a community hazards task
force commissioned by District
municipal council overwhelming-
ly demanded that Hooker be
forced to relocate out of the
district.

Griffin points out that while
Hooker’s land and property has
been assessed at $34 million by the
Assessment Authority, the com-
pany has told municipal that it
would require over $200 million

‘in compensation to re-locate

Griffin also has new evidence
to present to the board of appeal

showing the three companies to.

be underassessed in relation to ac-

tual market transactions.
“‘Property taxation is the most

regressive form of taxation and

. does little to reflect the ability to

pay,” Griffin stated in opening
her case Wednesday. ‘“‘It is
therefore of utmost importance
that the regressivemess does not
swing wildly in the direction of
one class of property (homes) to
the benefit of another class of
property (industry) as happened
this year.”’

The B.C. Assessment Authori-
ty uses entirely different measur-
ing tools to determine the value of
industrial land from those it uses
to assess residential land, she’sug-
gested.

‘We submit that a grave in-
justice is being done to the
residents of North Vancouver
and probably of the province. We
submit that choosing the factor
for determining actual value (of
industrial property) is really a
political act, and by that we mean

the Assessment Authority is plac-,

ed in the position of determining
who shall carry the burden of pro-
perty taxes.

“Industry has been getting the
tax breaks as a result of this form
of property valuation,” she said.

oil monopolies’

How would you describe the
oil corporations that control
Canada’s oil and natural gas in-
dustries?

I would call theria fat cor-
porate pigs, wallowing in pro-
fits, swilling at the public trough
and bloating themselves at the
expense of Canadian con-
sumers.

Harry

Rankin

That’s the best description I
can think of after hearing that:

(1) Their profits last year went
up by 39 percent. and reached
the staggering and record figure
of $417 billion;

(2) As a result of the agree-
ment reached between Ottawa
and Alberta earlier this month,
the profits of the oil companies
will go up by another $10
billion, over and above their
regular profits, between now
and 1986.

That agreement also provides
an increase in revenues of $14 ~
billion for Ottawa and $8 billion
for Alberta. Every cent of this
additional $32 billion will come
out of your pockets and mine
through increased prices for oil,
gasoline and natural gas.

The price of a gallon of gas,
now close to $2, will likely go up
to $6 by 1986. The figure of $4a
gallon put out by the politicians
is designed to mislead and de-
ceive. It does not include the sev-
eral increases a year which the
oil companies put into effect on
their own, nor does it include the
additional taxes on oil and gas
that will be imposed by Ottawa,
the provinces and even the
Greater Vancouver Regional
District (to cover public transit) ~~
in the next five years.

Just think for amoment what
all these whopping increases in
energy costs will do to our rate
of inflation! Prices will soar

tion for Canada and thatis to do
what many other oil-rich coun- ||

even more than they are now.
With these added energy costs,
the rate of inflation could quick-
ly climb to 20 percent. ;
' Most of the money being
made by the oil companies is not
being reinvested in exploration

or production. It’s being used to |

diversify their holdings, to buy
up other companies. And since ~

most of the oil companies are
foreign owned, it means they are |
taking money out of our
pockets to increase their
stranglehold on the Canadian
economy.
_ The agreement also again
proves that the Liberals are not -
fundamentally different from
the Conservatives, when it

comes to serving the oil com-

panies. Neither can be trusted.
Can the people of Canada be
blamed if they’re becoming
cynical about government and
politiciaris?

To leave these foreign cor-
porations, or Canadian cor-
porations for that matter, in
control of our oil and natural
gas is just asking for still more |
trouble. Whenever they don’t
get what they want they simply

stop production and move their |
oil rigs out of the country. They

blackmail us and hold us up for
ransom. There is only one solu-

tries have done and that is to na-
tionalize the oil industry. Then —
these enormous profits would
go into the public treasury and ©
could be used to reduce taxes |
and improve social services such
as health, education housing |
and public transportation.

In the meantime we should ~
give our full support to the
growing demand that oil and |
gas prices be rolled back by Ot-
tawa.

aa

robably only those who watch closely for graphic de-
sign would have noticed the changes that the headline
“Labor Comment’’ has gone through since its author,
Jack Phillips, first began writing it. But there is one
change, set to take place Oct. 2, that virtually every reader
will notice immediately. With the issue of that date, Labor
Comment will no longer appear
As of Sept. 30, Sack tebe Bt vite devia trotiihisoat
as labor secretary of the Communist Party in B.C., a posi-
tion he has held for seven years. But in this case, one step
leads to another and almost immediately, he will be leaving
for Prague, Czechoslovakia to assume the position of Ca-
nadian representative on the editorial council of the inter-
national journal, World Marxist Review. There again he

will be making good use of his skills as a writer and political —

analyst, preparing material for the journal on Canadian
and international issues.

His regular weekly Labor Comment will make its last
appearance in our issue of Sept. 25.

Although he wrote unsigned articles on labor issues for
many years — in fact, Jack’s contributions to the Tribune
go back several decades and include material he sent from
the European front during World War II — he first began
writing Labor Comment as an occasional feature in 1974.
It appeared more regularly the following year, becoming a
weekly column in 1976.

Over the years since, it has gained a reputation for up-
to-date information and sound, outspoken analysis, much
of it based on Jack’s own experience in the trade union
movement. If the articles were sometimes critical, and of-
ten controversial, the criticism was invariably aimed at
policy — and at finding the best way to a militant, class ap-

People and issues

a a i cca en at Dae aie ioe eet et Eee as Se
proach to trade union issues. And as several letters have at-

tested, it was widely read.

For the immediate future the Tribune will fill the gap
with expanded labor coverage as well as analysis of trade’
union issues from time to i

Ars who has looked at newspapers and magazines
lately would have had difficulty in avoiding the bar-
rage that has come from the Canadian military top echelon
criticizing the federal government for its military budget
and demanding that Ottawa pour millions more into arms
spending. Like their counterparts in the U.S., such Cana-
dian Forces officers as General Ramsey Withers have been
pounding away, with the news media providing covering
fire, demanding that Canada spend more money to help
NATO increase its nuclear overkill capacity.

But it is heartening to know, that despite the drumfire
from the top officers, the ranks of the soldiers are not al-
ways forced into line — and sometimes hold independent
views on disarmament and peace.

Tribune manager Pat O’Connor found that last month
in fact when he took a stack of Canadian Peace Congress
petitions out to the annual parade in Richmond during his
vacation. The Canadian Forces troops are a regular fea-
ture at the parade, of course, and Pat approached agroup
of them, asking them to sign the petition. Although there
was the predictable hostility from a handful, the majority
of the group signed, at the same time voicing support for

the petition’s call for disarmament initiatives.

*
/ he city of Gena in Sudiperianii was host toa different

TRIBUNE

signed in spite of a vehement intervention from their com |
manding officer who denounced the whole petition effort
as ‘‘a Soviet Communist front. es

kind of demonstration on Monday when some 200
Native people from various countries marched through
the streets calling for recognition of North American Na-
tive peoples by the UN.

The demonstration was in conjunction with the confer-
ence currently taking place in Geneva, the International
Non-Governmental Organizations’ Conference of Indige-
nous Peoples and the Land. It is sponsored by various
ahaa are to the UN including the World Peace

un

At the conference representing the WPC-affiliated B.C. |
Peace Council is Vancouver Indian Centre past president
Debbie Mearns, She is expected to be back in this province
towards the end of this month and will be available to or- |
ganizations to report on the international meeting.

Editor — SEAN.GRIFFIN
Associate Editor — FRED WILSON
Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR g |
Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive,

Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186 -

Subscription Rate: Canada $12 one year;
$7 for six months.
All other countries, $15 one year.
Second class mail registration number 1560

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Sept. 18, 1981—Page 2

Perhaps even more remarkable, a number of soldiers | -