British Columbia Profits cause environmental woes: forum The environment can be saved, but it will require an involved public demanding an end to corporate practices that reap profits at people’s expense, a forum in Vancouver was told March 22. “The corporations are doing it the way they are doing it because it is cheaper,” panelist Gary Swann of the Communist Party told an audience at the Centre for Socialist Education. And lawyer Calvin Sandborn of the West Coast Environmental Law Associa- tion said corporations have operated so that their costs “would be borne by the environment and the people who would suffer health effects. ..but it didn’t show up on the company’s books. It was more profitable to pollute than not to pollute.” Sandborn, Swann and Arnie Thomlin- son of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union said that unity between trade unionists and other groups can set the agenda for genuine public control of resource management in B.C. and the rest of Canada. Panelists listed virtually all environmen- tal problems local and international, from holes in the ozone layer through the dam- ming of B.C. rivers for hydro exports to the U.S., to the soil contamination in Van- couver’s False Creek area. “If the nukes don’t get us, the environ- mental problems will,” said Thomlinson in noting threats to B.C.’s wild fish stocks that includes pollution of the Fraser River Delta and environmentally ruinous driftnet fishing in the Pacific. All the threats to the environment have a common theme, he asserted. “We the people who own and treasure these resources have so little power in the w making of decisions that have led to this mess. How many people do you know who have sanctioned any of the things that I’ve just listed?” Part of the problem lies in the fact that good laws are not enforced, said Thomlin- son. For example, pulp mills are “chroni- cally and consistently in violation of the waste management permits that they hold. The government has in fact given them permission to exceed these limits.” Sandborn decried provincial forestry practices under which 27,000 hectares of land are added each year to the amount not sufficiently reforested. And he noted that B.C. pulp mills were the worst pollu- ters in Canada. The pulp companies are routinely’ breaking the law, said Sandborn. ““When CLEARCUT LOGGING, B.C. STYLE.. . new unity of environmentalists, Natives, labour can halt corporate destruction of environment. the Friends of Clayoquot Sound go out and break the law, everyone talks about civil disobedience. Well, the real civil dis- obedience that’s going on...is (by) the ~pulp mill corporations,” he charged. Sandborn said a legal route is to seek legislation that defines common property so that polluters will be found guilty of criminal acts if they foul the air and waters, and if they endanger the health of others: “One of the challenges we’ll face in the next couple of years is to come up with ways that the companies will have to pay the real cost of doing business, and to make sure that it’s not profitable to pol- lute.” Swann warned of developments such as the privatizing of provincial health labora- PHOTO — WESTERN CANADA WILDERNESS ‘COMMITTEE E tories and changes to the Canadian Envir- onmental Protection Act. The changes potentially balkanize environmental standards across the country, by farming out environmental protection to provin- cial governments, he said. But successful actions such as the halt- ing of mining in Strathcona Park, and new unity among Natives, trade unionists and environmentalists as evidenced by the Tin Wis conference in Tofino, show that the situation can be turned around, Swann said. Thomlinson said large scale projects — should require automatic full environmen- tal impact studies and the public should be involved in each step. That means changes from the system whereby company personnel appointed by governments control boards and committees, to one where members of the public are elected to decide whether large- scale projects with big environmental impacts should proceed, he said. “That kind of grassroots democracy is what we need.” Thomlinson said recycling — which he stressed must be treated as a publicly owned operation — is only the start in halting the erosion of the environment. He said society must also end the wasteful packaging and manufacturing practices that needlessly use so much of the earth’s resources. Solving the big environmental ques- tions requires international co-operation, and that means first ending the nuclear arms race, Swann said. Transit surplus gives business a The Lower Mainland mayors hada splendid opportunity to cut transit fares last month, but they didn’t. Instead they gave a $3.6-million tax break to business. The mayors make up the Greater Vancouver Regional Transit Com- mission. They have a say in how the transit system will be financed. At the present time the money is raised by: transit fares; a $1.60-cent- a-month levy on residential hydro users; a per-litre tax on gasoline and diesel fuel at the pump; a tax on commercial and residential proper- ties; a provincial government grant. This year the mayors found out that if taxes and levies are kept at the same level as last year, a total of $187 million in revenues would be col- lected, which would raise $7.5 million more than needed to meet the regional share of costs. Most of this comes from fares, which are expected to bring in $103 million this coming year. The mayors could have cut fares, or the gasoline tax, or the hydro tax. Instead they decided to give a break tax break Fares won't be lowered, thanks to region’s mayors. to only one section of the community — their business friends. And who was pressing hardest for this cut? None other than Gordon Campbell, the mayor of Vancouver. He demanded that the whole sur- plus of $7.5 million be handed over as a tax cut to business. The other may- ors couldn’t quite go that far, so they gave a cut of “only” $3.6 million to business. Does this mean that political patronage and favouritism is alive and well in the Lower Mainland? I’m sure citizens will draw their own con- clusions. You're helping to make this drive a success Judging by your initial response, it’s clear that the readers and supporters of the Pacific Tribune have responded generously to our request to launch the financial drive on a sound footing. To date, you have donated $5,200 to help kick off this year’s drive. (Another Century Club member has joined the ranks, with a $1,000 donation from Dan Frankham in Victoria.) Along with such generous donations, part of that success has been the support of readers in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Victoria, Courtenay, and Kam- loops, who packed meeting halls to hear our Moscow correspondent, Fred Weir, talk about the current changes in the Soviet Union. More than 200 turned out in Vancouver, and Fred reports that the interest was as high on Vancouver Island. That makes us confident that the remainder of Fred’s tour will help enlighten equal numbers of inter- ested people. Not only did Fred get a chance at reach- ing the public through media interviews, but he also met many of you who depend on the Pacific Tribune to present his articles each week from the USSR. Whether it’s keeping you up to date about changes in the Soviet Union or what’s happening on the picket line in B.C., the Tribune plans to continue covering news of the struggle, and hopes you agree that the paper deserves the support it has received in past years. FRED WEIR ... tour packing houses. That is why we are not going to let the pace of our drive slow down during the next several weeks. We want to reach more of the public with our weekly news, and we want to continue publishing, just like we have been for close to 54 years. A fighting tradition is part of the Pacific Tribune, and even though we can’t have our usual contest, we are asking you to help us raise $82,000 by June 24. Then we will have something to be proud of when we celebrate at our Victory ban- quet. Thanks for a great start, and don’t stop now. Target: $82,000 2 « Pacific Tribune, April 10, 1989