% The o introa Landlord and Tenant Mday jv co in the Legislature Macao Y attorney general Alex Portant Provides for an im- *tablishin breakthrough in rrease, © Justification for rent Vieti. “ig nua cause for Bh wre’ the framework it Which it proposes to do lg Y appointing a ren- f ae at as 1S not the best form as Thi “4 are concerned.” Rader 7S the reaction of tenant Ble teSlation Yorke to the new .. When interviewed b a 5 xc. Bc. ribune. He said the Teng 7 Organization will be oma Ortly to prepare its “Vern Presentation to’ the Yorke ent on the proposed Act. te Aaa Indications are that ct, Which » Rental Stabilization : oer ovides for a roll back . Ba €ases to eight percent pissed ae 1, 1974, will be fore Proclaimed this week landlord Easter recess. The new 4nd Tenant Act is ex- nd FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1974 Second class mail registration number 1560. pected to be passed in the session after Easter and proclaimed in six or eight months. rane Describing the rent justification procedures in the new Act as a major advance and recognition of the demand made by the tenants for a rein on rents, Yorke said the Act as-it now reads will empower the cabinet to set an overall limit on rent increases each year. Under the legislation the ren- talsman will recommend to the cabinet each year the extent of the rental increase it shall allow for the succeeding year. The proposed increase can vary from area to area in B.C. Under the Act the province will be divided into six areas. : A tenant can oppose any increase beyond what the cabinet sets and appeal to the rentalsman who will have the power to approve or disapprove of the tenant’s appeal. Landlords, once the Act 1S proclaimed, will be able to apply for increases beyond the ceiling set VOL. 35, No. 15 by the cabinet, but if a tenant complains the landlord would have to justify such an increase before the rentalsman, said Yorke. Pointing out that this process, while not everything the tenants’ organization was demanding, establishes some measure of control over rent increases and subjects landlords to some form of government control. Yorke said it recognizes the justice of the demand made by tenants that gouging landlords. be brought under public control. oe “One thing appears certain,’ said Yorke, ‘‘that is that the eight percent freeze previously an- nounced by the government under the Interim Rent Stabalization Act will continue for at least six or eight months.” Also, Yorke pointed out, the cabinet will likely have to consider what rent increase will be allowed in 1975 on the base rental rate which was limited to eight percent in 1974. “This will, and already has, saved tenants hun- —Sean Griffin photo Ving. é . i turday. (Sec story, this page.) : "cial Communist Party leader Nigel Morgan and local Party organizer Nick Chernoff leading the demonstration outside Cpmex last Saturday. (Sec y pag! 4h ler Ni dreds of thousands of dollars in rents.” Under the new legislation a municipality can decide to un- dertake the function of the ren- talsman by setting up a rent board but will be empowered to deal only with rents. It. could also be in- terpreted as meaning that such municipal rent review boards will be able to rule on increases in rents over and above those set by the cabinet. The new legislation also marks an improvement over the old act in that it provides that a rent increase is allowed only after 15 months instead of the present year. “However,” said Yorke, “a bad feature of the new Act is that rentals will be based on tenancy, not on the suite, with the result that a new tenancy can be based on any increase the landlord wants to set.”’ “This undermines the main Continued on Page 12 See TENANTS 13° The Canadian Forces Base in Comox — one of three sites in Canada with nuclear warhead storage dumps — saw its first demonstration in several years last Saturday as a cavaleade of some 25 cars and close to 100 people organized by- the B.C. Communist Party converged on the base to voice their opposition to nuclear arms on Canadian soil. Despite a continual drizzle of rain, people came from Van- couver,, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Campbell River and Courtenay to ‘meet with the cavalcade as it made its way up the seventy miles of highway from Nanaimo to Comox. A number of reporters from television, radio and newspapers arrived at the base and con- siderable publicity was given to the demonstration in various Van- couver Island centres. It was the first demonstrative action over the nuclear arms issue following the announcement by Comox MLA _ Karen Sanford that she was going to introduce a motion in the Legislature calling for the removal of nuclear arms from Canada. Provincial Communist Party leader Nigel Morgan, federal Communist candidate for Comox- Alberni Mark Mosher and Comox Communist organizer Jack Higgin were interviewed on Courtenay radio CFCP ‘where Morgan outlined the issues involved in the demonstration. He noted the actions that had followed prime minister Pearson’s decision more than 10 years ago to bring nuclear arms into this country and the continuing dominance of Canadian affairs by the Pentagon that their presence entails. He called for peace-loving Canadians to demand that the weapons be withdrawn from Canada and press for withdrawal of Canada from the agressive pacts of NATO and NORAD. Following the cavalcade and demonstration outside the base, participants distributed some 1000 leaflets in Courtenay calling for the ‘removal of nuclear arms from Canadian soil, withdrawal from NATO and NORAD and the . transfer of a substantial part of the defence budget to social services. Earlier, adding its voice to that of the Vancouver and District Labor Council, the Campbell River, Courtenay and District Labor Council passed a resolution congratulating Karen Sanford for her stand on nuclear weapons and calling for a communication to be sent to the federal department of national defence demanding the removal of nuclear warheads from Comox.