- Friday, April 1, 1977 <—>* 20° VOL. 39, No. 13 RiBUNE | _ B.C. Tel faces strong opposition In its application for a 15 percent hike in monthly phone rates.and a 10 percent boost for long distance calls as hearings entered their Second week in Vancouver on Monday. _ An unprecedented 1,300 briefs, interventions and protests from a wide range of organizations and the public, including many petitioners, as well as 500 questions from interested parties including the provincial government, could make this the longest hearing held in B.C. by the Canadian Radio- tele vision and Telecom- munications Commission (CRTC). onan application by the telephone monopoly for a rate increase. Although much time during the first week was taken up with technical questions, it became clear early in the hearing that B.C. Tel had no intention of revealing any of the inner workings of the monopoly giant, General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) of New York, of which it is part. In reply to questions concerning the monopoly arrangements with other subsidiaries of GTE, through whom B.C. Tel buys most of its telephone equipment and services, and charges that the company and its board of directors are con- trolled by shares held by GTE, brought a remark from Gordon A. MacFarlane, B.C. Tel chairman and chief executive officer, that his company conducts its own affairs and makes its own decision. This claim is challenged by many briefs still to come before the hearing. Questions dealing with the company’s income taxes, which would have revealed some. facts concerning the actual financial position of the company, brought a sharp reply from B.C. Tel’s lawyer that heresented ‘‘snooping into our tax payments” with the im- plication of some impropriety. The refusal of the B.C. Tel to provide adequate figures to justify its application for a rate increase or to answer questions on its inter- corporate connections, has prompted a spokesman for the B.C. attorney general’s department to tell the hearing that B.C. Tel has withheld so much information that it will be difficult for the CRTC to decide the issue. ‘‘We will just have to assume that there is no rationale behind the company’s rate structure,’’ he said. A major reason given by B.C. Tel for the rate boost is that it needs higher profits to attract in- vestment capital, and that without this the company faces financial disaster and will not be able to undertake its 1977 construction program estimated to cost about $280: million. Admitting to profits of $27 million in 1976, the company claims that its rate of return — “ See PHONE RATE, pg. 11 ae Demanding the Socred government act to sa Squamish, demonstrated in Victoria last SS SESS SOS addressing the workers, take action to keep the plant open. ve their jobs, about 150 workers from Railwest rail car plant at Wednesday. They demanded premier Bennett, shown here Proposals to reduce the danger of war and for agreement on arms reduction and to strengthen detente were outlined in a major speech by Soviet Communist Party secretary Leonid Brezhnev on the eve of talks between the Soviet Union and the United States. At press time it was reported that talks had ended in Moscow without reaching agreement on terms for a new strategic arms limitation agreement to replace the one which expires on October 3. Soviet representatives charged that proposals made by USS. secretary of state Cyrus Vance were not based on equality. Talks will be resumed in May between Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Gromyko and U.S. represen- tatives. In his address to the 16th Soviet Trade Union Congress, Brezhnev ~ see REDUCE, pg. 12 Annual general meeting opens Policy at crossroads for BCTF The B.C. Teachers’ Federation this week opened an important annual general meeting, expected to mark a crossroads for the future Policy direction of the :29,000- member organization. For some months prior to the annual meeting, the Federation’s €xecutive committee has been the Scene for several policy divisions With teachers’ participation in the October 14 Day of Protest, the Provincial government’s core Curriculum and the learning assessment program being among € issues in contention. A mandate for the Federation’s uture direction — whether to Continue its many programs and to adopt a political approach or to Seek a more professionally-~ Sriented organization more con- Sultative than political in its dealings with the provincial and Municipal governments — was €xpected to be determined in the Sutcome of the executive elections Not yet held at Tribune press time. | Some of the issues in that debate, Wever, surfaced early in the Convention, first in the report of outgoing president Bill Broadley and later in a debate over a Federation committee’s con- tentious paper on curriculum, “Essential Educational Ex- periences.”’ President Broadley placed himself squarely among those who favored greater credibility for teachers and a more conciliatory approach to government, although he indicated that there were areas in which there was no room for conciliation. “The collective strength of the Federation will disappear quickly if, instead of concentrating on those actions in support of teachers and improved education ‘that the majority of us can agree on, we continue to bloody each other over issues that are more political than educational,’ he told the delegates. : “We do need a better working relationship with government,” he added, echoing a Vancouver Sun editorial call for teachers to end their “war” with the minister of. education and adopt a more “mature, civilized” approach. “However,” Broadley warned, “unilateral declarations of war are alittle different. If the minister is determined to confront the Federation, then we will have confrontation.” He also suggested that there would be no conciliation with the federal government over the iSsue of continuing wage controls on public sector employees, a possibility suggested last year by federal finance minister Donald Macdonald. Noting that such controls were ‘not the solution’’, Broadley declared: ‘We refuse to be the see CURRICULUM, pg. 3 We're counting on you By MAURICE RUSH, editor With this issue the Tribune opens the biggest financial drive in its history. Between now and the windup victory banquet on June 25 we must raise $50,000 to ensure that the paper will continue to publish over the next year. We are asking for that amount for two reasons: First, because it’s the minimum amount we need to meet rising costs. Second, because we believe our readers want us to keep up the quality of the paper and improve it during the coming year. Certainly, the need for the Tribune today is more urgent than ever. When one stops to think of the big battles ahead for peace, unity of Canada’s two nations, for economic security and full employment, it becomes unthinkable that the current drive will not succeed. B.C.’s working people have no other weekly paper which fights for their interests and needs every week of the year. And on every issue which affects their lives. For 42 years working men and women from see EDITORIAL pg. 3 ie LEONID BREZHNEV City parley on S. Africa In response to growing concern about recent events in southern Africa, the B.C. Committee of the Canadian Council on International Cooperation has decided to organize a conference in Van- couver on South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). The conference will be held between May 13 and 15 and is expected to draw delegates from church groups, labor organizations, student associations, and concerned in- dividuals from all over B.C. Calls have already gone out to a large number of interested groups. The Southern Africa conference committee has already confirmed the participation of a number of outstanding speakers including: The Reverend Desmond Tutu, formerly Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in Johannesburg, South Africa; Mr. Calistus Ndlovu, Zimbabwe's representative to the United Nations; Mr. Abdul Minty, secretary general of the London- based Anti-Apartheid Movement; and John Gaetsewe, general secretary of the South Africa Congress of Trade Unions. The conference will open on Friday, May 13 with a_ public lecture and ‘will continue through Saturday and Sunday. Any group or person interested in receiving information on the parley is- urged to contact the Canadian Council on International Cooperation, Southern Africa Conference Committee, 2524 Cypress Street, Vancouver, B.C. or phone 732-1814.