Fee bSQuT UNION CARTOONS * aa . ..and we are all being asked to make.. Sacrifices..." Appeal from the editor MAURICE RUSH With this issue the Tribune en- ters the 41st year of publication of our paper. From all the _in- dications, 1976 will be a year filled with many challenges and problems for the labor movement. The Tribune expects to be in the forefront of the struggle to defend the rights and standards of living of B.C.’s working people — as it has been throughout its history. However, there is some un- finished business left over from 1975 which must be tackled im- mediately. We wound up 1975 with our circulation drive uncompleted because of the postal strike. As we start the new year about 400 ex- pirees have not been renewed or picked up. This is the first item of unfinished business that we ask our readers and supporters to tackle. The editorial board has decided to extend the circulation drive until the end of January, making a » major effort in the next few weeks to pick up every expiry and to win new readers. This is absolutely essential if we are to maintain our paper at the present level. The money to help us at this time of year is tied up in expired subs which have not been renewed. My first appeal is to those readers whose sub has expired. If you are one of the 400 readers who is holding back your renewal you are making our job of getting out the paper more difficult. Please renew your sub without delay. I would also like to draw the attention of our supporters and press clubs to the fact that the special offer of -Ald. Harry Rankin’s popular book, ‘‘Rankin’s Law’”’ (see page 3), is being con- tinued until the end of January. I appeal to supporters of. the Tribune to bend every effort to ensure that the Tribune gets off to a good start in 1976 by the suc- ~ cessful completion of our cir- culation drive objective. Cominco profits While the new Socred govern- ment has launched an attack on people’s services in B.C., such as ICBC, and are threatening to boost ferry rates as well as hydro and utility rates, big business is rub- bing its hands in anticipation of the bigger profits it hopes to make from changes in the mining in- dustry. The January 3 issue of the Financial Post points out in a special article that when the Socred government carries out its promise to abolish payments in the mining industry Cominco Ltd., will be able to add another $8 million to its profits in 1976. royalty . Few developers control |, most city housing lots By ALD. HARRY RANKIN A few corporations in each Canadian city have a virtual monopoly on land suitable for development. This fact, known or suspected by many people and organizations who have been fighting developers, is now fully documented in a report prepared by Peter Spurr for Central Mor- tgage and Housing Corporation. The report was delivered to CMHC in August 1974 but it has never been published. The reason is understandable. ‘‘Free en- terprise’” is a myth in land development just as much as it is in other aspects of the Canadian ’ economy. What we have today. is “monopoly enterprise’. City Magazine, published in Toronto, in its November, 1975, issue, carries sections of the Spurr report, complete with tables of statistics. The figures are shocking. Nine developer (real estate) firmsi-in.