—— taal

we MAURICE RUSH
W€ Session of the B.C.
Beeatire, which ended
rise liday, Was one of the
Te Teactionary in the
3h Y of the province. It
i Marked by a sharp
ae the right by the
whieh government,
nee USed its over-
phan House majority
Opposit; webshod over the
; 10n and the public.

-“ducation » Undermining the
MME the jen.) to™ and attack-
throy €achers, and pushing
legisiatign sessment and tax
the tich, Which further helps
Poor, * *! the expense of the

t! en the ma
| ley Province

Jor question before
» that of the high

el
L0Vernm —e™Mployment, the
Insteag art bad no answers.
for stmt listening to demands
try 5 U ating Secondary midac
8iVeaw alting the massive
80Vver, of resources, the
a ‘S answer was: no

he :
Tonon Penly biased and pro-

80Vern  wature of the Socred
measures Was shown by two
Oh the ; affecting taxation.
Ment at € hand, the govern-
Which a through tax changes
§ddition ; calculated to raise an
Vineja) 1,42 million for the pro-
Speci Peasury with a new
tue) a tobacco and motor
teecent a tax amounts to
See ax on a
lax w mete. he eae
Ballon, 4, 1e28ed by two cents a
soln Cents a gallon on
" the
Proomen hand the Bennett
a Pushed through
oul i; assessments which
ie &S to 0 assessment
Yea . Percent j
andout é This ‘is See
ed tea) he big monopolie
S
Wragg &state development
Garg -°: After 3 numb
a Bn. | er of
Ss Ply increased

Omes, the
Now made sure
Properties will
8X increases in

faeg § USine
Only); SS
the futyy tite t

80vey
. /Nment’ are
lic Schools S revision of

aD addition’ Act (Bill 47)

i Soorads shift shar

Session marked by attack

on labor, people's weltare

ae!

JOBLESS DEMANDED ACTION. The opening of the Legislature was greeted by a mass jobless protest demand-
ing action on jobs. The Socred government failed to act to provide jobs. Instead it heaped new taxes on the

public and stepped up its attack on labor and other democratic movements.

owners for education costs, and
create a financial crisis for
most school districts on financ-
ing of education.

Inevitably, education in the
province will suffer. The aim of
this anti-education government,
is to force a cutback in education
spending. It puts handouts to the
monopolies ahead of public
spending for education.

The sharpest attack of all at
this session was directed against

the working class and organized
labor. It used the session of the
House to force the transit
workers back to work under
threat of compulsory arbi-
tration. It forced the Teamsters
back to work and imposed
compulsory arbitration on
them. In the process the govern-
ment widely expanded its interp-
retation of what constitutes
‘‘public interest’’ in the event of
a_ strike.

Along with this attack on the
trade unions, the government
expanded its offensive against
the teachers with its rejection of
their pension demands, and
changes in legislation taking
away membership rights of the
B.C. Teachers Federation.

The refusal of the government
to make any changes in its
present anti-labor legislation,
and its arrogant insistance

Tenants

Wall and Redekop, the land-
lords who are faced with a rent
strike by tenants, increased their
rental revenue by 44 percent in
the 6 month period ending
January 31, 1971 compared to the

- corresponding period a year
ago.

But tenants have called a halt.
A goodly number of them have
refused to pay the increase, and
are demanding that the
landlords meet with them to
negotiate.

On the agenda of city council
this week is a motion from
alderman Harry Rankin

On
ticipate ax burdens
( Sand home-
| | °Qo, :
leftist
\
revolyy S99 the
ell .
Will, thane S
t
ne Buss, er
tio e€aq
Oi yan
vol ic Fality
Oste,,
Qs if y
t
ae : pised to for
OViey m
A . x S
tim © th
"Salt; o real
\ :
: ie
Mitig| ; €xpo
Union, cult
Be olatia. e in
Viet : °
Posiig on Qs almost 3
ee Nich

ast 0 on the ultra-left

S Fj : :
ate Castro, in a speech made some time
orowing remarks to make regarding “super

re are, as we know, theoritical super-
Uper-Leftists, veritable “supermen’’ if you
€stroy imperialism in a jiffy with their
re many super-revolutionaries lacking all
. about the problems and difficulties of a
a are prompted by sentiments carefully
hey re Perialism and are full of fierce hatred. It is
. give the Soviet Union its existence,
left-wing” positions, They would like a
ped According to their strange model,
fr ridiculous ideals. Yet a country is
ty, one made up on numerous other

aaa these trends forget the incredible

incredib| € revolutionary process in the Soviet

Seay S Problems arising from blockade,

ues pcs They pretend not to know

's and regard the existence of the

oe crime, and this from “left-wing”
act of absolute dishonesty.”

fight on two fronts

demanding that rent increases
be justified before a Rental
Board. ;

The Tenants Council has put
out a leaflet which gives the
startling facts above, plus some
others which demonstrate Wall
and Redekop are doing just fine
without another increase in rent
revenues. The leaflet points out
the tax increase can in no way
account for the ‘‘increased
costs’’ of operation which the
landlords maintain justifies the
rent hikes.

The average increase in taxes
per suite per month for 1970
compared to 1969 was just .69
cents. Yet this corporation, says
Tenants Council secretary
Bruce Yorke, is attempting to
jack up rents this year by an
average of $14.00 per month!

Rankin’s motion sets forth the
need for city council to instruct
the city’s Rental Accom-
modation Grievance Board to
mediate the rent increase
dispute. Failing to get a
seconder for the motion (even
from the so-called “‘progres-
sive’? Team aldermen) when he
presented it two weeks ago,
Rankin has introcuced a new
motion which would require the
Board to determine what if any
increase in rent is justified, on
request from a tenant or tenants
representative.

WOODFIBRE
Upcoast at Woodfibre, another
group of tenants has taken on
American-owned Rayonier their
employer and their landlord.
forcing the em-
ave their homes
i from $80 to
which presently rent
$100 a month urging them to take
on some high-priced mortgaged

Rayonier is
ployees to le

domiciles at Squamish some
miles distant from Woodfibre.

The tenants say they want to
keep their homes, their townsite
and ‘their way of life at
Woodfibre. They admit the
houses are not palaces, and that
they often must live. with the
cloud of stench from the
pulpmill, but they are used to the
smell and they have a good com-
munity life where they are.

Squamish has land for houses,
developers who want to
‘‘develop’’ and ambitions to
grow. The town’s mayor Pat
Brennan doubtless would like to
see the 100 or more families now
in Woodfibre added to his com-
munity, and so would Squamish
businessmen, but the fighting
families say they are content
where they are.

They are good fighters.

They organized a Tenants
Council within a few hours,
demonstrated with placards and
delegations against the forced
evictions.

Alderman Harry Rankin and
Tenant Organization secretary
Bruce Yorke have been invited
to address a meeting at
Woodfibre on Wednesday, April
14, where the tenants will make
further plans to carry on the
fight for their town. They have
also invited representatives
from Rayonier to attend, and
Mayor Brennan, as well as Muni-
cipal Affairs Minister Dan
Campbell.

These people, many of whom
have worked for long years for
the American-owned company,
are determined their town shall

~ not die. Their struggle is an

inspiration to the many thousand
of other tenants who today are
fighting for their rights.

p to right

instead, to force Bill 33 and the
mediation commission down
the throats of B.C.’s working
people, indicates this govern-
ment intends to continue its
“hard line’”’ towards labor.

It is in this light that the
appointment of the new
Minister of Labor Jim Chabot,
must be seen. His appointment
after the House adjourned,
indicates that his assignment is
to impose the government’s
labor policy on B.C. labor. Any
illusion about that should be
quickly dismissed.

At the ceremony in which he
was sworn in, Premier W.A.C.
Bennett indicated that the
government didn’t-like having
the Attorney General, who has to
enforce the law, also the
minister of labor, which was the
case with Les Peterson. Premier
Bennett said at the swearing in
ceremony: ‘“‘The question of
being attorney-general at the
same time and being minister of
labor, it is in the public interest
we have a separate minister of
labor.”

The Socred government faced
some embarrassment over this
situation each time a sharp
dispute arose — particularly at
the time of the construction dis
pute.

Nothing happened at the last
session of the legislature that
indicates the appointment of
Chabot represents a change in
government policy towards
restoring labor’s rights to
bargain collectively. The
contrary is true.

The same arrogant attitude
the government showed to
labor, was also shown to
pensioners, the PTA’s, and other
people’s lobbies which

- converged on the Legislature

during the past session. The
cabinet wouldn’t even meet with
the pensioners, and gave a cold
shoulder to the hundreds of
parents of the PTA-who are
concerned with education and
their children’s welfare.

The arrogance of the Socreds
was not only displayed toward
all people’s and democratic
movements outside the House,
but it was also displayed in the
legislature. One outstanding
example of this was the banning
of the Leader of the Opposition
Dave Barrett for a week from
the sessions for daring to persist
in getting an answer to a
question.

The main conclusion which
emerges from the 72-day session
of the House is that the Socred
government has moved sharply
to the right in serving the
interests of big business against
the working people and public.

It underlines the need for all
labor and democratic forces in
the province to find the way to
unite in public action to halt the
government’s anti-popular
swing, and to create conditions
for ousting this right-wing
government in the next election.

“ You'ye got to hand it to those efficiency
experts... They sure immerse themselves in
their work...”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1971—PAGE 3