- NPA council still blowing smoke

There appears to be a growing health
problem in Vancouver with the promotion
of alcohol and tobacco use, and a key
source of this problem are the decisions of
mayor Gordon Campbell and city council.

I have written previously concerning
the “Indy 500" which will take over down-
town Vancouver streets on Labour Day
weekend under the sponsorship of Mol-
son’s Breweries.

But the Indy is not the only large event
associated with public health issues in
Vancouver this
Summer. At the
end of July there
will be a four-day
fireworks demon-
stration at English
Bay called the
“Symphony of
Fire”. This eventis
sponsored by the
Benson and Hed-
ges tobacco com-
pany.

As we all know, alcohol and tobacco
companies are spending large amounts of
money all over the world trying to coun-
teract the public health education which is
Striving to reduce the use of these pro-
ducts.

The alcohol and tobacco industry ap-
parently has more influence at Vancouver
city hall than does our medical health of-
ficer.

The officer, Dr. John Blatherwick, pre-
pared a report last February in which,
together with the Director of Social Plan-
ning and the city’s Child Advocate, he
recommended that city council “not sup-
port a cigarette advertising campaign”
such as the fireworks display.

But for a still unexplained reason, the
Teport was never delivered to council, al-
though I raised the issue of the tobacco
company sponsorship of the event several
times.

ERIKSEN

- In June, when I found out that indeed
there was a report from Dr. Blatherwick
on the issue, I moved a motion asking for
an explanation as to why it was not for-
warded to council. Itis hard to believe, but
the motion was defeated by the mayor and
the NPA majority.

I then moved a motion asking that
whenever alcohol and tobacco companies
seek city approval for marketing programs
that a report be received from the medical
health officer. That, too, was defeated by
the mayor and his group on council.

The Sea Festival should be congratu-
lated for its decision to cancel its sponsor-
ship of the fireworks display after it con-°
sidered the implications of joining in a
tobacco company’s marketing program.
That provided a reasonable opportunity
for the city to consider Dr. Blatherwick’s
report and to rescind approval of the event.
But instead of doing that, they affirmed
their support for it.

Why do alcohol and tobacco com-
panies have so much influence at city hall?
We can only conclude it is because of the
enormous amounts of money that are in-
volved in these marketing programs.

Last week, as a result of my statements
on Molson’s beer company’s sponsorship
of the Indy 500, I received a report from
the Marin Institute for the Prevention of
Alcohol and Other Drug Problems in Cali-
fornia.

Here is just one passage from this re-
port, called “Beer and Fast Cars: How
Brewers Target Blue Collar Youth
Through Motor Sport Sponsorships.”

“This report finds that beer manufac-
turers are spending up to $50 million per
year on motor sport sponsorships. Integral
to this industry marketing practice is tar-
geting the very population at greatest risk
of drinking and driving. Faced with de-
creasing consumption of alcohol by
health-conscious, white collar Americans,
the beer industry has tumed its attention to

blue collar youth. This target group is
accurately perceived by the industry to
include the largest number of heavy beer
drinkers. This report documents how
American beer companies are linking beer
and fast cars in a carefully crafted effort to
promote beer, especially among working
class youth and young adults who are part
of the car culture.”

This report contains information from
the marketing research of Molson’s brew-
ery itself on how sports fans drink more
beer than any other group of sports fans,
and why events like the Indy 500 are a top
priority for the company’s Marketing pro~
gram.

I then placed a motion at Council that
this excellent report be distributed to all
members of city council. Guess what?
That too was rejected by the mayor and his
majority.

Now quite obviously mayor Campbell
is trying to send a message. He doesn’t
want to hear any more about the morality
of city council assisting alcohol and tobac-
co companies to market their products in
Vancouver.

Thankfully, there are many citizens in
Vancouver who with myself won’t be
silenced as long as our city is being used
as a giant K-Mart to promote products that
are harmful to the public health.

_ Politicians are put to the test when big
money lobbies come with their proposals
for special favours. Neither Molson’s
Breweries or Benson and Hedges could be
holding these multi-million dollar promo-
tions for booze and cigarettes in Van-
couver this summer without such a
“favour” from city council.

Mayor Campbell and city council have
failed the test.

Alderman Bruce Eriksen,
Vancouver

More thoughts on ‘Marxism-Leninsim’

According to Fred Wilson in the July 2
Tribune ("CP opens debate on political iden-
tity"), “Marxism-Leninism is a particular
expression of Marxism developed by the
CPSU and the international Communist
movement after Lenin’s death which cor-
responded to the political model of state
socialism.”

Marxism-Leninism is a guide to socialist
revolution. It is not a blueprint to be fol-
lowed blindly. By omitting Marxism-
Lennism from the ideology of the Com-
munist Party one is changing the nature of
the party.

Interestingly, in the July 2 issue of the

Lost photo op

My nomination for Canada’s lost
photo opportunity of the year—Nel-
son Mandela shaking hands with
Elijah Harper.

_ Wright Balfour,
Vancouver

Canadian Tribune, Tom Morris and Geoff
DaSilva, both members of the central execu-
tive committee quoted Lenin extensively.
Must we assume from this that Fred Wilson
has a different philosophy for the leadership

our party?

The same issue of the Pacific Tribune
published a letter from Foster Griezic calling
for more democracy in the Canadian Labour
Congress. It is not just the CLC that could

benefit from increased democracy.
Delegates to the Communist Party conven-
tion are not elected by clubs (analagous to
union locals) but rather by provincial
nominating conventions. In the case of the
central leadership, the election is not by the
delegates but by an elected committee. I
propose that delegates to the upcoming con-
vention be elected directly by the clubs.

Socialism made change possible

Fred Wilson’s article in the July 2
Tribune ("CP opens debate on political iden-
tity") misses the key issue in regards to what
took place in eastern Europe when he states:
“However, 1989 demonstrated vividly that
political power, and even socialism can be
altered by the people through a democratic
process.”

Does Fred Wilson maintain people
operating under capitalism worldwide have
all of a sudden no longer the need to resort
to guerilla warfare or revolution to change
capitalism? That all they have to do is have
massive public demonstrations?

No! Of course not! It’s not just a case of
“even under socialism.” It’s only under
socialism that people can change their politi-
cal system without “bloodshed.”

There was no state machine there to read
the War Measures Act, and the armies were
peoples’ armies, (in fact, as I understand, the
army in Romania joined with the people).

Lets not forget Spain, Grenada, Chile,
Panama.

Elgin Neish,
Victoria

Environment
accord no
step ahead

Imagine. Jack Munro, Colleen McCrory,
and George Watts together on stage, “under
the auspices of the New Democrats”. Here
are some strange bedfellows if there ever
were any. They unveiled Harcourt’s already
unveiled “Environment and Jobs Accord,”
and Frank Cox ("Tin-Wis meet to tackle
jobs, environment," Tribune, July 9, 1990)
writes that this is a step in the right direction.

Maybe these politics would have seemed
credible twenty years ago. The onset of glo-
bal warming and the deterioration of the
planetary ozone shield clearly indicate that
the human impact on the biosphere is far too
great already. Rapid population growth in
poorer countries and their determination to
raise their living standards to those prevalent
in the overdeveloped First World means a
doubling and redoubing of the total human
impact over the next few decades.

Further growth in overdeveloped regions
like Canada is clearly insane, the act of a
politics so out of touch with reality that it
must shoot itselfin the head rather than wake
up.

The NDP under Harcourt is solidily com-
mitted to economic growth. Harcourt has
assured the business community that it will
be “business as usual” when the NDP gets
elected. (Vancouver Province, April 8, 1990,
an extensive interview circulated by the
NDP caucus province-wide). Any changes
that are compatible with economic growth
that will improve the position of labour or
the environment: “can’t be done overnight.
It’s as simple as that ... I’ve made this clear
to my party. They’ve endorsed it. I’ve told
the trade union movement this, and they
understand it” (Mike Harcourt, Report from
the Legislature, July 9, 1990).

Environmentalists are in because cynical
deals like this give them a chance to “save a
few more parks before the planet blows out.”
That may not make sense, but try asking
environmentalists if they can see a future.
Their concem to “make a difference” has
them unwittingly holding up a fig leaf in
front of a spent political force. The commit-
ment of labour to this farce appears to be a
rearguard action designed to delay the rise
of an independent revolutionary Green poli-
tical alternative. Everyone gets to wear a
shiny new “environmental” flower in their
lapel and claim that they are “building a
coalition,” todays buzzword for meaningful
political activity. ;

Maybe Cox is right. A “step in the right
direction,” straight off the nearest cliff,
might be best for this coalition.

A credible politics for today must aim at
finding a new way. Somwhere in the First
World a large group has to start living on
drastically fewer resources. That could be
done only by changing social, economic,
and political relations in a way that must be
described as revolutionary. It is ironic that
the political forces who would describe
themselves as the most progressive stand so
resolutely in the way.

David Lewis,
Crescent Valley

Pacific Tribune, July 23, 1990 « 5