famil _*Y welf ed ‘hy Gp. at € landlords and real 0 take a are moving in Nsto, 1 advantage of the Pony hone tHe homeless and B® rents 2 They are boost- Meg of 8nd pushing up the © they eS to the point lor jhe. Y AT out of reach erage income family. Cyn Deh re disregarding the leary © People, the three te fat 80vernment in Canada ® housie 0 take steps to meet ey Crisis, They close : © a Situation which ve Beane officials as “the most Ocial Problem we Here is “ 8over how the three levels that to he responded this mt Att fp nS demands that 4 Meet the housing ay, AWA; Yernm, ¢ 8 oy oat Ove M The Federal Onday beat down a Opposition to : Sency debate on Stead the Liberal SNe Sent Ns ° Demand action On housing no By MAURICE RUSH government is standing by its tight money policy and reject- ing demands for a crash pro- gram on housing. The announcement Wednesday by Labor Minister Nicholson that the interest rate on housing capital will be raised from 74% to 84% is designed tohelp banks ‘and mortgage companies make higher profits, It will strike a hard blow against lower cost housing. VICTORIA: The Socred gov- ernment, which has been no- torious for dragging its feet on the housing crisis, this week ordered that all low rental hous- ‘ing projects in B.C. be halted or not proceeded with while an investigation is undertaken into the cost of low rental housing which may take many months, VANCOUVER: City Council is considering a recommenda- tion that it cancel some of the 15 housing projects now under- way and withdraw others for which it sought provincial sup- me housing shortage in B.C. has reached crisis proportions. Tens of thousands of . are without decent homes. Many more thousands live in conditions described ng qu Gre agencies as “unimaginable squalor.” Young married couples can’t find liv- th aaers and thousands of university students haven't a place to live. Yet while * mand for homes is staggering, there are fewer homes being built in B.C. than at ‘me in the last 15 years! port. The council will decide its course at a special meeting in two weeks. All three levels of government are under strong pressure from big financial and real estate lobbies to block public low- rental housing., The present housing shortage is a bonanza ‘for big landlords and real estate companies, The Federal government is also blocking action on housing by claiming that “we are over- spending” and that capital is hard to raise in the U.S. Ob- viously the Vietnam war is having a direct bearing on the fight against poverty in Canada because of the close tie-up economically between the two countries, But Canada can find the funds to launch a national housing pro- gram if it drastically cut, its present arms budget and divert- ed large sums to solve the hous- See HOUSING, Pg. 12 _ U.S. bombers roin destruction on Vietnam. Dissociate Canada from U.S. aggression A Canada-wide campaign to dissociate Canada from U.S. aggression against the Vietnamese people wos decid- ed on by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of - Canada when it met in Toronto on the weekend of Septem- ber 16-18. in initiating a campaign to dissociate Canada from U.S, aggression against Vietnam the party emphasized that this does not mean dropping its support to the world-wide demand for an end to U.S, bombing of North Vietnam and military opera- tions against the people of Viet- nam, but is directed towards ending Canadian complicity in this shameful and aggressive U.S. war. The meeting also decided to work for all-in left unity to bring about a shift to the left in Canada; endorsed the Com- munist Party of Quebec’s call for a Constitution for Quebec; named Israel as the aggressor in the June 5th Middle-East war, adopted a report of a party delegation recently re- turned from a visit to the Ukraine; pledged full support to Great Lakes seamen’s strug- gle for the 40 hour week and the demand of Canadian auto workers for wage parity; re- elected Wm. Kashtan party leader and general-secretary and elected a central execu- tive committee of 17 mem- bers, In endorsing the Quebec Com- munist Party’s demand for a constitution for Quebec the Cen- tral Committee of the Commu- nist Party of Canada sees this as a first vital step to solve the crisis of Confederation. The party says that such a Constitution, asserting the con- trol of Quebec over their own state in all political, social, economic and cultural ques- tions, would -make it possible See full report of Communist national meeting, pgs. 4 and 5. for Quebec to enter negotia- tions on a free and equal basis with English Canada to create a new Confederal pact based on the right of both Canadian nations to self-determination up to an including separation, The party’s stand on the Mid- dle East war grows out of its estimation of its causes and the aims set by the Israeli government, It is the party’s opinion that the crisis in the Middle East has gravely en- dangered world peace and con- tinues to do so. See VIETNAM, pg. 12