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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1969

through ite

Department of
Industrial Development,
Trade ond Commerce

the!
GOVERNMENT of

BRITISH COLUMBIA

nts

foram,

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| RERETERUELELELELE LE

' The Not So Good Life

| ~. About one out of every four persons in B.C. lives below the
poverty level, according to standards set by the Economic
Council of Canada. Here’s how some live:

Sr ee | ne mn

SS = a “

—Fred Minaker photo

Slum dwellings in the East End of Vancouver. Thousands live in such hovels all over B.C. while Bennett turns

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Mbs down on low cost housing programs.

SOCREDS MUST GO

Oust government
of big business

BY THE EDITORS

The people of B.C. have a date with destiny on
Wednesday, August 27. On that day they can use their
power at the polls to end the long reign of Bennett's
Socred government — the government of privilege,
patronage and big business.

17 years of Socred rule have been marked by the most
gigantic plundering of the province’s resources in our history.
Forest, mineral, natural gas, petroleum and water resources
have been handed over to U.S. and other foreign "monopolies
for a fraction of their value.

Instead of the profit from B.C.’s natural resources coming to
the people, foreign monopolies are carting them away to be
processed elsewhere, denying B.C. the jobs and _ prosperity
which is rightfully theirs.

17 years of Socred rule has seen the giant growth of
monopoly domination of our lives. The empty talk of “free
enterprise” by the Socreds cannot cover up the fact that one or
two giants control the forest and mining industries, and only one
(Weston) controis our fishing industry. The telephone and
natural gas utilities are each dominated by one monopoly, both
U.S. controlled.

These monopolies have tightened their noose on the economic
life of the province through the handouts and privileges
extended by the Socreds.

17 years of Socred rule has seen the adoption of tax
policies favoring the rich and making the poor pay. Our
education system, municipalities, hospitals, welfare programs,
housing and pollution control have all been starved to the
detriment of the public and the benefit of the monopolies.

17 years of Socred rule has brought B.C. the worst anti-
labor legislation on the North American continent. The right to
strike and picket has been emascalated denying working people
the only weapon they have to defend themselves against
unscrupulous employers. The right to collective bargaining has
been denied to civil servants. Compulsory arbitration is imposed
on labor under Bill 33, and while employers are free to
contribute to the Socred election funds, laws are passed
banning labor from doing likewise through their organizations.

During this period of Socred rule, two Socred cabinet
ministers have been removed from their posts because of graft,
corruption and bribery, and the other misdemeanors in the
interests of monopoly.

The time has come to end the rule of the big monopolies.
The time has come to oust the Socred government.

A defeat for the Socreds would be a major blow to
big business control in Victoria. It would serve notice that
the people want an end to big business policies and want
the public’s good to be put before monopoly profits.

Everybody in B.C. knows that in present circumstances the
NDP is the only party which has enough strength to form an
alternative government. But the NDP has already shown that it
retreats before the pressure of the big monopolies.

Since the start of the election campaign its leaders have
moved their party program to the right in the hope of attracting
dissident Liberal and Socred voters. It has given up the attack on
the big monopolies, and acts as if labor’s participation in an

See BENNETT MUST GO, pg. 7