a aa S—= ° = ~ = ~ = hey smell money,” ran the headline last week in the daily Blah in reference to the MP wage hike. They sure do. The 119 MP’s who absented themselves when the vote on the second reading came up, did so to avoid argument with their constituents on the ‘‘pay’’ issue when next elections roll around. Some eighty Liberals, twenty-eight Tories and one NDPer voted in favor of the pay boost. All other NDP’ers and Credistes voted against. If it becomes “Jaw’’ (which it will), a lot of these intend giving the extra pay- hike ‘‘to charity.’’ We'll believe that when we see it. These salary hikes by the way will be retroactive to last October when Parliament opened. MP increases will be from $12,000 to $18,000 on salary, while a tax-free ‘‘expense allow- ance”’ will be upped from $6,000 to $8,000, making a grand total of $26,000 per sessional indemnity. Not bad for a guy who wouldn’t be worth one-third of that amount to any boss. Salaries of senators, for the most part ageing senior citizens will be hiked from $15,000 to $22,000 per annum. Senators should be able to slumber relatively comfortable at the figure, without to worry about where the next meal — or case of Scotch, is coming from. Cabinet members will receive no salary hikes ‘‘at this time,”’ other than the $8,000 in lieu of $6,000 tax-free ‘‘expense”’ money. At that they will now pocket some $43,000 per annum. Trudeau will receive a cool $53,000 to facilitate his ‘‘swinging”’ — without having to cut-in on his own private millions. After all we all live in ‘a democracy, so we're all presumed to be “equal,’’ the affluent and the down-and-outer alike. After much ado anent MP’s ‘‘suffering”’ and going through all kinds of hardships “‘serving their country,’’ and also to “attract the best people,’’ the Beaupre Commission, which has had these salary hikes under review for many moons, are confi- dent that such targets are worth aiming for; and after all it is “only” a six-percent increase (if one counts all the years in between) since the last MP wage hike in 1963. Quite modest opines M. Trudeau when one looks at some of the wage per- centages demanded by “‘our labor friends.” If one is to give the slightest credence to the daily Blah, then Mr. Trudeau’s thinking on this ‘‘best people’ angle for parliamentary seats is a misnomer. Before they are elected ' who is to judge who the “‘best people”’ are, particularly since their ‘‘sins of ommission’’ far outstrip their ‘‘sins of commission’’; in short, their ‘‘promises before elections gen- erally fade faster than the morning mists. And there is nary a peep about the stipend being too low before elections, that invariably comes after. : It is said that M. Trudeau is ‘‘stream-lining” parliament to the point where parliament may soon become obsolete. That is a pretty general complaint even now among parlia- mentary pundits. Mebby Trudeau hopes the additional “emoluments of office’ will cure that too. But the fact remains that for the MP and the time spent‘in Ottawa, perhaps the smallest fraction of it is in Parliament. Who wants to orate to empty chairs? Better to have them all working in ‘committees,’ where the one scarcely knows what the other is doing — except that they are all busy writing long mineographed sheets to the constituents back home, showing how hard they are working for the ‘‘public weal.”’ Just one final observation; the Beaupre Commission acting as a sort of a ‘“‘compulsory arbitration board. between the people of Canada and their elected representatives (omit the Senate), brought down findings highly satisfactory to the recipients, if not the tax-paying public. That kind of “compulsion”’ we don’t mind at all at all. Then it carries with it no hint, suggestion or threat of “inflation,” which seemingly only applies to the birds — or working men and women seeking wage hikes for exactly the same reasons as put forward by the Beaupre Commission on behalf of our parliamentarians; viz, the high-cost-of-living, or to put it more politely, the high cost of ‘‘serving the public.” With that kind of ‘‘wage hikes” the OAP’ers will really get with it in appreciating their own recent 42-cent-a-month “‘hike.’”’ The comparison stinks, but then so does the Establish- ment which makes such decisions. God save the Queen. Citizens nix expansion A large gathering of citizens in The following program for North Burnaby High School on Wednesday protested the expansion of the Standard Oil Refinery and the pollution from the five refineries on Burrard Inlet. SPEC representative Orest Moysiuk presented a paper on possible environmental effects. Chairman George Gee in opening the meeting suggested that waterfront refineries were no longer necessary F us PACIFIC TRIBUNE—-FRIDAY MAY 14, 19 action was put forward: A Burnaby by-law to control pollu- tion is needed now. A public peti- tion to council Monday urging council to hold up the permit for Standard Oil’s expansion until the company gives council written guarantee it will clean up the pollution they create. Thirdly, Council should organize a public meeting where all organizations could appear, including Standard Oil. to present briefs. 71—PAGE 2 Rankin’s program to extend civic democra By ALD. HARRY RANKIN City Council's general purposes committee, headed by alderman Broome, is preparing recommendations for Council dealing with civie electoral reform. As a starter it is giving publicity to a series of proposals prepared by city clerk Ron Thompson, who is also chief elec- toral officer. These include limiting mayoralty candidates to people who have already held some public office (e.g. MLA or alder- man), that aldermen be elected for three years instead of two, and that only one third of the aldermen be elected each year. Apparently he also favors a requirement that candidates must make a deposit on filing nomination papers. All of these proposals are aimed at curbing citizen rights. What the committee should be considering is how to extend them. Civic democracy should be extended to enable citizens to play a greater part in civic government and civic affairs. From this stand point I would like to offer the following proposals for public discussion: (1) A Ward System, based on one alderman for something like every 25,000 citizens. This would guarantee that each area of the city would have direct repre- ‘sentation on Council, and that voters in every community would have someone to go to with their problems. Each ward alderman should be provided with an office and a salary suffi- cient for him to carry out his civic duties on a full time basis. (2) Abolish property voting rights. Today 1200 corporations in the city who own or rent property can vote by proxy. Since the votes of civic candi- dates are often close, this gives them the opportunity to decide the outcome of civic elections, Only people, not property, should have the right to vote. (3) Labor and community groups should be represented on civic boards appointed by on the voters list. If anyone thinks that previous experience as an elected public official makes a better mayor, just look at mayor Tom Campbell! (8) A substantial increase in staff on election day is obviously needed, especially to help count the votes. In recent elections scrutineers from various political groups have performed this function, often without super- vision. Council should also look into the cost and advisability of voting machines, where a citizen vote can be registered by pressing a button and where the machine tallies the vote without delay. Facilities should also be provided at hospitals where patients mav vote These could be made available to the staff. (9) Tenants should be 8! right to vote in all pleb including money by-laws: registration should be out in the late fall instead late spring; and tenants: be able to swear in on aa day if their names have” omitted from the voters list Council’s general | committee has asket™ concerned organization individuals to present briefs on electoral f your voice is heard. U : press strongly for the one of civic democracy, you sure that efforts will be further restrict it. mae ‘Seeing the sights’ Y PACIELC CENTRE ~ PACIFIC “ Yup! stranger we've other thingy even bigger — UNEMPLOYMEN” Council (library, museum, etc. ) 1 5 5 § Today, these appointments go il |- | er rive cov mainly to NPA-supporters, NPA would-be candidates and business people. The majority of the people are not represented. (4) Night meetings of Council should be held to hear dele- gations and individuals so that working people do not have to take time off from work to attend. (5) The advance poll should be open for several weeks prior to the elections in the evenings to enable workers such as fisher- men, railroaders, truck drivers, and tugboat workers who must make trips out of town, to cast a ballot. (6) The term of office of aldermen and mayor should hot be extended beyond two years and they should all come up for re-election at the same time, Just as is done with our legis- lature and House of Commons. To restrict the number to a few each year is another way of enabling the Establishment to maintain its monopoly hold on civic government. (7) No special qualification should be required of the mayoralty or any other candidates except that they be® real pollution culprits The provincial government is using gallons of ink and tons of paper in a major campaign against littering-littering! — this week. ; May 9-15 is anti-litter week in B.C., states one of the missives sent out by Minister of Con- servation Ken Kiernan. It asks solemnly ‘‘Have you done any littering lately? Outdoors Unlittered says Stop!”’ Were it not so serious a matter one might laugh at this preten- tious campaign to no-no litter- ing while industrial pollution is so studiously ignored by the government. But unfortunately it is no laughing matter. This week, Anti-Litter Week, — the pollution board will consider (and likely approve) an application from. Rayonier Canada to dump up to 33.4 million gallons of effluent per day in Howe Sound. This week Kaiser Coal will still be searching for a way to. keep their waste ‘ponds from ( eels overflowing into the ss the Kootenays. millions of gallons 0 spill into the Fras¢ secondary treatme? the municipalities |. ‘‘afford’’ proper faci pm This month a ¢ fisherman is taking oF to get an on to ermit given t0 0 Stauetion ne Mining f to discharge 9.3 ™) effluent daily inte Narrows. jan This year new pulp new mines will go 19 with carte blanc 10 Tale a pollutants into air an % f us So much for Hi pollution so far as ment is concerned. The Tribune a litter laws. pie s laws to stop the ©" "te luters with teeth 1” f what we need.