ONERS TO MEET

By HAROLD PRITCHETT

Blue Boy Hotel in Vancouver
will be the scene of the annual
Convention of the Old Age Pen-
Sioners Organization on Juné 19,
20 and 21. Elected delegates
from every city, town and
_ hamlet in British Columbia will
_ Converge on this hotel at the cor-
ner of Marine Drive and Fraser
to bring sharply to the attention
of both senior and local
governments the plight of our
Senior citizens.

The Federal government in-
troduced a small cost of living
bonus which was eaten up by ris-

By STEVE BRODIE
_ -(Last of Series)

_I was informed the case was
now Sub-Judice, and I could not
discuss publicly the events which
We fave rise to the case. The Ex-
chequer Court refused to come to
B.C. that fall, claiming to be in-
_ terested in Saving costs, and my
_ Suit was laid over for one year.
This had never happened before,
or has it happened since. How
Conveniently cur courts can
forget that, ‘Justice delayed is
Justice denied,” when to hear
the case would condemn the
forces of law and order as
enemies of the people.

The case was withdrawn by the
awyer appointed by the Civil
“Liberties Union, without
teference to either the CLU or to
me. He somehow felt em-
barrassed after September 1939,
about reminding the Canadian
people that jackboot justice can
be used on both sides of the

Some half a dozen men were
harged in court at the fall
assizes, but only with damage to
roperty stores in the downtown
area. Mr. Adam Smith Johnson
defended, asking the defence
committee only for his out of
Pocket expenses. He tried time
after time to bring evidence that
the men had surrendered to the
law, long before any damage was
done. The presiding judge refus-
ed to allow any discussion of
____€vents outside the blocks con-
taining Woodwards and Spencers
Stores, -

‘ On police evidence only, his
clients were sentenced to jail,
and any suggestion that window
breaking was started by police
agents was laughed out of court.
__ As the judge rose to leave Mr.
__ Smith Johnson spoke in a broken
__ Voice, loud enough to be heard all
through the courtroom, ‘‘Where
can the people go, if justice has
fled our courts?”’ Embarrassed
court officials pretended to
notice nothing amiss, and as I

ing food and rent prices before
the senior citizens received it. To
the credit of the Barrett govern-
ment, all citizens 65 or over are
now included in the pharmacare
plan providing free prescrip-
tions. This took effect on
January 1, 1974.

This, together with the es-
tablishment of the Mincome,
which in itself only affects a
small percentage of eligible
senior citizens, is good. The NDP
provincial government has yet to
enact an exemption of school
taxes for all citizens 65 or over
and it is reported to be con-

§ Steve Brodie writes
on ‘Bloody Sunday’

walked outside with him, and
thanked him for his efforts, he
said, almost in tears, ‘Right
must not only be done, it must
appear to be done,’’ and walked
slowly away, a saddened man.

When young people in the
1970’s hear the stories of those
desperate years, they are always
amazed that the majority of Can-
dians accepted the conditions in
such a-docile manner. To accept
scarcity in time of flood,
drought, or earthquake, — that
they can understand. That
Canadians would meekly accept
privation in the midst of the
greatest abundance in all the
world’s history, shocks them
beyond belief. They can not un-
derstand that children were sent
to school ill clad, ill fed, and
poorly shod, because we had
produced too much food, too

‘much wool and cotton, and too

many shoes. When I tell them
that the generation now over fif-
ty, used to clap their hands,
stamp their feet, and rush to the
ballot box to elect people who
said they would bring prosperity
by burning, plowing under and
destroying the products of abun-
dant nature and the hard work of.
our people, they react
somewhere between laughter
and tears of shame, that their

‘forebears should welcome such

stupidity.

In 1819, the Establishment
‘‘proved’’ that the protest
meeting at St. Peters Field, now
known in labor history as the
Peterloo Massacre, was part of a
foreign plot to aid Napoleon and
some leaders were hanged, so
the foreign plot stories of the
1930’s, were no new invention.
No red blooded Canadian was ex-
pected to doubt that he should
suffer in silence, or be punished,
legally or otherwise, as an agent
of a foreign power. Surely the
Canadian people will never again
tolerate the conditions that left
us with the legacy of Bloody Sun-
day.

; AVAILABLE APRIL 1
_ BLOODY SUNDAY — 1938

by Steve Brodie, epilogue
by Maurice Rush

Profusely illustrated with photographs
from the day

Published by the YCL :

Orders may be placed at Tribune off.

: or

: People’s Co-op Bookstore, 341 West Pender

light of our senior citizens

sidering a deferment of taxes
plan.

To the credit of the Port Co-
quitlam City Council, it is the
first in B.C. to enact a by-law
which in 1974 will freeze
sewerage costs at the 1973 level
for all over 65 years. This is a
small step, but a step in the right
direction. It sets the pace for
other councils to follow suit.

Many of the problems facing
old people, and there are many,
must be tackled by this annual
convention. Politicians must be

made to understand that citizens:

who have during their entire
lives contributed to building this

- nation of ours, must be in a posi-

tion in their twilight years to en-
joy some of the fruits of their
labor.

Can you imagine an elderly
couple, dependent entirely upon
their meagre pensions, being
faced with a 100 percent rent in-
crease? Or when they. go to shop
at the super markets find that
from 1971 to 1973 a rib roast has
increased by 66.4 percent, and
weiners, formerly one of their
main food items has increased
from 4 lbs. for one dollar to 99
cents per Ib., or a 296 percent in-
crease? Chicken has increased
by 40.8 percent; a butt roast —
58.5 percent; chops — 27.1 per-
cent; hinds (beef) — 38.2 per-
cent; sides — 55.7 percent.

All the while the rip-off on
food, clothing, rents and housing
continues to rise weekly, and
sometimes daily. The Federal
government continues to sub-
sidize big business with special
grants, tax exemptions, etc., out
of the public treasury while the
corporate. monopolies’ _ profits
reach an all time high. At the
same time food prices rose by 23
percent.

All of us old timers have seen
or been through two devastating
world wars and under no cir-
cumstances do we want a third.
Yet the Trudeau government has
increased the arms budget from
$1,800,000,000 to more than $2
billion — money which could
much better be spent raising
senior citizens’ pensions and
providing decent homes and ser-
vices for the people.

The upcoming convention will
undoubtedly give serious con-
sideration to these and many
more problems faced by our
senior citizens.

Write Premier Barrett
demanding the Pacific
Tribune be given the
same rights to govern-
ment advertising as
given other weekly
papers.

SUNDAY SUPPER

APRIL 7
5:30 PM

Grandview Community Centre
3350 Victoria Drive

“Bring Down
The High Prices”

* with
Maurice Rush

Music—good food
Admission $3
_ Children, Students $2
Ausp: Kingsway Press Club.

J.H. Rigler, Port Moody,
writes: I would like to comment
on radio talk shows.

There are quite a number here
in Vancouver. Some are. trivial,
some are boring, and the odd
time one is enlightening and
perhaps to a degree entertaining.

There is one however that does
not fit into any of these
categories. That man is Patrick
Burns. In my view he is vain,
egotistical and short on morals.
He is neither a commentator or
moderator but a propagandist.

I listened to Pat Burns when he
first came on the air in Van-
couver. He has a tongue that is
hinged in the middle and wags at
both ends. I listened to him at-
tack regularly the establish-
ment, lawyers, doctors, com-
panies, etc. He seemed a real
man for the working class. I
wanted to know what Pat Burns
would say next so when I was
working and unable to listen, I
would hook a tape recorder to
my clock radio and play back the
show when I arrived home.

I started to get the feeling that
Pat Burns wanted a following.
He wanted people to listen to
him. Then the roof feel in. The
station was censored and Pat
Burns was out of a job. I heard
nothing of Pat Burns while he
was in Montreal except that he
wanted to come back.

Pat Burns obviously did some
thinking while he was away. He
saw clearly that he could not
make money championing the
poor. The big money would op-
pose him — so why not work for
them? When he came back it was
a different show.

First, you talk on Burns’ topic.
Second, you share Burns’ opinion:
or you don’t talk. He will turn his
volume up and your’s down when
it suits him. ;

Pat Burns’ reporting leaves
something to be desired. He con-
veniently omits important sec-
tions of an issue’ leaving the
listener with a distorted view.
He will repeatedly emphasize
one part of a phrase or allegation
which would have an entirely
different meaning if finished or
fully explained.

In my view, people like Pat
Burns. should not be censored.
Let them holler from the roof
tops or spout off on radio talk
shows. What I am opposed to is

the fact that he is not using his
own money or even his sponsor’s
money to do this. It goes on to the
price of a product and you and I
pay for it in the end through in-
flated prices.

Now Mr. Burns announces he
will run in the next election.
When I was a young man, a man
just as egotistical, just as vain
and opinionated, who would
listen to no one, got elected in
Germany.

That cost me and a lot of other

people five good years of our
lives.

Jim Kretz, Campbell River,
writes: Just a short note to com-
pliment the Tribune staff on the
quality of the paper and the job
being done. The press club here

has instructed me to pass on

their comments so I hope you
realize that it’s not just me talk-
ing again.

We specifically want to
emphasize the value of the short
articles contained in the Tribune.
We feel that they make the paper
more readable and acceptable
to working people.

(For reasons of ‘space, the
following letter could not be
printed in its entirety and
appears here in excerpt.)

Barbara Stewart, North Van-
couver, writes: Your articles
dealing with the author
Solzhenitsyn were most in-
teresting. I have not read any of
his works but I have no doubt as
to the man’s motives in produc-
ing the material that finally led
to his expulsion from the Soviet
Union.

Having only recently seen a
film on CBC documenting the in-
vasion of Poland, by Hitler’s ar-
mies, I think Solzhenitsyn has
betrayed the millions of Soviet
people who died in the tremen-
dous struggle waged to rid the
Soviet Union and, in fact, the
world of Hitler fascism. I think
the Soviet authorities were cor-
rect in expelling him from their
country and it is significant that
the country which gave him an
open welcome was West Ger-
many. Very fitting.

The Soviet people deserve a
note of thanks for their tremen-
dous battle against fascism and
war. They have set an example
in their achievements in the
struggle for world peace.

Y.CA.
~ SOCIAL AND DANCE

SAT., MARCH 30
8 P.M. — $2.50

AUUC HALL
805 E. Pender

Classified Advertising

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4. Available for banquets,
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WEBSTER’S CORNER HALL —
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FOR RENT

April 1st. Furnished H.K.R.,
. Kitchen, Din. Rm., Fridge,
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ight att: Wek

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH.29, 1974—PAGE 11