The Developers —tracing _ the real estate monopoly The anti-monopoly struggle incr- reasingly requires detailed informa- tion and a better understanding of the nature and extent of monopoly power in every sector of the Cana- dian economy. James Lorimer’s new book, The Developers is a welcome addition to the material resources of that struggle — par- ticularly in the municipal area. “Insights into the dynamic of to- day’s corporate business empires and of the counter movements they impel to action are urgently needed,’’ wrote Stanley Ryerson in his introduction to the 1972 reprint of Gustavus Myers’ well known book on the history, of Canadian wealth. Myers was the first to outline a social history of Canada which analyzed the means by which wealth and power became concen- trated in the hands of a few. As documented by Myers, and em- phasized by :others since, land speculation and development have been traditional sources of rapid ac- cumulation of wealth in Canada and the foundation of such huge in- dustrial corporations as Canadian Pacific Investments and Hudson’s Bay Company. In The Developers, Lorimer br- ings us up to date in an analysis of the accumulation of wealth in ur- ban land development — that sector of the economy which has a signifi- cant impact on the standard of liv- ing of every Canadian and which has been the focus of public atten- tion and citizen concern over the past five years in every major city gripped with a crisis in housing and municipal services. As the jacket of the book states, this is the first book ~ to be written on the land develop- ment industry in the post war period. Though it is lacking in political analysis — from a Marxist point of “THE DEVELOPERS. By James Lorimer. James Lorimer and Company, Toronto, 1978. Cloth, $12.95. Available at The People’s Co-op Bookstore. view — Lorimer does undertake a thorough going study of the land development industry, dealing with every major city and every major type of land development. He covers a wide area: the trend towards monopoly structure in the industry; the methods of ac- cumulating and concentrating wealth by means of land develop- ment corporations; the impact of monopoly governments on the various components of the industry in housing, industrial and commer- cial development; the consequences of monopoly development on urban centres; the reform alternatives that have emerged to counter monopoly- dominated development policies; and the signs of impending crisis in the industry. Most importantly, Developers documents how a monopoly in urban land develop- ment is the direct result of collusion between monopoly governments and finance capital in the post war period. Lorimer traces the beginnings and subsequent expansion of three of the biggest investor-owned development corporations in Canada. Cadillac Fairview, the largest in the industry with assets of $1% billion in 1978, creators of Vancouver’s Pacific Centre and the massive Toronto Eaton Centre, ac- tually began as three separate cor- porations in the 1950’s, including E. P. Taylor’s Canadian Equity and Development and the Bronfman- controlled Fairview Corporation. Trizec, once the Jargest real estate The- developer in Canada and still the largest foreign controlled corpora- tion, has assets of $1 billion with ownership divided between the Bronfmans and the British mer- chant banking group of Second Co- vent Garden Property and Eagle Star Insurance. The third, Genstar, was launched in 1951 by the powerful Belgian multinational Societe Generale de Belgique and since that time has set out to monopolize every industry in which it is active. Prior to 1960, Societe ‘Generale controlled two- thirds of the economy in the former Belgian Congo but transferred all - ‘its’ wealth to Canada following Congolese independence to provide safer long term investment through the organization of existing Cana- dian businesses. According to Lorimer, the rapid monopolization of the land development industry was directly responsible for the house price ex- plosion that took place between 1971 and 1976 in most Canadian cities. Most of the price increases in suburban lots resulted not from higher costs of production but from astonishing increases in profits made by lot developers. Profits of large suburban land developers on housing lots added anywhere’ from ~ $15-26,000 to the price of $60-65,000 houses in Victoria, Van- couver, Calgary, Edmonton, Lon- don, Hamilton, Toronto and Ot- tawa. Lorimer also shows, in layman’s language, how the public purse is being robbed through ‘‘capital cost allowances’? — corporate income tax concessions to the real estate in- dustry — which, by 1977, had pro- vided half the equity held by the 35 largest development corporations in Canada. British Columbia’s own monopoly developer, for example, Sonata’ — vision but no insight Before attempting to describe the quality of this new Bergman effort, it must be said that it is far more of a talking than a mo- tion picture. Aside from two ear- ly scenes of a car driving along with a magnificent view of the fords and mountains behind it, and a very few scenes with more than two people in them, this is an anguished, love-hate tale in closeups. It concerns a mother and her children: one daughter so men- tally and emotionally disturbed she is incapable of speech and movement, the other a warm- hearted neurotic; and the mother, an egocentric who for years thought of nothing but her career as a famous concert pianist, unaware of the damage done to her children by her inat- tention during their formative years. , Director Ingemar Bergman has moved away from Freud in the direction of God: his characters can be alienated, cruel and loving, indifferent'and caring; they are self-confessed weaklings but they are at the same time the most articulate, philosophical and psychological- ly erudite people you’re ever likely to meet in this film. ; The fascination that holds one d to this film are the performances ; of- Liv Ullmann and Ingrid <4 Bergman as mother and Eva (Liv Ullman) and her mother Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman) at the piano in Autumn Sonata. AUTUMN SONATA. Written and directed by In- ‘gemar Bergman. Starring Liv Ullman and_ Ingrid Bergman. At the Varsity Theatre, Vancouver daughter. As a plain, bespectacl- ed, tender and sensitive woman married to a‘understanding and compassionate minister who is aware of her ‘‘illness’’, Ullmann is a woman who has lost her son in a drowning at the age of four, but is kept alive by the belief that God is keeping him alive beside her. She gives one of the finest performances of her very distinguished career. The same can be said of Ingrid Bergman. She never had a part — which made such demands upon her, and which she so admirably fulfilled. Writer-director Bergman is a good story teller but not a truly _ competent screen dramatist. The camera plays little part ‘in visualizing the narrative. But = through dialogue he does bring to his audience the agonizing lives of three people from childhood to maturity; the ac- tual physical mutilation, the sense of being lost and not understanding one’s self, the striving for identification is at: times extremely moving. But he fails to see the people he creates in more than personal and moral ways; the middleclass attributes of his characters, common in capitalist society, are either unknown to him or ignored. It is this failure to understand the socio-political-economic aspect of his characters, to comprehend how environment plays a part-in . their development, that prevents him from reaching the levels of an artist such as Henrik Ibsen. Yet this film is worth seeing. ag aa Pod « et et set Pd bad ee a8 ad ee we we - ad = al ha sad ; ad TRIZEC: ACCOMMODATING THE OIL INDUSTRY — he Trizec Corporation is proud of its — contribution to Canada’s Oi! Canits As the resource industry has grave e Fizec has met the mens Needs of Texaco Bu 1% id ng. and The Pacific 66 Builsing And now . , Fitth & Fifth! ta red sop pow ver consumption a ample, § SHACiOUSs, practical . prestigious For leasing information on Fifth & Fit pisase contact he Jeasing office at 265-8585. Ang for information an available accommodation inather Trizec buildings, call: 263-7420. and very g 3B & Q° 82 ‘ Loti) » rup tsp fey pind “py oY ¢ ye Scheduled completion January 1980 3 Located at Sth St. and Sth Ave. SW. TRIZEC CORPORATION LTD. 3000, 72nd Streat SW. Calgary. T2P 2we Scenes between mother and daughter are in main recognizable as relationships in many families, and at times touchingly illuminating. 4 —Lester Cole } PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 12, 1979—Page 6 eats cae a De TRIZEC ADVERTISEMENT development. developed a profit in 1977 of $21.5 million but paid no corporate in- come taxes at all. Here is confirmation of what reform organizations have been saying for years, that the housing crisis and the high price of housing is the direct result of monopoly con- trol and manipulation of housing development. But it is not only in the housing sector that developers are ripping the public off. In the location and ownership of in- dustrial parks, office buildings and shopping centres, the same prin- ciples of monopoly profiteering ap- ply — adding significantly to infla- tion. Lorimer also shows that the private monopolization of land has contributed to the distortion of the Canadian economy, resulting in a ‘tremendous waste of investment- capital. He concludes that overdevelopment of the real estate and land development sector goes hand in hand with underdevelop- ment in other sectors, particularly ... amassing huge fortunes in manufacturing. There are weaknesses® Lorimer’s conclusions, particul where he deals with munl@l, politics, but the main contribu of The Developers is the presty tion in popular-style of a deta analysis of monopolization if land development industry — its consequences. One suspectsq Lorimer’s weaknesses in dra conclusions are derived from hi mitted admiration for mono land developers and Ut achievements. ‘‘The story of land development industry is 4 cess story, though a flawed 0 he states. One wonders what earth would have made it a ““@ plete success story.’’ It’s too late to ask for Developers as a Christmas gilt it’s worth treating yourself bela ly. It’s recommended reading students and activists in muni politics as well as for trade unio in the construction industry. —David F CBC-FM documentarié on FRG, Vietnam War, CBC-FM is offering a number of interesting programs over the next -two months covering both Canada and the international scene. Beginn- ing Tuesday, January 9 at 8:04 p.m. CBC Radio examines ‘‘Germany Today: Democracy, Terrorism and Technology.’’ Among other more terrifying things it reveals that the Munich Public Library regularly furnishes the German Security Police with a list of the last 10 books borrowed by its library card holders. ; The sub-titles for the five-part series include: Jan. 9, Terrorism and the Black List: Berufsverbot; Jan. 16, Censorship; Jan. 23, a Surveillance; Jan. 30, Round Table, Random Assaults on Democracy; Feb. 6, Prognosis; German Ex- perience and the Canadian Future. A 12-part series beginning January 11 at 8::9 p.m. will ex- amine one of the most protracted international conflicts of the 20th century: The Vietnam War. The series is prepared by Michael Charlton of the British Broad- casting Corporation who was a journalist in Saigon at the time of the ceasefire in 1973. Program subtitles ‘are: The Untold Story: Jan. 11, Jan. -12,°The Return and Defeat. of France; 18, Creating a State — South nam; Jan. 19, New Frontier! Hold the Line; Jan. 25, The E of Diem; Jan. 26, Trying to with LBJ; Feb. 11, Gullive Lilliput; Feb. 2, Protest at Hi Feb. 8, The Pentagon Papers; 9, Trying not to Lose; Feb South Vietnam Shadow Substance; Feb. 16, The Fal Saigon. Arts revenue bi part of econom| Figures just released by Council for Business and the Al Canada bear out the contentid artists’ organizations which protested recent federal govern! cutbacks — that revenue genef by government grants to artist performers constitutes a sign portion of the economy. The 94 arts groups listed i Council’s survey generated | $76 million in the 1977-78 se of which $31 million was ¥ government sources, federal, vincial. and municipal. The mainder was made up from million in box office receipts private donations.