BRITISH COLUMBIA Aldermen examining Pattison porn link Vancouver mega-businessman Jim Patti- son has been invited to explain his role in distributing pornographic magazines before Vancouver city council’s community servi- ces committee May 3, following complaints by two women’s organizations. The Congress of Canadian Women and the North Shore Women’s Centre of North Vancouver sent letters to city hall urging action to curb the spread of pornography by Pattison’s Mainland Magazine Service and other area distributors. “It isn’t that we're after Pattison per se. We're after pornography,” said the Con- gress’s Anna Holbech. “We'd like Pattison to change his com- pany’s practice of distributing material that depicts the degradation of women, or disso- ciate himself from the company,” she said. Pattison, the chairman of Expo 86 and B.C. Place and owner of 40 companies, should appear before the community servi- ces committee to explain his connection ' with Mainland and its practices, said com- mittee chairman Ald. Bruce Eriksen. . _ “Mr. Pattison is a respected businessman in our community and has close ties to the Social Credit government. Such a person should be setting a good example for the citizens of this province,” wrote CCW representative Sandra Brice in her letter to Vancouver city council. Brice said the Congress was “appalled that a man who makes his money from the sale’ of pornography can hold -such an important position in this province as chairperson of Expo 86. We demand that some measures be taken to make Mr. Patti- son aware of his actions and his responsibil- ities to society.” : - “Many so-called ‘adult’ magazines and video tapes concentrate on the depiction of sadism and masochism, bondage and disci- pline, rape and incest; materials which blat- antly contravene Section 1659 of the - Enforcement of the Obscenity Provisions,” wrote president Bev Schroeter of the North Shore Women’s Centre. In its brief to the Frazer Commission, the centre noted: “Since much of the material In memory of our — good shipmate STRINGER McDONALD who will not be with us this May Day march, as he was for all the rest. DOWNTOWN _ EASTSIDE RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION SOc eeeacten presents men as cowards who enjoy inflict- ing pain, pornography is really hate propa- ganda against all of humanity.” Before that commission the B.C. Teachers Federation urged the banning of porno- gaphy, noting, “freedom of speech is not now, nor should it be, an absolute freedom.” According to the women’s centre, com- panies associated with Pattison have been convicted of possession and distribution of material designated obscene in two previous In one of the cases, the Pattison Interna- tional company was fined $22,000 for “pos- session of obscene material” in Hamilton, ‘Ont. in 1980. A recent issue of B.C. Business described Pattison as a born-again Christian who played trumpet Sundays at the Glad Tid- ings temple, to which he recently donated $1 million. “Pattison reads his Bible and prays each day,” the magazine stated. The community services meeting, which Mainland president John Seebach has said he will attend, takes place May 3 in city hall’s Committee Room No, 3, at 1:30 p.m. —LATE BREAKER— At press time May 1, Pattison called a press conference to announce he was selling Mainland Magazine Service, following an examination “‘of concerns expressed by some individuals and groups in regard to some of the publications distributed. . .’’ Said Eriksen: ‘Pattison has simply washed his hands of the whole affair. This does nothing to solve the problem of pornography distribution in Vancouver.” Criminal Code and the B.C. Guidelines for . N-weapons free status decla red La a TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON COPE aldermen Libby Davies, Bruce Yorke and Bruce Eriksen frame marble plaque declanns _ Vancouver's nuclear-weapons free status following a special unveiling ceremony by Mayet Mike Harcourt at city hall Apr. 26. The plaque and several signs around entrances tO the city ‘erected last Christmas make a meaningful contribution to world peace by showing governments oppose nuclear weapons in their areas, said Harcourt. The mayor also used de occasion to promote Saturday's Walk for Peace, which the city co-sponsored this yea" = Oa announce an upcoming international peace conference of mayors in Hiroshima this August The plaque, designed by Vancouver artist Dale Juarez, reads: “To encourage the develoP of world peace and disarmament, the council of the city of Vancouver on April 19. 1985. declared Vancouver a nuclear-weapons free zone.” : as Bill 19, the new Residential Tenancy Act now before the legislature, is mis- named. It should be called the “‘Landlords Protection Act,’ because it is an act designed to screw tenants with the help of of protection for landlords and a min- imum of aid for tenants. It has no provision whatsoever for rent controls. A landlord can raise rents as high as he wants and doesn’t have to prove any justification, This is exactly what the Fraser Institute and its corporate landlord _backers have been demanding right along. A landlord may evict a tenant for “reasonable cause” at any time. What is “reasonable cause?” This is not defined in the act; it is left to the discretion of the landlord. Furthermore, Section 7(3) provides that any fixed term tenancy on the expiry date and there is no limit to the fixed term tenancy, which could be as little as one month. On top of that the landlord can carry through economic evictions — that is, he can raise rents so high that a tenant can’t the cabinet. The act provides a maximum . a landlord may automatically terminate ' New renters’ act gift to landlords pay them and the tenant can then be evicted for failure to pay his rent. The tenant may appeal his eviction, after it is carried through, but he has to prove to a court or arbitrator that the real reason for the rent increase was to cause eviction. Intention is a very hard thing to prove, even when it is clearly apparent. ; A tenant who wants to have his com- plaints against a landlord investigated and Rankin ruled on must now pay a fee of $30. This imposes.a real hardship on tenants who are unemployed, on welfare -or who belong to the working poor. They simply can’t afford it. But then, this is the real purpose of this provision of the act — to cut down on the number of complaints. When a tenant pays $30 and takes his case to arbitration, the decks are stacked against him again. The arbitrators will not be independent — they are appointed by the minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. He alone will decide who they be and how they will judge. They will political appointees subject to dismissal bY the minister if they don’t rule in a m acceptable to him. Ree Fe The act does not abolish security depos- its, long made by tenants and tenant organizations. The act does not cove tenants who are permanent residents 8 hotels, rooming houses or in shat accommodation. Municipal control over re-development, demolition and conversion to long tef™ lease is eroded by the act. Now landlor may evict tenants before they apply for redevelopment permits. Landlords ca” now kick out their tenants and come to the city for an application to develop 42 empty building. eas For anyone to say that Bill 19 should be accepted because it is not quite as bad aS Bill 5 (introduced last July and then dropped bécause of the protest campaign led by Solidarity) is no argument at all. }, Both the old bill and the new bill are unacceptable. MAY DAY» GREETINGS — in solidarity with Vancouver’s working people, for peace, jobs and a better city for everyone. Committee of Progressive Electors 2066 Parker Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 2L5 254-4180 2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 2, 1984 ” . » > ee ae : eV RE SoA > (aes & 9 Cet sdwsrts « TOPIC: PANELISTS: May Day Greetings . Build Solidarity Il ; from : j Surrey Alternative Movement Join us for a panel discussion and dinner i May 6, 5 p.m. at Strawberry Hill Hall ' (75th Ave., east of Scott Road) THE FRASER INSTITUTE Steve Gidora — Surrey Alternative Movement Larry Kuehn — Pacific Group Ben Swankey — Labor Historian & Journalist on canemew