‘Most reactionary in B.C. history’ Brll Berl. have you wo Shame. . ow are $i Bill Legislative session —Sean Griffin photo The massive protest movement against Bill 65 and to save the Vancouver Resources epee ee a a Protest in Victoria on June 28, proves that the people of B.C. are prepared to lee cs aaorst e Socre government's right wing offensive. Given broad- all-in unity the Socred drive can be defeated. Put lid on further energy projects,’ food probe told The provincial government has been urged to put the lid on any rther proposed power projects in B.C. until.a complete assessment of the provinces future. energy demands and costs are made. This appeal came in a brief Tuesday at the inquiry of the legislature’s standing committee On agriculture, in Vancouver. It Was presented by the 20,000- Member B.C. Wildlife Federation, and warned that present B.C. Hydro electrical generation Schemes could bankrupt the Province in 10 years unless halted. — he BCWF brief pointed out that € most ruinous” of present Schemes is “the committing of our valley bottoms to hydro-electric reservoirs,” which threatens to destroy most of B.C.’s agricultural land, _ “All of the major river systems ™ B.C. not now dammed are ™arked with flooding reserves by B.C. Hydro,” emphasized the brief, “Any schoolboy knows that the richest productivity is always found in valley bottoms and this Province is a spiderweb of valleys. 1 doomed productivity of valleys like the Columbia, Kootenay, Nechako, Finlay, Parsnip and ace all stand as stark testimony ° the single purpose use of this Sort of option-taking.” Hitting out at the Revelstoke . 2M which will flood 28,000 acres in the Kootenays, the brief said: In the last 15 vears, B. C. Hydro 8S flooded tens of thousands of res of the best farmland in the _ West. We have built thousands of Uses on the most productive Sod plains in Canada. In the Peace River Valley we are now Preparing to flood enough Class °ne farmland to feed this entire City. (Vancouver). It is roughly one fifth of all the Class one land that "emains in B.C.” € above reference is to present Plans by B.c. Hydro to go ahead in © near future with the building of @dam on the Peace River knowns a8 the Peace Site C scheme. The BCWF pointed out that since Canada’s agriculture and food Processing industry now requires bE | 20 percent.of the nation’s energy requirements, the legislature’s standing committee on agriculture should logically be considering power needs for B.C. farmers when making recommendations about the industry’s future and cost of producing food in B.c. The gist of the BCWF’s brief was that both high energy costs in- volved in the present wasteful B.C. Hydro program, and_ the destruction of prime agricultural land, will strike a severe blow at future food needs and costs. The Federation claimed that the capital costs of building massive hydro plants have increased tremendously in the last few years and says that ‘future proejets will look astronomical in the next few years.” Questioning the decision to go ahead with the Revelstoke Dam, thefederation said that the present estimated cost of the dam is $1.2 billion, but that it will probably cost closer to $3 billion when the cost of borrowing over 20 years 1S taken into account. It warned that if the Canadian dollar slides to 80 cents for the long term the cost of foreign borrowing for the dam will increase by 20 percent. “Tf you take the projected cost of Revelstoke, the proposed Hat - Creek coal project and the Peace Site C sceme, the extra cost to the people of B.C., if the Canadian dollar drops and remains around 80 cents, will be more than $3 billion. “The real question at that point is what electricity will cost far- mers, food processors, consumers, etc., and what Hydro will do to increase revenues.”’ The federation called on the committee to “recommend that B.C. undertake a complete study of our total energy needs and the costs including growth in the forest, agriculture and secondary in- dustries.’’ It said that Hydro must be forced to justify future projects and say what electricity will cost, consumers in five ot ten years and who will buy excess power and at what price if the utility’s energy forecasts do not reach ex- pectations. te Columbia River near Revelstoke where B.C. Hydro has been given app Although approve’ val to build a dam. which will flood 28,000 acres of land. “e dd by the Socred cabinet, this project and others on the planning board, continues to draw public criticism as an extravagant waste of energy and land resources. By NIGEL MORGAN The current Legislative session, now drawing to a close, will be remembered not only as the _ JongestinB.C.’s history, but as one of the most reactionary on record. , So reactionary in fact that rifts have begun to be openly expressed in Socred ranks over the extreme right-wing, red-neck, anti-people policies being expressed by Socred ministers Vander Zalm, McGeer and Davis. The Bennett government, trying to satisfy the greedy demands of the big monopoly interests in the face of rising inflation, mounting unemployment and wage controls, has imposed severe cutbacks on the standards of living of the people of this province. Increased taxes, auto. insurance premiums, ferry and bus fares, hydro and natural gas rates, and increased health, hospital and educational services, have cost the average B.C. family more than $1,000 a year. Day after day, week after week, therecordgrows worse! Anti-labor laws, attempts to extend AIB controls, dissolution of the Van- couver Resources Board, scuttling of rent controls, exorbitant in- creases in taxes and utility rates, and sharp curtailment of services to people, are only some of the latest measures imposed by the Socreds at this session. Indicativeof the right-wing drive by the Socred government is its attempt to return to ‘tough’ vagrancy laws which are a veiled attack on the unemployed. With over 100,000 without jobs, and new UIC changes cutting off more people, human resources minister Vander Zalm has decreed that assistance will not be given to those jobless forced to wait longer periods for their UIC benefits. Allocations for “human resource’’ funding for services to people has been cut by $100 million by Vander Zalm. The GAIN program for seniors has been slashed from $128.7 million down to $108.9 million. Additional assistance for needy persons 55-59 years of age has been cut from $218 to $194 million. And children’s and family. care from $65.8 to $60.3 million. While living costs continue to rise sharply and services to people are being slashed, the Socred government is heaping additional tax burdens on working people while revenues, which should be coming from resources, are being reduced sharply. For example, in the last Socred budget charges against resource industries — such as minerals and natural gas — were cut back from $328 million to $284 million; timber royalties and stumpage fees from $113 million to $67 million; coal royalties were cut from $12.5 million to $5.3 million, and mining and mineral land taxes reduced from $30 million to $20 million. It is important to note that the seven per cent sales tax and personal income taxes, which now account for almost half (48.44 per cent) of all projected B.C. revenues, have risen three times as much as corporation taxes. The Socred government has also pushed through the B.C. Resource Investment Corporation Act which turns over Crown companies to the monopolies. It has also scuttled earlier legislation which would have given municipalities a share of natural gas and income revenues. Succession duties and “gift” taxes on the estates of the rich have been removed. Mean- reviewed while, changes in the assessment and property taxes can only place additional burdens on local tax- payers. The Socred government also used this session to undermine the Land Act and has transferred thousands of acres_ from agricultural land use to the developers and corporations. Likewise itis determined to pursue its disastrous’ energy policies as exemplified by the Revelstoke Dam and the planned MacGregor- Fraser diversion. In the field of education, McGeer has brought post-secondary education under tight, authoritarian control, while B.C.’s three public universities have been held down to $10 million less than the bare minimum recommended by the Universities Council of B.C. — resulting in a sharp jump in tuition fees for students. McGeer has also introduced the CORE curriculum for secondary schools, and Bill 33 with its support for private and: religious schools, which undercuts BGs educational standards. Among the most reactionary measures introduced by the Socreds at this session are the B.C. Labor Code Amendments Act (Bill 89) creating obstacles to free collective bargaining for the trade union: movement; eliminating previous restrictions on unfair labor practices by employers; extending to double the period for raiding established unions, and making it more difficult for labor organizations to gain certification. College faculties (under Bill 68) have been arbitrarily stripped of their trade union rights. This Legislative session proves that the Social Credit government is the faithful servant of the big monopolies. The people of B.C. are paying a heavy price because of the right-wing offensive pushed by the Bennett government. Public resentment and opposition to the big business policies of the Socreds are growing. A united fight-back by the people can. defeat the Socred right-wing drive. That such a fight-back is possible is shown by the mass movement to save the Vancouver Resources Board, and by earlier struggles. A united labor movement is needed to fight back against the- Socred government’s attack, but some right-wing union leaders are more determined to pursue their interna] struggle than to unite in defence of labor and the people’s over-all interests. Such narrow attitudes which block labor unity was displayed by IWA regional president Jack Munro at. this week’s convention, when he used the convention platform to attack the B.C. Federation of Labor leadership. United action is also being prevented by the attitude of the NDP leadership, which has failed to take up an effective fight against the Socred government’s big business policies. The NDP enjoys the support of a good part of the trade union movement and must be pressed to take up the fight against the Socred right-wing drive and to support all-in unity of labor and democratic forces. The Communist Party believes that the way forward in B.C. lies in co-operation of all working and democratic forces around a common program of struggle for progressive policies today. That struggle can open the way to ousting the Socreds and electing a progressive alternative in the next provincial election. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 23, 1977—Page 3