a Why does NDP gov't discriminate against B.C.'s only labor weekly? ee months the Pacific uve ze has been trying to get a Tlisements from the provin- ment on social 4 ation which is of interest to eee ers. Weekly papers in or Y Corner of B.C. have been P ne Such ads. But not the Bors ck have been denied to paper. y weekly working class ie IS a case of outright dis- eon and makes a freedun, of democracy and the’ ‘e of the press. This week “a Olowing letter was sent to Mier Dave Barrett signed by peer Maurice Rush and €ss manager Fred Wilson: Dear Sipe . brine pacific Tribune wishes to Ranta the attention of your a ment a matter of impor- but bie oy to our newspaper in British ntire labor movment 10n involy. Case of Timing Newspape Columbia. The ques- ed is in our opinion a direct political dis- ae towards our 3 er Decause of our close any ciation with the left-wing i theeeressive labor movement IS province, ing! Many months of follow- ng all of the normal and stan- ak lt eares: to no avail, we . with no alternative but to “Why frankly and publicly, only” yy as British Columbia’s been q €ekly labor newspaper Provi ao the opportunity to tion ab, 0 our readers informa- Mga Important government tisemnent®’ In the form of adver- Desa si and notices, which 4 ly abound in the pages of Y other provincial consige ecitic Tribune does not inancict this to be mainly a quest a question, but a political nbnhe: It is a question of labor ee It is a question of the Movem, ovement, the communist forded me Included, being af- treatm € same fair and equal Politi €nt as those of other \ oe Persuasions. and e, fast of all, expected ‘‘fair Mare treatment” during the USine, of a century of big Credit SS rule under Social ocred ad f course successive Mitted ' Ministrations carefully Of pub); € labor press in the list it's pro Cations it chose to bring at #,.©'2Ms to the people. Even Were gj When their programs Workin interest to labor and labor 8 People, they were anti- boyeot ngrams and at time Ment. €d by the labor move- D ‘ Social ng the cold war years of Was ¢ Tedit left wing opinion hence Phsciously isolated, and eft wing publications ig- Back the PT, Write Barrett oy se fight for govern- i t SScousing is part of the aBaingt or democracy and discrimination. Sup- Premic. ‘ight by writing Patlian Dave Barrett, ota arc Bullgings, Vic- f0ve,, '~: Gemanding the ° advert extend the same Workin U8 rights to the does 5 Class press that it Bc. O the rest of the press in ‘Columbians. nored by government. The elec- tion of the NDP signaled a- change in the thinking of British They declared themselves opposed to the built in biases of big business govern- ment. The election of your government was a mandate to democratize the workings of government. After careful consideration of our case we hope this govern- ment will carry out that mandate and allow the Pacific Tribune it’s democratic right to receive advertisements carrying perti- nent government information. We first opened discussions on this matter with your govern- ment in July of last year. In a letter dated July 9, 1973, and ad- dressed to the Provincial Secretary, Ernest Hall, we in- dicated quite plainly that ‘‘the Pacific Tribune is interested in providing a service to our readers by carrying government advertisements and notices which would be of interest to working people in our paper.”’ At that time we took care to assure the Minister that the Pacific Tribune is a ‘‘weekly newspaper, registered under the Companies Act, and has been publishing regularly for over 39 years.” In fact, we have been a registered company since 1935 and next year we will celebrate our 40th anniversary. Mr. Hall’s office replied promptly in a letter dated July 11, 1973. He advised us to make application directly to individual. cabinet ministers: This-was done and by the end of. July, 1973 each cabinet minister had been sent correspondence outlining our desire to carry government advertising and informing each of them of the status of our paper. Three such instances come im- mediately to mind: A letter to Norman Levi, Minister of Human Resources, brought the reply that our letter had been forwarded to his department’s agency, ‘“Dunsky Advertising Ltd.’’, for their in- formation. Nothing was heard, but Mr. Levi’s department im- mediately embarked on a large scale advertising program to in-' form British Columbian’s about the ‘‘Mincome’”’ program. Upon seeing this program we then corresponded directly to ‘“‘Dunsky Advertising”’ informing them that, ‘‘a great number (of our readers) would be eligable for the Mincome program, and in many cases read no other paper than the Pacific Tribune.”’ Again, nothing further was heard. A letter sent to Robert Strachan, Minister of Transport, received no reply of any sort. However, the Minister did see fit to authorize his department to carry out one of the largest advertising campaigns ever in this province so that British Columbians would understand the new ‘‘Autoplan’”’ program. When Mrs. Eileen Dailly, Minister of Education, received our letter she replied that our request would be studied by her department after which a further reply would be sent. We never did receive a ‘further reply”’ but just recently almost every newspaper in the province carried large advertisements in- Qui -INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA your insurance company a Postat CODE because you’re the boss Selves 13 4 copy; 88.00 4 veer INSURANCE CORPORATION BE OF your insurance company Bridge River- Lillooet News es (Sco) SALMON ARM. B.C, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUAS CARIBOOOBSERVER land Echo QC) sat eS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 174 ‘Pass BLN sm = after all, ESTS OF THE RESIDENTS OF HASTINGS EAST OF BRITISH COLUMBIA THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE it’s your company. aa EE, 80165 wi be oe te Hon D Seren. Minit of Fence, Peta Bee DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION INSURANCE CORPORATION BE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA your insurance Company —_|smrore ‘Te Hen tne Day eee Above is a sampling of weekly newspapers from all parts of the province with B.C. government ads. They were collected by visiting a newsstand in downtown Vancouver. One of these weekly papers had three full- page government ads. But the Pacific Tribune, which has been publishing weekly for nearly forty years, is denied any advertisements by the NDP government. The PT is taking up the fight against this undemocratic policy. forming British Columbians of how they could benefit from the Community College System. Why ‘was the Pacific Tribune excluded from these and other advertising programs? Perhaps this was answered by the Minister of Highways, Mr. Graham Lea. He replied to us quite bluntly, ‘‘I must advise you that it is the policy of this government not to place ads in political organs, and therefore your application for government advertising must be refused.” We wasted no time in replying to Mr. Lea that, ‘‘The political viewpoint of the Pacific Tribune is explicit, for all to see, but in that sense it is not less of.a “political organ’’ that the Van- couver Sun, The Province or any other of the big business dailies or weeklies. However, the point must be made very clearly that the Pacific Tribune is a public organ which anyone can buy or sub- scribe to, is a registered com- pany under the Companies Act, and as such is entitled to the same treatment from this government as any other newspaper in the same category.” Our newspaper is well rooted in British Columbia. Over the last 40 years our paper has won the respect and trust of thousands “Has there been a recall on this ‘model yet?’ of ordinary people. Our readers are trade unionists, pensioners, young people, almost exclusively they are working people. They come to our office for advice and assistance in dealing with government programs. They are the very people that progressive legislation reaches out to. The accompanying picture shows the large amount of government advertisements taken from just a few newspapers, from just one newsstand, and on just one day. Most are weekly papers, as are we, and some have equal or less circulation than we. The picture stands in sharp contrast to the total discrimination directed towards the Pacific Tribune. In speaking out for our rights at this time we are concerned not merely with our own welfare, but with the attitude of this government towards the entire progressive labor movement. We invite your reply at the earliest convenience. Takeover In a submission sent to federal transport minister Jean Marchand and prime minister Trudeau over the signature of provincial leader Nigel Morgan, the B.C. provincial committee of the Communist Party demanded that the federal government nationalize the Canadian Pacific Railway and initiate major changes in the operation and con- trol of transport services. The statement was in response to massive layoffs in the interior lumber industry and the inability of foreign ships to obtain grain cargoes because of cutbacks in freight service. “The situation has become desparate and acute’, the Com- -munist leader declared, “with CPR say Communists losses running into the millions. Large numbers of Interior woodworkers have been laid off - or forced onto a short work week as lumber inventories pile up to four and five times the normal storage facilities. Fifteen large deep-sea freighters are lying at anchor at the entrance to Van- couver Harbor waiting for grain. . Valuable overseas markets are threatened by the railway com- panies non-delivery. “The railways have deliberate- ly contrived to hold back in order to force the government to aban- don what little there is of govern- ment control on rate struc- tures,’ he stated. ‘‘Farm and elevator representatives, the woodworkers union and mill operators, as well as the shipping fraternity have levelled serious charges at the railway monopoly — delays ranging up to 88 days in spotting of railway cars; loaded cars left on the siding for a month and a half, and empty cars left standing for weeks on end. The railway administration is guilty of gross management and deliberately conspiring to force transportation rates up. It doesn’t even attempt to cover up the fact that grain, like the passenger service a few years ago, is going to take second place to more profitable areas. “The only answer in this situa- tion where profits of the railway ‘See CPR TAKEOVER, pg. 11 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1974—PAGE 3 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1974—PAGE 5