BRITISH COLUMBIA

Gov't election
strategy now
_ taking shape

As the Socred election strategy
unfolds one thing is becoming very
clear: all restraints on handouts to big
business are being removed, but res-
traint against labor, the poor and social
services will be pursued with renewed
vigor.

While the Socred propaganda machine

is pouring out publicity about “Partners

in Enterprise” and claiming that res-

__ traint was necessary to prepare the way

_ for economic renewal, the facts tell a
very different story.

The Socreds are counting heavily on
exploiting the euphoria around Expo and
the temporary economic stimulation it will
provide to win re-election. But they are by
no means counting on that alone. In recent
weeks the Socreds have carried through a
number of measures which leave no doubt
what the Socred strategy will be.

A major plank in the Socred program for
economic renewal was revealed recently by
B.C. Hydro officials in hearings before the

B.C. Utilities Commission. It involves the
-massive giveaway of hydro resources to the
U.S. The government is moving towards the
final stages of a deal with U.S. interests
under which major rivers in B.C. will be

' dammed for the sole purpose of exporting
hydroelectric power to the U.S. Premier Bill
Bennett has already announced that if the

~ deal goes through, B.C. will immediately
undertake to build the Site C dam on the
Peace River. It has offered the U.S. the total

- output of power from the dam and even

offered to allow the U.S. to finance the

_ building of the dam.

long with this deal the Socreds are neg-
ing a free trade deal on hydro power
der which B.C. hydro resources would be
linked by a power grid running from Alaska
o California. If that goes through, other
would follow on the Stikine and
umbia River system. In effect, B.C.
ld be economically integrated with the
It would constitute the biggest sellout

| B.C. resources in history, making the
Columbia River deal small by comparison.
Ne would be a major blow to Canadian
dependence and would close the door to
future independent economic development
of manufacturing industries in B.C.

__ The Socreds see the hydro deal as one of
‘the: major planks in their election strategy.
They will hold out the prospect to hard-
pressed British Columbians of hundreds of
ions of dollars pouring into the province
m the sale of power, and thousands of

new jobs on Site C. While the jobs will be
y temporary, the long range economic
fect of the Socred’s new energy policy,
which is being implemented without con-
ting the people, will be disastrous.

mmenting on the Socred’s new hydro
policy, the Vancouver Sun asked editorially
on Jan. 11: ‘“‘What happens when Site C
‘power is needed in B.C.? Could Hydro
ply pull the plug on California?” It cor-
rectly concluded: “The pros and cons of a
build-for-export policy need to be weighed
carefully and given thorough debate. Before
any contracts are signed, Premier Bennett
hould order full public hearings or, better
still, take the issue to the electorate.”

The Socreds have also pushed through a
mber of measures recently which consti-
ite major handouts to the big corporations
n B.C. One such measure, passed at the last
ee of the ae was the Equity

- Socreds banking on resource giveawa

Bennett Dam |

e

|

Mica Dam

VN.

Duncan Dam

Vs.

B.C. Hydro’s proposed $3.2 billion Site C dam on the Peace River is the cornerstone of a Socred government strategy which .
bases its re-election on developing power for export and integrating B.C. with the U.S.

Revelstoke Dam

\

Keenleyside Dam

raised in nearly four years, and rather than
increase them, the government continues its
attack on people on welfare. The
wage, which is now the lowest in
will be frozen at its present rate to act
anchor holding down wages in B.C.
Faced with this right wing program |
Socred strategy, the lack of fighting
tive policies by NDP leader Bob Skelly
the NDP leadership stands out in stark
trast. The NDP has so far failed to
forward with a counter strategy to def
the Socreds and rally anti-Socred forces
B.C. Many New Democrats are wo
why the NDP leaders have been silent z
some of the handouts to big business.
only possible explanation is that the le
of the NDP do not want to adopt an *
business” position and are hoping to
tralize big business and win over sections
small business in the next election. B;
an election strategy on that supposit
could be disastrous for labor and the pec
of B.C. and could lead to the return of the
Socred government. The danger of —
happening is real and it would be foolish tc
shut our eyes to that possibility. _
The provincial committee of the C
munist Party, which met in Vancouver on
Jan. 11, warned of the danger of a ocr
victory if steps are not taken in good time to
unite all anti-Socred forces in B.C.
alternative policies which challenge the
Socred’s and their big business policies. At
present there is widespread division in the
labor movement and among
forces, partly because of the lack of fi
back policies by the NDP. The Com
Party has proposed a platform ai
which labor and the people could be uni
to oust the Socreds. But so far the NDP
leadership has ignored the Communist Par-
ty’s proposal.
The Communist Party recently issues its
own election platform which outlines the
kind of real change needed in B.C. to pu
the province back to work. It will give wid
publicity to that platform in the comin
weeks. In the meantime, it is necessary once
again to call for all-in unity of anti-So
forces around fighting alternative policies
ensure that B.C. will rid itself of the
government whenever Bennett cho

by the Socred government and Assessment
Board.

Undoubtedly the Socreds will dig even
depeer into their bag of tricks to win the
next election. The gerrymandering has
already been carried out with the creation of
12 new seats, 11 of them in Socred territory.
Now the government will likely move to
defuse the education issue. The first step
was to grant school board elections in Van-
couver and Cowichan. They wanted to get
that bothersome issue out of the way. Now
they may even come up with some addi-
tional funds for education and could reshuf-
fle the cabinet to change the minister of
education.

While lifting all restraint on handouts to

encourage British Columbians to invest in
the stock market, and for the government to
underwrite some of the losses that the public
might suffer. Under this scheme, the
Socreds will attempt a replay of the BCRIC
gimmick in which the public will be told
here is a chance for them to invest and profit
from B.C.’s economic development, and
the government will pick up part of the
losses. This will be part of the Socred stra-
tegy to win re-election.

In actual fact, it is a scheme under which
tens of millions of dollars of government
funds will end up in the pockets of stock
market promoters. B.C. Central Credit
Union economist Richard Allen correctly
characterized the proposal in the Globe and

The province

Maurice Rush

Mail on Dec. 27 when he said: “‘It is really
asking taxpayers to put money up front for
a small group of: Vancouver Stock
Exchange players.”

Another major handout to the big corpo-
rations has been engineered by the Socreds
through the B.C. Assessment Board.
Recently the board granted MacMillan
Bloedel in Powell River a tax refund of
some $10 to $14 million on the assessed value
of the company’s industrial property over
the last four years on the grounds that the
assessment did not take into account the
lowering of the value of the property as a
result of the economic recession.

The principle on which M-B’s appeal was
granted could be applied to all industry in
B.C. and, in fact, 15 companies have
launched appeals before the Assessment
Board on the same grounds. This could
result in tax rebates to B.C. corporations
running into hundreds of millions of dol-
lars. What’s more, it will further shift the
whole tax base in B.C. away from the cor-
porations and on to the municipalities and
homeowners. Many smaller municipalities
will face bankruptcy as a result. The board
rooms of the major corporations are rub-
sr pes a ae ae ate

big business, the Socreds aim to pursue
tough restraint policies against labor, the
poor and social legislation. The main thrust
of the government is that wages must not be
increased or the economic revival will be
threatened. On Jan. 3, Finance Minister
Hugh Curtis told government employees
that there is no money for a wage increase
this year. It has a hundred million dollars
for the Stock Exchange and is making
hundreds of millions of dollars available in
tax concessions to the corporations. But not
a cent is available for its workers. Employ-
ers in the private sector are following the
same line, demanding wage concessions
from more than 200,000 workers who are in
negotiations this year.

Recently the government raised hospital
premiums by six per cent, effective Mar. 1,
1986. This despite the fact that B.C. is losing
$50 million in federal grants for refusing to
end user fees in B.C.’s medical services.
Hydro rates are being raised 10 per cent
while corporations receive cuts, some of
them as much as 50 per cent. The govern-
ment’s reforestation program is a farce.
Nothing is offered for B.C.’s more than
200,000 unemployed. There is nothing to
fight DOE. Welfare rates have not been