FIE JONES LEADS CHALLENGE |

Revolt against policies

‘may crack NPA machine

Or

By MAURICE RUSH

Big business circles in Vancouver are very concerned for the future of their Non-

’ Partisan Association as voters prepare for this year’s civic elections. Although there
will be no mayoralty contest, it is already apparent that this will be no ordinary off-year
election, in which public interest is usually. at a lower level. The double-barreled crisis
facing the city — in civic leadership and municipal policies — has aroused wide public con-

Cern.. The coming contest, for
four council, five school and three
Parks board seats, promises to be
@n unprecedented off-year ‘elec-

‘tion in which the grip of the cor-

Tupt and reactionary NPA can
Pe broken and progressives elect-
’ ed to the city
hall.
Vancouver, like
other municip-
alities through-
out the’ coun-
try, is faced
with a serious
financial crisis
because of its
inability to
meet rising
Costs out of limited sources of
Tevenue.

Illustrative of this is the fact
that between 1945 and 1954 the
city’s total tax levy more than
doubled, from $11,690,990 in 1945
to $23,396,426 in 1954.

In 1945 the city collected
$36.1 in taxes for every man,
Woman and child within its
boundaries. In 1954 the ‘am-
Sunt was $59.2, with prospects
Of a further increase in 1956.

. Taxes are now the highest in
he city’s history, an average of
$226.1, and the biggest single
item is education, which accounts

tor $76.01 from every taxpayer,

ae ot one third of the total tax.
at

Not only are Vancouver home
Owners burdened with educa-
tional costs, but they also have
to Pay heavily for hospital, un-
€mployment | assistance, road
Maintenance and the like. In-

© terest payments on the city’s
_ debt alone will cost them $7,129,-
194 this year.

Ottawa: must pay
education costs

The solution to. this problem
lies in compelling the federal
S0vernment to take over the cost
of elementary education, unem-
Ployment and hospitalization
Costs. \
Education grants should come
of corporation and income
axes. The federal government
Could undertake this respon-
Sibility now within the frame-
Work of its. present revenues.
And the possibility of curtailng
2tms expenditures created by
-'™proved international relations
<“a so making available large
Sums for education .and_ social
S€tvices removes the argument
hat defense costs precludes
_ ‘Slch grants being made,
' | This is the direction in which
taxpayers must look for re-
€f from intolerable tax bur-
dens, But they can hardly ex-°
. ect NPA aldermen who have
been identified with every cold
_ War policy to join them in
fighting for less money to be
Pent on arms and more on
 ®ducation and social services.
‘ To fight for such policies Van-
aver needs men and women
ti the city hall who are not
€d to the policies of big busi-
“Ress circles,
¢ The major reform can be ef-
“Scted only by compelling the

federal government to assume
the costs of elementary educa-
tion. But there are other re-
forms which likewise can be
carried through only by civic
representatives pledged to serve
the people’s interests, and. dhief
among them is the privileged
treatment accorded to the B.C.
Electric, B.C. Telephone
other big business concerns.

NPA responsible
for police scandal

Corruption in the police de-
partment and the continued
flourishing of vice in~the city
are certain to be issues in this
election campaign.

The police force as a whole
has suffered as a result of the
disclosures made before the Tup-
per Commission of graft in top
administration circles. These al-
legations, added to the naming
of Vancouver as a centre for the
narcotics traffic by a Senate com-
mittee, and the not unrelated
rash of bank holdups, have
alarmed citizens. — ; ‘

Their pride in their city, has
been shaken hy the knowledge
that Vancouver’s name has been
blackened throughout the coun-
try and far beyond, in the US.
and Britain. More than that, they
are concerned with the stamp-
ing out of vice and crime.

It is significant that 38 per-
cent of those polled recently on
civic questions considered the
police situation the most im-
portant. ie

Corruption in police adminis-
tration, however, cannot be con-
sidered apart from civic admin-
jstration as a whole. Its source
lies in the Non-Partisan Associ-
ation which has dominated the
city, hall for nearly 20 years.

The individuals primarily
responsible for the police scan-
dal are the NPA politicians
and their elected representa-
tives who tolerated the situa-
tion to a point where it could
no longer be hidden.

Now, with utter cynicism, the
Conservative elements * of the
NPA Liberal-Conservative civic
coalition, are trying to use the
police scandal to smash the key
Vancouver Centre political ma-
chine of their Liberal partners.

Having smuggled politics into
the city hall on the pretext of
keeping them out, the NPA has
involved the whole city in the
scandals produced by its own
inner political struggles. As a
result, the real civic issues are
being pushed aside.

No action taken
on civic projects

Despite strong representations
from labor and ratepayers’
groups, the present council has
done nothing about sewers or
housing. It has done nothing to
push the civic auditorium and
public library projects. It has
taken no effective action to
solve the traffic problem.

What it has done is to prove

and:

again the truth of the charge
that it serves the interests of
the B.C. Electric. It has failed
to take up the fight for return
of the $900,000 the commuting
public paid in excess fares, but
it supported the B.C. Electric
in its application for monopoly
distribution rights of natural
gas.

At every step, the NPA has
opposed any extension of civic
democracy and has given in only
under public pressure. Its rejec-
tion of recent proposals made by
Effie Jones for democratic
changes in eléctoral procedures
is in keeping with this reaction-
ary attitude by which it seeks
to maintain its hold on the city
hall.

Even in face of the demand
for a democratic expression of
opinion on the Sunday, sports is-
sue before voters, it was only
popular protest that compelled it
to revise its decision and agree
to submit the issue to a plebiscite.

Effie Jones has
headed struggle

Growing public criticism of
NPA policies has brought into
being a number of new political
alignments. One such alignment,
which has not yet come out open-
ly and may not emerge publicly
this year, has brought together
Liberals, CCFers, trade unionists,
ministers, educators and others.
There are also rumors of sharp
differences within the NPA itself
and of impending splits.

All these developments indi-
cate that growing public dissatis-
faction with NPA- policies is both
creating a crisis within the NPA
and bringing new political forces
into the struggle against it.

The opponent the NPA fears
most, of course, is Mrs. Effie
Jones, who has led the fight
against its policies from the elec-
tion platform and at the head of
innumerable delegations for 15
years. More than once she has
come within an ace of election
and only a weighted franchise
has kept her from leading the
fight on the floor of the council
itself. :

Mrs. Jones’ strength is the
great popular support she com-
mands among ordinary citizens
—ratepayers, unionists, CCFers
and Labor-Progressives, pen-
sioners and others who feel
that “a vote for Effie” is the
best way to begin a political
cleanup at the city hall and
secure a better deal for them-
selves. ‘

Last year, Mrs. Jones polled
nearly 20,000 such votes. This
year, with a determined cam-
paign, such support can crown
her unremitting efforts with suc-
cess. q ;

The prospects for making long
overdue changes at the city hall
would be even stronger if the
growing unity of labor had found
expression in independent poli-
tical action.

United labor action is essen-

'

Vancouver grew from a ‘small town to the country’s
third largest city in the years between construction of its
first ‘city hall. (top), on Powell between Columbia and
Westminster Avenue (now Main Street) and its present
city hall (bottom) at Cambie and Twelfth. But in the past
20 years and particularly in the post-war decade, NPA
policies have ignored civic needs and slowed civie progress.

tial to the fight to defeat the
NPA, but narrow partisan con-
siderations among some leaders
of both labor councils have kept
those bodies from entering civic
politics as a united force.

Nomination by the Trades and
Labor Council (TLC) of a can-
didate who is known as a staunch
supporter of the B.C. Electric,
with the obvious aim of securing
an NPA endorsation, is an at-
tempt to tie labor to the very big
business policies, trade unionists,
as ratepayers, are opposing. How
then, can it unite labor ?

At the same time, Vancouver
Labor Council’s rejection, by a
mere three votes, of participation

in this election, weakens the fight |-

against the NPA, and only the
announcement by Sam Jenkins,
leading trade unionist, that he
will run again for council affords
the opportunity for trade union-
ists to join the fight on a wide
scale to break the stranglehold

of the NPA on this city.

_ The NPA has dominated civic
politics for nearly 20 years. With
all the precision of the political
machine that placed them in of-
fice, its candidates have topped
the polls year after year with the
single exception of the two-year
period, 1939-41, when Dr. Lyle
Telford wrested the mayoralty
from the machine.

Yet, on a number of occa-
sions public opposition to NPA
policies has carried progressive
challengers close to victory and
could have elected them had
it not been for division among
the progressive forces them-
selves.

To defeat the NPA requires the
unity of all anti-NPA forces. And
in this Mrs. Jones has taken the
lead with her recent statement
announcing her readiness to join
with other progressives in mak-
ing this the last year of NPA
domination in Vancouver.

_ Effie opens headquarters

Effie Jones, independent aldermanic candidate in the December
14 Vancouver civic elections, opened an election headquarters this

week at 502 East Hastings.

Mrs. Sylvia Friedman, secretary of the Effie Jones Election Com-
mittee, is in charge of the office and has issued an appeal for

volunteers and financial aid.

Copies of the 1955 voters lists are available at the office and
citizens are invited to drop in and see if they are registered.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER ll, 1955 — PAGE 3