Se tN LITA TLA TTT UME tN Public 1D a ; | ED iD } | 203 Vol. 6 Nie AZ Vancouver, B.C., Friday, November 21, 1947 <<>> Five Cents INFLATION SPURRED BY NEW ‘AUSTERITY’ PLAN © ; i The BCElectric will get the 10-cent fare agreed to by Vancouver City Council and promised for December 1 only by resorting to such tactics to circumvent public sna as it used last year to obtain the 20-year franchise agreement. And if aldermen reject public protest and voters sprees their opposition at the polls next month, some of t ee familiar faces will be missing from next year's cours : While announcement of the impending “temporary fare increase came as no surprise to the majority, citizens could nevertheless consider that the city council had double-crossed them as it did last year in refusing a plebiscite and pe legal authority for the 20-year franchise by charter amend- ment, On Monday, Acting Mayor Jones ‘assured a delegation headed by Mrs, Freda Adams, president of the Ao ee Consumer Association, and including Elgin Rud F ; ms Mrs. Effie Jones of the Civic Reform Committee, ue oe council would give all consideration toa brief presen a y Mrs, Adams outlining the case against increased fares. g- ures taken from the BCElectric’s own financial SJE s Were used to support the contention that the capper oe monopoly could give the 15-cent an hour snereee Won BY Street railwaymen after a month's strike without inc g (Continued on Page 8—See ‘BCElectric) — Council in agreement with BCElectric 3 weeks ago Labor opposes boost Sharp opposition to any in- crease in streetcar and bus fares was expressed by dele- gates to Vancouver Trades and Labor Council Tuesday. Dele- gates rejected arguments of Ald. R. K. Gervin, council secretary, who said he was “concerned with wage increases and not with the money obtained to pro- vide them. I am not concerned with fares.” Opposition to Gervin’s stand was expressed by William Rig- by, United Fishermen’s Union, who charged that increased fares would give the BCElectric additional profits as well as covering wage increases, and Charles Stewart, Street Rail- waymen’s Union, who pointed out that the company had com- plained of losing money on its transportation system for the past 30 years while spending fortunes to obtain franchises. In the King government's new ‘‘austerity’’ pro- gram, announced simultaneously by Finance Min- ister Douglas Abbott in Ottawa and Prime Minister Mackenzie King in London this week, leaders of ‘labor and consumer organizations see a further re- duction of living standards as the inevitab'e outcome of a plan which proposes to create scarcity by shutting off imports from the United States while offering no restraint to profiteering beyond Abbott’s hint that price controls might have to be reimposed. “It means a new wave of price increases wiping out all the wage increases the workers have won,” Harvey Murphy, western representative of.the Mine, Mill and Smelter Work- ers Union, told the Pacific Tribune. “Prices of cars, washing machines and other so-called luxury goods on the prohibit- ed list are already beyond the reach of most workers. Now, with the price they’ll fetch on the ‘gray’ market they’ll be exclusively for the wealthy. Working people, on the other ‘hand, will find it still harder to make their earnings cover necessary food and clothing.” Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, declared that his party would redouble its national campaign “for reintroduc- tion of price controls and return of subsidies on foodstuffs and other essentials, “Removal of price controls was the beginning of the inflationary process,” he said. “The ‘austerity’ progmam will accelerate it. A united and vigorous effort is required from all progressive forces to halt inflation and save the working people from the effects of a policy that means economic suicide for our country.” Indication of new price increases to come was given less than 48 hours after the government’s announcement when prices of local root crops—carrots, onions and turnips ——were upped, ‘the increase being attributed not to higher costs but to “increased demand here due to absence of other vegetables and also to the demand from eastern Canada.” Stefansson cites Russian example North needs development, not militarisation - Canada should develop the vast re- the pioneering spirit of the twentieth sources of her northland to create new industries and new cities. Where huge sums are now being spent on military projects in the north the same expendi- tures on peaceful development and col- onization would prevent war, “not by frightening Russia but by acquiring the spirit of Russia.” This was the view expressed by Vihljalmur Stefansson, noted Arctic ex- plezer and author, when he spoke in Pender Auditorium here this week at a meeting sponsored by the Pacific Trib- une. The Canadian north and Alaska, Stefansson told an audience which in- cluded many people from the Icelandic community here, offered a challenge to century. The Russians had accepted it and thousands of volunteers had gone into the northern territories of the Soviet Union over the last 20 years. to build new cities with flourishing industries and supporting agricultural develop- ments, Canadians and Americans, lack- ing official encouragement and assis- tance, had not met the challenge. Stefansson drew a contrast between the northern sea route across the top of Europe and Asia pioneered by the Rus- sians and now plied annually by 200 ships and Canada’s possible northern route across the top of America, develop- ment of which was discouraged by mon- opoly interests such as the CPR and CNR whose revenues would be affected.