British Columbia

Tribune drive tally tops $86,000

It seemed like the task that couldn’t be
done. But when nine children of varying
Sizes mounted the stage to hold aloft the
traditional placards, it became apparent

.that the Tribune Victory Banquet was
indeed acknowledging a victory.

_ The placards, each bearing a figure —
night down to the comma and the decimal
aoe — spelled out the achievement of the

tibune’s supporters: $85,790.42. Applause
‘rupted, and it intensified when Mike Pro-
are the paper’s business manager, fol-
eS that up with an announcement that

€ total drive figure had passed the $86,000
Cae signifying that hundreds of British
olumbians had collectively surpassed the
$4.00 figure of $82,000 by more than

< What made the achievement particularly
ee was the fact that the figure
# P at less than half that just 17 days prior
oe € June 24 banquet, Tribune editor Sean

tiffin told the cheering supporters in the

aritime Labour Centre.
__ Griffin said the staff wasn’t kidding when
tt announced in weekly columns that the
eval press drive — which has faced set-

acks such as the cancellation of the once-
yearly contest by the provincial attorney
age S department — was in trouble.

ut supporters turned that around, he
noted.
; There’s been an incredible response
Tom all our readers and supporters, and
you've guaranteed that the Tribune will
Publish yet again for this year, and certainly
not with any diminished voice,” he said.

I think we can all be particularly proud

of that achievement.”

Banquet speaker Ald. Libby Davies of

Vancouver’s Committee of Progressive
Electors cited two articles that she said
showed the value of the Tribune.

One was an interview with Afghanistan
government spokesperson Sarwar Yourish
that presented a different picture of that
government’s role and future than is pres-
ented in the mainstream press. Another was
coverage of the “Get the Budget on Track”
protest that Davies said was ignored by
most media.

“The power of the media over our daily
lives is enormous and it is essential that an
alternative working class press be strong
and secure to present issues and analyses
that help working people to understand the
forces of change around us,” she said.

Both individuals and organized press
clubs contribute to the Tribune’s annual
financial drive. For the “out-of-town” cate-
gory, the financial drive shield went to the
Victoria Press Club, which oversubscribed
its quota by a whopping 231 per cent
(runners up were Penticton and Kamloops
press clubs). Repeating their victory of last
year and exceeding their quota by an
astounding 269 per cent to take the Greater
Vancouver shield was the Effie Jones Club
(second and third runners-up were the
North Vancouver club and New Westmins-
ter club).

Top fundraisers who helped pull the mir-
acle out of the hat include the following:

Century Club ($1,000 or more): Mona
Morgan, Ed Skeeles, Alice Person, Dan
Frankham, Bob Jackson, Bill Zander, John
Johnson, James Doherty, Anita Anderson, Jo
Gunn, Betty Griffin, Ernie Knott, Gladys
Neish, Jean Pritchett, Annabelle MacKay,
Mary Gawrycki (in memory of her hus-

The B.C. Communist Party’s new
Provincial committee laid plans June 25
for its campaign against the Conserva-
lve budget and the free trade agenda it
Tepresents, focussing on the regressive
changes to Unemployment Insurance.

It was the first meeting for the 35-
member committee elected at the recent
Provincial convention.

Nationally, the Communist Party has
launched a campaign that will include an
education and information program
around the slogan “Stop the attack on U
and I”. Sales of a button bearing this
Slogan are earmarked to help finance the
Party’s campaign.

_ The party is targeting the Conserva-
lve government’s attack on Unemploy-
ment Insurance because it is a window to
the larger social and economic policy of
the government under free trade, party
Provincial secretary Fred Wilson told the

ancouver meeting.

Wilson noted that the Canadian
Labour Congress and the B.C. Federa-
tion of Labour have also announced
Campaigns to defend the UI program.
He said that the CP will co-operate with
the labour movement as well as advanc-
Ing its own program of activity.

Campaign kits with literature on the
budget and the attack on UI will be ready
by the end of July for members and
supporters, while the “Stop the Attack
On U and I” button is already in circula-
tion.

_ Summer months will focus on the
information campaign and a round of
Party meetings, to be followed up with a
September tour of most B.C. communi-
ties by CP national leader George Hewi-
son.

The CP’s effort will not be confined to

B.C. Communists map
budget, Ul campaigns

addressing the issue of UI. “UI is the
major social program sacrificed to the
free trade economy at this time — but it
is the federal sales tax and regressive tax-
ation which will increasingly dominate
politics in this country as we approach
1991,” said Wilson.

A pamphlet on the budget, the sales
tax and corporate taxation is presently
being prepared by Ben Swankey, which
will also be available in August.

The UI policy changes are implement-
ing the Conservative’s free trade agenda
by harmonizing social standards to the
USS. level and forcing “labour market
adjustment” that pushes workers out of
traditional industries into service sector
job ghettos. The sales tax to be imple-
mented Jan. 1, 1991 is part of the same
economic strategy to redistribute income
to the rich and to facilitate the restructur-
ing of the economy.

The sales tax alone is expected to cause
inflation of six or seven percentage
points, which will send interest rates up
and make it more likely that the eco-
nomic slowdown anticipated in 1990-91
will be a full fledged recession.

On June 26 Wilson took the CP’s
campaign to Victoria where he met with
members and supporters and described
the Tory budget as “the new and cruel
type of capitalism that Mulroney and the
neo-conservatives are bringing to Can-
ada under free trade” to the Victoria
media. The next day Wilson was in Sur-
rey speaking to members and friends
about the campaign.

The party’s central committee called
for the country-wide campaign against
the attack on UI and Conservative
government's “free trade agenda,” at its
meeting in Toronto earlier this month.

eee

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON

%
oF

band, Walter), Esther Radosevic.

500 Club: Carmela Allevato, Ernest
Babiuk, Eileen Babiuk, Jim & Chris Beynon,
Fred Bianco, Beth Chobotuck, William
Doherty, Eric Doherty, John Donaldson,
George Gidora Sr., Kostyn Gidora, John Gil-
Ibanks, Sean Griffin, Harold Griffin, Al &
Olga Grinkus, J. Hyra, Larry Jackson,

“Trib kids’’ hold placards that tell the story.

Agnes Jackson, Dorothy Lynas, Ron McDo-
nald, O. Moysiuk, George Nelson, Len Nor-
ris, Eunice Parker, Jennie Phillips, Maurice
Rush, Grace Tickson, Donalda Viaud, Sam
Vint, Reg Walters, Eric Waugh, Dawn
Wesenberg, Paul Van Zand.

There were also 88 Honour Press
Builders and more than 100 Press Builders.

GREATER VANCOUVER

Target Achieved
Aubrey Burton 700 1,440
Bill Bennett 500 850
Burnaby 6,000 6,535
Coquitlam 2,500 3,423
Effie Jones 1,500 4,039
Kingsway 5,000 7,624
New West. 2,000 3,350
Nigel Morgan 600 600.
North Van. 2,500 4,454
Richmond 1,500 2,325
Seamen 350 270
Van. East 7,000 7,548
West Side 4,800 5,075

FRASER VALLEY

Delta 600 598
Fraser Valley 900 H6)
Maple Ridge 2,200 2,170
Surrey 2,200 1,893
White Rock 1,000 1,055

OKANAGAN
Kamloops 1,000 1,833
Penticton 600 1,582
Vernon 1,600 1,635
N. COAST/INTERIOR
Correspondence 1,500 2415
Creston 200 270
Fernie 250 410
L. Similkameen 500 525
Powell River 500 570
Prince George 200 329
Prince Rupert 300 450
Sunshine Coast 600 575
Trail 700 788
VANCOUVER ISLAND
Campbell River 2,000 2,707
Comox Valley 1,400 1,631
Nanaimo 2,800 4,440
Port Alberni 1,400 2,366
Victoria 3,200 7,498
Miscellaneous 2,500 2,458
TOTAL: 65,700 86,643

‘Cancel FTA’ — Network

OTTAWA — Abrogation of the Canada-
U.S. Free Trade Agreement must be a key
demand of coalitions across the country.
And that demand must be backed by solid
research linking the pact with things like the
federal budget, the national sales tax and
the new stringent regulations for Unem-
ployment Insurance, delegates to the recent
Pro-Canada Network conference agreed.

Participants also agreed by consensus
that the network continue as an organiza-
tion of regional anti-free trade coalitions
and receive its mandate from those coali-
tions, at the June 10-12 meeting.

They also gave backing to the idea of a
national day of protest, to be worked out by
Pro-Canada Alberta and possibly set for
Nov. 21, the first anniversary of the federal
election that ushered in the free trade pact.

On June 12, participants joined members
of the National Action Caucus on the Sta-
tus of Women in a lobby of MPs as part of
NAC’s “Get the budget on track” cam-
paign. The network places strong emphasis
onits lobby efforts, citing the close working
relationship it has with opposition members.

Network members agreed to support
actions such as the Canadian Labour Con-
gress campaign on Unemployment Insu-
rance, but stressed the proposed national
sales tax as a focus for anti-free trade

groups.

Some delegates warned against the crea-
tion of “rival coalitions” such as the Coali-
tion for a Better Confederation set up by the
CLC in Prince Edward Island to fight the
federal budget. Instead, labour should be
joining in the existing coalitions, delegates
said.

Participation by many CLC affiliates in
the network is considered weak. None the
less, unions such as the United Steel-
workers, the United Electrical Workers and
the Canadian Autoworkers have helped
keep the network afloat financially in recent
months, and John Calvert of the network
noted the Canadian Union of Public
Employees’ ‘political decision that puts the
network on the union’s agenda.”

Delegates agreed that greater concentra-
tion on research by groups such as GATT-
Fly (which is examining the flight of
Canadian based companies to Mexico’s
Madquilladores zone), the Council of Cana-
dians and the CLC is necessary to help
Canadians see the link between free trade,
and the budget and UI changes.

Further attacks on social services can be
expected in light of the anticipated reces-
sion, delegates agreed in adopting the slo-
gan to “activate, evaluate (and) escalate”
the fightback during the next year.

Pacific Tribune, July 3, 1989 « 3