fasfierribone

‘Transit deal is a big con job,’

claims 20-year Hydro worker

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

“The agreement between the provincial cabinet and the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) under which the GVRD took over the bus system from B.C. Hydro was the biggest con job that has ever been pulled in B.C.

“No action has been taken to improve the bus system despite all false claims to the contrary, claims that were made to sell the deal to

“Planning within the Urban Transit Authority (established by the provincial cabinet to control all public transit in the.province), and the Metropolitan Transit-Operat- ing Corporation (established by the GVRD to run the bus system in the Lower Mainland) is at a virtual standstill.

“The state of the equipment is deplorable. B.C. Hydro deliberate- ly let the bus system run down.

“The likelihood of a light rapid

transit system being established is’ ~

remote. The decisive question of who will pay for it hasn’t even been _ tackled.””

The above statements were made to me by aman who has been with B.C. Hydro for over 20 years. He impressed me as a man who is not only knowledgeable but greatly concerned about public transit in the Lower Mainland.

Here are some other things he told me:

@ Trolley buses bought in 1949 and gas buses bought in 1957 are still used and are just about finish- ed, but it will likely be at least three years before we get any new buses.

e@ B.C. Hydro had a new repair depot in its plans, but never built it, knowing that it would get rid of its deficit-ridden bus system. Maintenance work is still done at the worn-out Cambie Street yard.

@ The administration of both the Urban Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Operating Corporation are heavily loaded with high priced officials at the top, a case of ‘‘all chiefs and no Indians’.

@ The last major revision of trolley routes took place in 1957. No attempt has been made since then to revise it in line with the growth of the city. B.C. Hydro just marked time.

- @ The men and women who operate the bus system and the

PACIFIC. TRIBUNE—MAY 9, 1980—Page 2

union that represents them are not being asked for input on how toim- prove the bus system.

I asked him what he thought about the prospects for the future.

“‘An improved bus system is still the key to an efficient transit system. Edmonton and Calgary, where the bus systems are municipally owned, show what can be done when the bus system is given some priority. The bus system is a public need, a public ser- vice, equally as important as sewers or street maintenance.

“There should be input from the drivers and maintenance people.

After all, they operate the system and know the problems better than anyone.

“1 think a Public Advisory Board, made up of people who are interested in promoting public transit and who know something abcut it, should also be set up to provide public input and advise the administrators.

“Tt may bea small thing, but one sure way to speed up bus travel is to provide a curb lane that is free 24 hours a day, a lane in which park- ing or stopping is not permitted under any circumstances.”’

‘Save Thompson’

rally in Kamloops

By DENISE‘ HARPER KAMLOOPS—The Thompson River, already dumping site for nearly four million gallons of sewage daily, is about to have that figure more than doubled, and local residents are furious about it.

The city of Kamloops currently dumps 3.75 million gallons of treated effluent daily into the river, and it has applied to the provincial Waste Management Branch to deposit an additional 5.25 million gallons daily. A total of nine milion

gallons.

The application has sparked a series of public meetings on the

- issue, including one sponsored by

the Save the Thompson River Committee at the Cariboo College in Kamloops where a city council representative alderman Don Carter and consultant John Nelson were outnumbered by angry citizens 400 to two.

Kamloops city council had earlier decided to increase dumping in the river in an in-camera session. According to mayor Mike Latta, the chief. consideration in the deci- sion was cost. The projected cost of the proposal, prepared by a con- sulting firm, Stanley and Associates, to tie in outlying areas into the central sewage system, enlarge sewage lagoons and dump all treated effluent into the river would be $20 million. The cost of a spray irrigation sewage disposal system would be $82 million.

But the large audience at. the Save the Thompson meeting made it clear they consider the city’s deci- sion to increase pollution of this major provincial river to be callous and unthinking.

One reason given for rejecting spray irrigation was the lack of technology. However a Vernon ¢l- ty engineer told the meeting that Vernon has had a fully operational spray irrigation system since 1974.

Presentations from the B.C. In-

stitute of Agroligists and the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association sup-

ported spray irrigation. Agroligist —

Roy Cranston said that irrigation

would increase crop production, —

reduce fertilizer costs and bring

unused lands into cultivation.

Trevor Venables of the Thomp- . son River Committee demanded to” know why only the most expensive —

and least expensive options h

been made public when 17 alter- natives had been given in the study ;

by the consulting firm. .

A call for a public referendum was flatly refused by Carter who said that the people had already let city hall know they wanted cut- backs in public spending. This was jeered by the crowd.

Kamloops Shuswap NDP MP Nelson Riis has added his voice to the protest suggesting the city has taken a narrow approach. It 1s

larger than a local issue, Riis said,

because the Thompson River is a vital link in the Adams River spawning run.

A clear message from Kamloops residents and communities

downstream—some of which take —

drinking water from the Thomp- son—should have registered with the city. At least four groups have indicated they will seek official ob- jector status against the city when the application goes before the Waste Management Branch.

graphic — and chilling — example of the

terror which rules El Salvador and the ac- uons of the ultra-right wing death squads who operate with the complicity of the official regime comes to us from reader Heather Keely. Just this week she received the latest in a series of letters filling out a grim scenario that has become all too typical in that country.

During a recent trip to Europe she became close friends with Robert Castellanos, a Salvadorean, and his Danish wife Annette Mathieson. She corresponded with them after returning to Vancouver and continued to hear of them through a mutual friend in Mexico — until March 6 when a letter announced that they had disappeared.

It was followed by another letter from Mex- ico eight days later with these words: ‘‘Only a few days ago I wrote telling you that Annette and Roberto were disappeared. Now they are dead. Their bodies were found in the ditch tor- tured with their hands cut off and several shots.”’

Heather sought more information through the Danish consulate in Vancouver which re- plied with a letter Monday. Signed by vice-con- suls M. Rasmussen, and outlining the events surrounding the couple’s murder, it is an out- spoken indictment of the U.S.-backed ruling junta in El Salvador.

“I wish to advise you,’’ the vice-consul stat- ed, ‘“‘that the murder of Annette Mathieson and Roberto Castellanos is under investigation by the Danish authorities and by the human rights commission in El Salvador.

“According to an article written by a Danish reporter who was sent to San Salvador to get more information about the murders, Annette and her husband realized that they were in dan- ger (she had just returned from a Visit to Den- mark) and they tried to take refuge with some friends, but before they reached their destina-

‘a

tion, they were apprehended by about 10 armed

-PEOPLE AND ISSUES:

men (in civilian clothes) who pushed them into a panel truck and took off. Two days later their bodies were found in a ditch by a farmer. . . Roberto Castellanos had been tortured but An- nette did not show any signs of having been tor- tured. She was blindfolded and gagged and had been shot once in the temple.

“The human rights commission is of the opi- nion that the matter will never be cleared up in view of the fact that the Salvadorean police re- fuse to cooperate, saying that they ‘have noth- ing at all to do with the murder.’

“Tt is suspected that the murders were com- mitted by an extreme right-wing group called Unione Guerera Blanco and that in fact the Sal- vadorean authorities are behind this group. It is also suspected that there is some link between the murders of Roberto and Annette and the murder a few weeks later of Archbishop Ro- mero. But this will probably never be ascertain- ed.’’

* * *

he many people, both inside the NDP and

out, who have always admired the socialist eloquence of Tommy Douglas — a tradition ‘which he continued in recent years as NDP energy critic with his scathing broadsides against the multinational oil companies — must have been astonished, if not dismayed, to learn this week that he has become a director of Husky Oil Ltd.

According to Canadian Press which report his election to the board of directors, the former NDP federal leader admires the ‘‘aggressive Canadian stance on the oil industry” of Bob Blair, president of Alberta Gas Trunk Line which owns a controlling interest of Husky. Blair himself said that Husky is ‘‘aggressively seeking further petroleum assets and produc- tion.” : ‘‘Aggressive”’ is certainly a term that would describe the company — Husky has been und

boycott by the International Woodworkers of America for its attempts to break an IWA local in Pachuta, Mississippi where a subsidiary, Husky Industries, recently took over a charcoal briquette plant.

The union was forced to strike in November, 1978, shortly after Husky Industries took over the plant, to defend the rights which had earlier been guaranteed in the collective agreement. The company has sought to replace the agree- ment with a company-drafted ‘‘guideline for employment.”’

* * : *

e note from the conference of the Canadian Association of Labor Media, held in con- junction with the CLC convention in Winni- peg, that congratulations are in order for the staff of The Fisherman. ° Among 44 entries, the paper, under editor Geoff Meggs won awards for excellence in three out of four categories. It might have taken the

fourth category as well except that it didn’t en-

ter.

The awards won were for overall excellence,

best front page and excellence in reporting. Cited in the award for reporting were two al- ticles, on farm workers and unemployment in Prince Rupert, by assistant Elias Stavrides who has been on the staff for less than a year. * * ae

t was with great sadness that we received the

news this week that Mike Freylinger died in Mission Memorial Hospital Monday. night, felled by the cancer that doctors had detected only a few short months ago. :

His son Ted tells us that‘a memorial has been set for this Saturday, May 10, at 1 p.m. at the Memorial Society, 2808.Mt. Lehman Road in Abbotsford. ;

_ Wewillcarrya full tribute to Mike in the next issue.