100,000 aw jobs for B.C. workers -- 3

building

By KEITH RALSTON

British Columbia urgently needs more homes, schools, hospitals, libraries, community centres, roads and bridges. The demands of a fast-growing province can give a shot in the arm to a construction industry that faces a slump. ~ A start on these projects would mean steady jobs for thousands of: build- ing trades workers who now face

short working seasons and long

layofts.

Pollyanna statements to the con-

tray, things are not going to get better in the building field. It is true that the number of building permits issued this year is about the same as last, but the significant thing is that contracts awarded in the first five months of 1954 are down 35 percent from the same period of 1953.

Only a systematic opening up of new jobs can cure this situation. To meet the flood of children pouring into our public schools we must build an average of one 10-room school every week of the school year for the next five years: $61,000,000 in five years for new construction is the figure given by the Department of Edu- cation.

If the province’s population grows as fast in the next five years as it has in the last five, then we'll need at least 900 more hospital beds just to take care of the in- crease, to say nothing about re- _ placing outworn buildings and ob- solete equipment. In addition we urgently need beds for chronic pa- tients—2,450 at once and another 450 over the five years. To build these would cost about $18,000,000 at current. cost.

More houses were built in B.C. in 1953 than ever before but. the number. is barely sufficient to meet the needs of the new families be- ing formed. Nothing is being done to catch up on the backlog of houses needed to replace old, broken down slum houses in city and~country... The housing pro- gram must be expanded two or three times if it is to meet the de- mand for reasonably-priced dwei- lings.

There is one type of housing~for | which the demand is the greatest that is just not being built — that is publicly-assisted low-rent houses and apartments for low-income) families and pensioners. Except for the government share of priv- ately-built old age pensioners pro- jects like those of the Burnaby New Vista Society and the Victoria Kiwanis Village, no money is be- ing spent for public housing. And E. E. Winch, MLA has called pre- sent plans of the OAP a drop in the bucket.

The biggest part of the work on the province’s 18,000 mile road system still has to be done. For instance, nearly 500 miles have yet to be built on the B.C. section of the Trans-Canada

highway, the southern trans- Provincial highway needs a major relocation between Trail and Grand Forks and the north- ern highway to Prince Rupert has been barely touched.

Some 250 bridges must be re- newed in the next five years. That in itself would be a $35,000,000 job.

The Bennett government has ask- ed Ottawa to pay part of the cost of building roads in B.C.’s moun- tainous and difficult terrain as an Investment in Canada’s develop- ment. Certainly it would take only a small part of the two billion dollars being squandered annual-

the $30 million spent each year. by the province.

Provineial jails and mental homes are terribly overcrowded and many buildings are unsuitable. Oakalla and the jails at Prince George and Nelson need new ac- commodation, the percentage of overcrowding at Essondale is up to an overall 45 percent with some sections not even designed to hold patients.

All of this mounts up to° a whopping $200,000,000 in new public buildings and roads, Add to this a minimum $100,000,000 in new housing and you have a boom in the ailing construc- tion industry.

Take the needs of the public schools. Department of Education officials estimate that the number of pupils will jump by 12,500 each year for the next five years. Since it requires one new classroom for every. 30 students added, this amounts to ‘the staggering total of more than 410 classrooms every school year. Building costs vary

of construction but educators talk about $61,000,000 for new schools. Naturally this is just for the in- creased enrollment. But many ad- ditional classrooms will be needed to replace out-of-date schools.

“Adequate hospital care standards require at least six acute care beds and three chronic -care beds for every 1,000 peopie, according to the Minister of Health and Welfare. B.C. has about 7,500 general hos- pital beds, which measures up to the standard. But the province is critically short of beds for the care of chronic patients — there are only 1,584 in chronic hospitals and another 1,844 in approved nursing homes and licensed institutions.

This represents a deficit of 2,450 beds right at the present moment.

If British Columbia’s population continues to expand as it has — 150,000 more in five years — then we shall need another 900 general beds and 450 chronic beds to keep pace with the growth.

But many of our existing hos- pitals need modernization, so as well as taking care of population increase, we will have to have more beds to bring them up-to-date. Huge sums, in fact more than the entire provincial budget in pre- war days, are spent each year on our highways. And it is vitally necessary to the industrial and commercial future of B.C. that we

}push with the extension of a net-

work of first-class roads through- out the whole province.

But in a mountainous area like this province, $30,000,000 a year is not enough. B.C. has not one first- class highway from the coast to the Alberta border. The recon- struction of the main north-south

ly on war to double or even triple

Cariboo highway is only at 150-

STORES CHURCHES: SCHOO

widely with the district and type|_

Mile House after being underway for six years.

Nearly 500 miles remain to be,

done on the Trans-Canada highway which is a joint fedral-provincial project. Just over 100 miles have been brought up to Trans-Canada standard in the five years: since the work began.

In 1953 work was done on 434 miles of the provincial highway

system. Of this 70 miles were new.

arterial and 65.new secondary, the rest was reconstruction. Obviously at this pace the backlog will not disappear very soon. :

The backlog in housing is even more acute in spite of a record house-building year in 1953 that saw 8,000 dwellings completed. A survey made in 1951 as a part of the census show the size of the problem we still face.

A picture of overcrowded houses, many in need of major. repairs, many without adequate toilet and sanitary facilities, emerges from this survey.

It shows that 33,530 houses, in B.C. are in need of extensive re- paid work. They have sagging or rotting foundations, faulty roofs and chimneys, unsafe outside steps and shattered plaster: 17,910 are in the country and 15,620 in urban centres. Greater Vancouver has 9,500 of these houses and Greater Victoria 1,600. :

Overcrowding is also very seri- ous with 48,000 dwellings having more than one person per room. Vancouver has 10,000 crowded dwellings — 2,500 of them con- tain two or more families. Since their average number of rooms is only three and a half, these stat- istics translated into human terms mean intolerably close quarters.

In Greater Vancouver there are 2,600 houses where running water has not been piped inside, 1,100 of them are in the city proper. The survey shows 3,100 have no toilet, 480 in Vancouver itself and 6,600 have no bathtub or shower. _ Put all these figures together and the acute need for a large- scale housing program is self- evident. The centre of B.C.‘s larger cities are .decaying and rings of slums have been created around the business districts. New housing is on the edge of the urban areas — public hous- ing is a necessity to rehabilitate the inner parts.

Startling is the extent of “slum” conditions in rural B.C. — here. too, no public authority takes over- all responsibility in large sections of the country. There are 12 regu- lated districts, mostly near cities or towns, where the provincial Reg- ional Planning Board sets mini- mum floor areas and sanitary facili- ties, But no one provides public money to aid in rural housing.

* If B.C. were to double the 8,000 dwelling units it built last

LS- LIBRARIES - HO

Public works program would give trades ‘big shot in the arm”

year, that wouid mean jobs for

- another 20,000 building trades

workers.

ive

ith

pn LONER

best method of dealing with poo? housing-— and the start of a hout ing scheme is the only means ? catching up on B.C.’s needs.

A public housing plan is the

——

On the. hational labor front

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

At last year’s Trades and Labor Congress convention it was widely rumored that this would be Perey Bengough’s last year as TLC presi- dent. This became evident when proposals for increased pensions for the officers was under discus- sion. It was taken for granted that the officers were preparing them- selves for a rainy day.

Now Bengough has declared he will not stand for re-election and the race to replace him as presi- dent has begun. Messrs. Jodoin and Gervin, vice-presidents from Que- bec and British Columbia, respec- tively, have thrown their hats into the ring. ay

The capitalist press-has begun to speculate on which of these two gentlemen will make it. ‘

Some of the papers have more than an overtone to the problem, trying to nfake it appear that a battle is developing between Eng-

lish-speaking and French Canada.

And it would easily turn into such a dangerous wrangle if the cen: tral question of policy is ignored. This really is the erux of the prob- lem ; : The question of the presidency 1s Important — but the major prob- lem is: what will be the policies the candidates are pledged to pur- sue? The candidates ought to be Judged on where they stand on the vital issues of the day. Without this approach.the convention could turn into. a sordid affair, with machine politics and back door agreements replacing the issue of policy.

The delegates therefore have a clear duty when replacing Ben- gough to also replace the poli- cies he stood for, policies which are now bankrupt and act as bar- riers to the further advance of the frade union movement.

What are Bengough’s policies?

He at one time paraded as a pro- gressive-minded trade unionist. It was he who coined the phrase “‘co- operation yes, domination no” when it was a matter of asserting the autonomous rights of the trade union movement against the efforts of the AFL in the U.S. to impose its arbitrary wili on’ the Canadian membership. _

But he quickly dropped that slogan when the orders came through from Washington and the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 23, 1954 — PAGE 2

New times call for some new policies

St. Laurent government. :

It doesn’t reauire too muc hindsight now to see how fat reaching his change of attitude was. In dropping the issue he als®: re-directed the trade union move ment towards active support of thé cold war and the perspective of. war against the lands of socialism: — And also with it went acceptance of U.S. world leadership and Cana dian integration into the U.S. eco! omy with all its disastrous comse quences for the independence of our country. 3

In effect what Bengough wés dropping was the defense of oUF national interests and the accept — ance of a satellite role for Canada and the trade union movement — within th@orbit of U.S. imperial ism,

As a consequence of this policy — he began to amend the constitu: tion. Instead of it being in part 4 guarantor of inner union demo — cracy and the autonomous rights — of affiliates of the TLC, the const tution was amended to confor™ with McCarthyism. . :

Unions were expelled, suspended or destroyed. Militant trade uniol- ists who had given a lifetime service to the building up of the — trade union movement were oust: ed from positions of JeadershiP and the right of the membershiP to elect whomever they chose, t© local, provincial and national lead ership taken away from them. .

For this service to U.S. imperial ism and. its monopoly agents 17 Canada, ’tis said Bengough may now become a Senator.

The question remains to be 20° wered—will Bengough’s successo! continue these same _ policies Obey change them in:line with the Te# needs of the labor movement? _

It is for the delegates and the rank and file to decide. is

The trade union movement i$ entering a period of heavy at tack. The “boom” is over. Mom : opoly intends to try to take awaY the limifed gains the workers won through bitter struggle. The new times obviously call for new policies.and for bold, dynamic —

leadership willing and able f° — fight for them in unity with the

rest of the labor movement.

This is the way the proble™ ought to be tackled by the co vention.