ee

SS VAVTVRSTNE_ : es

wot Go LOUD WE MIGHT FRIGHTEN IT

Lede amar 3 — REJECT SPLITTERS

NDP parley endorses

civic election unity

By MABEL RICHARDS

Despite the frantic efforts of Trotskyist League for Socialist Action personell within the New Democratic Party, rank and file delegates to the latter's annual city convention voted te approach COPE with the view of working out a joint program for entering candidates in the next civic election.

Ignoring the fact that the Committee of Progressive Electors grew out of organized labor through action of the Vancouver Labor Council, the Trotskyist element insisted that the NDP should run a full slate of candidates in the civic field, presumably with or without the sanction of organized labor.

Two delegates from Local 1- 217 of the I.W.A. made it clear where they stood. One of them said, “‘As a trade unionist, a member of the NDP and a supporter of COPE, I find no_ difference in principle in what we fight for in the field of civic politics.”

He pointed out that COPE had grown out of the organized labor movement, and that it was completely possible to work in close liaison with them to oust NPA from city hall.

The other delegate from IWA said that NDP membership should not indulge in wishful thinking ; that the co-operation of .all progressive elements in the city was necessary to win representation on council.

Harold Rittberg, of the Little .Mountain NDP club, wrote in a pre-convention constituency newsletter: ‘““COPE’s represen-

- tative on council, Harry Rankin,

needs to be supplemented, not competed against. We do not and should not split the progressive vote arrayed against the NPA and TEAM. The COPE program

and ours are virtually identical. Therefore, our party should form a coalition with COPE to present our views and work with them to bring the view of the people to city hall.’’ He spoke in the same vein during the discussions at the convention.

“If ever a political party seemed imbued with the, death wish, it is ours’, said a woman delegates. ‘‘There seems to be in the NDP a growing anti-labor bias, and we are growing more middle-class all the time.”

Another woman spoke on the need for grass roots unity if the NPA are to be defeated. A long- time member of the Ratepayers Associations which have done much to expose tax inequalities in city management, this spokesman reminded the NDP membership that there has long been a need for a united front of progressive electors in Vancouver.

In answer to one of the Trotskyist spokesmen urging a full slate of NDP candidates, a delegate said sharply, ‘‘If he wants to burn himself like a Buddhist monk in front of city hall, let him go ahead, but let him doit alone. . .”

At the close of the first day of the convention there were’ 75 delegates registered. Four of

them were from affiliated labor

unions.

Not all the delegates approved the entry of the NDP into civic politics. The decisions made at the city convention still have to be approved by the provincial council.

Asked for his reaction to the NDP decision to enter city politics in co-operation with COPE, Alderman Harry Rankin said he welcomed any move that would bring about unity to defeat the reactionaries in city hall.

March for Millions Walk

As many as 50,000 people may take part in the Vancouver Miles for Millions Walk which takes place on Sunday, May 3. The 25-mile trek will get under way from the Seaforth Armouries at the south end

of the Burrard St. bridge.

Proceeds from the Vancouver walk last year went to many international charitable organizations, including $10,000 for medical aid to North and South Vietnam through the Canadian Aid to Vietnam

Civilians. i

Forms for the walk are now available ‘at 615 Homer St. For information phone 688-2932 and 683-3031.° ae

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 24

Share-the-debt scheme lets Victoria off hook

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

The provincial government is bringing pressure on Van- couver to relinquish its borrow- ing rights and to voluntarily assume responsibility for debts incurred by other munici palities.

It’s another one of those share- the-poverty schemes that Premier Bennett is noted for, whereby municipalities must help each other out of financial difficulties, thus leaving the Premier free to invest provincial funds in his hydro projects for U.S. and Japanese industries.

This scheme is called the Municipal Finance Authority. The Authority would take over all responsibility from municipalities for the borrowing of money for water, sewer, and pollution control projects. It would decide how much a municipality may borrow, where

it will be borrowed and at what >

rate of interest and other conditions.

If any municipality should default on its debts, then the Authority has the power to levy a special tax on all taxable lands and improvements in, the province to make up the deficit.

The Authroity would be com- posed of persons appointed by Regional Districts. Although the Greater Vancouver Region has about half of the population of B.C., it would have the right to appoint only 4 members out of 31 and would have only 18 votes out of a total of 50. Vancouver, which has about a fifth of the prov- ince’s population, would have no direct represeniation whatever.

The Authority would be headed by a 7 member Board of Trustees. The Greater Van- couver Region would appoint only two. Again, Vancouver would have no direct rep resentation.

Each member municipality would have to contribute to a Debt Reserve Fund to cover defaults by any member munici- pality. Vancouver’s contribu- tion would be $175,000 a year which would be held by the Authority for 20 to 25 years. In addition, the city would have to make an annual contribution of up to $26,000 to an Operating Fund to keep the Authority

going.

GREETINGS

TO ALL OUR FRIENDS

POINT GREY CLUB

GREETINGS MAY DAY - 1970

FOR UNITY. - PEACE & FRIENDSHIP

FROM

Joe Bobey & ~< Family VERNON, B.C.

As far as I can see, there are no advantages to Vancouver joining this debt-sharing scheme, - only. disadvantages. Vancouver should keep its right to make its own decisions about how much it will borrow and for what purpose.

The problem that some muni- cipalities have in making loans shouldn’t become the respon- sibility of those who have a good credit record. We don’t want any share-the-poverty scheme put over on us just to get the provincial government off the hook. What we need is not less provincial responsibility for municipal borrowing but more.

I believe the provincial govern-

Canada’s social register.

[ n the unceasing battle against inflation by M. Trudeau

and Company, it may now be confidently assumed that"M. Trudeau is winning; not against inflation, but against the working people. And that covers a lot of people not listed in

“Blect me leader,” the Tory R.B. Bennett told 4 Conservative convention back in the beginning of the Hungry

_ 30’s, ‘‘and I will cure unemployment in sixty days.”’

“Elect me,’ M. Trudeau could have told a Liberal convention nearly forty years later, ‘‘and I will treble unemployment in less than two years.”’

Any amateur economist capable of determining how many beans make five can see at a glance that the Trudeau

ment itself should loan money | directly to the municipalities at low interest rates. It has ample funds at its disposal for this purpose in the form of the many | pension funds it now hold for | teachers, policemen, municipal | employees, as well as Canada © Pension Plan funds. .

Why should B.C. munici- palities sell bonds on the U.S. market-at over 9 percent interest where they are bought up by U.S. — pension funds when we have— pension funds of our own in B.C. that could be used?

I think Council will turn down” Bennett’s Municipal Finance

Authority. It should.

“crackdown”? on inflation is nothing more than a crackdown Of

the work force of the nation, with massive unemployment as

the end result — if not stopped dead in its tracks. The parasitic”

force that lives on the sweat and maximum profits extracted from the work force, are doing very well with their inflation, for them prices and profits were never better, and if a few parasitic hangers-on should go under in the “clean-up,” 5? what? It has happened before. *

Another interesting feature of the Trudeau inflation gouse —

is the fact that not once since his inflation roulette got rolling has M. Trudeau missed a beat in his holiday junketting safaris to far away sporting places, skiing, swimming, etc., t . glittering night life of Paricitica. Now posing as the ‘‘swinger-

now the ‘‘statesman”’ and a poor imitation of either— all at the taxpayers’ expense. A typical jaded gigilo, not from the effects of inflation, but as one hell bent on keeping it rolling, without any necessity of belt-tightening, because that’s what he was “elected”’ to do!

It is well to keep in mind also, while pondering the price of

bread, milk, potatoes, etc., for the family table, that M. |

Trudeau and his pocket-picking ‘“‘statesmen,”’ while exorting everyone else to tighten their belts and avoid the urge of Olivet Twist to ask for more, are not backward in asking an additional six or eight thousand dollars to be added to their own take home-pay, a stipend already more than twice what most ® them are worth to Canada or the Canadian people.

If they manage this latest heist on the public treasury, that won't be inflationary — according to them. Inflation seeming} only happens when workingmen demand that their pay envelope comes somewhere near to the high cost of keepin themselves and their families alive.

To that, of course, the Trudeau inflationists alsohave 4 pat answer, which shows them not only unfit to govern, but 17 the process, callously cynical of the people from whom they deriv that authority.

Ah, they say, “if you don’t help us fight inflation, we wi have to apply our own cure — deprive you of a job altogethe ; That is the price you must pay, tighten your belt voluntarily; we will do it for you.” They talk of unemployment as th? working men and their families were merely dead zeros ye tallied up on a computer machine!

“IT will cure unemployment, ” roared R.B. ‘‘Iron Heel t

the 30's. “I will cure inflation,’’ shrugs Trudeau in the while he totes ythe Barbaras around, »but OUR job will be “% price. :

‘