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Rankin's new book points road ahead

Alderman Harry Rankin, who has a reputation at City Hall asa reformer and the champion of labor, the poor and the underdog, is the author of a new book, ‘“‘A Socialist Perspective for Van- couver’’. In the past he has written several pamphlets on municipal issues including pollu- tion, rapid transit and regional government. This is the first time, however, that he has out- lined his whole political philosophy as a socialist.

The theme of his book is that the struggle for reforms must be extended to the struggle to replace our corporation - dominated capitalist system with socialism. ‘‘It isn’t enough,’’ he declares, ‘‘to endlessly fight the ills of society . ..atsome point. . . the cause of these ills must be tackled. They lie right, in the heart of our private enterprise system ... we must fight not only the results of the control of society by big corporations.. . . we must fight their right to control. That time is already long overdue. The next logical step in the evolution of our society is socialism. . .”

In making the case for socialism he covers a wide field:

He deals with the developers, taxes, protection for tenants, the

housing crisis, public transit, un- employment, welfare, the energy crisis, inflation, pollu- tion, drugs, equality for the In- dian people, technological change and other topics.

He analyzes the basic features of our society, its class struc- ture, the struggle of labor versus capital, the role of the state, the replacement of free enterprise with monopoly enterprise, U.S. control of the economy and the, “myth of a free press.”’

Lastly he outlines his views on socialism including the socialist tradition in B.C. and a critical look at the ‘‘democratic socialism” of the NDP and its B.C. government.

The book has a foreword by the eminent B.C. economist Emil Bjarnason.

B.C. agent for the distributors is Margaret Chunn, third floor 195 Alexander Street, Van- couver, B.C. Phone 682-2781. The cost of the book is $1.95 per copy.

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Kent treeze must be tollowed by steps to protect tenants

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

The introduction of a bill in the legislature by the provincial NDP government limiting rent increases to eight percent retroactive to the first of the year is being heartily welcomed by tenants throughout the province. Most rent increases have been far beyond that figure and also far beyond the means of many tenants.

But the battle to curb rent in- creases, to limit them to some reasonable figure has not ended: it has just begun. This is no time to stand on the sidelines and cheer, and wait for ‘‘Alex’’ or “Dave’’ to do it. Just consider the following facts for a moment:

Attorney general Alex MacDonald stressed that the legislation is only a temporary measure, and that it will likely be in effect only until the fall when a new Landlord and Tenant Act, (still to be introduced), will be put into force.

While the bill calls on landlords to refund any rent in- creases beyond 8 percent, no penalties are provided if they

‘What They re

Saying

- External Affairs Minister

/ Mitchell Sharp told the Com-

mons external affairs committee Tuesday in a review of Canadian- U.S. relations that while there has been an “‘improvement”’ in relations in-the past year, con-

_flicts loom on some issues. ; “The Canadian desire to

develop mineral resources at its own pace and to encourage further processing in Canada may not entirely accord with the U.S. desire for rapid exploitation of known resources, and

accelerated program of explora-

tion for unproven resources, and the importation of resources in increasing amounts and in their raw form.”

What Sharp is trying to say is that U.S. pressure is mounting for more Canadian raw material resources and less processing in

refuse to do so. The tenant must take ,his complaint to a small claims court. The onus is on the tenant to prove that his rent was increased by more than eight percent and that the landlord has refused to refund the excess amount.

This means that the tenant may have to take time off from work to gather the evidence, to presént it to court. Perhaps he may also have to seek the advice of a lawyer. Many landlords will undoubtedly threaten to evict any tenants who dare to take them to court.

Municipalities may request the provincial government to ex- empt their whole municipality or any part of it from the legislation and the attorney general has in- dicated that such requests will be considered. “A whole area might exempt,” he said.

Most of the apartments in Van- couver are owned by big firms, investment, real estate, trust companies, banks, etc. They are powerful and through their con- trol of the media will be able to mount terrific pressure against the government to defeat this legislation.

The NDP government has so far failed to carry out its election promises to ‘‘recognize the right of tenant associations to be cer- tified as bargaining agents;’’ and to ‘‘establish rental review boards composed of tenant associations and _ local

provincial government to

governments to act as mediatols” and arbitrators, if necessary, complaint from either tenants” landlords.” “ There is no indication yet thal the government is prepared 0 live up to these promises. ¥ present bill limiting rent I creases to eight percent was If troduced only after grea pressure from tenants and thell organizations and from the NDF membership itself. ae The resolution to this “whole problem, in my opinion, lies in two directions. The first is to amend the Landlord and Tenant Act to | provide that rental rea boards be established wilt authority to deal with 2” problems of tenancy, that colle tive bargaining rights be gramlé tenant organizations regardile rents and other matters, saat there be no evictions without jU§ cause, and that all rent increas must be justified. ; ee The second is that the provi | cial government mobilize all © its resources to launch a low !¥ tal, low cost, public hous! scheme that has as its object! the building of at least 100,000 its a year for the next sev i. years. This is a project aa private enterprise cannot will not undertake. Vancow City Council won’t budge, the tawa just talks. It is up A

the way.

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TOM McEWEN

tT: Greater Vancouver Regional District

(GVRD) water authority has announced a possible hike in water rates for the near future. ‘In- creasing debt’’ structure is given as the cause of the proposed hike, which in today’s price justification is as good a reason as any.

: With food, clothing, shelter and other life needs soaring to new highs, it was almost inevitable that water should “‘come into its own’’, especially with Un- cle Sam conniving to take it all a la continental, and our own food monopoly racketeers using up millions of gallons of it for sale in all our choice foods. Virtually everything we eat and drink today which comes out of a can or a fancy package, some 80 percent or more con- sists of pure water. Figure that out at an average of about one dollar per pound for water; and it’s enough to make any water authority green with envy.

To list every food item to which has been added a goodly splash of water to boost the weight as well as the profit would fill a bulky volume instead of a mere column. So we will do the best we can with the.space we've got, to have a close-up of this watery mess!

A couple of weeks ago the CBC-TV featured a ‘‘con- sumers’’ program showing the high water content in a

REEESSEREERSRN eee

whole raft of popular — and high priced — TV dinners. When the CBC analysts had finished separating the food solids from the water the results were startling, to say the least.

The ‘ultimate consumer’ was left with a bare tablespoonful of chicken, beef or other nutricious com- ponents, with a similar tablespoonful of assorted vegetables and gravy. The balance, — roughly 90 per- cent — was water, pure unadulterated water, a bit mud- dy to be sure, but just water. Obviously the good Mrs. Plumptre can do “nothing about it’’ nor was she ex- pected to by M. Trudeau and company. If Christ could freed the multitude on ‘“‘five loaves and two small fishes”, surely with a vast reservoir of water for the taking, the modern food profiteer can do much better

and rake in a rich profit in the process and the local

butcher is no longer under the necessity of ‘‘weighing his thumb” to take up the profit slack since aqua pura serves the purpose better!

It is reported that a group of U.S. scientists flying over Mount Ararat (in Soviet territory) have sighted what. they believe to be the remaining hull of Noah’s ‘Ark, That is quite a sighting, but nothing compared to the fabulous profits food products. Other scientific pun- dits now tell us that “‘all life originated in the sea’. Ob-

viously by the watery content of their ‘‘choice’”’ foods’

the modern monopoly swindlers and profiteers would ‘have us return to that watery state — at a profit! Another item of food, or to be more exact a whole flock of them, to wit, the ‘helper’. On the shelves we now have fancy-packaged hamburger ‘‘helpers’’,

SSS SOS

chicken ‘‘helpers’’, -meat “helpers”, all kinds y “helpers”. What the moisture content of this pulpy a ' ture is we do not as yet know exactly, but rest asst! |. in the cause of garnering a fat profit, it will be ple while the water supply holds out. got? The past decade has seen the multiple canned rid’ industry forge to the forefront as one of the W? great mysteries. The ‘“‘mystery”’ of how its pric 3. — steadily rise while the can hasn’t even changed P cot" on the chain store shelf. The ‘‘mystery”’ of what tony tains, which has little or no relation with what it say" the label. The ‘“‘mystery’’ of what percentage of ¥ are the can contains, since the contents of a given bral apt seldom uniform in this regard. Only the prices de™ ; ed and the profits pocketed are. (and A. Perhaps the greatest of all water users in B.C: undoubtedly elsewhere) is the B.C. Liquor Coro Board (LCB). Not exactly a ‘“‘food” except undef ay tor’s orders, but last year B.C.’ers consumed ust proximately $100-million dollars worth of the stuff. net how many million gallons of Capilano water oF spring water is anyone’s guess, but at approxi) $10 or over per gallon of water to thin out the drink 4 wonder the GVRD is contemplating a hoist in or ; water rates. chi The monopoly belly-robbers are now te) Henry Dubb another salutory lesson viz; that hith considered the cheapest thing on earth, water may become the most expensive and the most profi How’s about a fine TV dinner, almost pure only $1.30 a package?