SO TOUIUVTTGITITR TITATIVE LUSTRE TT

LEFT TURN!

A Column For
WAR VETERANS.

-- by Jack Philips

28 UU NUNUNNUUURNUNUREULLU NUTT NT

| ex-members of the Canadian armed forces are entitled to
ee dental treatment after discharge, providing they were
‘i to have dental requirements, on emanination, by the Can-
a Dental Gorps, at time of discharge. Application must be
= within 90 days of discharge, and treatment must be author-
band started within 365 days of discharge.

| Reads very good, but thousands of ex-service personnel have
‘waiting three, four and five months for authorization from
lwa to proceed with treatment. What’s the hold-up? A cer-
ate from the Dental Corps, signed by the examining officer,
‘id be sufficient to entitle an ex-serviceman to free treatment.
(tape in Ottawa means toothaches in British Columbia. Cut out
red tape and let our boys and girls proceed with the treatment
} are: entitled to! Sugsestion to Ottawa: If there was more
ntralization on matters like these, there might be more time
the Federal authorities to tackle the big problems, like jobs and

ss for veterans.

Large numbers of veterans who are working cannot afford to
k off work to so to a government Rehabilitation center, in order
pply for a grant, life insurance, advice, etc. The Department
Jeterans’ Affairs should arrange to have a competent staff
uty, at least one night a week at every D.V.A. center.

was only yesterday that the taking over of the old Hotel
couver was big-time news. Now the sequel can be told, and
. though it does not rate headlines, it is very significant. When
is MacDonald, organizer for Mt. Pleasant branch of the Legion,
atened to withdraw the support of his branch unless Austin
mey .was removed from the occupation Gommittee, he was
kly repudiated, by the veterans in the hotel and by a broad
esentative gathering held next day. Since then (your reporter
an exclusive) MacDonald has received two more stiff jolts.
t: His organizational report was rejected at a membership
sine by a thumping majority. Reason? It was nothing more or
-than a crude red-baiting job and called for the expulsion of
ney from the Legion. Second: Austin Delaney, Vancouver
stor for the LPP was elected as a delegate to the Provincial
vention by the New Veterans’ branch, of which he is a member.
moral of the story? Peddling red herrings and anti-union dope
ot considered a legitimate means of rehabilitaton by members
he Ganadian Legion.

HEVE ME, 1t’S TRUE

English newspapers report that South African ex-servicemen
. been refused re-establishment grants for the purpose of buy-
more wives. Gan we take it, then, that more than one ball and
4 is too much of a drag on an ex-serviceman- (Seriously, I am
ygamist,, and hope to remain one.)

ancouver Housing Meet
apports Homes Subsidies

Determination to ‘get something done’ to provide ade-
te homes for the people was registered at the confer-
: sponsored by the Vancouver Housing Association held
salon A of the Vancouver hotel last week.
yer one hundred delegates
3; 45 organizations represent-
100,000 people unanimously
wrsed resolutions calling for
initiaton olf a federal subsidy,
nd a comprehensive low ren-
housing scheme.
lderman Price, who attended
meeting, holding a ‘watching
© for the city council, was in
chair. He must have come to
conclusion, after hearing the
ions of the majority of the
gates, that they considered
=the City Council had held a
tehing brief” too long.
he conference resolved to ask
Dominion government to bring
legislation implementing the
tiss reports as follows:
» Financial loans and guaran-
to properly constituted local
sing authorities set up by lo-
or provincial bodies on the
he terms as those extended
limited dividend corporations
the purpose of erecting hous-
for the lower third income
up.

CIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

@ An annual subsidy per
dwelling to local housing author-
ities and limited dividend cor-
porations sufficient to reduce
rents for accommodation as pro-
vided above to 20 percent or less
of the tenants’ imcome.

The conference also urged the
ereation of a separate Ministry
to handle all aspects of Housing
and Community planning with
the following functions:

@ To unify the efforts of all
government departments now
engaged in the fields of housing
and community planning.

e@ To initiate federal legisla-
tion for the provision of hous-
ing.

@ To promote local and re-
gional -~planning by the authori-
ties concerned.

e To secure equitable distri-
bution of building materials with
special reference to housing
requirements.

@ To encourage the training

“Bound By A Thousand Threads

To The People”

Labor-Progres sive-led battle for
final demonstration took place.
5 Guild, teams of canvassers led by

-P HE present phase of the
Saturday afternoon the
loaned by the Labor Art

by Minerva Cooper

completed. Last
colorful posters
Morgan took to

homes is
Carrying
Nigel

Vancouver's streets in a last-minute drive for signatures which will be carried to the fed-

eral cabinet by Tim Buck and a

At press time names Trepre-
senting more than 22,000 per-
sonal interviews had been mail-
ed to Toronto from B.C., with
hundreds more rolling into the
Vancouver office hourly.

Last Saturday’s
tion, one of several which began
with the drive for the opening
of the old Vancouver Hotel, was
typical of the character of . the
campaign. To a degree never be-
fore accomplished, campaign
workers carried the drive di-
rectly to the people on the street,
jn public meetings, in commun-—
ity conferences and in their
homes. The response was more
whole-hearted than even the
most hopeful had anticipated,

LPP, Study Class

More than one hundred and
sixty students attended the open-
ing sessions of the LLP labor
School which were held Sunday,
March 3. Additional sessions
will be held Wednesday, March
6, at 2:00 pm. and 8 p-m. and
Sunday, March 10 at 10 a.m. and
1:30 p.m. in the West End Hall,
Olympia Hall, John Goss Studio,
and Hall ABC, Pender Audito-
rium.

Group leaders are Nigel Mor-
gan, Maurice Rush, Minerva
Gooper and Garry Culhane.

Attended by some of British
Columbia’s most outstanding
men of labor, as well as club
leaders and other party members
who have done outstanding work,
the first session was devoted to
conerete study of the changed
situation facing labor in the post-
war years. Future sessions will
be devoted to the wage,, the
key issue in the coming period,
tombined with an examination of
strike strategy and tactics hhis-
torically and in relation to cur-
rent struggles in the United
States.

The method employed at the
School is a combination of lec-
ture and discussion with empha-
sis on student participation. The
enthusiasm with which students
iit into the discussion, the intro-
duction of questions which are
the subject of lively controversy
in the labor movement and the
rich use of illustration on the
part of the students themselves
augur well for the success of the
school. The LPP Education Com-
mittee is confident that the pres-
ent discussions will bear fruit in
the strengthening of the trade
union movement in this prov-
ince.

demonstra-

of skilled labor for the building
trades.

e To carry out research and
educative work on housing and
community planning.

Blgin Ruddell, secretary of
the Vancouver Housing Associa-
tion in closing the meeting stat-
ed that the association was
taking a delegation to the city
hall to persuade the city fath-
ers to join in a delegation to

the provincial governm ent.

national delegation, March 9-

Ganvasser after canvasser Tre-
ported, “The reaction 1s wonder-
ful. People take us right into
their homes. Some of them want
us to stay all evening.” Even
the proverbial
erusty lan d-
lords were few
and far be-
tween.

The full po-

the campaign
were not real-
ized, but a
great deal was
accomplished
and all who worked in the cam-
paign enriched the working-class
experience of this province.
Memories of the housing drive
will not be easily erased and
carry with them many lessons
for the future.

There was the elderly woman,
for example who came to one of
our canvassers because he was
carrying a housing slogan and
enlisted the help of a party club
for herself and fellow tenants
who had had services cut off and
were being badgered to get out
by the new landlord. There were
the two girls on the street, the
man in the coffee shop, the two
servicemen in the West Hnd
house who among others, said,
“T want to join this party be-
cause you are leading this fight.”
There were the fourteen girls at
the house party who passed the
petition all around and collected
dimes to help the campaign. And
there were the newsboys on the
corner talking about housing
posters with one replying to an-
other, “Well, maybe the CCF is
the best party, but the LPP
really gets out and does some-
thing.”

The drive to prevent evictions
under the stalwart leadership of
Effie Jones, coincided with the
housing campaign. Here, again,
the need for homes was trans-
lated into unforgettable human
terms which fired campaigners
with new resolve. The look on
the faces of children when they
came home from school at lunch
time to find all the furnishings
of their home on the snowy
street. The sturdy school prin-
cipal who threatened to house a
family in the school basement
if they were not provided with
accommodation. That memor-
able moment when the young vet-
eran appealed for help and labor
leaders, LPP’ers, veterans and
the kids next door with one ac-
cord began carrying the furni-
ture back in again.

There were other aspects of
the campaign which demonstrat-
ed that the LPP was providing
recognized leadership in one of
the keystone issues of the post-
war. Scores of unions endorsed
the drive for homes and circu-
lated the petitions in their meet-
ings. Legion branches came out
in support. Local, members
of the UBC faculty, welfare
workers and individuals carry-
ing administrative responsibilty
in government bodies met with
Dorse Nielsen and Dyson Carter
and expressed warm sympathy
with the aims of the campaign.
A city-wide conference sponsored

tentialities of

by the Vancouver Housing As-
sociation and representing. more
than 50 organizations and 100,-
000 people, endorsed unanim-—
ously a resolution calling for
subsidized low-rental housing.

A number of city councils took
action on the question. Nigel
Morgan, on tour in the interior,
was present in Nelson and ad-
dressed the citizens by radio at
the height of a campaign spear-
headed by the LPP, the unions
and veterans which prodded the
council into demanding 50 War-
time houses for veterans. At
Cranbrook, Nigel Morgan ad-
dressed a public meeting out of
which came a Citizens’ commit-
tee to fight for homes represent-
ing the LPP, labor, the Board
of Trade and the local news-
paper editor.

In terms of outstanding organ-
izational work, the West Hind led
the province with more than
5,000 signatures collected and do-
nations toward financing the
campaign amounting to almost
$400.00 North Burnaby and Cen-
tral Burnaby where municipal
work has been on a high level,
and Grandview-Commerecal. Drive
clubs organized the most repre-
sentative community conferences.

Among the individuals who
made outstanding contributions
to the campaign were Harry
Asson, who added to his long
record of devotion to the labor
movement by collecting many
signatures, and with the help of
Bob Towle, donations to the
amount of $93.75. The star trio
of the campaign, Lena Lipsey,
Lillian Robson, and Lydia Dur-
gan, among them collected nearly
1,500 signatures and turned in
$144.73.

Stalin onee said of Lenin, “He
was bound by a thousand threads
to the masses.” Labor-Progres-
sive members and supporters in
the recent campaign moved along
a road which can realize that
objective. We have reached
thousands. We have learned how
to reach new thousands. And we
have re-kindled a determination
to organize around key issues
which will be a strength to the
entire labor movement in the big
wage struggles which are daily
gathering momentum.

Nielsen, Buck
Climax Drive

TORONTO, Ont. — The LPP’s
national drive for 250,000 new
homes winds up here Wednesday,
March 6, when Mrs. Dorise Niel-
sen, LPP National Leader Tim
Buck and Fred Rose, M.P., ad-
dress a city-wide rally in Massey
Hall. Z

The meeting, expected to draw
an overflow audience, will climax
a campaign which reached into
every corner of the country and
enlisted public support, having:
the government undertake a pro-
gram to relieve the housing cri-
sis. During the campaign, Mrs.
Nielsen toured Canada from No-
va Scotia to British Columbia,
speaking to thousands of people.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1946