City should hear delegations

Provincial gov't should pay
for public transit system

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

Should Council hear any
citizen delegation that wants to
appear before it to present a
point of view or make a request?

The old NPA City Councilused
to pick and choose, hearing
most delegations (and always
those that sided with the
Establishment) but refusing
others (who by coincidence? —
usually were anti establish-
ment). TEAM aldermen at that
time supported hearing most
delegations and pressed this
point of view during last fall’s
civic election.

But now that TEAM has be-
come the Establishment, things
area little different. Now some
TEAM aldermen want to pick
and choose. When a group called
““the Women’s Coalition Against
Abortion’’ asked for permission
to appear on March 13, several
Aldermen objected. Alderman
Walter Hardwick led the opposi-
tion, taking the untenable
position that abortion had
nothing to do with Council busi-
ness, even before hearing what
the delegation had to say.

My position, which I again
made clear to Council, is thatall
delegations must be heard. I
readily admit that there are dele-

gations that I don’t particularly
care to hear. Heading the list
are developers and such groups
as tourist promotion agencies
which ask for huge grants so that
the city will subsidize a cam-
paign to bring tourists to their
hotels and restaurants which
charge the highest prices and
pay the lowest wages in town.

But as an Alderman I think it
is my duty to hear all delega-
tions, not just those I personally
like. i

Experience with the NPA has
also taught me that when Coun-
cil starts to pick and choose, itis
citizen protest delegations that
are usually cut out. Therefore
my stand is— hear them all.

When the vote was taken on
the» womeh’s delegation, it
passed but Aldermen Mazari,

Bowers and Massey voted
against.

***K
The Greater Vancouver

Regional District has been nego-
tiating with the
government for several years
now about taking over the B.C.
Hydro bus system. It would be a
good thing, I believe, because
public transit is a regional prob-
lem and can’t be solved by any
one municipality.

There is a problem, however,
and it’s a big one. The bus sys-
tem has been running into the
red for many years. In view of
the poor service it gives, that’s
not surprising. But aside from
what I think that a bus system
should be subsidized— it should
be considered a utility that
should be provided at the lowest
possible rates so that more
people will use it and leave their
cars at home.

The Bennett governmenttried
to unload the bus system on the
Greater Vancouver Regional
District. It offered to assume
$2.3 million of the annual deficit
and 50 percent of everything

-above that. «= Me VAGI

provincial.

The GVRD turned down the
Bennett offer because it was
unsatisfactory. There is no
justification for loading the tax-
payers of the Lower Mainland
with this annual deficit.

A few weeks ago Municipal Af-
fairs Minister Lorimer offered
to turn the bus system over to
the GVRD. His proposition was
that the Provincial Govern-
ment would pay only 50 percent
of the annual deficit and that the
cities concerned should add two
mills to their property taxes to
cover the rest of the deficit.

The GVRD turned down Lori-
mer’s offer for the same reason
as it turned down Bennett’s and
with even more justification.

When confronted with GVRD
criticism that his offer was less
that that of former Premier
Bennett, Lorimer is reported to
have said, ‘‘Why didn’t they take
Bennett’s offer then?”

That rather arrogant remark
has nothing in common with a
realistic approach to financial
responsibility for the establish-
ment of a good public transit
system. It isn’t even in keeping
with NDP election promises.

In its election platform last
summer the NDP promised to
“develop an extensive public
transit system in our major
cities in conjunction with citizen
and community groups, withthe
provincial government assum-
ing the major financial responsi-

bility.”

That is the election promise to
which Municipal Affairs Min-
ister Lorimer should now be
directing his attention. The
Provincial Government should

the nature lover.

of a Marxist-Leninist party.

invite the GVRD and citizen
groups to join with it in working
out a good plan for a public
transit system in the Lower
Mainland. It should
express buses, commuter
trains, water transport anddial-
a-bus systems, as well as forms
of rapid transit. And the provin-
cial government should be pre-
pared to foot most of the bill.

Contempt
citations

Waitresses involved in the
dispute at Denny’s restaurant
on West Broadway said Tues-
day night that Dennis Houser,
vice-president of Denny’s Inter-
national advised the Alma Mater
Society at UBC to: seek legal
counsel as the company is alleg-
edly going ahead with contempt
proceedings.

Jacquie Ainsworth, one of the
waitresses in the dispute was
also apparently named as one of
those to be cited for contempt.

The workers were seeking the
reinstatement of the 14 who
were fired but Alderman Harry
Rankin, who acted as legal
counsel for the waitresses said
that the best the company could
offer in two negotiating sessions
Monday was severance pay —
three weeks pay for those with 10
weeks service and two weeks

pay for those with less than 10-

weeks service.

include

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A Prince George reader sent us the above advertisemen! tig
appeared in the local newspaper attempting torecruit skilled ag!
for racist Rhodesia. The world democratic movement is maint? ‘obs!
boycott of Rhodesia and has appealed to personel not to rake! cit
racist countries which defy the United Nations resolution
apartheid in all its forms.

Finnish people remember Buck

ie

strangers to this staunch!
of the working people: f atl

“In over 60 years % eit
sided activity there nae ad
been a man more revel mphis
mired by our membel8: ot
indeed a remarkable @¢ it
ment for a man who Wa”

The Vancouver local of the Fin-
nish Organization of Canada has
sent a message to William
Kashtan, leader of the Com-
munist Party of Canada, express- -
ing ‘‘deepest sympathy”’ over
the passing of Tim Buck on
behalf of the local and its indi-

vidual members. Finnish descent. ; moll
The message says: ‘‘As the “We join with you 10 nt if
oldest Finish - Canadian ing the loss of a brill? xe
Workers cultural and educa- trusted leader of the bie
tional organization we were not cause.”
he

Sa Downs is one of the most beautiful spots in Eng-
land. Its rolling lands, its quiet pastoral meadows
and its stately wooded bluffs inspire a deep joy in the heart of

There, in January of the year 1891 Timothy Buck was born.

There he spent his boyhood days, went to school, and the love of
_his family matched the beauty of his native Suffolk.

Then came manhood and his apprenticeship as a
machinist in the great Woolich Arsenal in London, and a highly-
skilled machinist he became. ~

Then to Canada— tothe great Destiny thatawaited him, to
become the founder and leader for close to half-a-century of
the Communist Party of Canada; the Party of Marxism-
Leninism that was to chart the course for a new Socialist
‘world, which, within the scope of that half-century is already

_ well on its way, with no turning back. :

To millions in Canada and beyond Timothy became ‘“‘Tim”’
and his warm personality shed its reflection upon all who knew
him. To Tim there was no grievance of complaint too trivial
and he made the “‘beefs”’ of the ordinary citizen his own. Like
Lenin, Tim wasa powerful down-to-earthorator, andalwaysa
sympathetic listener, anessential combination in the building

Tim Buck’s heritage to the generations he leaves behind
consists of literally hundreds of pamphlets, articles and books
(many of the latter now fundamental text books for the
guidance of future revolutionaries). To mention all would fill
this column, but I will mention one: Amalgamation — The
Railroader’s Next Step— since Tim went thru that railroad
strike of 1912, and knew precisely what had to be done— to win
victory: the unity of all railroaders, regardless of railroad
corporations, and regardless of crafts.

That was 60-years ago and much has changed since, buf as
principles set down by Tim Buck are still eminently aio
any railroader will verify. Yet inall his writings, aS!” ms it
eral leadership of the Communist Party, Tim never once
“T told you so.”’ ao cla® |i

In the meeting halls of International Working: g!?
Solidarity, Tim Buck was ever an active participant, help
plan strategy and providing much of the inspiral!
enthusiasm for victory. Few great struggles in the rem ond
corners of this earth ever took place without Tim being ofan
to give aid and encouragement to the disposed for the? ©
freedom and destiny. : nist

To Tim, the slogan of Marx and Engels in the Comm tes
Manifesto of 1848, — Workingmen of All Countries UY a |)
coupled with his first railroad strike leader, ““Gene”’ :
said, ‘While there is a soul in prison, Iam not free’ be f
his firm credo of Internationalism, held firmly to th¢
his days. . oneal

We who were destined to sojourn for a time 1? orl
Canada’s grimest bastilles, that smaller stone-and-ste®” «jit ||
within a larger world, can not forget the cheerfulnes m0!
courage and comfort Tim endowed us with in our tory’
despondent and lonely hours. Always a laugh, a song 0” evo
never ‘‘crepe’’ hanging; always the reality (for the rt
tionary) that after the Shakespearean couplet ‘‘I haves hel?
life upon a cast, and I must stand the hazard of the die »
will be singing and fighting Tomorrows. ies,

The long conspiracy of silence by his class enem) sul |

monopoly exploiters and money-changers and the pal)
servient media, was not so much dictated by clas’ tt ;

(although that was always present) as by fear. They fea ne"
man, but respected him too, for what he was and whay
nobley represented. g (at |
Following the Kingston Penitentiary riots of 193 eu
there have been many since) Mr. Justice de la Re nif |
sentencing Tim Buck said ‘‘I am sentencing you to oF yal
months. . . the circumstances were very extraordinal: ed!
very extenuating. . . you showed commendable prese” pe |
mind and the things that you did were good. nto”
statutory penalty for “‘rioting’’ was 14-years. ) “Tam sé 5H
ing you...’ to the immortality your life’s work
courageously earned.”’ oty
Goodbye Dear Comrade Tim, and may your mem
wreathed in the glory of a Socialist Canada. /

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1973—PAGE 2

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