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The major reasons for high food
Prices inB.C. is “the concentration
of ownership in the retail industry
in the hands of a few corporate
Giants,” said the B.C. Federation
of Labor ina brief presented to the
food prices inquiry, held in Van-
Couver Wednesday.

Meeting in Vancouver all this
Week to hear briefs from farm,
labor and consumer groups, the
Legislature’s Select Standing

Friday, September 23, 1977

Vol. 39, No. 37

we
Committee on Agriculture heard
the labor body charge that “‘the
situation in food retailing in B.C.,
with its very high degree of con-

centration, is producing excessive |

profits for one or two firms.”
The well-documented brief says
that a major portion of the food
market isin the hands of two major
chains, Safeway and Super Valu
(Weston), and that this con-
centration provides an effective

barrier to new competition en-
tering the field. “There is a definite
relationship between high con-
centration and high profits. High
concentration is associated with
higher prices.”

The B.C. Fed brief says that
“problems with respect to
marketing boards and prices of
raw products, while deserving
serious attention, appear to be less
of acontributing factor to the over-

all level of prices than the cor-
porate oligarchies in manufac-
turing, processing and retailing.”

Referring to a recent study on
the impact of monopolies on food
prices, the brief points out that
“indications are that relatively
high degrees of concentration of
market shares in the hands of a few
firms is a significant factor in
establishing relatively high price
levels.”

«

Comparing the degree of con-
centration in major Canadian
cities and its impact on prices, the
labor brief points out that com-
parable Vancouver prices are
about about 8-1/2 per cent higher
than Toronto where the degree of
concentration in the food industry
is not as high as Vancouver.

Pointing to the “extraordinary”
degree of concentration in’ food

See FOOD, pg. 12

With greatly increased trade between Chil
Chilean Association, with assistance from t

e and Canada adding impetus to their campaign, the Vancouver
he Southern Africa Action Coalition, picketed downtown liquor
i j i a ’” wines. SAAC has also been waging a boycott

Stores Friday calling for a boycott of Chilean Undurraga wines. S
Campaign ne the e. Sears anoelcs picketing stores in a continuing effort to curb sales of South African
Products. Information on future pickets is available at 733-5267.

Agreement on supertankers

The threat of a catastrophic oil
Spill on the province’s coast
loomed larger this week with the
report that an agreement —
Negotiated without any reference
the West Coast Oil Ports Inquiry
has apparently been reached
bwtween the U.S. and Canada
verning the movement of
Supertankers through coastal
Waters,

United Fishermen and Allied

orkers Union president Jack
Nichol made the charge Tuesday,
Pointing out that a bulletin issued

‘om Washington and given to the
4nion by Skeena MP Iona Cam-

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pagnolo, revealed some of the
terms of the agreement although it
did not indicate whether or not the
agreement had been formally
ratified.

The ‘bulletin indicated that
provisions have been outlined
governing such aspects of
supertanker traffic as navigational
regulations and some safety
standards.

The agreement gives substance
to the charge voiced earlier by the
UFAWU that the federal govern-
mentwas ‘‘usurping”’ the authority
given the West Coast Oil Ports

Inquiry headed by Andrew .

Thompson. :

The UFAWU had demanded that
the federal government suspend ay
bilateral talks with the U.S. on
supertanker traffic pending the
outcome of the West Coast Oil
Ports Inquiry which was
established to study the economic,
social and environmental impact
of various proposals for oil ports on

the west coast.

“But now, even before the
Thompson Inquiry has opened its
first phases of hearings, the
federal government has ap-
parently arrived at an agreement
with the U.S. on supertaanker

compromises ports inquiry

traffic and ‘the cleanup of oil
spills,” Nichol charged.

“As we stated before, any
agreement on supertanker traffic
in coastal waters indicates either
that there is chaos in the federal
cabinet or that there has been an
intentional usurpation of the

See TECHNOLOGY pg. 12

The Amalgamated.Transit Union
launched a major campaign in
opposition to planned B.C. Hydro
transit cutbacks which, the union
warned, “‘are only the beginning”’
in service cuts contemplated by the
Crown corporation. ;

Claiming that ‘levels of rider-
ship cannot justify continuation of
present service,’’ B.C. Hydro
announced earlier this month that,
on Oct. 28, the last bus leaving
downtown Vancouver on most of
the main arteries would be at 1:10
a.m. .— a two-hour cutback of
service. Buses along those routes
presently run until 3:10 a.m.

In addition, Hydro plans
reductions in daytime service
along the Main-Robson and the
Davie-Kingsway routes on the
basis that more riders should be
standing on the buses.

“The ATU is convinced that this
is only the beginning and that more
service cuts are presently being
planned,”’ the union stated in
launching its campaign. ‘‘Public
transportation should and must be
viewed as an essential public
service:”

Delegates to the Vancouver and
District Labor Council Tuesday
night voted to endorse the union’s
campaign and to.demand that B.C.
Hydro maintain present levels of
service.

Several unionists voiced concern
that the reduction in night service
would cause hardship for shift
workers, particularly women, who
rely on late night buses in retur-
ning home from work.

United Fishermen and Allied

Workers Union delegate George

guia
jtpack
Hewison also slammed B.C. Hydro
for its cutbacks, pointing out that
while the need has long been
established for a rapid transit
system for Vancouver, ‘‘B.C.
Hydro is moving the opposite
dir ection.” He urged wide support
for the ATU campaign.

The transit union has pressed
NDP leader Dave Barrett to raise
the matter in the Legislature and
will be appearing before city
council to protest the Hydro cuts.

Can.-U.S. sign
pipeline deal

Canada and the U.S. ‘put their
signatures
Tuesday in Ottawa which spells out
the terms on which the Alaska
pipeline will be built. As feared, the
Canadian governent capitulated on
all the major issues in the
negotiations.

There will be no $200 million fund
to pay for the damages in the
Yukon, nor will there be any im-
mediate benefit toCanada in terms
of solving its energy problems. The
new treaty is heavily weighted in
favor of the U.S.

U.S. energy secretary James
Schlesinger used the occasion to
point out that the U.S. expects
large additional volumes of
Canadian gas as a result of the
pact.

The treaty must now go before
Parliament and the two houses of
Congress before receiving final
ratification.

Brown, protesters filibuster

‘Will fight Bill 65 to

NDP MLA Rosemary Brown
continued her filibuster
“education” of human resources
minister Vander Zalm this week,
as the Tribune went to press, in a
last attempt to stop Bill 65 — the
Socred legislation that will abolish
the Vancouver Resources Board
and reduce social services in the
city of Vancouver.

Tuesday, as Brown began her
second day of the filibuster in
Victoria, VRB supporters in.
Vancouver gathered on the steps of
city hall in Vancouver to add their
voices to the appeal to save the
VRB in a marathon speech day.

Vancouver alderman Harry

Rankin kicked off the speech-day
in Vancouver and summed up the
feelings of the VRB supporters
when he called the struggle to save
the VRB ‘“‘just one battle in a war.”
Rankin predicted that Vander
Zalm would join the VRB on the
casualty list. ‘‘Vander Zalm_ is
finished,” he said, ‘I give him six
months.”

Save the VRB Joint Committee
co-chairman Libby — Davies
sounded the note of optimism, that
theopposition was still holding out.
“Tt is not hopeless,”’ she said.
“There is still time for the
government to reflect on the im-
plications of this action.

the end’

“It is a question of loyalties,”
Davies said inreference to the split
in the Socred caucus over Bill 65,
“they must choose to be loyal to the
people of Vancounver or to the
minister of human resources,”’

Even as Vander Zalm appeared
to be about to get his way, using the
Socred legislative majority against
the clear majority opinion in
Vancouver, the demand to fire the
minister — first raised by this
paper some months ago — con--
tinued to find new support. Wed-
nesday, the conservative Van-
couver Province offered the Socred
caucus a last alternative. “He

See RALLY, pg. 12

to an agreement -