eh PEOPLE'S VOICE FOR PROGRESS VOL. 1, NO. 7 << 5 Cents VANCOUVER, B.C. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1944 Measures Insuring Full | Postwar Employment MINTELETTT Tye eee TP eEE | Emphazied By McKean aa a i - Z : tries. Concrete, forceful analysis of the political and economic problems and trends of British Columbia, with penetrating emphasis on the essential features of policy necessary for postwar full employment. featured the keynote address of LPP Provincial Leader Fergus McKean to the opening session| @UStry and, thirdly, an expanded ef the second annual convention of the B.C. Labor-Progressive Party on Friday of last weelk. Stressinge the maintenance of iull employment as the key to the solution of such major post- war problems as rehabilitation of the armed forces, adequate social security, higher living standards and educational opportunities for the youth, the LPP leader clear- ly brought out the necessity of developing secondary manutac- turing industries in the proyince as the essential key to providing work for all. “Already it is clear,’ he de- Glared, “we shall not be able to miaintain existing wartime indus- tries at present levels in the post- war, specifically shipbuilding, aircraft and other industries con- nected with war production such as ordnance. ‘Therefore those workers released from Wwar 1n- dustries who have no employ- ment will have to go into new 1m- dustries. In fact the whole fu- qure economy of our province 15 “dependent on the development of secondary manufacturing jndus- “The primary industries of forestry, mining, fishing am agriculture are largely restricted to the extraction and processime of raw materials, mainly for -ex- port. If the materials produced at present, in addition to being “processed, were also manutactur- ed in this province and exported an ships manned by Ganadian ‘seamen, we could double the number of workmen employed in this production and distribution.” STEEL INDUSTRY Analysing the factors Sary fon development _of such manufacturing industries, Me- Kean pointed out that the LES and foremost requirement was én abundant supply of cheap hydro-electric power. Next he placed the need for 2 steel im- neces- a export market and an increased domestic market. “Qur party fully subseripes te the proposal of Premier Hart for taking over the BC Electric and incorporating it in 2 provincially-owned SyS- tem of hydro-electric power based on the Ontario pattern,” he said. “We further favor progressively taking over all privately owned pewer pro- jects in the province and par- ticularly the West Kootenay Light and Power which domi- hates the power requirements of the southern interior. And ‘we alse prepose the develop- ment of a number of new pro- jects as part of such a system, as for instance Nanaimo River, the Adams River at Kamlcops and Campbell River. “For several decades,’ he con- tinued, “the railway system, street railway, bus and steam- ship transportation, mining in- dustry and the hydro-electric in- dustry—three key industries— have been dominated by two giant monopolies in this proy- ince, the CPR and its subsidia- ries, Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company and West Kootenay Light and Power, and the BCElectric and its subsidia- vies. While they have expended their own properties the fact re- mains however that they have also acted as a retarding influ- ence on the development of B.C.” HIGHWAYS The speaker cited the Hope- Princeton Highway project, be- sun 80 years ago and still in- complete, undeveloped mining elaims and hydro-electric sites on which these monepolies held options as well as the high yates for transportation and electric power as examples of such retarding imfluences. “The future economic develop- —Continued on Page 7 Take Over Establish - Is Demand At LP GC : few | ndustr Electric; _ Comprehensive program for solution of postwar economic and social problems of British Columbia was enthusiastically formulated and adopted by the 142 delegates, representing all Sections of the province, who attended the second annual convention of the B.C. Labor-Progressive Party in Van- couver last week. Using the bricks which the volunteers of the Workers’ Educational Association produced in their Spare time, Bill Mitchell and Jack Henderson, members of the Bricklayers and Tilesetters local union No. 2 erect the W.E.A. Model Home at Toronto. T Vancouver Rejects CCF Partisan Slate — _ Vancouver citizens once more registered their disapproval of party politics in civic affairs by defeating the full CCF aldermanic slate in the Vancouver elections this week. In a’ close mayorality contest, J. W. Cornett was reelected for a third term with 12,184 votes. Tom Alsbury, schoolteacher, chairman of the CCF provincial committee Was runner-up with 11,690, whilst Ald. George H. Worthington, Non-Partisan nominee, was a close third with 10,894. In the contest for School Board four Non-Partisan and one inde- pendent were reelected, whilst two CCF and two Non-Partisan candidates were returned in the Parks Board contest. _ So as a result of the election Vancouver finds itself with the same prospect of inaction and bungline. Vital necessity of organized labor taking part in civic elec- tions is emphasized by results, which clearly demonstrate the unacceptability of a narrow GCE Party politics in the civic field. Highest vote for GCF alder- manic contestants was registered by Sydney Wyborne, member of the Street Railwaymens’ Union. Noticeable feature of the con- test was lack of participation by organized labor. Not one candi- date in the race received the en- dorsation of any union or labor council. A salutory lesson to be borne in mind for future elec- tions. \ Endorsing the LPP’s de- mand for postwar full em- ployment, the convention brought this down to the con- crete situation ‘in B.C. and adopted a resolution demand- ing immediate public owner- ship of hydro-electric resour- ces, specifically the B.C. Elec- tric system, says the funda- mental step toward the crea- tion and maintenance of the secondary industries necessary for full employment, social se- curity and’ higher living stand- ards for B.C. citizens. The resolution called for estab- | lishment of a hydro-electric com- mission ‘responsible for and em-= powered to develop an extensive hydro - electric program for B.G. which would provide cheap power . for secondary industries and household consumers, rural elec- trification and irrigation, elec- trified railways and other needs of an expanding industrialized provincial economy. FEDERAL PROGRAM As a foundation for the per- spective of a prosperous postwar B.C., the convention endorsed the LPP federal program in a reso- lution expressing their firm con- viction that any program of ef- fective reforms and postwar in- dustrial expansion for Ganada could only be realized through the achievement of a democratic coalition representative of the progressive will and determina- tion of the vast majority of the Canadian people. HIGHWAYS : An extensive program of main and secondary highway construc- tion under a specially established highway commission was called for by the convention. Completion of the Hope-Prince- ton Highway was stressed, and the building (of other arterial highways and market roads) was urged® to provide easy access to B.C’s wealth of raw material ~ resources for processing within the province. The need for secondary indus- tries was reiterated in this reso- lution, which pointed to the tre- miendous resources of lumber and minerals which, given proper fa- cilities for bringing them to pro- vincial centres of manufacturing industry, could provide a sound basis for expanding the indus- trialization of the province and providing employment for not only the present population but for thousands more. Such a-pro- gram, the convention stressed, could only be undertaken by a special highway commission ap- pointed by the nrovincial sovern- —CGontinued on Page 8