ENTE eT TT

LEFT TURN!

A Column For
WAR VETERANS

ope
-- by Jack Philips
ANUIEEGIIENCNTEAEEUAD ALU UTV LE ESTO TALEO

‘HE lifting of more than 300 price controls by Ottawa should

be protested by every veterans’ organization in the country.
fundreds of thousands of new veterans are due to be fieeced of
| ilarge part of their gratuities and re-establishment credits—be-
ause Ottawa is liiting the lid to give the big boys a bit more
rTavy. Take furniture and bedding, for instance. These items
nk high in the budget of Many new veterans, especially those
sho are bringing brides from the old country, getting married
n Ganada/or trying te move out of rented rooms. Wnder the
ew set-up, prices for these items will go up 16 to 10 percent. In
hort, Ottawa collects from the taxpayer, gives to the veteran in
He form of gratuities and re-establishment credit and then takes
| away from the veteran again—on behalf of the manufactures,
Srholesalers and dealers. Hor every hundred bucks the new vet
pends to buy his little wifie a bedroom suite, he has to pay an
xtra 16 to 25 smackaroos, and gets nothing in return. Who are
ne rehabilitating? The veteran or the monopolies of this country?
| As of Feb. 28, this year, B-C. veterans had received more than
» 2,000,000 in re-establishment credits. Of this, more than 28 per-
ent went for the purchase of furniture. Many more millions of
Ais credié@ will be authorized in the next few months. Organized
everans must protest the lifting of price controls on the
Necessities of life . . . and especially on those essentials required
pr their daily livelihood and rehabilitation. :

Do you know any veterans who need one or more shirts?
As if you don’t!) Question is, where are all the shirts going to?
e they going to the export market, as we are given to under-
tand by some? if so, why weren't enough put aside for our
feturning veterans, on a quota-priority basis? Now that the
anufacturers of shirts have been allowed a two-bit boost on
he price of shirts, we may get a few more—or do they want
ore than two bits? 2 ae

Zt is not too late yet. More than 300,000 service personnel
re awaiting. discharge. Shirts, socks and underwear should be
t aside for new vets on a quota-priority basis. This has been
me to provide vets with suits, or else they would have fared
adly. ;

DELIEVE: ME, ivS TRUE!

_ he housing situation is due for a Sharp improvement in the
ext few months. Spring is here and summer is just around the
jorner. Veterans with no suitable accommodation will be allowed
> camp en Grouse Mountain or in Lynn Valley, and by special
Jermission of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board they will pay
o rent War Assets Corporation announce that it may be pos-
ible to sell surplus canyas to veterans taking advantage of this
fier, providing a wholesaler can be found who will buy the canvas
mst, and then take the trouble to re-sell it te veterans who really
‘eed it with the usual profit, of course. In case the Old
iotel Vancouver becomes overcrowded as an emergency shelter,
vernight accommodation will be provided in Stanley Park. just
In case you decide to go camping rather than pay rent Gf you

lave the house) don’t forget to
efore you go.
fanion fer campers!

subscribe to the Pacific Tribune

it is highly recommended as an outdoor com-

‘Stop The

Double Talk

And Act”’ -- Says O’Brien

ERAT: B.C.—Advising the Canadian people to read
ad act upon the principles laid down in the Atlantic
qarter; Daniel O’Brien, CCL Regional Director of organ-

ization told a Trail audience this week:

“We demand that

be government quit talking with its tongue in its cheek.

The fire is out, the war is won.
‘this document: “O’Brien pro-
uced-a copy of the United Na-
ions agreement,” is a declara-
)) on of what the war was fought
or.” Referring to Mackenzie
ting’s reception of “the CCL
resentation to lithe ~ Cabinet
Brien stated that the demands
£ organized labor, for a shorter
jrork week and increased pay
rere justified demands that the
overnment implement the prom-
5€5 it had made when Macken-
je King and St. Laurent affixed
heir signatures to the United
ations Charter.

= “it is not going to be an easy
| truggle,” said O’Brien. “Labor
ever got anything the easy way-
ganized industry is able to
ring tremendous pressure to see
hat these demands are refused.
Phe greatest assurance we,can
jave is a strongly organized
fade union movement and unity
® ctween the trade union cen-
res.” Pointing to the outstand-
ag unity obtained in British Co-
fumbia, in which CCL, AFL, and
the railway brotherhoods, back-
by the veterans had made

}

:

joint presentation to the B.C.
Parliament, O’Brien stated. “Had
Mackenzie King been . faced
with such a united delegation he
would have greeted them much
differently.”

“Tt is not only the privilege but
the great duty of organized la-
bor to take the lead in the fight
to maintain and extend the liv-
ing standards of the Canadian
people.” Castigating the lifting
of price ceilings on basic com-
modities and ridiculing the goy-
ernment figures of a one per
cent increase in the cost of liv-
ing index, “ask any housewife
who has to feed a family of four
or five,” the speaker pointed out
that wages had -not kept pace
with increased living costs.

“There will never be full em-
ployment at decent wages until
the workers in their tens of
thousands unitedly make their
voices heard. We must unite the
trade union movement to com-
pel both governments and em-
ployers to recognize the strength

“Blame it on the provincial
government,” is the theme ofr an
argument which holds that the
simple solutions to Vancouyer’s
indebtedness and current deficit
is more money from the prov-
ince.

It is quite true that a larger
share of the province’s revenues
should be finding its way into
Vancouver’s treasury, a fact
which the Goldenberg commis-
sion is likely to recognize. City
revenues from pari-mutuel taxes
and liquor were cut off some
years ago with consequent losses
to city funds. Vancouver can
also rightly lay claim to a share
of the revenue from the provin-
cial gas and motor vehicle li-
censes in view of the heavy
share of provincial traffic car-
ried by Vancouver pavements.
The city should continue to
press for a more equitable share
of provincial revenue. It must be
recognized, however, that suc-
cess in this field would not
solve the root problem of civic
financing. The real solution to
the problem lies in shifting the
main burden of municipal costs
on to that section of the com-
munity which can best bear it—
namely, big business.

A glance at the history of
Vancouver financing will reveal
that reactionary -civie adminis-
trations particularly during the
non-partisan regime have served
in a most thorough-going way
as the instruments of big busi-
ness. Vancouver’s “mill-rate, is
higher than that of any major
Canadian city. Here are some
comparisons in net tax rates for
1945:

Vancouver ...... 50.04 mills
Winnipeg ........ 36.5 mills
Saskatoon ....... 43 mills
Toronto -.556.6.4 32 milis

During the past -week the
mill-rate has been increased by
two mills. Thus an additional
burden is placed upon the small
home-owner. How heavy a bur-
den the small home-owner car-
ries, however, is not clear un-
less the basis of assessment is
examined. At present the mill-
rate applies to the total assess-
ment on land. The mill-rate ap-
plies to only 50 percent- of the
assessment of improvements,

“A Free Italy’’

VANCOUVER, B.C.. — Fearful
that a British -U.S.- controlled
“election” may be precipitated
upon the Italian people, as in the
case of Greece, the Canadian
paper “L’Unita Del Popolo” is
carrying on a strong campaign in
Canadian-Italian communities for
support to the Italian people in
their demand for a free, demo-
cratic, and unrestricted election.
There is a well-founded fear
among the Italian people that the
widespread hunger and misery
that obtains in Italy will be
used to bring into being a reac-
tionary government of fascist
remnants.

Petitions are being circulated
by progressive Italians here
pledging support to the ftalian

people in their struggle for demo-

and dignity of organized labor,” | eratic government and economic

the speaker concluded.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

aid. &

jit. became necessary to

Vancouver -- “‘Non-Partisan Eden“
For Big Business -Chisellers sy Minerva Cooper

Vancouver is broke! So reads the caption on pictures of Vancouver skyline ap-
pearing in the daily press as part of a calculated campaign to hide the real cause of
Vancouver's financial troubles. In line with established civic tradition, the city fathers,
the property owners’ associations and the local papers have joined forces in as pretty
a piece of buck-passing as this city has seen for many a day

however. Sinee the major in-
vestments of all big commer-
cial and industrial firms is not
in land, but on the big fac-
tories, plants, and department
steres which they erect on the
land, a system of taxation bas-
ed on @ily half the assessment
of improvements is highly ad-
vantageous to them. Home-
owners. have their non-revenue
producing property taxed at ex-
actly the same rate at the high-
ly profitable industrial enter-
prises, and hence bear a rela-
tively muoh higher share of the
costs of civic financing.

To complete the picture it is
necessary to remember that for
years in Vancouver big busi-
ness enterprises have been on
the whole very successful in
having their assessments reduc-
ed The practice of lowering the
assessment on big business con-
cerns became so prevalent that
restrict
reductions in assessments to 10
percent annually. Thereafter the
practice of 10 percent reductions
tended to become almost auto-
matic.

How sweeping has been the
reduction in assessments on
big: busimess is revealed by the
fact that from 1932 to 1944
assessed values were actually
lowered by approximately 61
million dollars! And this in 2
period in which Vancouver has
_beecome the most favored resi
dential spot in Canada and at
a time when industrial prop-
erties have increased enorm-
ously im value through war
construction!

it is against this background
of permitting reduced assess-
ments to business enterprises
that the recent blanket 10 per-
cent imerease in assessment on
homes only should be evaluated.

Wot only must home owners
now pay the higher mill rate,
but on assessments recently in- ~
Greased by 10 percent while the
big revenue producing properties
were “protected” from such in-
ereases by the city fathers.

In unorganized territory in
the province administered by the
provincial government, a basic
exemption of $1500.00 worth of
improvements is allowed before
taxation applies.

Such 2 practice provides the
key to sound financing in Van-
couver. Ifthe burden of taxa-
tion is to be borne by those
sections of the community most
able to pay, namely big) business,
the labor movement must fight
for the principle of a basic ex-
emption in the neighborhood of
$2000 worth of improvements
combined with a graduated levy
which would place the main
taxation/ on the revenue produc-
ing properties, and bring home-
ownership within the reach of
greater numbers of the working
people.

Vancouver can have more and
better libraries, better lighting,
more sewage facilities, more
policemen, more firemen, a road
surfacing program. There are
vastly increased sources of civic

finances in the refunding of
Civic debt, in the revision of
business licenses and particu-

‘larly in upward assessment and

increased” taxation of big com-
mereial properties. The fight for
civic reform is one of the» major
tasks facing the organized labor
movement and one which is
capable of winning support ‘from
small business people and the
vast majority of home owners.
The strength of a unified labor
movement with its natural allies
could soon end this non-partisan

| paradise of big business.

After strenuous debate .

GROMYKO STEPS OUT (SOCIALLY)

a cocktail party to lighten

the burdens of the day. Left to right: UN general sec-
retary Tyreve Lie; Andrei Gromyko, Soviet representa-
tive; E. R. Stettinius, US, and Dr. Quo Tai-chi, China.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1946