You DONT CALL THAT INFLATION? /

Board should answer for actions — Rankin

By ALD. HARRY RANKIN

I believe that the parks board, .which is an elected body just like the school board, should have the right and responsibility of levying a separate mill rate to cover the cost of its administration.

The ways things are now, the

parks board comes to city council.

when it needs money. This naturally leads to a lot of conflict. But the worst feature of it is that the parks board is accountable only to council and not to the taxpayers who foot the bill for its expenses.

It’s a basic principle of our democracy that elected bodies who spend public funds must be ac- countable to the electorate. That principle is being violated by the -setuup we have with the parks board in Vancouver today.

What makes matters worse is that in recent years the parks board has followed a policy of catering to the well-to-do and the tourist trade rather than the needs of Vancouver citizens. Admission prices at the aquarium in Stanley

Park, for example, are far out of line. At most they should be 25c or 50c so that a family there for an outing can afford to go. Today the aquarium is being boosted mainly as a tourist attraction.

The same thing applies to our new VanDusen Gardens on which the parks board not only spent but also wasted a good deal of money. Here again admission prices are set not to accommodate local families who would like to spend an interesting and educational af- ternoon in the Gardens; admission prices are geared to the tourist trade.

The parks board, at great ex-

pense, built a restaurant at Queen Elizabeth Park. Then it turned the whole thing over to private en- terprise which is charging all that the traffic can bear for meals. This is one more example of how a publicly built facility which should serve the average family in Vancouver instead is priced to serve only the well-to-do and the tourists. See PARKS, pg. 12

Critics face Vander Zalm_ | at city parley on June 20

Socred human _ resources minister William Vander Zalm will come face to face with the angry opposition to his anti-people policies on June 20 at a public meeting at Vancouver City Hall.

Organized by the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, the meeting will replace the planned July 1 demonstration in front of Vander Zalm’s home in Surrey.

“The incredible personal animosity which many GAIn victims feel towards you could have unfortunate results,” DERA vice-president Bruce Eriksen told Vander Zalm as he cancelled the demonstration. In place of the demonstration, DERA called on Vander Zalm to meet with repre- sentatives of all groups concerned about Human Resources rates and policies.

Vander Zalm agreed to attend the June 20 meeting at City Hall after being contacted directly by Eriksen. ‘I told him that unless we could offer the participants in the demonstration an alternative, they might show up anyway,” Eriksen told the Tribune.

The City Hall encounter will take place at 11 a.m. in Committee Room number one and will be

~ Paying for corruption with

By MAURICE RUSH

chaired by Alderman Harry Rankin. The Vancouver and District Labor Council, the B.C. Coalition of the Disabled and a number of other organizations, will jon with DERA to challenge Vander Zalm on his policies.

“It seems to us that our dims and recommendations are totally compatible with your stated ob- jective of using taxpayer’s money to help the deserving,’’ DERA said to Vander Zalm. “‘Our immediate concern is the proper allocation of the $100 million surplus.”

DERA, the Vancouver Labor Council, the VRB, and Vancouver City Council’s committee on social services have all agreed on a six- point’ program to improve department of human resources allocations. The main demand is that the basic rate for social assistance be increased to $230 per month for single persons and to $284 per month for handicapped persons.

While a growing number of organizations throughout the province are lending their support to DERA’s program, Vander Zalm has toughened his stand and has begun a counter offensive against the poor.

Last

week Vander Zalm

our taxes

repeated his controversial “shovel statements” with another attack on ‘“‘employables.” ‘Those wh can work had best pick up a shovel or a shovel will be given to them, Vander Zalm ranted to a meetiné of the B.C. Medical Association: Then Vander Zalm attended 4 Social Credit rally in Vancouver’ Point Grey district and attack all people on “‘LIP, NIP and CRA programs of the federal govell ment. a ‘The minister’s statements wel® thrown back in his face by DE vice-president Bruce Eriksen wh? pointed out that Vander Zalm we using federal work programs artificially inflate the figures {0 his own “make work program, PREP. Eriksen says that job applicanl from Canada Manpower offitt arrive at DERA’s office with thell application stamped ‘PREP.’ “He wants to take credit for jobs thi) we created,” Eriksen said, “ant then he slanders people working’ government work programs.” Eriksen said that DERA h® agreed not to hire any applicanl who have their forms stam ‘PREP.’ ‘‘We are not going to ke used by him to pad his figures,” #* said.

oth Vancouver dailies gave front page coverage to the Becandai which broke out in Britain last week con- cerning allegations that the Leyland car company has paid out $19,450,000 in ‘‘slush money”’ in the form of bribes and undercover commissions to further their business interests. The British government last Thursday set up a high-level inquiry and British prime minister James Callaghan told Parliament, ‘We will not tolerate these kinds of practices and they must be rooted out.”’

Compare the front page coverage given by the big business press in B.C. to events in Britain with the low profile they are maintaining on a similar scandal closer to _ home — the Mac Blo disclosures in which the company admits to having paid out $3.2 million in questionable practices in domestic and overseas transactions.

Silence continues to surround the Mac Blo payoff scandal. The giant forest company is stonewalling it, refusing any further comments, even though the Van- couver Labor Council has demanded a public inquiry. Outside of reporting the actions of the labor council, the media remains silent. They have almost totally ignored the exposure sent out by the Tribune in a press release and letter. Our letter brought an acknowledgment from the premier’s office and a statement from the B.C. Tory leader that he will raise the matter in the House when it reconvenes. Significantly, Liberal leader Gordon Gibson, whose party is reported to be the largest recipient of political contributions from Mac Blo, has said nothing. And NDP leader Dave Barrett hasn’t even had the courtesy to acknowledge our letter.

No one knows at this moment how much of the $3.2 million went to corrupt officials abroad or at home. The Mac Blo press release on the subject said the ‘study covered MB’s domestic and overseas transactions for the five years ending December 31, 1976.’ Whether the money was used to further Mac Blo’s interests abroad or closer to home does not make their actions any more palatable. But certainly the public in B.C. have a right to know the details as to where and to whom the money went in these “questionable” practices.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 27, 1977 — Page 2

Wewill never know if we wait for Mac Blo to tell us. It’s not enough for company officials to say they conducted an internal investigation and that’s all that’s needed. And then in the next breath to say — as if admitting guilt — that they’ll never do it again. The public has a right to know and only a public inquiry can get the facts out.

There’s a phrase lawyers never tire of using: that justice should not only be done, but also appear to be done. In the Mac Blo case neither justice or the appearance of justice is evident when the wrongdoer investigates himself. The matter cannot be allowed to rest there.

* * *

Another interesting angle on the Mac Blo case came up in April which was brought to my attention recently. On April 5, Stuart Leggatt, the NDP MP from New Westmins- ter, raised the matter in Parliament. ‘‘Some of MacMillan Bloedel’s payments were likely used to subvert foreign governments,’ hesaid and then added that it was “‘iniqui- tous” that Canadian corporations may legally deduct such payments from taxes owed the federal government.

Leggatt demanded that this tax provision be ended and moved a motion to that effect. The Speaker pointed out that such a motion under Standing Order 43 required unanimous consent, and when he asked, “Is there such consent?’’ some MPs cried “‘No.”’ That killed the measure. _ But the interesting point raised by Leggatt’s action is that here we have a company which profits from ex- ploiting vast areas of Crown forests, and then uses millions of dollars from its operations to pay for “questionable payments and practices’ — and then deducts those payments from its taxes. And our elected MPs continue to defend such practices!

At the London Western economic summit conference recently, which was attended by the prime minister and other top Canadian officials, a ‘‘pledge”’ was signed by the government’s taking part to stamp out international corruption. I don’t know if Canada signed that ‘‘pledge.”’ I presume we did. But in Canada the government not only turns a blind eye to such practices — it makes them tax exempt:

An irate reader of the Tribune in Port Alberni — a ll i dominated by Mac Blo — felt so strongly about the iss¥ that he went to city council where he handed out copies? the Tribune to aldermen and asked that council requé the media to give full exposure to the issue. Councillo agreedit was regrettable that the securities and exchal disclosures resulting in the stories had to be made in th U.S. The council passed a motion saying that the me@ has access to the information reported in the Vancouv® Pacific Tribune and that action is up to the ne organizations.

Don’t hold your breath in anticipation that the big. business press, which is largely dominated by the are corporations, is suddenly going to change its tune ad expose the whole rotten situation. The days of an # dependent, public-serving press, bent on exposing wr0 doing, is long gone. It went out when the monopolies too . over. : |

The Mac Blo scandal points up the need for a paper such as the Tribune. Without our paper the issue would have been buried and forgotten. We are the only genuine a?! monopoly, people-owned and oriented weekly labor pa t That’s one strong reason why it should get the support } needs in the current financial drive to ensure publication in the coming year. If you haven’t sent y' donation in yet — do it now.

Editor - MAURICE RUSH

Assistant Editor SEAN GRIFFIN -. Business and Circulation Manager — FRED WILSON

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