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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1974

Iripune

VOL. 35, NO. 1

15°

TENANTS FIGHT RENT

GOUGE BY LANDLORDS

F i tment block in Vancouver B.C. Tenants Organization president Bruce Yorke points to Century House apar i p where the OMGneT, Block Brethets Ltd., in leading the way fora new rou nd of rent gouges, has given notice of rent increases averaging $28 per month to each of the 100 tenants in the building. (See story this page).

CP urges support for NDP gov't in natural gas fight

By NIGEL MORGAN

British Columbians should get behind the NDP Provincial govern- ment in the crucial battle shaping up with the powerful U.S. APCO group, and the National Energy

oard of Canada, over control of the amount and price of natural gas exports.

APCO (successor to the El Paso Natural Gas Company) which in turn controls Westcoast Transmis- Sion in B.C.) has not only con- tracted to draw 809 million cubic feet of natural gas’ per day from B.C. but wants more, and wants it at a price it sets. :

Rates were upped by the newly- created government agency, B.C. Petroleum Corporation, November 1 last to bring them more in line with competitive energy sources and give the people of this province a better return on their resources.

. B.C. Hydro has been paying the new price — 58 cents (up from 33¢)

per 1,000 cubic feet, but El Paso has refused. Under existing export licenses U.S. users are required to pay 5 percent more than the domestic price for B.C.

The B.C. government application before the National Energy Board to» cut natural gas exports from B.C. to the U.S. Northwest by 53 percent is expected to be ruled on before the weekend. Not only should B.C. natural gas exports to the United States be cut in half, they should be cut off completely until the El Paso Natural Gas Com- pany meets the price and con- ditions for export set by our elected representatives in Victoria.

The present crisis is a perfect ex- ample of the kind of a mess Canada is in because successive governments have pursued the policy of allowing privately-owned corporations — and mostly foreign - owned at that — to secure control over our energy resources as well

as pipeline and distributive systems. There is no reason for an energy crisis in Canada. Any shor- tage is a deliberately contrived one, brought on by the lust for super profits by absentee coupon clippers and the placing of U.S. ex- ports ahead of Canadian needs.

The sole aim of E11 Paso is to ex-.

tract the maximum profits it can from Canadian gas and oil fields. They will take advantage of every situation, every problem — and if there aren't problems they are not beyond creating them (as in the present energy crisis) in order to get their pound of our flesh. They develop only those sections of the economy which provide the highest profit, and they develop it in a one- sided way that places the interests of Canadians at the bottom of the pile.

Now they are even interfering in our internal affairs. in order to

See NATURAL GAS, pg. 12

With the opening of the new year the prospects are that it will not be a happy one — at least for tenants, unless emergency action is taken. by the provincial government to curb the latest round of crippling rent increases.

Just before the onset of the holi- day season, thousands of tenants at scores of apartment blocks were given notice of intended rent in- creases ranging from 20 to nearly 70% and, at one apartment in Van- couver, the landlord was seeking to impose the second increase in a year, in violation of even existing legislation.

With changes in income tax legislation last year, a mass exodus of small landlords from apartment ownership resulted as they were no longer able to write off the costs of the buildings against personal in- come tax. Where they did retain ownership these owners — many of them doctors, lawyers and other professionals — sought to recoup their former financial advantage by hiking rents sharply.

As well, major developers and real estate companies have staged a sit-down strike on new apartment construction all aimed at taking ad- vantage of the desperate housing shortage to swell their profits at the expense of the living standards of tenants.

The storm has been gathering for over a year throughout the province but in the greater Van- couver area it has hit tenants with unprecedented fury.

In a letter sent December 27 to Vancouver City Council, tenants council secretary Bruce: Yorke pointed out that the largest real es- tate firm in Vancouver, Block Brothers, is attempting to set the pace for rent increases.

“For example, in their 100 suite Century House complex in Kit- silano, rent increases averaging $28 a month have recently been an- nounced, and they are even higher in some instances,” Yorke said.

The tenants council charged that

the rent increases were completely unjustified, particularly in view of the fact that the city taxes at Cen- tury House had declined over the past two years. Yet evictions face any tenants who fail to pay the in- crease.

The tenants council said that ‘An emergency situation has developed in the city of Van- couver” and “thousands of tenants are faced with grinding rent hikes and many faced with complete up- rooting from their homes’. They called on city council to hold an emergency night meeting to hear representations from Various tenants councils.

They also urged council to pass regulations requiring landlords to justify publicly rent increases and to demonstrate cost increases com-

‘mensurate with proposed hikes.

The Vancouver Tenants Council is holding its annual meeting Sun- day January 13 at 1 o'clock in the Ironworkers Hall in Vancouver. Alderman Harry Rankin, NDP MLA Harold Steves and minster for consumer affairs Phyllis Young are scheduled to speak, and demands for government legisla- tion are expected to dominate the meeting.

Several tenants councils as well as the Communist Party, citing the emergency nature of the rental situation have called on the provin- cial government to institute an im- mediate rent freeze to remain effective until such time as legisla- tion can be enacted to force landlords to justify rent increases before rental accommodation boards.

In several briefs to the govern- ment, backed by lobbies to the

See RENT GOUGE, pg. 11

EXCITING, TURBULENT

YEAR AHEAD IN 1974

—See page 5 :