HARRY RANKIN
One man, one vote
THE Social Credit government plans to pad municipal voters' lists with thousands of new names of people who will vote for developer-oriented municipal political parties and candidates.
That is the real meaning of the amendments to the Municipal Act introduced by municipal affairs minister Bill Vander Zalm in the provincial legislature on Aug. 8. The amendments would give the vote to any business owner who rents office space in a municipality, whether he or she lived in that municipality or not. This would be in addition to the vote which they already have in the municipality in which they live. This means that a lawyer, doctor, store owner or the owner of any other business who rents office space in Vancouver will be given a vote in Vancouver civic elections even if he or she lives in another municipality, as many of them do.
The amendments apply to all municipalities other than Vancouver, but it has already been indicated by the government that a special amendment applying this concept to Vancouver will also be introduced shortly.
How many names will this add to municipal voters' lists in the province? Figures are not yet available but it would certainly be many tens of thousands. One estimate is that, in Vancouver alone, it will pad the voters' lists with 10,000 new names.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this padding of the voters' lists will decide the fate of many municipal political parties and many candidates. It is designed to keep developer parties and candidates in and to keep reform-minded parties and candidates out. It is aimed at keeping parties like the NPA in Vancouver and the Burnaby Voters Association (BVA) in Burnaby in office and keeping out reform groups such as COPE in Vancouver and the Burnaby Citizens' Association in Burnaby.
This action by the Social Credit government violates the whole principle upon which our democratic society is based, namely one person — one vote. From now on we'll have two types of voters. Working people will have only one vote, but many business people will have two votes.
The outcome of municipal election will not longer be decided by the people who live in the municipality, it will be decided by the votes of business peopie who live outside of the municipality.
It is a form of gerrymandering. Just as the provincial government has changed the boundaries of provincial constituencies to guarantee the election of Social Credit candidates, now it is gerrymandering the voters' lists to guarantee the election of developer candidates in the municipal field, many of whom are Social Crediters.
From now on property, not people, will decide the outcome of municipal elections.
We shouldn't forget that when the NDP was in office from 1972 to 1975, it took away the right of property to vote and based elections on the principle of one vote — one person.
When Social Credit was returned in 1975, it immediately restored the right of all property owners in a municipality to have the right to vote even if they didn't live there.
Now this is being taken one step further and the right to vote is also being given to people who rent business premises.
If it is right to give property owners and business renters the right to vote in a municipality in which they don't live, then it would be equally right to give all working people the right to vote in the municipality in which they work, even if they don't live there.
These amendments are a cynical violation of our democratic system. There is no justification whatsoever for them. They should be withdrawn.
4/THE FISHERMAN — AUGUST 22,
DUMB KID,' n CAN'T HE SEE WE'RE STARTING FRON SCRATCH C/
Fish and Ships
AFIT-LOOKING Archie Kaario (M V Paystreak) dropped in to see us the other day, sat down and told us plainly what was on his mind:
"What we're seeing this year is super-cautious, simple management by simple people," he said. "In Smith's Inlet, we had the opening two weeks too late and the sockeye were already through the fence. They said they were going to close Area 10 for the balance of the season, then they ordered the closure rescinded. They're hard to figure.
"On the Rivers Inlet sockeye, we're getting one adult return for each adult spawner. There's something wrong somewhere. In spite of all the gloom and doom predicted for chum runs, we're getting a good showing on poor spawning stocks. It proves that if you take care of the variables — protect the spawning beds, protect the estuary, get good ocean survival — you can get a tremendous return from poor stocks.
"To get back to management: what about the closure of Spider Island to trollers? The reason given was a bunch of scientific gobbledygook to do a snow job on fishermen. Save Rivers Inlet springs? Save them for who? For the playboys brought in by charter vessels, that's who.
"The department has no guts. Instead of stopping the freezer trollers from wandering far afield they take on the small troller. Like I said, simple management for simple people." Right. •
Native Brotherhood fieldworker Cliff Atleo has extended a warm invitation to all our readers to a salmon barbecue sponsored by the Brotherhood Aug. 31 from noon to 7.30 p.m. during Vancouver's Gastown Days. A mere four dollars will net you a generous serving of salmon, a baked potato and coleslaw, as well as the satisfaction of knowing the funds will be used for a good cause. Proceeds will be used to defray the cost of the Brotherhood's 50th annual convention Dec. 2 to 5 in Prince Rupert. Look for the barbecue between 44 and 66 Water Street next to the Town Pump. •
Fisheries spokesman Al Gibson says there is an element of truth to the rumor that the department is hiring more enforcement personnel. For reasons he can't entirely explain, spending limits have eased somewhat and the staff of 128 fisheries officers is to increase by about 10 percent.
a
UFAWU officers Jack Nichol and Bill Proeopation were shocked earlier this month at the massive concentration of charter boats operating in Hakai Pass. Among them were a large yacht and the former whaler Thorfinn, each supporting several small sport
1980
Bill Proeopation photo
A small section of the charter fleet working Hakai Pass.
boats. As the George Miller passed by, Proeopation photographed the fleet and the arrival of a float plane at one yacht whose owner had complained on the air that his freezers were "plugged." Nichol later brought the matter to the attention of Romeo LeBIanc in a letter he intends to follow up with photographic proof. •
Promises, promises. We have filed Indian affairs minister John Munro's recent pledge of self-government for Indian people "within the next year" alongside his pledge to the UFAWU to bring in bargaining rights for fishermen "next week." He made the latter pledge in February, 1978, the former one in June of this year.
•
The Seamen's Local 400 of the CBRT is seeking certification to represent the workers of Tymac Launch Service in Vancouver. As Local 400 president Tom McGrath points out, the $60 fare to an English Bay anchorage is hard to reconcile with the $5.50 an hour earned by Tymac employees during a 12-hour day.
•
We had a phone call from Mike Canic the other day to advise us that he no longer has any connections with the Jim Pattison organization.
Canic, a former seine crewman and later Vancouver waterfront organizer for the UFAWU, retains may of his old links with the fishing industry, although he has been with the Pattison organization for the past decade or more. •
T. H. Butler, author of the encyclopedic book on Pacific shrimp which we noted in this column a few issues back, advises that the book is not available at the Pacific Biological Station as we reported. Best to order it through a book store from the Government Publishing Centre, Hull, Que., K1A0S9.
A combination of events madeit impossible for us, until now, to record the passing June 23 of Gordon Mannix, an honorary UFAWU member who grew up in Sointula and contributed almost four decades to the industry and to the union. Only 23 days before his death, Gordon's wife, Jennie Mae, had died at the age of 69. They will be missed by many friends in Sointula and Surrey, where they had lived since 1959.
Mannix, born in Coquitlam in 1914, was a fisherman from his earliest years in Sointula, sailing first aboard the seiner Royal T with his stepfather. During his career, he alternated between seining and gillnetting, working en the seiner Tar-zan in the 1940s until it was lost and then gillnetting on his Kayo.
In later years, he seined again on the Dreamboat and concluded his fishing career with the Sea Gay, now owned by John Malm of Sointula. Both Gordon and Jennie Mae were buried in Sointula. They had no surviving kin.
TheTiiherman
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