Supper Club Launched

by Robin Gillespie
March 1981

[Walter Block Addresses the Supper Club] The Vancouver Libertarian Supper Club held its first dinner meeting on February 6 at the Rembrandt Hotel. The speaker for the evening, New York economist Walter Block spoke on the detrimental effects of rent controls to an audience of twenty-five.

Block, the author of the controversial book Defending the Undefendable, is currently senior economist with the Fraser Institute, a free market-oriented research organization in Vancouver.

For anyone wondering why there is such a shortage of rental housing in Vancouver and why there is so little construction of more, Dr. Block's talk laid out the rent control connection very clearly. He also took pains to give the moral argument against controls, one which Libertarians should always make along with the practical one.

He related some of his own experiences in advancing these ideas to the general public and suggested some innovative approaches for Libertarians. The most interesting of these was to start a public pressure group with a name like "Tenants Against Rent Controls".

A propos of leftist Assar Lindbeck's comment that rent control is the most effective way to destroy a city except for bombing, the Institutes' book Rent Control: Myths and Realities contains a number of photographs of places such as Dresden, Hiroshima and the South Bronx.

Walter told us that one of his favorite tricks in presenting this material to the general public is to show a set of these pictures and ask if anybody can tell which are which.

During the spirited question and answer session that followed, the audience raised subjects ranging from other effects of rent controls (e.g., have they pushed up house prices?) to the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the libertarian approach to the abortion question.

Following this, the formal part of the evening was adjourned and many of the guests repaired to the lounge for more conversation and entertainment.

The next Supper Club event will take place on Saturday, March 21 when our speaker will be Sally Hayes of the Peterborough Libertarian Association. Her presentation will be "What One Person Can Do."

Sally can speak from a wealth of experience, having run on several occasions for the Ontario Legislature and Federal Parliament, and most recently for Peterborough Council. She also founded "Operation HUMBUG" in order to oppose compulsory, government-mandated metric standards.

For an enjoyable evening of food, drink, and stimulating ideas, make reservations now (see "Coming events" in this issue). The cocktail hour begins at 6:00 pm and the full buffet dinner starts at 7:00.

Remember that the Libertarian Supper Club is not really a club at all but is open to everyone. So plan to attend and invite your friends.