No B.C. probe into casino lobbying allegation
Last Updated: Friday, April 16, 2010 | 8:02 PM PT
CBC News
The $450-million casino contract was awarded in May 2009. (Paragon)B.C.'s lobbyist watchdog says he does not have the jurisdiction to investigate a controversial telephone conversation about a casino development.
Registrar of Lobbyists Paul Fraser said Friday in a letter dated to NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert that he does not have the legal authority to determine whether the phone call made to a provincial cabinet minister by a corporate figure involved in the project broke lobbying regulations.
Fraser admitted in the letter that his inability to investigate is due to a technicality.
The Registrar of Lobbyists has legal authority to investigate and enforce lobbying activity by individuals not registered as lobbyists, but only concerning activities that took place after changes to the Lobbyists Registration Act took effect on April 1.
"I am legally bound to respect the legislature's clear and unequivocal direction that the new legislation does not apply to events occurring before April 1, 2010," Fraser said in the letter.
The call was made in May 2009 by T. Richard Turner to B.C. Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger.
Retractable roof requirement
Turner told Krueger the $450-million casino project would go ahead only if the B.C. government ensured that the stadium got a retractable roof, which had not yet been confirmed.
Turner is a director of Paragon Canada Holdings, a company linked to Paragon Gaming, which in May 2009 was awarded the contract to develop the casino adjacent to BC Place Stadium.
Turner is also chairman of the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia. And he is CEO of his family's investment company, Titanstar, which made a $50,000 campaign donation to the B.C. Liberals in April 2009.
Herbert said on April 8 he had asked the registrar to investigate Turner's call.
"If there are insiders, who are friends of government, getting involved and making arguments of how money should be spent with companies they're involved in, the public deserves to know about it," Herbert said.
Turner has denied that he was lobbying Krueger and said he would co-operate fully with any investigation by the registrar.
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