Casino will not be 'forced' on Vancouver
CBC News
Posted: Mar 10, 2011 6:56 PM PT
Last Updated: Mar 10, 2011 7:32 PM PT
The minister responsible for gambling says the B.C. government will not force a big new casino on the city of Vancouver.
If city council votes against the proposal that would adjoin BC Place Stadium, the BC Lottery Corporation may look elsewhere to locate the project, Public Safety Minister Rich Coleman said Thursday.
"The bottom line is we have never forced any local government to take any casino," Coleman said. "Our position has always been that they ask us for it."
The B.C. government welcomed the Paragon Gaming Inc. proposal with open arms last year.
The tourism minister of the day, Kevin Krueger, said the sprawling entertainment centre would bring a whole new vibrancy to downtown Vancouver.
It would also bring cash to government coffers.
Officials estimate the Paragon proposal would generate more than $220 million a year in provincial revenues.
But the political cost in Vancouver could be high if council approves the project.
Opponents have been lining up at public hearings at city hall this week to warn of crime, gambling addiction and a host of social problems.
The B.C. New Democrats, meanwhile, are watching closely.
Casino shutdown questioned
They don't oppose the proposal, but they do say it should be put on hold while the province addresses residents' concerns.
The public galleries at Vancouver city hall have been filled with proponents and opponents during hearings on a new downtown casino. Paragon Employees at the current Edgewater Casino on False Creek have also attended the hearings in large numbers to support the project, saying they will lose their jobs if it does not go through.
Paragon Gaming Inc. has said it's not able to renew its lease at the current casino past 2013, so if it cannot move to the new site it would shut down.
However, the casino's landlords said Thursday that the Edgewater's fate might not have to rest on approval of the new project.
Canadian Metropolitan Properties Corp. would consider extending the casino's lease in the short term if conditions are right, said the company's senior vice-president Daisen Gee-Wing.
"We are real estate developers," said Gee-Wing. "We certainly will have the amount of square footage that would accommodate [the casino]."
With files from the CBC's Jeff Davies and Kirk WilliamsShare Tools
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