Councillor miffed by ‘insulting’ response

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - April 13, 2008

A Vernon politician is fuming over what he sees as an “insulting” letter from the provincial government. On Monday, council will receive a letter from former solicitor general John Les, who has refused to meet with the city to discuss casino issues. “What an insulting letter,” said Coun. Barry Beardsell. Les has recently resigned, but Beardsell is adamant that his successor, John van Dongen, should meet with council. “He should make himself available. We are civilized people and we wouldn’t hang him upon arrival. This would allow us to have a debate,” he said. In his letter, Les says he is aware of council’s request to have the local casino upgraded from community to destination status. “The province is no longer considering any new destination casinos,” he wrote.“There are no longer any substantive differences between destination casinos and any other casinos in B.C. For instance, their size and hours of operation, the composition and variety of gaming offered to patrons or other features, are often exactly the same.

“As there is no opportunity for the establishment of destination casinos, I do not think my attendance at a council meeting would be practical,” wrote Les. Beardsell believes a destination casino should be pursued for Vernon because they provide more revenue to local communities than traditional casino operations. He says that extra revenue could be used for important Vernon services such as cash-strapped O’Keefe Ranch. Despite Les’ response, Beardsell insists he will continue to push for a meeting with the government over casinos. “I won’t give up. There are other ministers and the premier,” he said.

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Don Quixote Note: Letter can be found at P.124 Apr. 14 Agenda Package - 12.7MB and is dated March 14 and received March 178 by City of Vernon. By the notations on letter it appears that the letter was sent to the City's lawyers for an opinion. Might be interesting to see what local lawyers had to say about it ? Believe the lawyers would have also be asked about possibility of raising business license fee per slot machine and whether the owner of the slot machines could legally be charged or whether this charge must be levied on slot machine operator.