Casino proposal meets stiff opposition
Community members boo speakers during information meeting this week
It was the third and final community-organized meeting regarding the proposed South Surrey casino and while the event was aimed at getting people the information they need to make a decision on the project, it was clear most attendees had already made up their minds.
More than 300 members of the public attended the meeting hosted by the Surrey Ratepayers Association at the Pacific Inn hotel in South Surrey Wednesday night.
Also in attendance were representatives from BCLC, Gateway Casinos, First Nations, local MLAs offices and the City of Surrey, though no Surrey council members were present.
While the meeting was billed as an “information session,” it quickly turned into a steady stream of opponents voicing opposition to the project.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of hearing some of the things I’m hearing from the bureaucratic spin doctors on how blessed we are to be having this casino in our community,” said Russ Buchanan. “If I was a hotel or restaurant operator in the area, I would be very concerned, and I wonder what happened that brought us to a place where we’re even considering this monster being put in your community to destroy your neighbourhood.”
While stakeholders like Jim Lightbody of the BCLC and James Chen of Gateway Casinos attempted to present numbers from a 2007 study showing crime had gone down in Surrey as a result of casinos, they were subjected to catcalls and boos from the audience.
Chen also noted an open house last week yielded roughly 160 response forms submitted to Gateway, of which more than half were in favour of the casino.
Chen’s figure was met with outrage by the audience.
Terry McNiece, president of the South Surrey Ratepayers association, had to remind the audience to be civil several times over the course of the evening, and that the representatives were attending on their own time.
McNiece advised those in attendance to submit their thoughts to Surrey council, as it had the final say on the proposal. He asked everyone to attend a Nov. 26 council meeting where the gambling application is set to be discussed, and again at tentative Dec. 10 public hearing on the application, if council were to move it forward.