June 11, 2003

Illegal Quilt

Global TV reported that the Campbell government is denying the Vancouver Quilters' Guild a license to hold its annual raffle. The Guild provides hand-made quilts for a Battered Women's Shelter, BC Children's Hospital Nursery, and the extended care ward at the University Hospital.

Meanwhile a usually reliable source has informed StrategicThoughts.com that Minister of Energy and Mines, Richard Neufled, recently won the 50/50 draw at the Langley Chamber of Commerce. If that is true, it portrays a particularly nasty double standard. Solicitor General Rich Coleman appears to be denying a license to a legitimate charity that helps hospitals, while a Chamber of Commerce awards an illegal prize to a cabinet minister - talk about double standards!

Compare the double standards on raffles to the expansion of gambling under the Campbell government. On a government website the claim is made that the promise not to expand gambling has been honoured. Meanwhile the service plan for the BC Lottery Corporation calls for net income to increase from $670 million in 2002-03 to $900 million in 2005-06, a 34% increase for a government that claims it is not expanding gambling while it cracks down on the Vancouver Quilters' Guild.

Even partisan political supporters must find it difficult to justify the lying and hypocrisy from the Campbell government on the issue of gambling.