“BIG CHANGES COULD BE COMING TO THE BC FINANCE ACT,” SAYS MINISTER.

Over the past several months there have been tripartite talks going on in Ottawa between the Finance Ministries of Canada, BC and the Esquimalt Indian band who are the owners of a large part of the downtown Victoria area on Vancouver Island. Being the Indigenous Peoples of this area, it is the Esquimalt Indian Band who originally granted a lease to the BC government to allow them to build the Legislature on Indian land.

For many years, members of the government have been going backwards and forwards on a daily basis to Vancouver to attend meetings and generally administer government matters. After much discussion it has been agreed in principle that the Legislature should move into the seven empty floors of Vancouver Town Hall which building will become the official Legislature of British Columbia as the remaining floors are vacated by the Town Hall personnel. The Legislature in Victoria will be handed back to the Indigenous Peoples for a nominal payment of $1.00, and the existing lease to BC will be cancelled by the Band once the Lege is finally vacated by the government on an on going basis.

 “This is where the big changes come in,” said the Minister at a recent press conference in Vancouver. “We all know that the BC economy needs a good boost and it has been decided to make the Greater Victoria area a Tax Free Haven in the same fashion as Hong Kong. The proposed area concerned is everything south of McKenzie Avenue from where it joins Beach Drive at Cadboro Bay, round to Admirals Road in Esquimalt. Please remember, folks, that this is still in the planning stages and, as yet, nothing is set in concrete, going forward, from this point in time.”

Naturally, the Minister faced many questions after this announcement and during the course of these, it was disclosed that the Esquimalt Band has already hired an architect from the United States to plan the conversion of the Lege into a five star hotel and casino complex. This news has delighted those in the tourist industry, particularly the hotel owners in Victoria, as it surely means that there will be a large upsurge in people visiting our beautiful city by land, sea and air, even if they only sit indoors all day and gamble.

The government representative at the press conference did point out that there would be a benefit to the rest of Canada as they, the Federal Government, had proposed a joint venture agreement which would mean that, despite the Indigenous Peoples' ownership of the complex, ….“there will still be a Federal tax liability on the operating profits, going forward, from this point in time, or as soon as the plans are materialized.”

As the press conference broke up, there was much mumbling to be heard from some of the owners of the Ogden Point development who had hoped to stir the pot with the Minister regarding an increase in the number of cruise ships carrying gamblers, going forward (or backwards, come to that. Ed.), which would pollute the waterfront, conveniently forgetting that they have already ruined it by building their development on it.