Vancouver health officials say Edgewater Casino project should be turned down

Vancouver health officials say Edgewater Casino project should be turned down
By Jeff Lee

It seems the proposed Edgewater Casino expansion in Vancouver may just have run into a brick wall. And it came not at the hands of the well-organized anti-casino group or from a foot-shooting accident by the proponents, Paragon Gaming, the B.C. Lottery Corporation or the B.C. Pavilion Corp.

Instead, it came from one of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority's medical health officers, Dr. John Carsley, who patiently waited on a growing list of speakers to tell city council that in the authority's considered opinion, the expansion should not go ahead.

Now, you would usually find this kind of statement inside of the staff report on the proposed expansion. Or, at least coming at the front of a public hearing as agencies with vested interests weigh in on the merits of an issue.

But here was Carsley, No. 34 on a list of (now) 182 speakers, coming up to the podium as the last speaker of the night Tuesday and explaining why the VCHA believes a casino expansion would be a bad idea at this time.

It all revolves around competing and conflicting academic theories about the danger and prevalence of gambling addiction. You can read my story here in which Carsley explains this, but suffice to say that his delivery was, in the words of a number of people, "a game-changer".

It's hard to go against a doctor or a health official who says things like "don't do this because the risks are too high."

Sort of like when your doctor says "Jeff, you're a candidate for a heart attack. Lose weight, drop the sodium and get more exercise." If I ignore him and am laid out with chest lightening, I've no one to blame but myself. If the city ignores the health authority and rates of addiction rise and more families are harmed, could the public not say to them "you were told not to do this and you ignored the advice and now we've got worse problems."

Council immediately understood the gravity of his concerns, and have folded him into the public hearing process as an expert witness rather than as a public speaker. He'll be back to answer questions at the start of the next night of hearings, Monday at 6:30 p.m.

It will be fascinating to see how all this now plays out.