Liquor debate gets heated

Council briefs by Dan Hilborn
Published July 1, 2006


One of the most influential businessmen in the Lower Mainland is escalating his fight against Burnaby council's new liquor policy, which places stiff restrictions on the location of all new private and public liquor stores in the city.

John Teti, owner of the Shark Club Bar and Grill and chair of the Vancouver-based BarWatch program, says Burnaby residents are going to have a tougher time buying alcohol in the city because council is playing politics in its fight against the provincial Liquor Distribution Branch.

And in a blistering letter sent to council on June 13, Teti says that Mayor Derek Corrigan and the Burnaby Citizens' Association have consistently misrepresented the province's position on the future location of liquor stores in Burnaby.

"It was stated that the province is handing out liquor licences 'like candy' to their friends, and that this would lead (to) liquor stores popping up on every corner in the city," Teti wrote. "This is just not true."

Teti says he can prove there will be no proliferation of liquor stores in Burnaby, pointing to two factors:

* the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has posted a notice on its website advising that the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch is "not accepting applications for new licensee retail stores at this time;" and

* there are currently only "two or three" outstanding liquor store licences already issued in Burnaby, and opening them would not qualify as a 'proliferation' of new liquor stores.

Of course, Teti himself has a vested interest in all this. He holds one of those private liquor store licences and is hoping to open his store in the Market Crossing shopping complex in the Big Bend. This is one of two locations where council wants to see a government-operated 'signature store' opened and, not surprisingly, Teti's application has been stuck in limbo.

"The fact is, at this point, the only people that are able and interested in opening private liquor stores in the two areas identified by council are private licence holders," Teti wrote. "And if we are not allowed to build our business in Burnaby, all it will mean are lost jobs and revenues for the community."

Normally, such criticism might not add up to much in the city council chambers, but the liquor store debate is beginning to show signs of a rift within the typically solid ranks of the Burnaby Citizens' Association and NDP.

At least one prominent BCA member was in the council chambers last month to lend his unspoken support to Bernie Kooner, owner of the Hop & Vine Pub, who is trying to move his private liquor store into Kensington Square - where council wants to see the other government-operated 'signature store' opened.

A much more vocal supporter of private liquor stores is former BCA executive member Cindy Burton, the ex-wife of school board chair Ron Burton, who is a private consultant working on behalf of Kooner's bid to relocate his private liquor store to Kensington Mall.

"I don't think the public cares if a liquor store is public or not, but I do think they care what the price is," Cindy Burton told the Burnaby NOW.

LEE SPEAKS OUT

Adding fuel to the fire on the liquor store debate is Burnaby North Liberal MLA Richard Lee, who has repeated his comments from last January that he still supports the reopening of a government liquor store at Kensington Plaza.

"Any liquor store would be fine, but I think the community is asking for a government liquor store," Lee told the Burnaby NOW. "There are no major liquor stores east of Willingdon."

Lee's comments are significant because they indicate that the debate over private and public liquor stores is not as simple as some politicians would like us to think.

The current lack of a liquor store in the Kensington Square neighbourhood could pose some serious problems for the BCA majority on city council if it weren't for one mitigating factor - the next civic election is still two-and-a-half years away.

SOMBRE TIME

There was a decidedly sombre atmosphere at the close of the June 19 council meeting when the passings of three women who played significant roles in the lives of city council members were honoured.

The mothers of councillors Lee Rankin and Pietro Calendino passed away earlier this month, as did Edna MacLean, the wife of former councillor and city freeman George MacLean.

Evelyn "Annie" Rankin was a lifelong social thinker and one of the key reasons why her son chose to enter politics. "No flowers or service by request," said her obituary in the Vancouver Sun. "Evelyn wanted you to remember her by giving someone a big hug and praying for world peace."

Rankin said his mother was well-cared-for by the staff at Burnaby Hospital during her last six weeks of life, and Mayor Derek Corrigan called her "one of the leading citizens in this community."

Eva Calendino, 94, was born in Mangone, Italy and became the mother of seven children, 17 grandchildren and 15 great- grandchildren. Her husband Guiseppe predeceased her in 1978.

"She was a loving mother who sacrificed herself for her family," said her son, who noted that his mother loved to take the bus downtown to go shopping, even though she did was not proficient in English.

Edna MacLean, 78, was described as the prime force behind her husband's involvement in politics, and an active member of the local PTA, Sunday school and girls' softball teams.

RUNNING FOR THE BUS?

The owner of one of the busiest movie supply houses in Burnaby is considering a future in civic politics after he had a rather unhappy experience in the city council chambers recently.

Michael Kearne, owner operator of Holly North, a supplier of props, special effects and one of the most elaborate 'big-rain machines' in the industry, was livid after city council decided to place a new bus stop in front of his Patterson Avenue home last week.

"It's not the fact that my handicapped mother doesn't have parking anymore. It's the fact that they're agreeing with an unsafe situation," Kearne told the Burnaby NOW on Tuesday morning.

At issue was the placement of a new bus stop across the street from the entrance to the Ocean View cemetery, where traffic is already a concern for the neighbourhood.

Kearne said the small one-lane entrance and exit to the cemetery is already causing backlogs and danger on the street because long processions of cars entering the site have to wait for any vehicles that are exiting the property. During the Father's Day weekend, Kearne said traffic on the street was completely blocked by a 20- vehicle lineup waiting to get into the cemetery.

The bus stop will decrease visibility, and increasing the odds of an accident. Council sided with a Coast Mountain bus company request to have the bus stop placed on the north 'far' side of the intersection.

"It almost makes me want to run (for city council)," Kearne said. "(Mayor Derek) Corrigan's done a lot of good things for the city, but this isn't one of them."

SECRET PLANS WITHDRAWN

Kudos to the B.C. Liberals for backing down on two contentious proposals that may have prevented the public from knowing the complete results of public inquiries, and kept secret many of the details of future public-private business partnerships.

Proposed changes to the Public Inquiry Act that were introduced in the legislation on April 24 have been withdrawn, and they will probably will not return in the same form, said Darrell Evans, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

"It was pure political cynicism," Evans said about the two proposals that were retracted last month by government House leader Mike De Jong.

The most alarming of the proposals would have seen the final report of all future public inquiries delivered to the minister who called the inquiry, instead of being presented to the legislature in general. "That would have taken the public out of public inquiry," Evans said.

The proposals also drew the ire of B.C. Information Commissioner David Loukidelis and Liberal MLA Blair Lekstrom. But in a brief conversation with the Burnaby NOW prior to the retraction of the proposals, Evans said that the public has yet to grasp the full implication of our freedom of information and privacy laws.

"It's not like the public is crying out for reform," he said. "For people who follow these things professionally, it's a different matter, but ... all I know is it's hard to get through."