Once Surrey civic leaders had the B.C. Rod and Gun Show in their sights, it seems there was little political will to support an exhibit planned next month in Cloverdale.
And that’s Surrey’s loss, as council’s message – that the show could be rescheduled when there is more time to look at the plan – is clearly being lost amid organizers’ understandable dismay at being denied a permit at the 11th hour.
Some 10,000 people attended last year’s show in Cloverdale – without any reported untoward incidents. Event manager Steve Bednash estimates that kind of attendance this year would translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars of spin-off revenue in the community.
Given that the event was given the green light by city staff again this year, only to have council nix the permit barely a month before the scheduled date – without even the courtesy of alerting organizers to the fact – makes a repeat of the process seem highly unlikely.
In its mishandling of the B.C. Rod and Gun Show, Surrey has demonstrated anew how little civic leaders understand about staging such a major event, including the inevitable host of interrelated timelines and logistics involved.
This show – just as it was last year – is clearly and unambiguously aimed at hunting and fishing enthusiasts. While it may be true that there are many who are less than entranced by such enthusiasms, the city has an obligation to play fair with permit applicants who follow the letter of the law. It should not be sending them mixed messages, or claiming time is the issue, not a philosophical opposition.
If the city wishes to discourage such applications – or suggest a name change for this particular event that doesn’t include the seemingly troubling word ‘gun’ – it should be up-front with its reservations.
Similarly, the time to identify concerns about what kinds of guns will be displayed – and whether adequate security provisions are in place – certainly was available in the past year since the inaugural event.
No one would suggest that council is out of line in acting as watchdogs for community safety. But if organizers of the B.C. Rod and Gun Show were remiss in providing required plans and assurances, they should have been pressed for them long before and warned that non-compliance would jeopardize the event.
Inconsistency on the part of Surrey’s leaders serves no one’s interests, least of all the taxpayers of the city.