Mayor Derek Corrigan is upset over the province's latest sale of Crown land in Burnaby, as the city was in talks to buy the property but was later cut out of the deal.
The City of Burnaby was eyeing a $58-million swath of Crown land at Willindgon Avenue and Canada Way since last fall, but the mayor was surprised to learn the city was out of the picture after the province had to consult with First Nations, who ended up buying the property.
"I was shocked, I had no idea this was happening," Corrigan told the NOW. "I had no idea we would not be permitted to exercise our right of first refusal."
The 16-hectare patch of land was sold to two First Nations - the Tsleil-Waututh and the Musqueam. Corrigan learned the city could no longer buy the property just days before the sale was announced on March 27.
After the city expressed interested in buying the property last fall, the province met with First Nations to fulfill a legal duty to consult with them about the sale. That's when the Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam also expressed interest in buying the land. The site is within the overlapping traditional territories of the two First Nations, which partnered together to buy the land for $57.9 million.
Corrigan would have liked to see the land used for an expansion of BCIT or Burnaby Hospital.
"(The sale) means the opportunity for the hospital to expand and move to a better location is gone," Corrigan said.
Corrigan is also angered by comments made in the press by Andrew Wilkinson, Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services, the ministry that oversaw the deal.
"We acted in complete good faith throughout this, and this Wilkinson - who is obviously a very inexperienced minister and hasn't done his homework on this one - Wilkinson said, 'we snoozed, and we lose.' That was his comment in the paper, and I'm just incensed by that," Corrigan said. "We did exactly the opposite. We did every bit of diligence we should to have the opportunity to purchase it, the only thing we were not diligent in doing, was that we trusted them."
Corrigan, who worked as a lawyer before getting into politics, pointed out that Wilkinson was also a lawyer.
"That kind of practice by a minister who is supposed to be a lawyer is really offensive to me," Corrigan said. "In any terms, this would be called sharp practice, where a lawyer uses an opportunity to fool someone in order to give up a legal right."
Corrigan said he didn't think there was any positive spin on the land going to First Nations.
"The Tsleil-Waututh are buying it like any other developer," Corrigan said. "This is a money-making proposition for them. This is not going to be for long houses and native activities, this is going to be purely an economic development opportunity."
Wilkinson was not available for comment by the NOW's deadline.
