Bud Smith Named as New BCLC Chair
Bud Smith, the former attorney general of British Columbia, has been named as the chair of the board of directors of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. The British Columbia government has named Mr Smith as the replacement of John McLernan. McLernan was the BCLC chair since 2005 until the present time.
Bud Smith to be New BCLC Chair
Mr Smith, the new BCLC chair, has held various leadership roles, and has been a member of the boards of Canada Post Corporation, Prince Rupert Port Authority and Ridley Terminals Inc., and also B.C. Development Corporation.
He has sat on the BCLB board for more than a year, since May 2012. Not only has he served on these Crown Corporation boards, he has also filled a number of other positions, including as the trustee of a theatre company, the Western Canada Theatre Company, and in various roles at the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce and the Diocese of Cariboo.
The highly qualified and capable new chair of the BCLC has, since May 1975, held membership in the Law Society of British Columbia.
BCLC to Stay Put in Kamloops
There had been some recent talk that the British Columbia Lottery Corporation had plans to move out of Kamloops, possibly centralizing operations in Vancouver. Much concern was raised that if the BCLC moves to another location, then 425 jobs that have been provided to locals will be lost. The Chief Executive Officer of the BCLC, Michael Graydon, made it clear that the company has no plans to move over to Vancouver.
Mr Graydon said: "That's a very misinformed perspective." While Mr Graydon did acknowledge that there were some financial planning directors that were relocated to Vancouver, he noted that there is no major transition planned for the corporation.
In Kamloops, however, there is much anxiety that the BCLC may decide to relocate, since many other large corporations have relocated from Kamloops in the past. The executive director of Venture Kamloops, Jim Anderson had said: "It's pretty widely known that they've been downsizing the executive level workforce here in Kamloops and moving to the Lower Mainland over the last few years, and I guess the next round of that is happening."
Graydon was quick to calm the anxieties of those in Kamloops. He noted that it was "just a minor adjustment" that would make the company operate more efficiently. He also noted: "These little things percolate every once in a while and individuals like the head of Venture Kamloops sort of go off on a tangent that the sky is falling." More importantly, Graydon noted: "We don't even talk about it at the executive or the board level. It's not even on our radar."
