Two hundred employees at the Hastings Park racetrack will be out of work for one month due to the 2010 Olympics.

The East Vancouver gaming facility is located in a security area, and the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee is making it shut down from February 1 to March 2 in 2010.

This issue dominated question period this afternoon (March 9) at the legislative assembly in Victoria, with NDP members rising one after the other to pummel B.C. finance minister Colin Hansen with pointed queries about the fate of the workers facing layoffs during the Olympics.

“That’s 200 hard-working British Columbians without a paycheque for a full month,” NDP leader Carole James fired in the opening salvo, according to the draft Hansard transcript.

“My question is to the minister responsible. Will he please explain to these workers why hosting the Olympics is putting them out of work for a month?” James asked.

Hansen replied in part: “I think every employer in British Columbia has to look at how the games are going to impact them and make sure they make decisions that are in the best interest of all concerned.”

“This minister missed the entire point, as this government always does,” James followed up.

“It doesn’t meet the best interests of the 200 workers, who are going to be out of work for the entire month. In fact, according to Hastings racetrack’s management, they tried to explore other options. They tried options to save the jobs. They were told no. The racetrack will be closed to guests and to employees,” she said.

Hansen replied, “Nobody is saying that British Columbia is going to be business as usual during the 17 days of the Olympics. But I can tell you that as a result of the Olympics, there will be literally thousands and thousands of jobs that are being created today, will be created in the months ahead, will be created during February of next year.”

The Hastings Racecourse is next to the Pacific Coliseum, which will host some of the figure skating and short-track speed skating events for the Olympics.

At one point during question period, Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain NDP MLA Mike Farnworth rose and told Hansen, “What the minister doesn’t get is that 200 workers are losing their jobs for a month. Can he tell them where they’re going to get their mortgage payment from and where they’re going to get their rent payment from? That’s what they’re wondering.”

Hansen answered, “As the member knows, the RCMP have responsibility for security for the games, and they are planning the security areas around each of the venues to ensure that not only the athletes are safe and not only are our visitors safe, but that the general public is safe as well. So there are going to be restrictions and restricted access to some of the venues in order to accommodate the security plans that the RCMP are putting in place. But that is part of planning for an Olympic Games.”