If Rich Coleman is the real arts minister, Derek Sturko is the key arts bureaucrat

In a previous post, I mentioned that Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman has become the de facto minister of arts and culture in the B.C. Liberal government.

That’s because it appears that all provincial  funding for arts organizations in future years will come from gaming revenues—for which Coleman is responsible.

People who lobby on behalf of the arts and those who protest cuts to the arts should keep this in mind because it appears as though Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Kevin Krueger has become irrelevant to the funding of arts organizations.

So who is Coleman? He’s a former RCMP officer, a former real-estate developer, and one of the most powerful men in the provincial government. His ministry oversees welfare and housing programs, disability issues, liquor licensing, and gambling.

Coleman is  responsible for the B.C. Lottery Corporation, which has aggressively  gotten into the business of on-line gambling.  He is a previous solicitor general.

As the Globe and Mail's Gary Mason has written, Coleman condemned on-line gambling as solicitor general. Gambling has become a $2.6-billion industry in B.C.

Prior to getting elected to the legislature in 1996, Coleman was active in the anti-abortion movement.

According to the Voters’ Guide 2009—which was prepared by an ad hoc committee of members of Real Women of Canada and the anti-abortion group Campaign Life Coalition B.C.—Coleman   has a “Strong Pro-life voting record”.

Coleman has not  made waves about abortion  since becoming  a cabinet minister in 2001.

If Coleman is in fact the arts and culture minister—rather than Krueger, who carries the title—then who is Coleman’s deputy minister of the arts?

It’s probably Derek Sturko, even though  his official title is assistant deputy minister of gaming policy and enforcement. The branch’s annual report makes it clear that it’s responsible for funding arts and culture.

Anyone interested in arts-funding issues should pay close attention to Sturko because he probably has far more influence in this area than anyone in Krueger’s ministry.

In the early 1990s, Sturko worked in the Ministry of Education. In  the past  decade, he has been the province's  key bureaucrat on gambling issues. In this capacity, he  has worked closely with Coleman for many years.

In 2007, Ombudsman Kim Carter wrote a devastating report on the B.C. Lottery Corporation's handling of lottery prizes, which included criticism of  the gambling policy and enforcement branch's regulation of this area. Sturko managed to survive the scandal.

Carter  noted in her report  that retailers and their employees  had won 4.41 percent of lottery and Keno  prizes in excess of $10,000, raising questions about the integrity of the lottery system.

An amazingly high 11.6 percent of Keno prizes in excess of $10,000 were won by retailers and their employees.

She also reported that there were 21 retailers and retail employees who were multiple winners of prizes in excess of $10,000. One person  on the  lottery-retailing side  won 11 times in five years, collecting more than $300,000. Another person won 13 prizes of $3,000 or more in a single year.

Under section 86 of the Gaming Control Act, the B.C. Lottery Corporation was required  to notify Sturko’s branch immediately if there was any evidence of cheating, theft, fraud, money laundering, loan sharking, robbery, assault, or threats against gaming employees in connection with lotteries or horse racing.

In 2006, the branch issued a directive specifically  stating that  allegations of fraud or theft by lottery retailers or their employees should be reported.

The B.C. Lottery Corporation conducted several investigations dating back to 2003, the Ombudsman reported, but none of this information was conveyed to the branch until the  2006  directive was issued.

The enforcement branch claimed to the Ombudsman that it was not aware that the B.C. Lottery Corporation had been receiving complaints.

Carter stated that this didn't absolve the gaming and enforcement branch.

“We do not feel that this response relieves GPEB from its responsibilities given that the GPEB has a duty of care to the public to ensure the integrity of the gaming industry, which includes BCLC’s prize payout procedures,”  she wrote. “GPEB should have had a system in place to monitor compliance with the section 86 reporting requirement.”

Carter noted that Sturko’s branch opened files on five public complaints it received about retailer fraud or retail-employee fraud in connection with lottery tickets between August 2002 and October 2006.

In each case, the branch was satisfied with the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s explanation, and closed the file.

Carter concluded that the branch, then and still  under Sturko’s watch, did not adequately monitor, investigate or otherwise regulate B.C. Lottery Corporation lottery-prize-payout procedures.