City Mayor Advocating for Cigarette butt recycling

A deposit program similar to the kind we're used to for bottles and cans, is being pushed by City Mayor, Darrell Mussatto. Butts could be taken to a recycling depot to regain the deposit of 5 to 10 cents per cigarette paid at the purchase point. Cigarette butts are quite toxic and do pose a significant environmental hazard especially to fish in local streams when eventually flushed down storm drains when it rains. A Province wide program would obviously be most effective.

Viva Las... North Van?

It was reported last week that the Province, under the guise of the BC Lottery Commission, would like to plant a new casino on the North Shore.

They figure that the casino would bring in between $25 and 40 million a year, with the lucky municipality that hosts it being offered (in my opinion) a paltry $2+ million.

Am I alone in thinking this is a pretty far-fetched idea?

The question of location alone is interesting.

I can't see West Van ever going for this, and can't think of anywhere in the District that would make sense.  (OK, maybe as part of the Lynn Valley Center development.)

Would the City welcome a shiny new casino on the waterfront?  On Lonsdale?

Or would a location on the Tsleil-Waututh Nation lands make sense?  How much casino traffic could the Dollarton highway survive?

Mayors Musatto and Smith were "unavailable for comment," and Walton would "seek guidance from Council."  All of which suggests that they're trying to avoid actually saying anything.

The bigger question is why Victoria is floating this now, in the run-up to the election.  Is there a "surprise" in the works?