The two Kamloops MLAs have finished their fact finding tour of both the BC Lottery Corporation buildings here in Kamloops and down in Vancouver.

The pair of MLAs asked for the tour after the decision to scrap the downtown Kamloops BCLC headquarters replacement project out of concern lottery staff would leak from an aging building in the tournament capital  to a new facility in Vancouver.

Kamloops South MLA Todd Stone says where office space is concerned there is a stark contrast within BCLC.

“If you work in Vancouver you are in a beautiful nine year old building, LEED certified, with tonnes of natural light, huge work station areas, a beautiful shiny kitchen, coffee stations everywhere, and meeting rooms up the yin yang.”

As for the aging Kamloops headquarters “If you are on the second, third, and fourth floors you are elbow to elbow with your colleagues.”

Stone says staff on the first floor have no natural light what so ever.

He says all of this amounts to an increased concern of staff leaking from Kamloops to Vancouver.

“The corporation could add another 150 to 200 people to the Vancouver office. They have huge expanses of space. You contrast that to Kamloops in terms of the three floors that have some natural light you could maybe add another couple dozen people in. Where you would have the greatest opportunity to add more folks on that first floor it is dark and very bunker like.”

Stone says it is clear to him after the tour the decision to scrap the BCLC headquarters replacement project was a political one.

Kamloops North MLA Peter Milobar says the MLAs will have to do regular updates from now on to determine if Kamloops is losing BCLC staff.

“We are going to continue to raise concerns we hear in our community from people who are affected.”

Milobar says BCLC headquarters staff deserve the same working environment as their colleagues in Vancouver.