The Editor,

I attended the City of Surrey's council meeting on Dec. 10.

When I arrived, I saw four large buses parked on a nearby street. Two of the buses had window tags reading Grand Villa Casino from Burnaby. (As confirmed when they left - all four buses were from Gateway casinos.)

When I entered city hall, I was surprised to see hundreds of people sporting identical blue T-shirts with "Strong Surrey" on the front and "Yes" on the back. I was told most of these people were employees of Gateway casinos bused in for the meeting.

What a cynical way for Gateway to try to deceive council into believing there is more support for the casino than there really is. To bus in employees from other municipalities to stack a meeting is deplorable and desperate.

I fully expect to see Gateway pull a similar stunt, for that is what it truly is, when council holds its public meeting on Jan. 14.

Gateway is obviously willing to spend any amount of money to try to sway council. I hope council sees the deceit for what it is - an expensive trick.

Peter Battistoni, Surrey