Skip to content

UPDATED: Benjamin Wolfe requests appearance in council

Updated on Thursday with further comments from District of Hope CAO John Fortoloczky and Mayor Wilfried Vicktor.
22835hopewolfeDELEGATION
Benjamin Wolfe's request to appear as delegation.

According to documents passed on to The Hope Standard, Benjamin Wolfe has requested to appear as a delegation.

In his submission to the District of  Hope, which they received on Monday, it suggests that Wolfe wants to disabuse council of their choice to reject him of a business licence.

“I will provide documented written information from various sources to convince the mayor and councillors that their decision to reject my two business applications for a business licence to operate legally as a business in Hope was based on incorrect information submitted by the chief administrative officer John Fortoloczky to the mayor and councillors,” said the description of the presentation Wolfe plans to make.

Fortoloczky, however, said Wolfe's allegations are not to be considered fact.

"This needs to be clarified. This is an allegation that Mr. Wolfe is making, and in no way is this to be considered fact," replied Fortoloczky on Thursday.

Mayor Wilfried Vicktor backs Fortoloczky, saying he did not give council any wrong information.

"He's very factual. He's got a military background. If he puts it on the table, it's accurate. There's no misinformation, period," said Vicktor.

Vicktor said council will do a telephone poll to decide whether to allow this.

“I’m just going to double check with council and go from there,” said Vicktor.

Vicktor also said they will discuss it at the next council meeting.

Vicktor noted that the discussion will be in-camera, because the issue is “potentially legal in nature”.

Vicktor’s main issue with granting Wolfe an appearance is that he feels Wolfe does not have any new information to present.

“We want to be respectful, but I don’t want to turn this into a circus,” said Vicktor.

Wolfe, on the other hand, has not relented since the July 25 rejection, in which council decided  against granting Wolfe a business licence that will allow him to start his tour guiding and entertainment businesses.

He recently made a sign in Chinese, likely to appeal to tour buses.

In it, it suggests that Wolfe will not charge a fee. Instead, he will accept donations for his 60-minute tour that will go towards charity work, according to his poster. Previously, he planned to charge $5 for the service.

He has also threatened lawsuits against the District for defamation.

The last time Wolfe caught up with The Hope Standard, he said he has not found success in finding a lawyer who would take up his case.