Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell explained today how a warning against promoting gay tourism in China found its way into a British Columbia government guide and said the ministry took disciplinary action after the mistake was discovered.

It started with a Canadian Tourism Commission presentation in May 2010 to an industry conference in Winnipeg, he said. A slide from that presentation said, "Some market segments may not be promoted or advertised -- gay and gambling."

That got adopted, and strengthened, in a B.C. tourism division presentation on the working agreement between the Canadian Tourism Commission and the China National Tourism Administration used between June, 2010, and February, 2011: "Promotion of casinos, gambling, gay tourism are strictly prohibited."

From there it found its way into the How to Market Your Business to China guide, which said, "In alignment with the [Canadian Tourism Commission], Tourism BC will also require that any partner operator agrees to . . . prohibit the promotion of casinos, gambling and gay tourism, per the China National Tourism Administration."

Nobody ever checked to see whether the line in the B.C. slide was correct, until the Times Colonist's Les Leyne raised it during a conference call with reporters, said Bell, who was in China at the time.

Bell's first response blamed the CNTA-CTC agreement, but he retracted a few hours later after staff took a second look at the issue. "That was the first time in a year people started backtracking and looking and asking the question, 'Is this attribution correct or not.'"

There is no such ban in the agreement, though the CTC was correct to warn that advertising gay or gambling tourism in Chines publications may not be accepted, he said. "It speaks to the risk of their being an attempt to promote gay or gambling tourism that may not be accepted," he said. "It may or may not make it to press."

There was disciplinary action taken within the B.C. tourism division, he said, adding he couldn't provide details because it's a personnel matter. Nobody lost their job over it, he said.

Senior staff in the division will also "receive training to improve their ability to anticipate events, actions and statements that could lead to public sensitivities, or be contrary to government values and policies in January 2012."

More "experienced government professionals" will be added to the tourism division, a report provided to reporters, said.

"We should have understood there was something amiss," said Bell.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.