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VICTORIA — The B.C. government has exempted the province’s six major junior hockey teams from having to pay their players minimum wage, after threats from the Western Hockey League that teams might not survive a class-action lawsuit on the issue unless the government quickly changed the law in their favour.

Freedom of Information documents reveal an intense behind-the-scenes lobbying effort from WHL officials on behalf of teams in Kelowna, Kamloops, Cranbrook, Prince George, Vancouver and Victoria.

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In letters to Premier Christy Clark and cabinet, as well as in emails to top-level bureaucrats, the league claimed the teams might have to close without government help, because of a class-action lawsuit by former players who have been demanding at least minimum wage pay rather than the existing small monthly stipend.

The class action lawsuit, filed in Toronto and Calgary, has yet to be certified in either location.