Toronto Star March 12, 2012
Royson James City columnist
The city hall lunch counter attendant didn’t hesitate before she answered the one-word question on Monday. Casinos?
“No,” she said. “That’s a crocodile waiting to swallow all your money.”
That may be the reflex reaction in much of Toronto today, but the hypothetical has suddenly become possible thanks to announced plans that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation wants to locate a casino somewhere in the GTA, so long as there’s a willing host.
Now, will we know how Torontonians really feel about gambling in their back yard? Can the cash-strapped city resist the promise of big payoffs? Can the mayor resist embracing gambling as a way to pay for his unfunded subways?
So, cue another contentious debate at Toronto city hall. Dust off the many downtown vs. suburbs storylines. Watch for Vaughan, the pushy city above Toronto, to try and one-up the big city and grab all the promised economic development benefits.
And through it all, imagine the conflict between those who see dollar signs and those who fear the social costs of crime, prostitution, destroyed families and the unholy seduction of the poor to pay for services the middle class refuses to fund.
You knew the casino goddess would show up soon enough, a malignant mistress bathed in addictive perfume, promising tourism, jobs, profits, economic development and a solution to all our money woes.
Paul Godfrey, the peripatetic promoter, played the pimp on Monday, his presentation bordering on incredulity.
Imagine an extra $4.6 billion added to the provincial treasury in the next six years, Godfrey said. By 2017, OLG’s annual $2 billion payout to the province will jump by an extra $1.3 billion. Do nothing and revenues will drop more than $100 million a year, he said.
Then, he blew over the top, claiming the new era of gambling greatness would be a “great job creator,” would “increase tourism to a great degree” and be a source of “great community pride.”
Can’t you see residents across the GTA wearing those “I love my casino” buttons, pleading with city council to bring one to the local mall?
Downtown councillors recently voted against such an idea, a vote that aims to prevent the gaming facility from going to a natural site, Ontario Place. But, alas, the decision would rest with the main city council, not community council.
If communities want it, they can have it, says Councillor Adam Vaughan. “We don’t want it in the downtown. It sterilizes all operations around it. There’s a little bit of money left on the table for the city, but then there’s the police costs; suicide rates jump, and there’s a bankrupting and decimation of small, on-street businesses and the commercial district.”
Councillor Maria Augimeri knows that Downsview Park in her ward is always on the list of desirable casino sites. Her reaction?
“Over my dead body. I see nothing but bad news from casinos. They’re just bad for the human soul. So many families end up in pain — prostitution, the drug trade, good planning goes out the window, traffic congestion.
“You can put a nice Easter bonnet on a pig, but it’s still a pig. If Scarborough wants it, they can have it.”
Indeed, the Scarborough community council is on record as wanting to explore a casino for Scarborough.
Etobicoke? Well, Councillor Doug Ford has said he would welcome one in Ward 2. Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti has always favoured one. Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said it’s a good source of funds for a subway.
So, between Etobicoke (at Woodbine race track) and Scarborough (don’t even think Guild Inn), Toronto may have sites to compete with Vaughan and Richmond Hill and Brampton and Mississauga and Pickering. . .
“Any time someone promises you easy money, you are about to be had,” Vaughan warns.
But who’d sneeze at easy money?
I can just here Robbie now: "Everywhere I go, everyone I see, everyone I talk to, they all now say, 'I want a casino'."
Royson James City columnist
The city hall lunch counter attendant didn’t hesitate before she answered the one-word question on Monday. Casinos?
“No,” she said. “That’s a crocodile waiting to swallow all your money.”
That may be the reflex reaction in much of Toronto today, but the hypothetical has suddenly become possible thanks to announced plans that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation wants to locate a casino somewhere in the GTA, so long as there’s a willing host.
Now, will we know how Torontonians really feel about gambling in their back yard? Can the cash-strapped city resist the promise of big payoffs? Can the mayor resist embracing gambling as a way to pay for his unfunded subways?
So, cue another contentious debate at Toronto city hall. Dust off the many downtown vs. suburbs storylines. Watch for Vaughan, the pushy city above Toronto, to try and one-up the big city and grab all the promised economic development benefits.
And through it all, imagine the conflict between those who see dollar signs and those who fear the social costs of crime, prostitution, destroyed families and the unholy seduction of the poor to pay for services the middle class refuses to fund.
You knew the casino goddess would show up soon enough, a malignant mistress bathed in addictive perfume, promising tourism, jobs, profits, economic development and a solution to all our money woes.
Paul Godfrey, the peripatetic promoter, played the pimp on Monday, his presentation bordering on incredulity.
Imagine an extra $4.6 billion added to the provincial treasury in the next six years, Godfrey said. By 2017, OLG’s annual $2 billion payout to the province will jump by an extra $1.3 billion. Do nothing and revenues will drop more than $100 million a year, he said.
Then, he blew over the top, claiming the new era of gambling greatness would be a “great job creator,” would “increase tourism to a great degree” and be a source of “great community pride.”
Can’t you see residents across the GTA wearing those “I love my casino” buttons, pleading with city council to bring one to the local mall?
Downtown councillors recently voted against such an idea, a vote that aims to prevent the gaming facility from going to a natural site, Ontario Place. But, alas, the decision would rest with the main city council, not community council.
If communities want it, they can have it, says Councillor Adam Vaughan. “We don’t want it in the downtown. It sterilizes all operations around it. There’s a little bit of money left on the table for the city, but then there’s the police costs; suicide rates jump, and there’s a bankrupting and decimation of small, on-street businesses and the commercial district.”
Councillor Maria Augimeri knows that Downsview Park in her ward is always on the list of desirable casino sites. Her reaction?
“Over my dead body. I see nothing but bad news from casinos. They’re just bad for the human soul. So many families end up in pain — prostitution, the drug trade, good planning goes out the window, traffic congestion.
“You can put a nice Easter bonnet on a pig, but it’s still a pig. If Scarborough wants it, they can have it.”
Indeed, the Scarborough community council is on record as wanting to explore a casino for Scarborough.
Etobicoke? Well, Councillor Doug Ford has said he would welcome one in Ward 2. Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti has always favoured one. Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said it’s a good source of funds for a subway.
So, between Etobicoke (at Woodbine race track) and Scarborough (don’t even think Guild Inn), Toronto may have sites to compete with Vaughan and Richmond Hill and Brampton and Mississauga and Pickering. . .
“Any time someone promises you easy money, you are about to be had,” Vaughan warns.
But who’d sneeze at easy money?
I can just here Robbie now: "Everywhere I go, everyone I see, everyone I talk to, they all now say, 'I want a casino'."
