There are rumors that Canadian province Ontario will turn to a new casino in the country’s largest city Toronto. This morning’s Globe and Mail reported the government is giving serious thought to the plan that would start to solve the mounting fiscal problems Ontario is experiencing. Councilor Doug Ford, brother and closest advisor of Toronto mayor Rob, said that they’d only consider a casino business if the public were fully behind it.
“If it would create jobs and bring tourists, the answer is yes, and if we could get a piece of the pie it would go toward transit,” Mr. Ford said. “We need to build subways.”
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp (OLGC) helped pump $1.9billion into the provincial coffers in the fiscal year 2011 and it starts to open your eyes as to why they’d consider opening up a new venue in downtown Toronto. It’s not a decision that will be taken lightly, and Michael Thompson, chair of the city’s economic development committee said: “It’s not an easy decision. If done properly it could certainly be an opportunity to create economic prosperity, but it also can create some economic despair as well, and I don’t know how you balance that.”
Ontario Place and CNE have been identified as potential sites for the venue with the earliest date a decision will be made likely to be March or once they’ve received a report from the OLGC looking at the province’s gambling industry. A government official also added that right now “It’s all just speculation, because we haven’t been presented with a proposal.”
