Kitchener councillors unanimously oppose casino
Mayor and all 10 councillors tell CBC News they don't want a casino
By Matthew Kang and Mike McCulloch, CBC News
Posted: May 10, 2013
CBC News contacted the mayor and all 10 city councillors to ask if they would support or reject the idea of hosting a casino. All of them said they would be voting against being a host city.
Ward 7 councillor Bil Ioannidis said the results of the public online casino survey, which were overwhelmingly opposed to a casino, helped him reach a final decision.
“The survey confirms everything that I was expecting,” said Ioannidis. “I’ll be voting no for sure.”
Ward 4 councillor Yvonne Fernandes says she recognized the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s top priority is to make money.
“Sometimes it’s to the benefit of people and sometimes it’s not,” said Fernandes. “I think in this case, it’s not to the benefit of our average citizen.”
Ward 3 councillor John Gazzola told CBC News that he tried at first to keep an open mind on the financial benefits of a casino, but eventually decided he will vote against building one.
“I did a lot of investigation and I found it’s going to pull out a lot more money out of our area than it would ever bring in,” said Gazzola.
The official vote will take place at Kitchener City Hall on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
The motion on the casino also includes a recommendation that council ask Woolwich Township to abandon its plans to attract a casino.
"From my point of view it's basically saying, 'You guys didn't get it right so we want you to think about it again,'" Woolwich Township Mayor Todd Cowan told Craig Norris on The Morning Edition Friday about the recommendation.
"We looked at all sides, we invited a number of delegations pro and con to come to our council meetings. We had three public meetings, plus we had a lot of staff time that had gone into looking at studies, Canadian gambling studies. I think that we did a very thorough job," he added.
"I don't think we made a quick decision, I think we made a very thoughtful, educated decision," said Cowan.
Councillors will also vote on another recommendation to ask the province to change its rules on the casino allocation process so that consent from both lower- and upper-tier municipalities is required in order to continue with the process.
The OLG said Thursday it will review the process in response to requests by Premier Kathleen Wynne and now Finance Minister Charles Sousa to do so.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/story/2013/05/09/unanimous-opposition-to-casino-expected-by-kitchener-city-council.html
All Kitchener councillors to vote 'no' on proposed casino
Waterloo Record
The overwhelming majority of people who spoke at two public meetings were against a casino and city councillors cite that opposition as a major reason for their no votes. “It is not a good deal,” Coun. John Gazzola said. “I have done a lot of reading ...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment