Why is Ottawa mayor Jim Watson now saying he will support a new casino only if it can be built at Rideau Carleton Raceway? CBC reporter Alistair Steele and Ottawa Citizen columnist Joanne Chianello explain what they think is behind the mayor's new stipulation for expanding gambling in Ottawa.
Ontario government rejects Ottawa’s two-casino pitch
Ottawa is to be a one-casino town. Mayor Jim Watson heard from the Ontario finance minister...the Ontario government support only one casino in the capital. In turn, councillors voted ten-to-one in support of a Rideau Carleton Raceway location. City affairs columnist Joanne Chianello was at city hall for the vote. She gives guest host Hallie Cotnam her take on what all this means for the city.
Major fire breaks out at hotel near Charlevoix Casino
A major fire seriously damaged a hotel near the Charlevoix Casino in Malbaie, east of Quebec City, on Thursday.
Fire crews from a number of communities joined forces to fight the fire at the Petit Manoir du Casino hotel, which broke out Thursday around 9 a.m. ET.
Everyone who was inside the hotel at the time is believed to have escaped safely, and no injuries have been reported.
The fire is thought to have started in the roof of the three-storey hotel and spread quickly.
Publishing — Casinos — Survivor
Casino Question
When visions of casinos, lotteries and slot machines start dancing in their heads, governments find it hard to resist the temptation of legalized gambling to raise money.
Chasing the siren call of easy money, cities, provinces and U.S. states have climbed into bed with the gambling industry. The result is not always pretty.
Michael speaks with Robert Goodman, author of The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Dreams of America's Gambling Explosion, and a professor emeritus at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; with Sandy Garossino, a former crown prosecutor and co-founder of the anti-casino group, Vancouver Not Vegas; and with Paul Godfrey, the chairman of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
Related Links:
The Luck Business, by Robert Goodman
Vancouver not Vegas
Music in Hour Two:
Antiche Danze ed Arie, Suite No 1, by Angèle Dubeau & La Piéta from the CD, Let's Dance
Ninki Nanka by Jayme Stone, Mansa Sissoko, David Travers-Smith from Small World Festival 2007
Sellinger's Round, by Glenn Gould and Andrew Kazdin from the album Great Pianists of the 20th Century, Vol. 39: Glenn Gould
Oysters Casino
Fresh oysters made with bacon, garlic and breadcrumbs for some crunch are the ultimate appetizer for any seafood lover.
INGREDIENTS
12 oysters, shucked and bottom shell reserved
2 strips bacon, cooked and finely chopped
6 tbsp. plain bread crumbs
Pinch of dried chili flakes, or to taste (optional)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp. chopped Italian parsley
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. to 4 tbsp. white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Coarse salt, for balancing the shells for baking and serving
PREPARATION
Preheat oven 475 degrees F.
Fill small baking tray with coarse salt.
In a small bowl, mix bacon, bread crumbs, chili flakes, garlic, parsley and olive oil. Add just enough wine to moisten the bread crumbs. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.
Add each oyster back to the bottom shell. Top each with the bread crumb mixture and arrange on prepared baking tray. Bake until oysters are just cooked through, and topping is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Place on serving tray with coarse salt so that oysters don’t wobble on the tray.
Yield: 12 servings.
OLG plan hinged on downtown Hamilton casino: auditor
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation had an internal goal to put a casino in downtown Hamilton by winter 2015, shows a new report from Ontario’s auditor general. And that's news to at least one city councillor.
Bonnie Lysyk’s report shows that the OLG’s 2012 modernization plan — which she dubbed “overly ambitious” and “overly optimistic” — hinged on councils such as Hamilton’s agreeing to a downtown casino.
Coun. Terry Whitehead of Ward 8, who was "leaning toward" a downtown casino, says that is "not at all" what he heard from OLG officials.
Auditor General's report on the OLG modernization plan (PDF)
"My impression was that it was the geographic zones and that it would be bidded on, and that the preference (for location) could be dictated by council," he said.
Opponents say it’s no surprise that the OLG aimed for a downtown gaming centre, but they never heard it explicitly stated.
“I’m certainly not surprised,” said Matthew Green, a local anti-casino advocate, about the goal of a downtown Hamilton casino.
“All of their actions around the consultation process and around their dealings with council show that they favoured a downtown casino."
Graham Crawford, who also rallied against a downtown casino, said he’s never heard the goal stated as clearly as it was in Lysyk’s report.
But “it was always clear by paying attention to what the OLG had said that that’s exactly what was on the table.”
The proposed goal of a downtown Hamilton casino came from private OLG documents Lysyk viewed as part of her audit, she told CBC Hamilton. The plan also included pulling the slots from Flamboro Downs.
Lysyk examination of the modernization plan, released Monday, shows the plan was “overly ambitious” and “overly optimistic” about the money the plan would generate. It also assumed city councils would approve downtown casinos.
The OLG originally projected casinos in Hamilton and elsewhere would bring in an additional $4.6 billion in gaming profits between 2013 and 2015. But the OLG later lowered that projection by 48 per cent, or about $2.2 billion.
Lysyk estimates the actual benefits could be 60 per cent less than forecasted.
The OLG also abruptly cancelled the Slots at Racetracks program, which hurt the horse-racing industry in Flamborough and elsewhere. The program saw horse racers share a portion of the slot revenue.
“OLG developed its modernization plan without sufficiently consulting such stakeholders as municipalities and the horse-racing industry,” Lysyk said.
“The profit estimates should have been more realistic, and the abrupt impact on the horse-racing industry could have been mitigated had more people been consulted beforehand.”
After much community debate, Hamilton city council passed a resolution last year that its first preference was to have gaming at Flamboro Downs, but if that location isn’t viable, to have it at another Hamilton location to be approved by council.
The OLG is getting interest from private-sector operators.
The OLG also proposed casinos in the GTA, Kenora, North Bay, Collingwood/Bracebridge and Cornwall. It proposed replacing slots in Chatham-Kent, Kitchener-Waterloo, Peterborough, Ottawa, Sudbury and Kingston and replacing them with downtown casinos.
Lysyk’s report found that the modernization plans were based on an “ambitious best-case scenario.”
The OLG could not be reached for comment on Monday.