Solution to reopen casino on way, premier declares
Crowd restriction rules being assessed by health officials, Ford says during visit
A solution to safely reopen Caesars Windsor and the rest of the province’s casinos is “not far away at all,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday during his trip to celebrate Windsor’s entry into Stage 3.
“Hopefully very, very shortly we’ll have an announcement to get the casinos to open up too,” he said in a teleconference held at the City of Windsor’s public works yard at Tecumseh Road West and Crawford Avenue.
Caesars has been closed and its 2,600 employees idled since the arrival of the COVID -19 pandemic in mid-march.
“It’s absolutely critical we take care of that casino,” Ford said.
The province’s Stage 3 reopening plan does allow for casinos to reopen, but with restrictions that make it virtually impossible for a large operation like Caesars. No more than 50 customers are allowed at a time. Despite Windsor going into Stage 3 starting Wednesday, Caesars so far has no reopening date, largely due to the capacity restrictions imposed by the government.
A similar problem happened at movie theatres when the rest of the province went to Stage 3 in July. The government eventually changed the 50-customer restriction so it applied to individual cinemas and not the entire building.
Ford said he raised the question of whether casinos could be treated the same as cinemas during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“It’s not feasible for the casino to open up with 50 people,” he said, suggesting a casino could be sectioned off with 50 people allowed in each section.
“I’ve got to protect those jobs,” he said.
He said the issue is currently being evaluated by health professionals. If they green light a solution, the province will move on it quickly, he said.
Ford’s Windsor trip included a tour of Ford of Canada’s Essex Engine Plant to recognize its contribution fighting COVID-19 by retooling a section of the plant to produce face shields. Then he visited St. Charbel Antonin Maronite Catholic Church to meet with members of the local Lebanese community who are mourning the devastation from last week’s explosion in Beirut that killed more than 170 people and wounded 6,000.
His next stop was Nico Taverna on Erie Street, where the region’s mayors discussed their main issues: primarily the need for a new acute “mega-hospital,” followed by concerns over rising water and local flooding. Ford’s last visit to the region happened in mid-july when he fulfilled his promise to get a haircut in Leamington or Kingsville after the two towns were finally allowed to enter Stage 2 after everyone else in the province.
The 3 p.m. teleconference was held to announce $30 million in funding next year to help municipalities build or repair roads and bridges under the Connecting Links program.
“It’s great to be back in beautiful Windsor-essex,” he started off the teleconference saying, crediting the community for pulling together to combat the pandemic.
“I wanted to come down here and thank the people personally because as of (Wednesday), Windsor-essex joined the rest of Ontario in Stage 3 — the great restaurants, the bars, movie theatres are opening up. It’s great news.”
The Connecting Links program has already provided more than $9 million in recent years to Windsor, mostly to help rebuild heavily travelled Huron Church Road.
Windsor will be applying for part of the $30 million to complete the next phase of the Huron Church project, Mayor Drew Dilkens’ chief of staff Andrew Teliszewsky said. The deadline to apply is Nov. 6.
At the teleconference, Dilkens said that Connecting Links is more than just a catchy title for a provincial program.
“These funds help smaller communities compete,” he said. “It helps us improve our economic corridors and support growth and development in the long term. And in the short run, these projects create jobs right here in our community.”
The Connecting Links program provides funding for up to 90 per cent of eligible project costs, up to a maximum of $3 million for roads and $5 million for bridges. The amount for bridges was increased from $3 million to reflect the higher cost of bridgework.
As Ford’s black SUV pulled out onto Howard Avenue from the Nico Taverna parking lot, it suddenly stopped so the premier could exit and hurry over to a family waiving excitedly to him on the other side of the street. After getting their photo taken with him, Frank Borrelli, who co-owns Borrelli Cellars winery with brother Sonny, said they had heard Ford would be at the restaurant.
“So I brought the kids,” said Frank’s wife Julie.
“The kids were kind of starstruck,” said Frank. “That was kind of neat, that he stopped for the kids.”