Casino debate set without provincial OK of second site
City still expecting answer from Liberals hours before committee debate to begin
As members of the city’s finance committee prepared to debate Ottawa’s casino bid Monday morning, there was still no word, as of Sunday night, on whether the province will allow a second gambling site.
Committee members and the public will debate a motion that city council ask the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. for two casino sites — one at the Rideau Carleton Raceway and one new location built and run by a private operator.
The OLG’s market research led it to conclude that Ottawa can support one mediumsized new casino. But Finance Minister Charles Sousa, who is in charge of the gambling agency, has the authority to tell it to seek bids on two casinos.
Mayor Jim Watson talked to both Sousa and Premier Kathleen Wynne last week, asking whether the province and the OLG would support two new gambling sites in Ottawa. Neither conversation resulted in a concrete answer on the issue.
Staff for the mayor say they believe they will have an answer before Monday’s meeting, however.
“I can tell you that we have not received the province’s reply at this time; however, we continue to expect to receive it before the (finance committee) meeting tomorrow,” the mayor’s spokesman George Young wrote in an email to the Citizen Sunday.
If the OLG does not give approval for a second site, council will discuss its backup plan to keep Rideau Carleton Raceway at the location for any gambling expansion in Ottawa.
Having two casinos instead of the single one the OLG wants a private operator to build here could save the raceway; proprietors say it would have to close if it isn’t subsidized by the rent from the OLG slot machines it now hosts. Two sites would also placate Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, who wants to bid for a new casino near his Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata.
Beyond the debate between committee members, Monday’s meeting will also give the public a chance to voice opinions on the casino bid.
Proponents of expanded gambling in the capital say new sites would bring in more tourism dollars and promote new business development.
But others say new casinos would just send money to the province and victimize gambling addicts.
Ottawa Public Health has already said the city should not expand gambling because the resources currently available for gambling addicts are insufficient.