It is entirely unexpected that a proposal for a downtown casino would become such a watershed issue for Toronto. When first proposed last year, it was seen as a divisive issue, and best thinking was that the vote on city council would be close, perhaps dividing the downtown councillors from those representing the suburbs. The No Casino Toronto group was seen as insular and ineffective.
But now, as spring is finally bursting over the city, it is astonishing to find that those who support a casino in the downtown are few in number — and well out of the mainstream. The ethos of the city is clearly opposed to a casino, and people like Mayor Rob Ford and brother Doug look quite out of step and unrepresentative of Toronto’s basic values.
I realized how much city residents spoke with one voice when in early April I asked Rod Phillips, the proponent (with Paul Godfrey) through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, if he could give me contacts for five or 10 community leaders supporting the casino. Since we had heard so much from those opposed, I thought we should hear from those in favour.
I was sent a list of seven people, including the head of the Carpenters’ Union local, which could expect construction jobs; the head of the union local representing hotel and food workers; the head of Tourism Toronto; and the head of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association. All with a financial interest in the casino proceeding.
There were three other names on the list. One was Matthew McGuire of the Toronto Taxpayers Coalition, which rides the dead horse claiming that casino revenues will fund needed transit improvements. (Sorry, but $100 million a year, if generated from a casino, funds about a 10th of what is needed.) Another was the deputy chair of one of the largest brokerage companies in Toronto, but he never returned my call. The third was restaurateur Mark McEwan, who thinks that the larger American tourist base that a big casino would bring expands the number of restaurant opportunities here, although some have argued that casinos “capture” patrons and they don’t venture into the city.
In short, few community leaders favour a large casino in downtown Toronto. As one can see from the ads placed in the daily papers by No Casino Toronto, virtually everyone who cares about the city and participates in its public life is opposed. They come from every sector. When faith leaders made their public announcement of opposition, they proved a lively crew in their different religious outfits and said this was one of the first times they had spoken out as a group.
The casino has created a new and fresh political alignment in the city. I suspect it will spill over to the other big issues that now swirl around the city. One is the announcement by Porter Airlines that it wants to bring jets to the Island airport and extend the runway. One can see the same people who opposed the casino exercising their new political clout on this issue, arguing that the centre of a crowded downtown neighbourhood is hardly the place for a big airport. Mayor Ford has already said he supports the expansion, so the lines are drawn. It will also spill over to the question of finding new revenue for needed transit.
Premier Kathleen Wynne has taken a strong leadership position in favour of new revenue sources. So has the Toronto Region Board of Trade and CivicAction. And, since it was Wynne who dashed the hopes of casino supporters by saying there would be no special revenue deal for the casino in Toronto, it is quite possible the transit revenue cause will be able to harness the anti-casino crowd.
The other big issue is the extraordinary amount of new development. City planners say there are applications for dozens of new condo developments along Yonge Street south of Eglinton. The city has no plan to deal with all of this growth.
Maybe the anti-casino crowd will provide some political muscle to ensure the city benefits from the pressure of growth rather than just survive it.
Who would have thought a casino application for the downtown would have such positive results?
Post City Magazines’ columnist John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto and the author of a number of urban planning books.
