A couple of weeks ago, we reported that changes might be made to Ontario Regulation 347/00 under the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Act, 1999 that would affect the need for public approval of the proposed Toronto casino. The regulations presently require that a municipal referendum be held to approve a proposed casino development, and they further require that the referendum be held during the regularly scheduled municipal election. At the time of our last article, it was unclear whether the regulations would be amended to simply accelerate the referendum or to do away with the referendum requirement entirely.
Recent events strongly indicate that the government will remove the referendum requirement, perhaps replacing it with a requirement to obtain some expression of public support that does not necessarily require a referendum vote. The provincial government will not likely do away with the requirement to obtain municipal approval. A municipal resolution will still be required along with some demonstration of public consultation, but not necessarily a referendum.
On April 26, 2012, a Progressive Conservative opposition Member of Provincial Parliament, Monte McNaughton, put forward a private member's bill that would require the holding of a municipal referendum before a casino development could be built. It is possible that the impetus for this bill arose after Mr. McNaughton learned of the likelihood that the regulations would be changed to eliminate the referendum requirement. Also of note is that Mr. McNaughton does not represent a Toronto-area riding; his riding is Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, a rural area of Southwest Ontario where horse racing interests have a great deal of local authority. Indeed, shortly after the private member's bill was put forward, the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association sent out a press release announcing its support for the bill.
As a result, the political fight over the Toronto casino may move to counting the votes of the members of Toronto City Council required to pass a favourable resolution and a debate in Council over what constitutes a meaningful demonstration of public consultation.
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