Mayor Rob Ford says casino deal ‘dead’ without annual $100M hosting fee
Posted May 16, 2013 4:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford said any casino deal is “dead” without a hosting fee of at least $100-million a year at an impromptu news conference Thursday.
“If the province won’t agree [to] that $100-million, then folks, the deal is dead,” he said at city hall.
“I’ve said that from day one. I said I would not support anything under $100-million.”
He said the city must receive its “fair share,” which is a hosting fee of at least $100-million.
Ford reiterated his support for a massive gambling facility but said he is “not married to a casino. I didn’t campaign on a casino,” he said.
Ford cancelled a special casino meeting next week, blasting the province for not revealing how much revenue the city would receive ahead of the Tuesday meeting.
The mayor said his office has not received any responses about how much the city would receive from the premier’s office and he wanted to spare councillors from having to go through “a very divisive and gruelling debate.”
He has asked the city clerk to reschedule the meeting until the next council meeting June 11.
Ford made the comments after Finance Minister Charles Sousa said Toronto may have to make its decision without the new revenue-sharing formula for hosting cities.
Sousa has confirmed that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. handed him a revised hosting fees formula last month.
But he would not say whether he will make it public before council was slated to vote on it next week.
The OLG had to revise the formula after Premier Kathleen Wynne made it clear in March that she didn’t want Toronto to get a special deal.
The OLG denied Toronto was getting a special deal, but said it would rewrite the formula to meet Wynne’s orders that all cities and towns be treated exactly the same.
— with files from the Canadian Press
