Voting in favour of the casino was are Mayor Rob Ford, Michael Thompson, David Shiner, Cesar Palacio, Doug Holyday, Norm Kelly, Frank Di Giorgio, Vincent Crisanti and Gary Crawford. Against the casino was Jaye Robinson, Peter Milczyn, Denzil Minnan-wong and Paul Ainslie.
The mayor’s executive committee in Toronto has voted 9-4 in favour of allowing a casino to operate in the city
The city council will now have to give final approval to the idea. Mayor Ford said, “I am optimistic, I think people will see the light.”
Ford believes that a casino could bring a further $148 million in revenue to the city and create up to 10,000 jobs, however, many councillors have said that the social cost may outweigh the benefits.
The Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blair, said that he has no concerns about an increase in criminal activity in the area surrounding a casino.
“I have spoken with chiefs of police in other jurisdictions and they say there is no organised crime as a result of casinos. There are social and economic factors where crime happens, things like illegal booze cans, but these are in areas that don’t have casinos.”
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