Canadian Gaming News, Issue 23 (1996, March) - Page 1 |
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Issue 23 March, 1996 Casino Rama: A promise broken! What do you do when a government tells you that it intends to ignore an agreement you made with it? This is the question which many are asking in light of the Har-ris government's abrupt and unilateral de-cision to halt construction at Casino Rarna, and to rewrite the profit sharing arrange-ment which it has with Ontario's 13 1 First Nations. The Ontario government's ac-tions have sent shockwaves through First Nation communities across Canada and are causing major casino operators to cast a nervous, and questioning eye toward Nia-gara Falls. What prompted the government to act as it has, and what happens now? Despite the government's ' official spin' about missing legal agreements being the cause for Rama's shutdown, the ' real is-sue' is not the legal agreements but rather the government's decision to grab the esti-mated $ 83 million which Casino Rama's ' win contribution' ( for some reason they don't want to use ' win tax') would have contributed to a First Nations fund for so-cial and economic development initiatives. Casino Rama: Page # 1 Promise Broken Agathe Riverin Page # 3 PsychoGestion Inc Developments Page # 4 to Watch International Page # 5 Thunderbird Monthly Stats Page # 6 This $ 83 million represents about half the money which Ontario's First Nations would have received from the casino in its first year of operation and was intended to compensate Ontario's First Nations for the phasing- out of other assistance pro-grammes. With regard to the halt of con-struction, we know of two rumours mak-ing the rounds and which may explain the government's actions though we do not assign much credibility to either. As the first story goes, A1 McLean, the local member of the Legislature, discov-ered that some legal agreements had not been signed and the government, upon hearing this horrific news, immediately blew the whistle. Nice try but no cigar. We know the Ontario Legislature well enough to know that MPPs do not have that lund of influence. As we explain later, Mr. McLean may have had a differ-ent role in this story than he expects. The second rumour, which started the rounds in mid- January, is that someone did somethmg bad in the award of a con-tract to a Rama sub- contractor. While there may well be things here that we don't know, to the extent that we have been able to research thls rumour we have found that the decision in question was made by a panel of five people, and not solely by the person identified in the ru-mour. As this rumour undoubtedly trav-elled in several circles, some businessmen may have brought it to the attention of some politicians. We did at first think that this was the cause of the govern-ment's actions as a politician close to the decision had told us, the day after the an-nouncement, that the halt was the result of some businessmen raising complaints with some politicians. But things still I Ivan Sack I didn't add up because, surely, even if the rumour was relayed and an investigation begun, this could have been done without shutting everything down. This then leaves the government's official explana-tion, that some legal agreements were not in place, as the only reason for its actions: When a government first gets wind that a major project has gone off the rails, its usual first course of action is to ask some questions of the project managers. Only if it is still not satisfied would it then even consider shutting down a project which will, within months, create 8,000 direct and indirect jobs. We understand that no concerns were raised with the project man-ager, Rama, and that they were given no advance notice of the government's an-nouncement. As to the absence of legal contracts, we hear that not all the legal agreements are signed. ' Letters of understanding' were exchanged though by the principals at the outset of the project so that work could be-gm while the lawyers caught up. Things were moving smoothly to the extent that everything was to be in place by mid- March. This is the same approach that was successfully followed with Casino Windsor with a slight difference. In an effort to ' fast- track' construction at Casino Windsor's interim casino, the Art Gallery of Windsor, which owned the in-terim casino building, had ( along with its contractor) financed an estimated $ 23 mil-lion worth of construction start- up costs. The gallery was then reimbursed by Wind-
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | Canadian Gaming News, Issue 23 (1996, March) |
Subject(s) | Casinos -- Canada -- Periodicals; Gambling -- Canada -- Periodicals; Gambling -- Periodicals |
Description | Canadian Gaming News, Issue 23 (1996, March) |
Creator | Sack, Ivan |
Publisher | Ivan Sack |
Contributors | University of Lethbridge Library |
Date.Original | 1996-03-01; * |
Type | eJournal |
Source | Canadian Gaming News [Mississauga, Ont.] |
Language | eng |
Relation | University of Lethbridge Library Digital Collections |
Permission for Digitization | The University of Lethbridge Library received permission from Ivan Sack to digitize and display this content. |
Resource Type | periodical |
Collection | Canadian Gaming News |
Open Access | Yes |
Date.Digital | 2009-10-07 |
Date.Last.Modified | 2009-10-07 |
Description
Title | Canadian Gaming News, Issue 23 (1996, March) - Page 1 |
Type | eJournal |
Permission for Digitization | The University of Lethbridge Library received permission from Ivan Sack to digitize and display this content. |
Full-Text | Issue 23 March, 1996 Casino Rama: A promise broken! What do you do when a government tells you that it intends to ignore an agreement you made with it? This is the question which many are asking in light of the Har-ris government's abrupt and unilateral de-cision to halt construction at Casino Rarna, and to rewrite the profit sharing arrange-ment which it has with Ontario's 13 1 First Nations. The Ontario government's ac-tions have sent shockwaves through First Nation communities across Canada and are causing major casino operators to cast a nervous, and questioning eye toward Nia-gara Falls. What prompted the government to act as it has, and what happens now? Despite the government's ' official spin' about missing legal agreements being the cause for Rama's shutdown, the ' real is-sue' is not the legal agreements but rather the government's decision to grab the esti-mated $ 83 million which Casino Rama's ' win contribution' ( for some reason they don't want to use ' win tax') would have contributed to a First Nations fund for so-cial and economic development initiatives. Casino Rama: Page # 1 Promise Broken Agathe Riverin Page # 3 PsychoGestion Inc Developments Page # 4 to Watch International Page # 5 Thunderbird Monthly Stats Page # 6 This $ 83 million represents about half the money which Ontario's First Nations would have received from the casino in its first year of operation and was intended to compensate Ontario's First Nations for the phasing- out of other assistance pro-grammes. With regard to the halt of con-struction, we know of two rumours mak-ing the rounds and which may explain the government's actions though we do not assign much credibility to either. As the first story goes, A1 McLean, the local member of the Legislature, discov-ered that some legal agreements had not been signed and the government, upon hearing this horrific news, immediately blew the whistle. Nice try but no cigar. We know the Ontario Legislature well enough to know that MPPs do not have that lund of influence. As we explain later, Mr. McLean may have had a differ-ent role in this story than he expects. The second rumour, which started the rounds in mid- January, is that someone did somethmg bad in the award of a con-tract to a Rama sub- contractor. While there may well be things here that we don't know, to the extent that we have been able to research thls rumour we have found that the decision in question was made by a panel of five people, and not solely by the person identified in the ru-mour. As this rumour undoubtedly trav-elled in several circles, some businessmen may have brought it to the attention of some politicians. We did at first think that this was the cause of the govern-ment's actions as a politician close to the decision had told us, the day after the an-nouncement, that the halt was the result of some businessmen raising complaints with some politicians. But things still I Ivan Sack I didn't add up because, surely, even if the rumour was relayed and an investigation begun, this could have been done without shutting everything down. This then leaves the government's official explana-tion, that some legal agreements were not in place, as the only reason for its actions: When a government first gets wind that a major project has gone off the rails, its usual first course of action is to ask some questions of the project managers. Only if it is still not satisfied would it then even consider shutting down a project which will, within months, create 8,000 direct and indirect jobs. We understand that no concerns were raised with the project man-ager, Rama, and that they were given no advance notice of the government's an-nouncement. As to the absence of legal contracts, we hear that not all the legal agreements are signed. ' Letters of understanding' were exchanged though by the principals at the outset of the project so that work could be-gm while the lawyers caught up. Things were moving smoothly to the extent that everything was to be in place by mid- March. This is the same approach that was successfully followed with Casino Windsor with a slight difference. In an effort to ' fast- track' construction at Casino Windsor's interim casino, the Art Gallery of Windsor, which owned the in-terim casino building, had ( along with its contractor) financed an estimated $ 23 mil-lion worth of construction start- up costs. The gallery was then reimbursed by Wind- |
Collection | Canadian Gaming News |
Open Access | Yes |
Date.Digital | 2008-01-03 |
Date.Last.Modified | 2008-01-03 |
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