Paul Godfrey really, really wants a casino, and he really, really wants it downtown
Paul Godfrey, chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, still hasn’t given up on the idea of a mega-casino in Toronto (he makes his case in Toronto Life this month), and he’s pushing hard to put it on the downtown waterfront. The businessman is basically begging councillors not to dismiss a casino before all the facts are in, and said that, put anywhere but downtown, the complex “wouldn’t be as iconic. We would have to be satisfied with something less.” Adam Vaughan and Mike Layton, who both have anti-casino motions scheduled for the mayor’s executive committee on Monday, didn’t sound swayed by Godfrey’s pitch. “All the research I’ve done, it’s saying run and hide from these things,” said Layton. That, or push them out to Etobicoke. [Globe and Mail]
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Paul Godfrey, chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, still hasn’t given up on the idea of a mega-casino in Toronto (he makes his case in Toronto Life this month), and he’s pushing hard to put it on the downtown waterfront. The businessman is basically begging councillors not to dismiss a casino before all the facts are in, and said that, put anywhere but downtown, the complex “wouldn’t be as iconic. We would have to be satisfied with something less.” Adam Vaughan and Mike Layton, who both have anti-casino motions scheduled for the mayor’s executive committee on Monday, didn’t sound swayed by Godfrey’s pitch. “All the research I’ve done, it’s saying run and hide from these things,” said Layton. That, or push them out to Etobicoke. [Globe and Mail]){kind=link}
If Godfrey were serious about this being an iconic complex and continues to push for it on the waterfront, then OLG should have a worldwide open competition for its design and at least a billion dollars set aside to construct it.
Nothing less than a Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, please! Not a big concrete bunker built by his friends in the construction business.
Who wouldn’t want Toronto waterfront? What a great real estate play. All you have to do is wait another 10 years and then build condos on top… I can smell the gravy and so can Paul… maybe even the Mayor can smell the gravy.
Legalized gambling on Toronto’s waterfront.. funny how casinos work so well in Niagara Falls, Orillia and Port Perry many, many miles from Toronto’s downtown but Godfrey’s group can’t make it work anywhere but on downtown Toronto prime waterfront property. Call me jaded but I’m not buying this crock from pitchman Godfrey.
Hang in there Messrs Vaughn and Layton. Torontonians will thank you for not permitting the privatization of the waterfront of Toronto for the gaming industry’s windfall gains. They make more than enough already.
I am getting sick and tired of this blatant liar. He has the morals of a slime ball and the only reason he wants a casino in Toronto waterfront is for personal gain. What about the 60,000 citizens of Ontario he is willing to devastate by destroying their source of income and life style. Sorry i am not buying his pitch and neither should you The city of Toronto got reamed in the Sky Dome deal and now he wants to ream the ordinary citizens of rural Ontario. He has a track record of lies and deceit The waterfront should be kept for the citizens of Toronto and not the greedy Godfrey’s who care not for people but the almighty dollar