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]