MPP Arnott again condemns Windsor casino expansion
Calls for more money for hospitals instead

Standing up for families who have been negatively impacted by problem gambling, Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott criticized the Provincial Government for its misplaced priorities for the second consecutive week.

He again attacked the $400 million recently announced by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade to entice more people to gamble at the Windsor casino. That money would have been better spent on hospitals, Mr. Arnott said.

“Will the Premier please explain the government’s priorities? Why does the Windsor casino deserve that $400 million more than Ontario’s hospitals?” he asked on February 24th in the Legislature.

This led to a testy exchange with Premier Dalton McGuinty in the House.

Mr. Arnott also called upon the Government to take a position on his Private Member’s Bill 95, which, if passed would put a complete moratorium on the expansion of gambling until a public inquiry is held to study the negative social impacts of excessive gambling.

In his question, Mr. Arnott stated that the Government side-stepped the issue by announcing the massive casino deal the day before the House resumed sitting, while shortchanging hospitals and just before “the Premier went hat in hand crying poor to the federal government,” he told the House.

Mr. Arnott went on to remind the Premier that the President of the Canada Safety Council, Emile Therien, and the Right Reverend Colin R. Johnson, Anglican Bishop of Toronto, have written the Government in support of Bill 95.

“I was quite disappointed with the Premier’s dismissive response,” Mr. Arnott said afterwards. “He made absolutely no statement which demonstrated any empathy for people who are addicted to gambling or their families, nor did he adequately explain why our hospitals are underfunded,” Mr. Arnott said later. “Clearly I’m going to have to continue raising this issue.”