Ontario casino may go bust

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As construction approached completion on the Casino Rama project an hour and a half north of Toronto, the new Ontario government grabbed a share of the profit. Premier Mike Harris's Progressive Conservatives also unilaterally stopped construction until a list of new conditions ? not previously applied to the project, which was begun under Bob Rae's NDP regime ? were satisfied.

"To ask us to resolve this issue before we continue construction is just not possible considering the number of stakeholders in that scenario," said Ted Williams, chairman of the casino, which is located on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. "We were contacted and received a letter on Feb. 15, last Thursday."

The decisions had been announced through the press on Feb. 9 by Ontario Attorney General Charles Harnick. The construction manager ordered a halt in construction activity on Feb. 16.

"The letter said that there were some outstanding business agreements that needed to be completed," Williams explained, referring to contracts between the three major partners in the deal: the Chippewas of Rama First Nation; the Ontario Casino Corporation, the Crown corporation that runs gaming in the province; and Carnival Hotels & Casinos of Miami, Fla., which is to operate the casino.

The letter from William Saunderson, Ontario's minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, went on to define two other requirements that must be met before the province allows the project to continue: that 20 per cent of the gross money generated by the casino go to the government and that a First Nations fund be established to distribute the after-tax revenues to the 132 Ontario First Nations. It is these last two that have Williams most concerned.

"We were well on the way to resolving the agreement among the three partners in the development," he said. "But we feel that the 20 per cent and the First Nations fund issues are just a smoke screen."

"The way I feel is that Toronto is a very big market," he continued. "We're only an hour and a half north of Toronto, and there will be no casino in Toronto for quite a few years. The Native community will make a significant amount from this project.

"We are in a position to attract customers and keep them as loyal customers up here at beautiful Lake Couchichina," he said. "It will damage us a great deal if we are forced to miss the summer season in 1996."

Casino Rama was about to be finished inside by some 900 workers, in preparation for a May opening, Williams said. Upon completion, the casino would employ 2,200 people and create more than 5,000 spin-off jobs on and around the reserve. All of that is on hold while the province decides what to do.

Construction will be completed on a private, for-profit casino in Niagara Falls later this year, and there is already one operating in Windsor. The private casino in Windsor pays 20 per cent of its profits to the Province of Ontario. Under the original agreements reached with the NDP government, Ontario First Nations were to be the sole beneficiaries of the Rama casino.

"The (government) action is reprehensible and is reminiscent of the land and money grabs perpetrated against our First Nation people in the not too distant past," said Ontario Regional Chief Gordon Peters. "The struggle will not be an easy one as we are now dealing with a government not even willing to respect its own laws, let alone First Nation laws and traditions."

"We hope to hear from the minister or the province soon," Williams said. "I would like them to tell us to carry on the construction activity, that the issues will be resolved concurrent with construction, opening and after."

After a meeting in Toronto, Saunderson promised Rama leaders only that he would convey their concerns back to the provincial cabinet. Government spokesmen declined further comment.