Brandon says no to casino
 

Brandon residents have soundly said no to establishing a native-run casino in the city.

For ward by ward plebiscite results, click here.

Voters were being asked to mark either 'yes' or 'no' to the following question: Do you favour the establishment of a casino in the city of Brandon?

The casino proposal was defeated in all 10 wards in the city. The final vote was 6,307 against and 4,715 in favour.

An estimated 27,000 people were eligible to vote in the plebiscite. During an advance poll, approximately 420 votes were cast March 5 and a further 688 last Saturday.

Long Plain First Nation Chief Dennis Meeches, who is acting as a spokesman for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said before the votes were counted that if the plebicite fails "our gaming chiefs will convene -— we'll be meeting on Friday anyway — and assess the situation."

If the 'No' campaign is successful, he said, negotiations will begin with four interested Manitoba First Nations who want to establish a casino in western Manitoba, though Meeches would not provide further details.

But, now where are Brandonians going to lose their monies?? :(

Ever since Thunder Bay's casino opened in 2001, we have had no problem with losing our monies. Every year, we lose 45 million dollars to that casino and we are a better city for it! :tup: Of course that casino would be run by natives. Ours is run by government, so you know they're pocketing some of it.

Welcome to the club, just build it out in the country...Saskatoon style ;)

We got a new native casino here, trick is, it is only a few feet over city limits on a huge native reserve next to a major E-W expressway. And it allows smoking...

Good job, Brandon.

Nothing like first nations looking out for the rest of society in such a positive way!

[QUOTE=rrskylar;3413263]Nothing like first nations looking out for the rest of society in such a positive way![/QUOTE

Yea, "they" should be more considerate, after the all the good things "the rest of society" have done for them ;) Let's not rehash that old debate again.

I just read about a pub in the U.S. (run by white folks BTW) which has found a way around smoking bylaws by hosting live shakepearian theatre (not for the edification of patrons, but since it would allow them to smoke). So it really has little to do with FN or not, and a great deal to do with human nature. What casino owners are doing, although not particularly edifying, it is no worse than what all bussinesses do, find ways to utilize existing laws in their favour.

Secondly, this is not "the first nations". It is a particular First Nation band. While that may seem a fine point, it is through overgeneralization that discrimination starts.

As noted above, a similar decision turned out to be negative in S'toon. We ended up with the Casion anyway, but in a much worse location for the city. A nice building which we could have used downtown, ended up getting built just out of town rather than smack in the middle as requested by the band. More suburban sprawl at the expense of downtown development.

[QUOTE=psych1;3413301]

So your logic is that two wrongs make a right? My premise is that the First Nations Bands should be concentrating on developing businesses that are positive to society on the whole not relying on ventures that our in the grey areas of society. To allow smoking at First Nations casinos is quite frankly shameful on their part when such a high percentage of First Nations people are addicted to smoking!

Fort William's commercial strip has been booming since the city's smoking by-law went into effect. Though they recently built a non-smoking section on their restaurant. They make good money off it.

Tax free gas, too! :banana:

[QUOTE=rrskylar;3413691]I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but that right in such cases is very much a relative term, and I believe it is very dangerous for broader society to stand in judgment of First Nations on an issuesuch as this. Comment sure, but using words like "shameful" is not going to change anyone's mind. I am not saying we should never do so, but I think this issue is relatively speaking trivial and that we have many of our own messes to clean up before we go pointing fingers at allowing smoking in Casinos as "shameful". I believe that First Nations people have been told they should be ashamed of themselves for so many things (e.g.their culture, their language, the impact of history on their current state) that I'm sure they have no shortage of that emotion and will not be motivating.

I happen to agree with you that there are probably far more constructive approaches to development, but I think the non-aboriginal society has done dismally in finding them, so we should not be too quick to point fingers. It is a little like developed countries ranting about the damage third world economies are doing to the environment rather than implementing any changes themselves.

If it makes vid's bannan dance, then :banana: for me too.

Belcourt, North Dakota... like they already do.

Rumour has it that a casino will now be built on a reserve very close to Brandon. In effect cutting the city of Brandon out of potencial economic stimulus, while still benefiting from the population of the city who want to support such an establishment. I heard the native chiefs want to model it after the native casino at South Beach, which includes a new hotel.

South Beach is awful. The smell inside is even worse.

Club Regent on the other hand is a knockout. McPhillips lags behind, but is pretty decent.