New casino?

[thistleclub]

Featuring a cameo from everyone's favourite Interim Integrity Commisioner (or thereabouts).

Council’s power to put strings on Toronto casino approval questioned
(Globe and Mail, Elizabeth Church, April 23 2013)

A Toronto real estate company fighting plans for a casino at Exhibition Place is questioning whether city council has the legal ability to put strings on its approval of a downtown gambling complex.

First Capital Realty, a mall owner with major holdings at Liberty Village, is arguing that under provincial regulations, city council has no ability to give conditional approval to casino plans.

“A vote yes on a conditional resolution for a casino does not comply with provincial legislation and First Capital Realty is prepared to take all necessary steps to challenge that outcome,” states a letter sent Monday to Mayor Rob Ford and the members of his executive committee.

The executive committee last week voted to support a downtown casino and the expansion of existing gambling facilities at Woodbine Racetrack, recommending that council say yes provided more than 40 conditions are met.

In its letter, the real estate firm notes that such conditional approval is not addressed in the provincial lottery and gaming act or in the regulations that govern the establishment of a “gaming site.”

Toronto lawyer George Rust-D’Eye, a municipal law expert, said the company’s letter raises a valid question that has not been tested in the courts.

“It is certainly a grey area,” he said. “There is nothing in the regulation that says this decision can be made conditionally.”