Three former mayors — Crombie, Sewell and Eggleton — have written a letter to Mayor Rob Ford and city council recommending against a casino for Toronto. Their warning that Toronto should “beware the sales pitch” — is a voice of caution that repeats concerns heard before about casino gambling: Casinos try to keep customers inside the establishment causing small business outside on the street to starve, casinos attract crime and add to the cost of policing and other services, casinos prey on the vulnerable and increase everything from homelessness to alcoholism. But are these three former mayors wise men or merely voices from the past. David Crombie (1972-1978), John Sewell (1978-1980), and Senator Art Eggleton (1980-1991) were very different from each other in their day. Crombie is known for saving mid-town neighbourhoods from developers. He is a soft-conservative whose legacy is precious and deserved. It’s hard to know what the combative John Sewell accomplished apart from getting himself unelected by an unknown alderman named Eggleton after one brief term. “Art” as the new mayor was widely known, ran a savvy 11-year tour during some of the best times the city has experienced. But all of these men operated in a Toronto that is long gone, especially around gambling. The Ontario Government’s OLG presides over some of the most doubtful exploitation of the gambling poor. If the OLG hasn’t led to galloping homelessness, nothing will. The mayors are most on target, in our view, in their concern about how casinos like to imprison and otherwise sponge up all the business of any kind within a wide radius of their slot machines. But this is something that can be specifically targeted in any agreement and readily policed by merchants. It may not be a good reason to embrace a casino and The South Bayview Bulldog certainly has no need for more gambling. But like the sales pitch from the casino operators, the concerns expressed by the former mayors need to be carefully reviewed for accuracy.
