Golden Goose or Dead Duck?

On January 7th, I release a letter to local media and members of parliament.   Subject: Golden Goose or Dead Duck?   Ducana Windows in Tilbury closed its doors this week! It's just another in a long string of "dead ducks" in the once booming Chatham Kent manufacturing economy! Today’s paper reports that “Agriculture Trumps Manufacturing” in Ontario and that the food industry is driving Ontario’s engine.  We’ve also had our share of “dead ducks” in the food processing industry over the years and more recently with the closure of a fruit processing plant in St. Davids.   Last November I brought the Golden Goose to the attention of city officials and fellow Chathamites. This city was once the home of one of Ontario's biggest resorts, the Southwestern Regional Centre (SWRC) which I maintain is still our Golden Goose!  Mayor Hope calls the closing of this 1200 bed resort the biggest blow to Chatham-Kent’s economy from both a job and tax revenue basis; and I couldn’t agree more.   You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that agriculture, retirement living, tourism and gaming are the four cornerstones to bringing jobs back to Chatham-Kent.  The Dealtown Casino Hotel and Retirement Village initiative targets three of these cornerstones, which is why it is the Golden Goose.  The SWRC was a self-contained specialty resort but make no mistake, it was a resort and I contend that it can again become a thriving resort. My current initiative would include 100 retirement residence suites and a 200 room hotel which covers off two of those cornerstones.  The proposed casino adds the third leg and would deliver the resort attraction and related jobs.   You ask, “HOW MANY JOBS WOULD THIS GOLDEN GOOSE BRING TO CHATHAM-KENT?”  Let me share some FACTS with you.  I didn’t make these numbers up; they are derived directly from OLG reports and several economic impact studies on gaming in Canada.  The casino facility that is proposed for the Dealtown initiative is 2/3 (about 65%) the size of the Windsor, Rama and Niagara centres. It would have approximately 1500 slots, 52 table games and a bingo hall. This translates into 1,985 direct jobs, 1,489 indirect jobs and according to the experts another 752 induced jobs which experts say area a result of labour income spending.   That is a total of 4,227 jobs; that is four thousand two hundred and twenty seven new jobs, give or take.   Who controls the Golden Goose you ask!  Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is the gate keeper. Their generous contribution to Chatham-Kent currently consists of 84 direct, 63 indirect and 33 induced jobs which represent a whopping 0.212% of the total 85,433 jobs created and sustained in the Ontario gaming industry.   The problem is the Golden Goose is about to be killed and the only people that can save it are the folks at OLG and the Ontario Government.  Mayor Hope ran the idea up the flag pole at OLG and to use his words, “they were cool on the idea.”  Sure, OLG can provide $83,800,000 as its share to help build the new $165M casino on Scugog Island SW of Peterborough! Sure, OLG can make significant investments to expand OLG Slots at Ajax Down and OLG Slots at Georgian Downs and the renovations at OLG Casino Brantford.  It’s also nice that the City of Windsor and the City of Niagara Falls receive $3M a year from OLG, not to mention a recent $5.5M re-signing bonus payment to the Chippewa’s of Rama.   I have are major casino developers standing in line to finance this Golden Goose!  The $165 to 200M (+ or -) needed to renovate the SWRC is all private financing.  The City might need to put up a few signs; but unlike the Capital Theater goose, the Chatham-Kent tax payers will not be funding this initiative. So what is the problem, you ask?  Well, the SWRC is about to be sold for scrap and the property converted into a solar farm with a few new homes or even converted back into raw farm land.  If the city officials, the Ontario Government and the tax paying citizens of Chatham Kent let that happen, we will have another very big “dead duck” and nothing but a big goose egg for jobs!   Brian Keenan Chairman of the Dealtown Casino Initiative Bekeen@me.com