by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
November 5, 2004
according to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, the province is hooked on gambling. Reacting to a study that shows that 4.8 per cent of problem gamblers account for about 35 percent of all provincial gaming revenues, McGuinty said:
“There is no doubt about it, we have come to rely on gambling revenues. Perhaps in a better world we wouldn’t, but the fact of the matter is it’s here, it’s here to stay.”
McGuinty stopped short of saying what his utopian vision of a “better world” would look like. This is probably just as well because any better world would necessarily consist of one where Dalton is not premier.
anything McGuinty says has to be taken with a grain of salt. after all, this is the guy that promised not to raise taxes and then imposed a health tax. When confronted with this little discrepancy, McGuinty said it wasn’t a tax, it was a premium. Then when he found out that some collective agreements that the province has with its employees require the employer to pay for health premiums, McGuinty said it wasn’t a premium, it was a tax. Whoever invented the phrase, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds must have had Dalton in mind.
So since the statement that Ontario is addicted to gambling revenues was made by the head of the Promise Breakers, it has to be examined for accuracy. and naturally, it is just another Fiberal lie.
McGuinty and his government do not have a so-called gambling or lottery problem. They have a spending problem. The government’s solution to everything is to throw more money at it. Hospital waiting lists too long – throw money. The school system not quite up to snuff --more money should do the trick. The government is addicted to spending because putting more money into such things as health care and schools is taking the easy way out. It is much more difficult to make substantive changes to the hospital system or education than it is to simply write larger cheques. By a simple stroke of the pen, Liberals can feel good about themselves. and for those on the left feeling good is what it is all about. By throwing money at a problem, they get a “quick high”, the same as an addicted gambler does when playing slot machines.
McGuinty’s salivating over how much money the province rakes in through gambling revenues illustrates a paradox that is found in left leaning governments. Those governments and politicians that yell the loudest about how much they care about the poor, the homeless and the downtrodden; the governments who are always complaining that the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes; are the first ones who have no compunction in imposing hardships on the poor when it benefits them. Gambling, especially lotteries have always been known as a tax on the poor. Buying $10 worth of scratch-and-win tickets is no big deal for someone who earns big bucks but it can mean children going without milk in lower income families. The government doesn’t care however--they’ll just use the revenues from those lotteries in social spending to show how much they really care.
and what will McGuinty do about the increase in problem gamblers that became hooked thanks to the government; why they’ll do what they always do--they’ll simply throw money at them. and that will make them feel even better. That’s what it’s all about.
McGuinty is proud of the fact that the province is getting in big bucks from gambling and doesn’t care about those whose lives are destroyed by easy access to slot machines, lotteries and other forms of gambling. If he did, he would simply ban gambling in the province. You have to remember that this is a province that didn’t hesitate to ban pit bulls or suggest banning sushi that was not pre-frozen.
Dalton just loves all the money that he has to spend at the expense of problem gamblers. You can bet on that.