Ontario PCs call for immediate halt to casino deal amid money laundering investigation

The Ontario PCs are calling on Kathleen Wynne to halt the casino deal with Great Canadian Gaming, pending the results of a sweeping police probe into money laundering at its BC casino. 

“There is a storm cloud hanging over this bad deal. Internal government documents have revealed suspicions of terrorist financing, while organized crime allegedly laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in hockey bags full of cash through the BC casino,” charged PC Finance Critic Vic Fedeli. “And what has the Kathleen Wynne government done? They’ve given the casino operator a lucrative new deal in Toronto.”

“We’re calling for this deal to be halted immediately, pending the results of the investigation.”

When the Liberals announced the deal in August, Finance Minister Charles Sousa said he was “very excited” in a statement. Yet when asked recently about the RCMP investigation by Newstalk 1010, Sousa denied being aware of it. The issue has been widely reported, including only days before Sousa denied knowledge of it (see here,  here, here and here). 

Sousa also said that the process in which OLG selects contractors is “independent.” In reality, the OLG reports directly to Minister of Finance, which has final approval on OLG policy.

“This casino deal is the result of the Liberal government’s decision to destroy the horse racing industry, a plan that now will see Dalton McGuinty take the stand in a trial. From top to bottom, it’s hard to count how many ways this deal is suspect. Kathleen Wynne must do the right thing and stop it immediately.

“The public can decide if they believe that the finance minister didn’t know about the investigation, despite widespread media coverage. But if he truly is clueless, Kathleen Wynne must step in by halting this deal.”