Smoke Gets In Their Eyes

I wonder what Dwight was thinking about in this photo

I trust you read the Report prepared for the City on the consequences of the No Smoking law on our Community. It seemed to be a well-researched and well-written Report to me. Notwithstanding that the Report came out just a few weeks before the ban is put into place, it made a very convincing case that this City's businesses need help and badly.

It looks though that it may another case of too little, too late. Obviously, if our Mayor and Council had only acted more quickly, we might have had some good news already for our businesses but they did not.

Back in November, 2003, according to the Star, a "fretting" Eddie Francis said

• "A provincewide smoking ban will hurt the economies of Windsor and other border cities dependent on U.S. tourists...
  
  Francis, who attended the provincial throne speech at Queen's Park, said a ban threatens the livelihoods of Casino Windsor and bar and restaurant employees...
  
  There's got to be a recognition that our situation is different because we're not competing with other Ontario cities where there's going to be a level playing field," Francis said.
  
  "We're competing with Michigan. Since 1999 we've had a drop of three million visitors," he said."
  
  

However, Ontario's Minister of Finance, the Member for Windsor-St. Clair, the one and only Dwight Duncan dismisses the Report out of hand! "I don't share their pessimism."

Ahhhh, our Member knows best though. He thinks the Casino is like a Tim Horton's. Notwithstanding what the experts say since the vast majority of Casino, Raceway and bingo patrons are American (unlike Tim Horton's where they are local) and what the experience is in other jurisdictions, to the Minister, it is merely "all this talk of gloom and doom."

However, is Dwight betting his career on his opinion? "It will be an initially short-term decline, but things will pick up. In six months, we'll see who's right and who's wrong...we will monitor this very carefully."

(Don't hold your breath though on Windsor getting anything even after six months. A seemingly unsympathetic Duncan was quoted in the Hamilton Spectator on April 19, 2006 as saying, "businesses have had plenty of time to adjust to the government's anti-smoking policies.")

If Dwight is right, then he wins and we all eat crow! Trouble is....if he is wrong, chances are that he will lose his seat. However, if he is wrong, business people in Windsor may lose their shirts! In six months before action is taken, they may be too deep in debt to remain open or may have had to lay-off staff. By then, until a campaign is developed and launched, it will cost even more to try and lure people back to Windsor when they have become accustomed to new places to "lose" their money.

Dwight and Sandra are in a tough position. They are Cabinet members and must support the Government's position. However, they are also local MPPs elected by the people of Windsor. Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson will spend $3.1-million to educate people about the ban. I would have thought their obilgation was to fight for citizens here and achieve similar financial results for the businesses here who will be hurt by the government action.

In November, 2003, Sandra Pupatello said

• "Pupatello said she recognizes how serious the issue is for Windsor, but stopped short of saying the city could be exempted from a ban.
  
  "There is no one going to be more concerned about it than I, because there aren't too many communities who are in that unique position," Pupatello said.
  
  "Even if you look at casinos between Niagara and Windsor, Windsor has far more influx from the Americans than Niagara."

In December, 2003, Dwight Duncan said

• "there is "great concern" that whatever smoke-free legislation the government brings in will be the "right thing" for the province.
  
  He said he and his fellow ministers are also aware of the unique problems facing border city casinos.
  
  "We will be sensitive to everyone's situation and will make sure that there is full input from casinos, as well as other's concerns," said Duncan. "We will do nothing without a full discussion on the whole range of options open to the government."
  
  

In December, 2004, Minister Pupatelo said:

• "I've made it more than clear about the difficulty that Windsor will face as a border community. My colleagues understand that and hear it repeatedly from both Dwight Duncan, a fellow Windsor MPP) and I."
  
  Pupatello said she has asked the government to hold meetings on a "mitigation strategy" in Windsor in the new year -- though she won't say what type of mitigation she's considering.
  
  "It does call for some mitigation which Dwight and I have been working on for some time," she said. "I've requested that meeting be held in Windsor so they can hear first-hand that we have a bingo market that is bigger than most and a casino market that is bigger than most and unusual competition that most communities don't face, with three casinos across the border.
  
  "So that merits some consideration and merits a mitigation strategy."

Back in 2003, the Cobourg Daily Star reported that the Liberal anti-smoking strategy "would see the government raise $700 million annually by hiking cigarette taxes by $10 per carton...but $50-million would be set aside in a "community transition fund" to pay Ontario farmers to get out of the tobacco-growing business."

Why couldn't some of that money be used in Windsor given our unique situation?

But frankly what can one expect from Sandra and Dwight on this issue? In 2005, they were not even able to set up a meeting for Windsorites to meet with the provincial committee examining the legislation clause-by-clause!