For Immediate Release
January 22, 2007

Charities Are Losing in a Smoke-Free Ontario

Windsor – Charity bingos across the province are suffering due to the nine-month old Smoke-Free Ontario Act.

That’s the message coming out of pre-budget consultations in Windsor today where bingo operators are asking to be put on the same playing field as the province’s casinos. Four bingo halls in Windsor have closed since the inception of the smoking ban and the city’s Capitol Theatre has seen a decrease in revenues of half-a-million dollars.

“This information shouldn’t come as a surprise to Liberal members,” Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP Toby Barrett said. “As members we were all briefed by various organizations on the economic pitfalls associated with the hare-brained legislation.”

As a result of bingo halls closing, over 650 charities have been affected. These charities put underprivileged young boys and girls on the ice, on the basketball court or on the soccer field.

“I’m calling on the government to fix this fiasco they have created,” Barrett said. “How many more establishments have to close? How many more charities have to be affected? Communities are suffering and it seems the Liberals are more concerned with their own nest egg.”

“I’m calling on the government to fix this fiasco they have created,” Barrett said. “How many more establishments have to close? How many more charities have to be affected? Communities are suffering and it seems the Liberals are more concerned with their own nest egg.”

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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (519) 428-0446