Thread: Casino in Ontario: Prizes Made Overseas and Not Domestically?

Provincial lawmakers blasted the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission for offering Mercedes cars as prizes.

CAW president Ken Lewenza and Windsor West MPP Sandra Pupatello blasted Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation officials Tuesday for purchasing luxury foreign cars instead of domestic vehicles for a prize giveaway.

“It’s clear somebody wasn’t thinking,” said Pupatello, minister of international trade and investment, adding she was shocked at the OLG’s “shortsighted” decision to buy 22 Mercedes Benz B200s. “I’ll be happy to supply them with a list of luxury models out of Ontario.”

Lewenza said he was frustrated to learn the OLG was buying cars from a foreign corporation that no longer had a “manufacturing footprint” in Canada.

“I don’t know why an arm’s length Crown corporation of the provincial government would not recognize that a majority of our assembly plants are at 50 per cent utilization and try to stimulate the economy through that kind of buy-back program,” said Lewenza.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised. I don’t think the right hand tells the left hand what to do and I don’t think they know what’s important for the economy.”

The issue flared up during Question Period at Queen’s Park Tuesday when Conservative MP Ted Chudleigh grilled the Grits about the OLG’s decision to purchase 22 Mercedes to give away during a spring contest at provincial slots operations, including Windsor Raceway.

The vehicles are valued at $34,400 each before taxes, according to a glossy brochure — complete with a photo of a black Mercedes and the German company’s distinctive logo — touting the OLG’s License to Win contest.

Chudleigh asked why the OLG was purchasing “high-priced European cars made by the foreign workers” instead of “Ontario-made cars” made by “the good workers in Windsor, Oshawa, Chatham” and other Ontario communities.

Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman, who is responsible for the OLG, responded that officials exercised “a bad misjudgment, particularly in the face of economic circumstances facing Ontarians and facing autoworkers in the province of Ontario.”

He was even more blunt outside the legislature, telling reporters that OLG executives made a “crappy decision.”
Gary Parent, head of the Windsor and District Labour Council, which is pushing a Buy Canadian policy for municipalities like Windsor, lambasted the OLG’s decision as “absolutely atrocious” given the problems besetting North American automakers.

The OLG issued a statetment Tuesday following the backlash saying it “regrets” the decision to use foreign-made cars. Despite that, spokesman Rui Brum said the promotion will continue.

“We’re continuing with the promotion because the purchase of the vehicles has been made,” he said. “The promotion will continue as developed beforehand.”
In its statement, the OLG said the promotion should not have used cars made outside Ontario and that decision is now under review. But there is no set timeline for the review and its outcome won’t affect the promotion, said Brum.

The OLG said the promotion was developed 10 months ago “in a different economic environment.” But when questioned, Brum said that even back then, the promotion should have included Ontario-made vehicles.
“Ontario business is an important part of our mandate, and the promotion should not have included foreign-made vehicles,” said Brum.

Lewenza was in Oshawa Tuesday as thousands of General Motors workers voted on a cost-cutting contract designed to stave off bankruptcy for the embattled automaker, which is seeking billions of dollars in loan guarantees from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Pupatello was in Germany — where Mercedes-Benz has its headquarters — trying to drum up investment for Ontario’s battered economy, which has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in recent months and 71,000 jobs in January alone.

“If we’re going to have prizes — which is a good idea by the way, we want to promote the auto industry — they have to take the next step and look for a luxury model out of Ontario,” said Pupatello.

“It’s very shortsighted. If they want a luxury car, they can throw a stone and hit the Cambridge plant, where we build the Lexus for Toyota, or you can get a fully loaded van out of Windsor van plant.”

Lewenza recently wrote a letter to Canada Post urging it to buy Town and Country minivans from Windsor’s Chrysler plant, which last week announced it was cancelling its third shift and laying off 1,200 workers.
He reiterated his call Tuesday for the provincial and federal governments to adopt a Buy Canadian procurement policy that would also apply to — or at least send a message to — Crown agencies like Canada Post and the OLG.

“They know that there’s no rules in place so they just make these decisions based on what their marketing department recommends,” said Lewenza.

“It is incredibly frustrating for us in Canada.”

Interesting article.

Of course they regret "the decision to use foreign-made cars"... but only after the public backlash!

It seems like the article is focusing more on Made in Canada cars though... as in the factories being in Canada.

I have noticed that most of the prizes in Las Vegas casinos tend to be American made cars, not sure if you've noticed the same.

Last giveaway I saw was a Chevrolet Camaro in the Las Vegas Hilton.