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With KED in limbo, casino opponent Tom Fortin eyes taking fight to higher court

Founder of Casino Free Sudbury says the decision to approve a new casino broke the law
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Tom Fortin, a prominent opponent of the Kingsway Entertainment District, says it may soon be time to take his fight to stop the project to a higher court. (File)

As Ontario's planning laws are set to undergo a second round of major reforms in less than two years, a prominent opponent of the Kingsway Entertainment District says it may be time to appeal to a higher court.

Sudbury businessman Tom Fortin, who has spent more than $330,000 on planning appeals to try and stop the KED, says he filed a notice of application April 8 with the Superior Court of Justice.

“The application reserves our right to serve the city up to one year following the conclusion of the LPAT process regarding the 'willing host' and 'bias' issues,” Fortin said in an email.

Fortin has opposed a new casino since the provincial government announced its plans in 2012 to aggressively expand the number of casinos in the province.

When city council approved the KED last year, which includes a new $60-million casino to be built by Gateway, Fortin was one of several groups to file objections with the LPAT (Local Planning Appeals Tribunal).

With the new appeals process subject to appeals to higher courts, and with the Progressive Conservative government promising to bring in reforms of their own, Fortin is getting ready for a higher court fight.

He argues that the public consultation process in 2012 on whether residents wanted a casino was flawed. For one, there was no consideration of the impact the casino would have, unlike other communities.

“All other casino planning reports study the economic and social impacts of casinos, yet in Sudbury, we were told that these issues need not be considered,” Fortin said. “In London, where Gateway has announced its intention to move from the Western Fair Grounds, a new public consultation process is to be held. Gateway has publicly stated they will abide by the results of that process.”

He said the city is relying on the 2012 public consultation “that clearly indicated the Kingsway was the least preferred location for a casino, and no study of social or economic impacts was considered."

“The process will have to be started over from scratch with an unbiased assessment of the economic, cultural and social impacts of the new proposed site on the Kingsway,” he said.

“This is something I warned about over a year ago. The KED will become a new downtown that will be in competition with all of our other downtowns for additional projects and funding for years to come. That being said, I will let the proponents of the event centre handle the issue.”

A more detailed summation of Fortin's arguments can be found here.


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Darren MacDonald

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