A city councillor says she still believes her idea of a Toronto-exclusive lottery is a good way to generate funds for the city.
Since the recent rejection of road tolls in the city by Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor John Tory and city council have been looking into other ways to generate revenue for the city.
City Councillor Frances Nunziata told CP24 that she initially proposed the idea a number of years ago.
“In 2004-2005 I moved the motion at council during a budget meeting, which was carried by council, to ask the province to mend legislation to allow the city to have their own lottery,” she said.
Nunziata said that at the time there was no follow up done by council. But, with the premier rejecting Toronto’s road tolls last week, she is hopeful that the motion will gain some more attention.”
“I thought, why not have a city of Toronto lottery,” she said. “There’s billions of dollars in revenue that the province collects in lotteries throughout Canada and Ontario.”
“If we had a city of Toronto lottery people that buy daily lottery tickets, if they knew that to buy a $1 lottery ticket that proceeds would go towards daycare, transit and housing, I think people would welcome the idea.”
Nunziata said she is aware that there are other options to generate money for the city but feels this is the best one.
Tory told CTV News Toronto that he would love to see a Toronto lottery but he’s not holding his breath on it.
“I think it might be kind of fun to have one,” he said. “I think there would be people in Toronto who would step up and buy the tickets because they would know it was going to save transit or something like that in Toronto. But, I’m not holding my breath expecting there will be tickets on sale in the next week or so.”
Despite the fact that city council has been exploring this motion recently, Ontario’s minister of finance Charles Sousa said they have not received any proposal regarding the matter.
Sousa told CTV News Toronto that the current lottery system adequately directs funds to the city of Toronto, but the province is open to considering other options.
“We’re always considering options and we recognize that Toronto and other municipalities across Ontario are looking for ways to provide greater sustainability,” he said.
