The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has filed a lawsuit against the provincial government of Manitoba for close to $1 billion. The suit is based on the claim that authorities have been illegally restricting the opening of new First Nations-owned casinos in Winnipeg.
Leading the action against the province is Arlen Dumas, the recently appointed Grand Chief of the Assembly who is claiming that significant economic damage has been done to the community and that it’s time for the government to take responsibility and solve the issue.
In an official statement, Dumas continued to explain, “These were commitments made by the provincial government over and over again starting 20 years ago. Those commitments were broken, and we are unjustly paying the price. It is time for this government to step up and work with us to create a real solution. We hope they will. If they refuse, we’ll continue to seek justice for this in the courts.”
The denial came from Premier Brian Pallister who explained that in his opinion, the gaming sector of the province was already over-saturated: “I want people to get jobs, I want people to have opportunities to grow and learn and work together and help each other, and the gambling industry isn’t going to do that.”
Pallister based this opinion on a study of gaming activity in the province, claiming that the findings in the document point to low revenues in the future. This, however, is speculative and the study itself only really points to a very basic economic idea – introducing more businesses is likely to reduce the amount of revenue each individual business can earn. In other words, the more you slice the cake, the smaller the pieces become.
