Estevan residents will have a chance to learn more about the Little Pine First Nation's proposal to build a casino in the city.
The Estevan Chamber of Commerce has announced they will host an information night on April 15 at the Legion beginning at 7. Chamber executive director Michel Cyrenne said with city council deciding to ask residents their feelings about a casino during the April 23 byelection, they decided to hold the event to help voters get informed.
"We thought it would be in our best interest and the community's best interest to make sure that everybody is aware of exactly what Little Pine has in mind with this proposal," Cyrenne said.
"I definitely think it is a little premature to be going to the public but they have decided to do so, so we want to make sure people have a better understanding of what exactly is involved and just to put some facts, figures and statistics before them."
The issue of whether or not a casino would be welcome in Estevan first came to light at the March 13 regular meeting of council when Mayor Roy Ludwig made the motion to ask voters their opinion during the byelection. The motion passed by a 4-2 vote.
As was first reported in the Mercury, the Little Pine proposal, which was presented to council earlier this year, includes a casino and hotel/convention complex. The casino would start with 300 slot machines, with room to add more, and the standard table games and Little Pine would also like to include a sports book to allow the public to vote on individual games, although that is currently not allowed in the country.
Little Pine Chief Wayne Semaganis told the Mercury that Estevan is seen as one of the last viable Saskatchewan markets for a casino. He added their casino would not fall under the auspices of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, which currently owns and operates six casinos in the province.
At the time of the interview Semaganis said Little Pine was hoping to meet with the provincial government in the near future to pitch their idea.
Asked for the chamber's stance on what has already become a controversial topic, Cyrenne said a casino would be a strong tourist draw and could be a financial boon for the city.
"There is the concern right now that there are a lot of people that are in the community who don't live here, who don't pay property taxes here but still use the infrastructure system without putting any direct funds back into the casino," he said. "Whereas this casino, their intent is to have a community development corporation that would put funds back into the community, be it towards infrastructure or recreational property.
"We see some strong potential advantages in terms of attracting people and putting funds back into the community. It's a $30 million investment in our community; its hard to argue that's a bad thing."
Cyrenne said Semaganis and Little Pine's chief executive officer will be in attendance at the meeting to give a presentation on all facets of their plan.
"The more people are aware of the facts as they would present them and the business opportunity, and I think they will have some information in terms of the societal issues people are worried about, too.
