By Jojo Ruba
Gamblers will not be able to play the odds at charity casinos after March 30, when temporary charity casinos will be closed by the province. Permanent casinos were expected to open late last year but the province, the city and the casino operators are slowing the process, leaving charities at risk.
Category: Business
Sparks has new faces, old griefs
By Jen Ross
At the first general meeting for the new Sparks Street Mall merchants’ management board, merchants complained about old problems, but most hailed the new board as a refreshing change in leadership.
“The thing I’ve noticed about this meeting is that there is a lot of flexibility,” commented Jack Cook, owner of Canada’s Four Corners. “Over the years, I’ve attended many mall meetings and the opinions (of the board) have always been very fixed. But this board is encouraging me that something good will happen.”
Banks spurn democracy
The Business Beat
By Jason Brown
Experts have been calling the startling merger plan of the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada as a dare to Finance Minister Paul Martin. I say the plan is a virtual coup d’état.
By ambushing Martin with their idea of a megabank in the fashion they did, the two banks have taken decision- making powers away from our elected officials. Or at least, that was their aim, and it’s a dangerous precedent.
Businesses team up to help police fight street crime
By Tom McLean
A part of Centretown once considered a haven for prostitution, drug-pushing and panhandling is enjoying a revival thanks to police, residents and Ottawa’s self-proclaimed gay village.
The area around Bank Street and Gilmour Avenue has long had the reputation of a city slum. Robert Giacobbi, a part-owner of Wilde’s sex shop on Bank, says the reputation was somewhat warranted.
“A lot of people were doing their drugs and just hanging around, and there was prostitution,” says Giacobbi.