@noel.semple7 Banning internet gambling ads in Ontario: a setback yesterday, but also a path forward… #onPoli #Etobicoke #ProblemGambling ♬ original sound – Noel Semple
Transcript:
We all want our young people to thrive, but there’s disturbing evidence that young people today don’t feel the sense of hope and security that young people did in previous generations.
And some of the threats confronting our young people like AI and climate change and Donald Trump seem like they’re beyond our ability to control. But some of the threats that our young people face can be dealt with and can be controlled if we have a government that just cares to try.
And one of those threats is online gambling ads. So these ads are everywhere in Ontario, and they are quite effective in hooking people on this highly addictive product and sucking money out of their pockets and undermining their ability to care for themselves and for their families.
But it’s within the power of the Ontario legislature to ban internet gambling ads and stop this cycle of exploitation. And we had a bill before the Ontario legislature, Bill 107, which would have done exactly that. Unfortunately, on Friday, it was voted down. Every single MPP in the governing Progressive Conservative caucus voted against it.
But it was widely supported not only by the Ontario Liberal Party, but also by the NDP and the Greens. It’s no secret why the Ford government supports the current state of affairs. Some people are getting very, very rich, and those people are well-connected. And protecting people from the harm that comes from this industry is secondary.
There’s a lot of talk from this government about “protecting Ontario,” but when there’s a chance to do something that actually would protect Ontarians from all of this money being sucked out of our pockets into these mostly foreign corporations, that’s not the priority, not when there’s people who want to make money and a chance to help them do that.
But the nice thing about Private Members’ Bills is even when they fail, they often become the basis of future government policy. And with this Private Member’s Bill in particular, the person sponsoring it is Lee Fairclough, who is also running to be leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and then Premier of Ontario.
So if you like this idea of actually putting our young people first and protecting them from harm, then I encourage you to take a look at Lee Fairclough’s campaign. It’s early in the process, but it seems to me that she’s got the right set of skills, and intelligence, and dedication to listening and following evidence to make policy, that could make her a formidable Premier of Ontario.