Councillors give the boot to Shoemaker Lottery Corp. jobs campaign

Matthew Shoemaker's push to bring all Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. jobs to Sault Ste. Marie has turned out to be as popular with his fellow city councillors as sandals and socks.

A resolution from the Ward 3 councillor demanding positions on the issue from "all three major political party leaders" and corresponding local candidates in the June 7 provincial election was rejected at tonight's City Council meeting with only two other supporting votes.

Shoemaker's resolution called on Mayor Christian Provenzano to write letters to the candidates and their party leaders, seeking their positions on consolidating the OLG office in Sault Ste. Marie.

Shoemaker said he doesn't buy arguments that suitable candidates couldn't be found if all OLG jobs are moved back here.

"That is an insult to the people of Sault Ste. Marie. We have people who are more than qualified to do these jobs," he said.

Mayor Provenzano said he would write the letters if so directed by council.

"But the way I see it, it's a pretty empty action," the mayor said.

Provenzano says he's worked hard lobbying OLG to get jobs to the Sault, but no one at the Crown corporation tells him suitable candidates can't be found here.

"They have employees. Those employees are people who live somewhere. They have hundreds of them. There is a very significant cost to the government, whether it be in termination or in moving, to take 600 or 700 hundred employees and put them somewhere else," the mayor said.

"We have made significant progress on this file and I want to recognize and acknowledge the OLG executive for working with me. And I also want recognize the existence of the OLG board... that makes these decisions."

"This is not purely a political decision that is solely made by the government," Provenzano said.

Meanwhile, City Council approved a second resolution from Shoemaker, calling on city staff to look into making Sault-branded products available online and at local retailers.

Shoemaker acknowledged that some official Sault products are available at the Ontario Travel Information Centre through a partnership with Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, but he'd like to see more products more widely available.

Councillors also approved a resolution from Ward 4 Councillor Rick Niro and Ward 5's Marchy Bruni calling on the federal and provincial governments to help implement a pilot project aimed at expediting immigration to northern Ontario and addressing our demographic challenges.