The Charter rights of casino operation supervisors at Casino de Montréal were not violated when they were excluded from organizing a union in 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled April 19, the Globe & Mail reported.
The supervisors claimed that their freedom of association as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights was violated when they were barred from the union. They were designated as management, rather than employees by the union. Their case was taken to court by the employer, Société des casinos du Québec. Their case was denied by the Quebec Court of Appeal, and after that decision was appealed, by the high court of Canada.
Justice Mahmud Jamal wrote for the majority. He wrote that the purpose of excluding managers from organizing did not infringe on their rights of association.
Jamal wrote that the reason the labor code excludes managers is to “distinguish between management and operations in an organization’s hierarchy; avoid placing managers in a conflict of interest between their role as representatives of the employer and their role as employees in collective bargaining; give employers confidence that managers would represent their interests, while protecting the distinctive common interests of employees.”
He said the supervisors eventually created their own association, that the employer duly recognized, so their rights were not infringed upon by not being allowed in the employees’ union. They also negotiated a memorandum of understanding on work-related issues.
In a related development, speculation has mounted whether Alberta or Quebec will be the second province after Ontario to create a competitive market for online gaming, CDC Gaming Reports wrote April 24.
The provincial government recently asked crown corporations, including Loto-Québec, the iGaming monopoly, to save money or generate more. It’s looking for $1 billion. Meanwhile the Quebec Online Gaming Coalition has released an economic analysis by Mallette showing how profitable the iGaming Ontario model has been.
The coalition includes Betway, Bet99, DraftKings, Entain, Flutter, Games Global, and Rush Street Interactive, and have partnered with Apricot Investments.
In the first year of the regulated market, revenue for all levels of government totaled $230 million, with Ontario’s government getting $145 million annually. Moreover provincial iGaming revenues increased at least 70 percent for FY 2023-24. It also captured more than 86 percent of the unregulated market after two years.
