The stupidity tax and its Montreal roots

  

Canada's pioneer of government financial enslavement of the financially stupid was Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau.

Here is a 1968 photo of an Alexis Nihon Plaza lotto "Voluntary Tax" booth he set up to raise bucks to pay off Expo 67 and the Metro.

Two bucks for a greedy dream. The Supreme Court later ruled that it was illegal.

Here's a quickie history of lottos. The world's first lottery was the 5/90 in Genoa. In 1569 Queen Elizabeth launched a lottery that allowed freedom from arrest for a week. Here in Kweebeck in 1684 the ruling elite ran lottos to get rid of unwanted goods and 100 years later we had another lottery to pay for the city's prison system.

Lower Canada outlawed gambling in 1817, but only for "workmen, journeymen, apprentices or servants."

In 1967 Justice Minister Trudeau introduced a bill in the Commons that would allow for legal lottos. It became law on January 1, 1970. Lotto Quebec was immediately created and on March 14 held the first lotto here. It was televised. In 1993 we opened our casino, it was the first in North America to be based in a large urban area.

So there you have it. Drapeau and Trudeau, pioneers in taking money from suckers.