Elora is tucked away in one of the prettiest corners of Southern Ontario. It's a place of natural beauty, dominated by a gorge carved by the Grand River. Elora is an old mill town that has become home to a vibrant arts and music establishment.

But the town has been hit with a massive storm of controversy as town council faces off against its own citizens. It's a question of democracy and decency that has torn the community apart.

It all started with the site of a new racetrack with gambling and slot machines.

The construction site on the edge of town has left a divide deeper than the gorge itself. The future home of the Grand River Racetrack and Slots is bigger than downtown and is designed to attract more gamblers every day than the entire population of Elora.

From the start most people in town chose sides. Those against the slots formed a group and rallied around a few central ideas.

"I'm sorry, but however you feel about gambling, whether you indulge in it or not, a casino is not something that any community wants. There are all kinds of baggage attached to it," says Olga Domjan.

But local businessman Adrien Devries has watched tourism decline year by year and is a strong supporter of the racetrack.

"We do not have the budget to continue promoting the town and competing with other destinations like St. Jacobs and Niagara-on-the-lake," says Devries. "It's a wonderful partnership between us. They want to promote not only the raceway itself, but the whole area as a destination," says Devries.

But to understand why this racetrack is being built in Elora, you have to head out 20 kilometres west of town.

The neighboring town of Elmira has had a racetrack for more than 30 years. Owned by a non-profit group called the Woolwich Agricultural Society, the proceeds from the racetrack fund the annual country fair.

Traditionally, Agricultural Societies run the racetracks but this one wanted more than just the ponies, they wanted the slots.

Agricultural Societies are going broke because they can't compete with the proliferation of racetracks that have added slot machines. Having slots gives the track bigger purses and better horses.

But there was a problem. Putting slots at the racetrack faced powerful opposition from neighbours and one of the largest Mennonite congregations in the province.

So after six months of intense deliberation the town council voted it down. The Woolwich Agricultural Society then went down the road and found a piece of unused scrubland above the village of Elora.

From the very beginning it was a pressure cooker situation. The provincial government offered the local township a dream deal, five per cent of the gambling revenues or about $1.5-million a year. But the local town council was given just a month to make a decision.

The battle lines were drawn. From the pulpit to the kitchen table, the opposition got organized. From the start, they knew money would be the heart of the debate. But no one knew just how heated it would become.

The law requires that council hold at least one public meeting and there was just one at the biggest space in town, the Elora Community Centre.

Mayor George Pinkney and his six councilors had never seen so many people at a public meeting. Everyone in the hall had a chance to speak and everyone had different concerns.

Pastor Don Rogers remembers this evening as a turning point in Elora's history.

"There certainly were angry voices aired and I spoke on the moral issue of this event at that arena that night and mentioned the potential of suicide happening."

Some heckler at the back of the auditorium was heard to say jokingly, "We even have a gorge for them to jump into."

The meeting went on until two in the morning but some thought it was a waste of time.

"I think their mind was made up before they ever opened the doors of the public meeting," says Rogers.

Just 15 hours later, the council voted. It was a 3-3 tie. Mayor George Pinkney cast the deciding vote. He voted for the racetrack.

"I would much preferred to have had a six-month opportunity for a window for investigation. That was clearly not possible for us," says Pinkney.

But the Citizen's Coalition wasn't about to admit defeat. They took their case to the Ontario Municipal Board. They went to the Ontario Superior Court. In both cases they lost. So they appealed. And that's when the strangest turn in this story took place.

The Grand River Raceway will be opened next spring. Most people in Elora have accepted a racetrack and casino in their midst. But the issue is far from settled and far from forgotten.

The Citizen's Coalition took their legal fight as far as they could to the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto but lost there also. They were then ordered to pay the township's costs, a $86,000 legal bill. Suddenly this fight wasn't about the slots, it was about basic grassroots democracy.
One hundred and nine concerned citizens signed a legal petition because they believed a racetrack would ruin Elora. Divided equally between them, the legal fee would amount to under $800. But money isn't the issue.

"I think the feeling amongst all of us that this is a totally unfair process, we felt like we were exercising our democratic rights and feel that now they are trying to punish us," says one unidentified member of the coalition.

If the coalition doesn't pay, the town council could file what's called a writ of execution. That means if any one of the appellants tries to sell their home, the entire $86,000 could be taken from the sale proceeds.

And it could go further, showing up on credit card applications. It could affect their ability to conduct business if they needed a line of credit. It could virtually destroy each person's credit rating overnight.

In our legal system, it's not unusual that the loser pays. But the coalition thought it was working in the public good and never expected to get hit with costs. But even more astonishing for these people is that their own mayor and council could simply drop the whole thing by not proceeding. But Mayor Pinkney says, don't count on it.

"They chose to take it to the courts. When they lost at the first level of divisional court, they then moved forward to a Superior court and again lost. What part of no do they not understand?"

The coalition has asked the council to allow them to send the $86,000 to a charity, like the local hospital. But the Mayor says not a chance.

"The short answer is no and the long answer is no."

So for a long time in Elora, both gamblers and non-gamblers alike will remember that if you're going to play the game, you better check the odds. They may be stacked against you.

"...Only the rich would ever dare speak out against City Hall and that is democracy at its worst," says Rogers. "If we take the checks and balances away because of fear and intimidation then I think we're in big trouble across Canada."