MPP Questions Finance Minister Over Horse Racing

Essex NDP MPP and Economic Development and Employment critic Taras Natyshak spoke in the Provincial legislature on November 16th about the repercussions of having Woodbine Entertainment Group control racing in Ontario as proposed in Ontario Racing’s long-term funding model.

“Why is Ontario Racing currently consulting on a 17-year funding agreement that would effectively hand over control of horse racing in the entire province of Ontario to the now for-profit Woodbine Entertainment Group, just as I had predicted three years ago?” he asked.

“I’ve met with the farmers and the breeders who depend on a vibrant horse racing industry for their livelihoods. Horse people do not support the Premier’s plan to give total control of horse racing to the for-profit Woodbine Entertainment Group,” he commented yesterday. “Small racetracks like the Lakeshore racetrack in my home community are worried about their future, but they can’t get straight answers from the Premier’s plan because it’s being developed without any transparency or accountability. The government’s first plan to modernize horse racing was a disaster that the Auditor General said would kill rural jobs. Why should rural Ontarians believe that the Premier’s latest plan will be any better?”

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Finance Minister Charles Sousa replied to Natyshak concerns, indicating his party’s support for horse racing.

“All of us in this House recognize the importance of the horse racing industry as an economic industry in the province of Ontario. We want to maintain stability and growth within the industry. That is why we’ve made a commitment to a long-term sustainability of horse racing in the province, recognizing as well to maintain the viability of some of those tracks.”

He continued on to note that the details of the what Woodbine would do as a service provider hadn’t yet been determined, but noted the urgent need to support the racing community.

“It’s critical for us to continue providing a venue, a source, an enablement of providing some of that assistance to the racing community and to the breeders and to ensure its viability. We are working closely to determine the best avenue to go forward, including governance.”

“I would like very much to have engagement of all those concerned to ensure that the viability and the use of funds are going to where they’re supposed to, and that’s to the horses and the viability and sustainability of this community.”