• All Ontarians want a better, stronger Ontario – with more jobs and opportunity than we have now. We can achieve that if we make the right choices today, starting with a credible plan for Ontario’s economy.
• A robust horse racing industry is an essential component of Ontario’s rural economy. It employs 60,000 men and women, giving them work they love, and helps to sustain towns and rural communities across the province.
• The Liberal government pulled the plug on a successful slots at racetracks program in favour of building 29 new casinos across the province. This ill-considered decision was made without any plan to transition the industry to sustainability. It devastated the horse racing industry, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk.
• The Liberal government’s new approach – as recommended by its Horse Racing Transition Panel – amounts to nothing more than a new government horse bureaucracy, where the industry will be left begging cap-in-hand for grants every year.
• This will mean more government jobs, fewer jobs in the horse racing industry, and fewer spinoff benefits in broader rural communities. It will lead to the inevitable decline of the sector and the closure of racetracks.
The Ontario PC plan
• The Ontario PCs have put forward a plan to strengthen partnerships with the job-creating horse racing industry, not tear them apart. It’s what rural Ontario, the horse racing industry and thousands of dedicated workers deserve. The core elements are:
1. Put an immediate and permanent end to the Liberals’ so-called “modernization plan” that would close down racetrack slots in favour of building 29 new casinos in locations yet to be determined.
2. Re-establish, but fix, a slots at racetracks program that will be transparent, accountable and affordable to the taxpayer. Look to best practices in U.S. jurisdictions like New York and Pennsylvania as models.
3. Form public-private partnerships with businesses that know how to run slots and other games to increase the overall revenue that can be shared with the horse racing industry and taxpayers.
4. Build off of what is already working and successful. New gaming operations – like table games and sports betting – should go to racetracks, as opposed to building 29 new casinos.
5. Enforce strong accountability and transparency mechanisms around how the revenue is used, as recommended in the 2008 Sadinsky report.
• For more information or to provide your feedback, please contact Ontario PC Critic Randy Pettapiece, MPP at randy.pettapiececo@pc.ola.org | (416) 325-3400
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