Liberals Attack Racing In Radio Ads

The Government is making too many fast decisions about too many important subjects. One example of this irresponsible behaviour is the approval of large Wind Turbine at the CAW Education Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario. There is now a group formed to stop the caw wind turbine efforts, which now has the OFA support.

Now we are looking at yet another possible unthought out decision which could affect the prosperity of the horse racing business. It is imperative that this Liberal strong arming is stopped immediately. Contacting people like Dale Goldhawk for a programme to let the people know what is happening is important. There are also many media sources to tap into.... Sun media being one of them.

As a Standardbred owner, trainer & breeder, I take this Liberal government idea regarding the horse racing industry very seriously.

Time to fight back, folks!

I give credit to all those fighting for our cause. Its the hard work and dedication that has made us a great sport. What continues to bother me is, the government is making fast judgement on what they would like to do with our slot revenues and more or less-our sport. My heart goes out to all of those who's jobs and livelihoods are in jeopardy, but the one thing I have yet to hear about is what is to become of the surplus of horses if this buisness does go down. Buggy dealers and meat markets will be at their peaks. Has the government not thought about that? If 60,000 horseman and woman potentially lose their jobs, how can they afford to keep the various amounts they have in their stables. For a horseman like me, I have one horse and enjoy this sport as a hobby, and if things do go bad, I can always pack up and make him a lawn ornament. Unfortunatley, most do not have this option.I'm not trying to get away from our battle to save racing, but we must also remember that horses are the key factor in keeping this sport what it is, and it looks like the government has indirectly made them appear to be a disposable asset. Save our buisness, and our horses too. Keep up the good work, together we can overcome this and prosper!!

Congradulations to Derek Reid you hit the nail on the head. I hope you send that letter to our local newspapers in the Peterbourgh area. WELL SAID.

Has anyone heard these psa's on the radio?
Just wondering if Derek would mind having his letter sent to local newspapers under his name?

I just looked at the petition www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savehorseracing only about 7,000 signatures.

Also most of the participants at www.saveliveracing.com/ appear to be from Fort Erie.

It only takes a second to sign the petition and a few minutes to make a short submission at the other site.

Also it's a "FREE FOR ALL" way to be heard.

WHERE IS EVERYONE???????

Those of you in a Liberal riding please encourage friends and family to voice their concern and displeasure with the proposed cut. Write to your Liberal MPP outlining your displeasure and present the economic facts (keep it respectful) - Fear of lost votes is powerful. http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/home.do

Letters/Advertisements in local newspapers outlining the facts, will also help - no blaming or name calling; we don't have to resort to this (spend $40-$60 now to preserve a way of life).

If we repeatedly present the truth to the public - they will make the correct decision. MEDIA is a powerful tool - put the info. out there, it will be heard.

Hello all, the following is a letter I just sent to Duncan, Mcguinty, Hudak, Horvath, the sun, the star, and the globe:

Mr. Duncan and Mr. Mcguinty,

For weeks now I have been hearing that by your government ending the slots at racetracks program the province will be saving $350 million a year, money that can be earmarked towards schools or home care. The question that I have that neither of you have answered is this. How? How exactly will this saving be achieved? What exactly is your plan to accomplish this? Currently the horse racing industry receives 20% of slot revenue gambled at racetrack slots, divided evenly between the racetrack and the horsemen. Is your plan to eliminate the horsemen's share of the revenue? If so then that number is $175 million, or half of the $350 million you keep saying will be saved. As well, since the racing industry provides $261 million in taxes to the province, then I fail to see how losing $86 million in revenue a year is of any help to the province. Also, if your plan is to only cut the horsemen's share and not the racetrack's, then why has the liberal party paid for radio ads that attack "secret subsidies" to "wealthy racetrack owners," when the "wealthy racetrack owners" would not be losing anything?

Is your plan then to eliminate both the horsemen's AND racetrack's share? If it is, since all of the racetracks in Ontario are privately owned and operated, what incentive is there for these locations to maintain and operate slot parlours on their property with no compensation? Do you plan to seize this property from their current owners? Do you plan to buy it from them? If so, how many hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer's money will it cost to buy all 17 of these facilities? If you do not plan on buying current racetrack slot parlours, do you intend to build new ones in the same municipality? If so how many billions of dollars of taxpayer's money will it take to buy the land and pay for the construction of new facilities? If you do not plan on building new casinos in the municipalities that currently contain racetrack slots, do you plan on compensating the local municipality for their lost revenue? I should also point out, if you are planning on the province taking over these operations, that according to the OLG's annual report the existing five casinos operated by the province through the OLG LOST $45 million last year. This as opposed to slots at racetracks that made a profit for the provincial government of $1 billion. What plans are in place to ensure that if you take over the operations currently being successfully performed at racetracks that they will in fact remain profitable and not lose money like existing government run casinos?

Is your plan to have outside private companies operate and maintain casinos while retaining a percentage for the province? If so how will that be better than the arrangement that currently exists? According to the American Gaming Organization's last annual report, private casino operators in the U.S. currently retain anywhere from 30 to 75% of casino revenue for themselves. What makes you think that any of them would come to a foreign country and operate a casino for less then the 20% that racetracks currently perform the service for? That's assuming of course that any casino operator would even be interested in dealing with the province considering how they are treating their current 'partners' in this business.

While you both keep claiming that $350 million in savings can be achieved, I think you owe both myself and the people of Ontario an explanation as to how exactly you plan to accomplish this. The fate of an industry that employs 60,000 people and provides countless benefits all across this province is hanging in the balance. If you have not properly thought out the answers to the questions I have asked then that great industry will be lost forever.

Thank you,
Derek Reid
Courtice, ONT

CAROLYN OR ANYONE

Where can I get a copy of that OHHA letter? I want to pass it on to the Toronto Star and my Liberal MP to further substantiate the letters I wrote. Also it might be just the thing to place in a newspaper ad.

My point was that if you listen to Premier McGuinty, Minister Duncan and their officials they've already made up their mind on the issue and no amount of lobbying is going to change the direction in which they are headed. This morning in question period the Minister of Education said "we are on the side of children" and our party will always side with the children of the province over horse racing.

So it's not the politicians that the message needs to reach it's the public and unfortunately in this sound bite age glowing press releases and mountains of statistics isn't going to cut it.

I am now fearing the worst since we seem unable to communicate a simple, clear and straightforward message and no amount of saying "it's not true" what the Liberals are saying will be listened to.
The days of the present agreement may be numbered and take it from someone who is trying to relocate in the "real world" it ain't easy.

After witnessing first hand the lies being spewed forth by this Liberal Government, I highly suspect the twisted words in these radio ads can be taken with a grain of salt also. I wonder just how much of this Liberal Government rhetoric is actually in writing to substantiate, if need be, just how libelous they are! How in God's name did we get such a "bunch of uncaring, selfish, me first liars" running our Province.

Hopefully there are a number of Liberal Supporters now hanging their heads at their mistake, and totally dejected at just how badly they were duped, taken in by their Liberal MPPs prior to the last election. Remember this though, you are definitely not alone, and it is not too late to correct this grievous error!!! What immediately comes to mind is the letter to OHHA from Premier McGuinty, included in Brian Tropea's comment, in which McGuinty praises the great "partnership" revenue sharing agreement, between the horsepeople and the Government of Ontario, and speaks to how financially beneficial it is to both.

Interesting that prior to his re-election, it was a revenue sharing agreement, a partnership, and now it is a subsidy! I too believe we have to call on any high profile sports figures, celebrities, well known and respected members within the Horse Racing Industry to get the message out to the public. We too need to get radio ADS, TV ADS, Newspaper ADS now. We have surplus dollars in our purse accts,which we can certainly afford to put a percentage towards a vigorous campaign partnered with a percentage from the racetrack owners (hopefully who will support us), OHHA, COSA, OHRIA, I know this won't be cheap, but what is the alternative??? If need be, let's let our MPPs know we are ready to go so far as to face another election in Ontario to save our industry!

Interesting. The nose is growing again on the politicians at Queen's Park. Again !

I agree with Carolyn. I think those flyers should be handed out at the casino doors. Open all the gamblers eyes, to show them that they're all just filling the governments pockets and losing they're homes and everything else with it! Really everyone from the racing industry should picket at all the casino doors to stop the government revenue from gathering for them! Bob Burgess also made a good point, all parties have to be in agreement with the contract so really unless that happens, this can't be changed. The government isn't above the law and should be taken in to court over all the lies and injury its causing to the horseracing business.They sooner put 60000 people more on unemployment or welfare than keep people working at something that is reality a business too. Sounds pretty stupid to me!! We all need to stick together, the horseracing industry has been around a long time, lets not let them hold us down! DRIVE ON!!!!

The so called Liberal governmentis saying that we horsepeople are getting a subsidy from the the government if that is so they must owe us a lot of money because we have never received a cheque from the government for racing our horses. Quite the contrary if we want to race our horses we have to pay the government for the right to be licenced to do so the O.R.C. the ontario racing commission and also we have to pay HST on that if we want to claim a horse to race we pay another 8% to the government for tax on the claiming price so who is gaining here THE GOVERNMENT. we do the work they reap the rewards .

If a trainer or driver make 5% for risking their lives for a sport they love they have to pay tax on that plus when we do our taxes we pay income tax as well no free rides here only for the GOVERNMENT I hope that when this goes to a vote that all the Opposition Parties are there to vote for us to help save jobs .And rememmber come election time we will know who helped us. I have a feeling there will be an election coming soon how much are we the people going to take from this government. GOD HELP ONTARIO.

Can someone please confirm whether or not these ads have actually been played on the air? Or is it that someone got a hold of the ads before they were released.

Mr. Duncan, we have met on several occasions. You are single handedly trying to ruin a great business. Speaking of subsidies would you return any that you have received from racing? Just interested? Campaign contributions etc.
Regards,
Bill.

Ken would be a great idea, however need approval from the ORC to allocate money like that. I need not say more. Up to us.

Where are the stranded children, I want to help?

We need an immediate unified effort to defend this, it will take some dollars, (yes maybe purse$ - unless we have a secret stash of dough somewhere for "unforseeable" events such as this), work and cooperation - are we prepared!

GAME ON

It would seem there is an elephant in the room which nobody wants to address .
We are about to go to war without enough money to buy bullets. There is no free way to present our case to the average taxpayer who is facing huge cuts to his / her health care system , education standards and hundreds of smaller government programs . Under present economic conditions it is very easy for the liberal government to spin their rhetoric about making changes to policies that only benefit rich race horse owners .
They have money for the needed publicity assault , we do not have the cash for a proper or informative response . We need a plan to develope a monetary war chest if we are to have any hope of winning this battle . The only thing I can think of would be for the owners , trainers and drivers to give up a percentage {maybe 1% } of their purse money . Who would be responsible for administration of these funds I have no idea . Give it some thought folks . We cant rely on government doing the right thing .

I have a Question....

If the Slots at Racetracks program falls under the horseracing gaming licence!
If the Liberal government can not see how this program benefits so many!

Can the slots at racetracks not be operated by the racetrack operaters themselves in direct partnership with the municipalities and a "UNIFIED" horseracing association??

Would that not be a perfect example of how our industry is self sustaining and not a subsidy?

Someone above my pay grade should be able to shed some light

Would the accountant's from Woodbine please release once and for all the estimated GST expenditures of horsemen and race tracks per annum? Those are real dollars that benefit everyone in the Province. The Government deserves to be challenged on this issue.

The GST paid out by Veterinarian's each and every year would shock any MP in Ontario. Add to that the GST paid out by horsemen on fuel? Feed? Blacksmith's? Harness and Tack? Insurance? Real estate? What is the GST paid out on claimed or sold horses per annum? How much GST is collected by racetracks? Food and liquor concessions? The list goes on and on. Where does the government of the day expect to replace this huge decrease in GST revenues that they are trying to bring about?

Yes, the Liberal Government appears to be completely out of touch when it comes to the revenue streams currently received by the OLG and municipalities from Racetracks but to not take into account the GST paid out in total by horsemen and management alike each and every year when it goes directly to the bottom line of the Provinces financial situation is totally insane.

PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE............This IS a Minority Government is it not? Let's poll our local candidates and see just how many are in support of saving the horse racing industry from this arrogant, coniving, libelous LIBERAL Government. We need to demand recognition and respect, publicly. From a legal stand-point do we have a leg to stand on to stop this libelous rhetoric? A Government this far in debt, and sinking further daily, through their own mismanagement of taxpayers dollars, should not be so careless as to gamble on fighting a law-suit with the Ontario taxpayer's money over slanderous comments. Should not be so eager to write off 60,000+ more jobs in Ontario, but it seems they are willing to do so. And do you know why??? Because the slots will continue to fill the coffers of the Provincial Government, whether or not there is horse racing at any of these facililties, unless the local horsepeople do something to stop it. Do we have the support of the Race track Owners? We need well spoken, well versed representatives from our industry to contact sports directors on the television stations to sit down on TV with the local sportscaster, and put the facts out to the people. Any one out there willing to do this for our industry. We need this in Windsor, Fort Erie, London, Toronto and GTA, Barrie, Sudbury, Peterborough, Ottawa, please forgive me if I have forgotten anywhere. Maybe a W5 or Marketplace special? I too question why we have heard nothing from any of the breeding farms in Ontario with respect to support of the horse racing industry. At this point in time, it seems foolish for any breeders to breed to Ontario Sires with the demise of the Industry looking us squarely in the face. I know some are sitting back with their heads in the sand saying "Oh, it won't happen in Ontario", well why won't it? It has happened in every other province, Quebec, BC, Alberta. These provinces are all struggling to survive, on a lot less money. NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION, NOT TOMORROW! Surprisingly many people who visit the slot parlours at the racetracks, do not even know there is horse racing going on. Whose fault is that? We need a campaign in place at all the slot facilities to make these people aware of the plight of the horsemen and women. Maybe a flyer hand-out at the entrance to the slots not 5 pages long, so long that no-one will read it, but something with the bare facts, one page, large print, and identifying the "lies" being spewed by McGuinty and Duncan. Let's print the fact sheets put out on this website, and hand them out at ALL OUR SLOT FACILITIES. It's a start at getting the truth out to the public.

I agree with Dave Gilders and there needs to be some direction and it needs to start now, not tomorrow, not the next day, NOW!! Petitions and commenting here aren't going to do anything to stop the Liberals, they have made up their mind, they just proved they are not playing Mr. Nice Guy and will get their message out from here on in, to close the slots in a radio, TV and newspaper campaign praying on people who don't understand what they are trying to do to the horse industry by pitting us to look like villains against seniors and kindergarden kids. THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING !!

Emailing the Liberals will not do a thing as they will listen to their leader or won't be in their party come the next election and thats not going to happen. Its that simple. The only chance that this industry has is to get each and every MPP from the PC and the NDP on our side.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS

Any bills that the Liberals want to pass come down to a vote in the Ontario Legislature. The Liberals have 53 votes and the other 2 parties combined have 54 votes. So, if we dont get all of the 54 votes from each and every member of the opposition parties MPP'S, then this is a done deal.

Gary Blackburn

Amazing That an elected government in a free country can just flat out lie in the media and still have their jobs maybe it is time to sue as some suggested... or time to get some trucks and trailers down to the slot parlours and shut them down until they tell the truth!! I don`t know the answer but it sure doesn`t look like they are going to quit until they bury us!!!

I sent a Liberal MPP a letter to his riding which includes Kawartha Downs, telling him I would run against him next election. That is what is needed. When I do run, I hope the rural folk assist me in votes and dollars.I will work hard for all, cash donations or not.

If we do get beat (unlikely, I hope) then there should be Horse People running in these various ridings,currently held by Liberals. Bottom line is Rural voters vote for rural candidates.

I just got on here and want to see what happened over the weekend. One thing I know--McGuinty and his crooked ehealth and sleazy ORANGE connections have to go.The OPP are investigating this as you read this posting.

If I did that what McGuinty did, I'd be in the slammer.

The Quebec government just about killed the industry here. Don't let the liberal government do the same.

Sounds like an election pitch to me. Why else would you engage in this rhetoric.

This "subsidy" is so secret you have to delcare earnings, winnings, pay gst, pst. This is a slippery slope Dwight Duncan is playing on. Just let breeders and owners know what the plan is before we put our mares in foal. In Ontario or another province, state, that has copied the successful Ontario slots model.

Never mind the gutter politics, OHRIA get in to court and get an injunction against the lies!

Attention industry leaders whoever you are: This should be a wake up call & time for the gloves to come off. Meeting and letters and diplomacy aside this needs to be a multi-front war because that's what it is, the fight for the survival of industry. Where is a similar type of PR campaign why not go for the jugular, God knows these elected hypocrites have squandered enough taxpayers money the past 9 years. It was all well and good to put out press releases about taking $1.1 billion out of the economy,however Mr.& Mrs.Joe Average Ontario out there don't read that or SC or any other industry site for that matter. They are fed the pulp from the media and political hacks that your industry is a subsidy to rich horse owners and track operators. Will somebody please put out spokespeople, and run tv, radio, internet and print ads to tell it like it really is. Full page ad in local papers and buying commmerical time on media isn't cheap but compared to losing everything it would be money well spent.

Time is a wasting and every day without taking the fight to them is one more day to the last day for a big percentage of the harness racing in this province.

OHRIA MUST respond immediately with radio, TV and full page newspaper ads. Find a spokesperson that the average public will listen to and go after the lying Liberal government with a vengence!!!!!!!!!!! If I could recoup some of the money I've lost (and I enjoyed every minute of it) betting on horses I'd help pay for it.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!