Ontario Racing has commented on its second annual Horse Racing Industry Reception at Queen’s Park, which took place on September 26.

Trot Insider was at Queen’s Park for the reception, which, among many others, featured OR officials; Jeff Leal, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Randy Pettapiece, the Progressive Conservative critic for horse racing in Ontario; and John Vanthof, the NDP Critic for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Ontario Racing’s comment on the reception has come via an item in OR’s most recent newsletter.

The comment from OR appears below.

’We were pleased to see our elected officials recognize the importance of securing the future success of our industry as they learned more about Ontario Racing’s support for a long-term funding proposal, which calls for $93.4M/year towards building a sustainable horse racing industry, for up to a 17-year period ending no later than 2038.’

The contents of the OR newsletter pertaining to the Queen’s Park reception appear below.

Ontario Racing at Queen’s Park

On Tuesday, September 26th, OR held its second annual Horse Racing Industry Reception at Queen’s Park. Over fifty Members of Provincial Parliament from all three major political parties and their legislative staff attended the event to meet with Ontario Racing’s Board of Directors and learn more about horse racing’s economic value to the province, especially in small town and rural Ontario. Ontario Racing used this important government engagement opportunity to highlight the racing sector’s contribution of $2.3 billion in GDP and over 45,000 employees to the province’s economy.

L to R: The Hon. Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; John Vanthof MPP (Timiskaming-Cochrane); Patrick Brown MPP (Simcoe North), with OR's Hugh Mitchell and Mike Chopowick

We were pleased to see our elected officials recognize the importance of securing the future success of our industry as they learned more about Ontario Racing’s support for a long-term funding proposal, which calls for $93.4M/year towards building a sustainable horse racing industry, for up to a 17-year period ending no later than 2038.