Former PC Cabinet Minister John Snobelen has gone on the offensive in light of the proposed cuts to horse racing in the Drummond Report, voicing his opinions on the necessity for the continuation of the government's slots revenue sharing partnership with the industry

.

Snobelen sounds off on the issue in a video on Ontarionewswatch.com, reacting to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's "discovery" of the horse racing industry's $300 million-plus take of slots revenues.

"Shocking news," he says sarcastically. "Now, I'm sure Dwight Duncan can remember back to the Harris government when we put slot machines in all of those racetracks across Ontario. Slot machines obviously draw a lot of the revenue away from the gambling that would happen with horse racing and so the effect on the purses for horse racing is pretty dramatic. To make up for that, the government allowed a percentage of the slot revenue to go to the horsemen so the race horse industry would not be affected by the imposition of the slot machines on their tracks. All sounds kind of fair to me."

Snobelen goes on to discuss supporting agricultural industries that would also be negatively affected by Drummond's recommendations.

"Now, Dwight should probably have a talk with the Minister of Agriculture, Ted McMeekin, because Ted could explain to Dwight that in his riding there are a lot of people who make a living making hay and growing oats and raising horses and doing all of the other things that are involved with putting on horse races," he says. "[It's a] pretty important industry in lots of parts in Ontario, including Ted McMeekin's riding. I'm not so sure those folks would be really excited to hear that horse racing will now end in Ontario because it's a lot more efficient to put money in a slot machine than it is to wager on horse racing. Good thinking Dwight. Just kill another industry in Ontario and pretty soon we can all work for the government."

Trot Insider's ongoing coverage in the wake of last Wednesday's Drummond Report can be followed at the Drummond Report link found under the 'News' menu tab.