Thank you Mr. James. You truly show where this government was headed when the decision was made to end the slots at race tracks programme and we will become one more state politically and economically of the United States if McGuinty and chorts get away with this. Ontario is no longer a place to live, work or raise a family,jobs are gone, small towns are becoming ghost towns, there are no jobs, and no programmes for health care, education and Labour that this government can execute as the ministries are broken. Thank you

Dear Ted This will be my last attempt at confusing the issue with facts. "Racing was sustained prior to the SAR so why cant it be so again?" Let me count the ways. Internet poker didnt exist. There were 20 casinos between my home and Las Vegas there are now 600. Takeouts on horse racing wagering are archaic and non competitive. Horse racing prior to SAR program in Ontario was a shadow of the present industry. I am not more optimistic today than June 22 as my comment was addressing a dumb comment by an OLG rep who said maybe the racetracks wont survive but the industry will. I dont know how many racetracks will survive or how many people will be employed if the racetracks are only funded with paramutuel wagering but I know it will be alot less than the 17 tracks and 35000 full time employed presently. Ted I dont know if you own a casino or even own a horse but for my ten cents I as a horse owner feel it is a lot more intelligent for my Ontario government to support the racing industry with a slot partnership than bingo hall operators or US casino operators. Ted you obviously have a different opinion and I respect that but I would think my comments would be just as distasteful on Bingo Canadas website.

Maybe Dennis Mills or Bob Rucimen can lobbying the federal government or have the connections to have a federal investigation into the OLG and the fiberals. The federal governments stands to lose big time as well from the loss of 60,000 jobs.
If it was the Auto Industry they would be jumping in with both feet !!

Very Interesting in who is buying all the bingo halls and the relationship to the Fiberals and OLG. Maybe a little insider trading. All i know is this corrupt government led by McGuinty and Duncan and propped up by a weak soon to be non existant NDP must be removed from power before the rich have all the money and decent hard working people of Ontario have none. I believe this government and deal should be investigated by the authorities!

Regarding Ed James advertisement. Everyone should copy, paste his ad content , both letters,and attach to an email list and email it to everyone you know and ask thewm to pass it on to their list of contacts with a subject title HELP US!

Wow. We need to support a man like Mr. James. Can someone give me his address or email...I am a small owner form Quebec and I will like to participate financially to Mr. James campaign. Please owners from North America...feel free to join in. Francois Lecomte from Quebec [email protected]

You forgot to mention Larry Tannenbaum, former Liberal party bigwig who has been buying up bingo hall licenses in Ontario and stands to gain directly from the OLG plan to put Slot like machines in the bingo halls. They needed the SAR slots to go away too in order to make that bit of pork barrelling work. Is it true that Tannenbaum is also a vice president of the US casino company involved in the Sarnia casino? The same company that is likely the only one operating in Ontario that will measure up to the high standard of experience that the OLG has set in their Request for Interest.

Ted your constant comments about racing sustainability without slots is totally offbase. Not one person has ever suggested that racing and the industry could ever be the same size without slots. Racetracks are gambling establishments much the same as Casino Rama and bingo halls and every form of gambling product is constantly being looked at as a way to increase revenue and if one of your present sources of revenue was taken away then you you are less sustainable. Would Casino Rama be as sustainable if they took card games away or even worse slots? Are the bingo halls going to be more sustainable with the addition of slots? Racing employment and the economics of the racing industry will be dramatically decreased when the slots are removed and it is not because of your assertion that racing is flawed. Maybe you would be happy if all the slot machines had pictures of horses on the screens or that all of the slot machines were instant racing similar to Kentucky. Horse racing is not sustainable at the same level of employment or race dates without the slot revenue or some other form of revenue to replace it,in but New Jersey which is sustained by paramutel wagering is the furthest thing from a shining example of a jurisdiction that got it right. In fact Mr James assertions are probably the best way to summarize the problem racing has in North America. When the politicians sell out to vegas style casino operators the racing industies in those states and provinces become extinct or marginal at best. Congrats Mr James for spending your own money to benefit so many in the racing industry.

Another well written article with facts the voting population probably are not aware of. This is the type of information that needs to be made available to everyone in the province, not just those involved in the horse industry. To those within the industry I would like you to take a look at the product you have out there and realize many changes have to be made to make it more marketable. Gamblers will always gamble, but the people you need to bring to the track are those who want to go out for an enjoyable afternoon or evening with family or friends or colleagues. I know gamblers will argue there needs to be changes to make the product more attractive to them as well but those changes will come. You need to have the product more accessible. People love the walking rings at the thoroughbred tracks, people would love to have an observation room over the paddock, be part of the process, not just picking a number off a page because people you can do that at your local lottery retailer. Let them see the horses, the trainers, the groom and drivers. Take them through the paddock at regular intervals. While what the government did is wrong and needs to be amended, so does the product need to change. We keep taking ourselves farther from those we want to attract and putting more dead time between races. Take a look at the tracks where there are people on site and see how the people are up against the rail watching. The structure of some on the existing racetracks has made this impossible and you might as well watch and wager at home. I don't know who is working on the marketing end of the product, but this is equally if not more important in establishing the longevity of this wonderful historic sport in the province.

Mr. James, thank you for your leadership. I offer to share the cost with you on your next post. I am sure others would love to join but if not I will put up half the money. I have one condition-you write the letter. I have yet to see anyone do better. My email address appears below for you to contact me.

Also somebody put this in front of Hudak and Horwath.

Georg Leber-ICR Racing

[email protected]

Mr. James strikes again! I've been saying all along that this is what had to of taken place because nothing else makes any sense whatsoever. I stated this in my complaint to the ombudsman and restated it when talking to their representative on the phone last week. There simply had to be a big payoff of some sort to the government from the casino owners to make it so worth their while to kill our very successful SAR program.
The other fly in the ointment is the association between Larry Tanenbaum and Paul Godfrey. How convenient that Tanenbaum had the wherewithall to go out and buy up those derelict bingo parlours well before the announcement came out in February about the "modernization" of gaming in Ontario. His close friend, Godfrey, at the OLG just might have had something to do that. The ombudsman's office was interested in that bit of information as well. All of us poor, dumb horsepeople know or have figured out a hell of a lot more about this than what we've been credit for and some of us are not afraid to speak up about it. Thank you again, Mr. James for being a large voice for the rest of our industry. I'm pretty sure many of us would gladly donate to your campaign to save our industry if you post an address.

Thank you again Mr. James. A very well researched and written article. So succinct and enlightening. I have forwarded this article as well to [email protected] Just keep praying they see fit to further investigate this corruption, and put an end to it. Your article has finally shed some light on the "Hidden Agenda" of this Government, we have all suspected from the get go. This Tuna smells alright, and the stench is rotten!

Perhaps Mr James should take an ad out outlining what he would do to make racing sustainable without the slot revenue. He must have a plan.

We all need to registar complaints with the attorney general, the alcohol and gaming commission who governs OLG,the RCMP and all media everywhere of the mismmanagement and possible(and probable) corruption going on here. Ask your MPP to registar a complaint with the integrity commission. The more digging that goes on the more the lies will surface. Putting 60,000 jobs and billions in revenue at risk to line US investors pockets certainly should get someones attention.Also is their no one in Canada capeable of running a casino? Maybe its time for the federal government to get involved.

No one has or could be more critical of the Harness Racing Industry than I have been. That being said Mr. Nicol Mr. Nicolas, and Mr. Bush have it right in my view::)

Out of a job yet vote liberals.more jobs have left Ontario since this goverment has come to power.

Mr. James should get an Obrien award this year for OUTSTANDING OWNER.

We need to get some type of investigation into this matter going. Email the ombudsman,the attorney general,the alcohol and gaming commission who govern the OLG, the RCMP and any and all media outlets, lets take it to the federal level if no provincial help is on the way.To me this sounds like treason. This is corrupt without a doubt and as soon as it is exposed the sh-t will hit the fan. This is racketeering plain and simple, Al Capone would be proud.

Yes, Thank You Mr. James.....You saw this for what it is...corruption. This explains why the LIBERALS were so ADAMANT about this cash cow going the way of the dinosaurs. Liberals had better & bigger things to accomplish ! That explains also why they would not budge and inch or re-negotiate the SAR Program...the Liberals have a PROGRAM of their own.....shaft Ontarians and stick it to the other parties who DID NOT realize what was going on behind closed doors. And Ms Horwath is the bigger of the two suckers..she got took big time, and I sincerely hope she has the nerve to admit so sometime down the road. Now maybe a lawsuit is in order before this crap goes much farther...

Congratulations Mr. James! You sure do your homework. I*ll take a wild guess and say you were born in the dirty thirties as I was. Like my own teaching from my mother we were taught to respect law and order, respect our elders,every life was special and treated as such by all! The outright greed and coruption of our elected officials is rampant and the only ones speaking out are honest racehorse industry participants. Where on earth are the newspaper reporters. This sham could make Watergate look like a picnic. Talk about selling papers, they*re missing the boat! I make no bones about it people our age can walk away and not look back but I do care about our people top to bottom. I have spoken out at the last 2 OHHA meetings I*ve attended letting them all know some of us care deeply about this tragedy, and refer to them all as my brothers and sisters passionately. If only I had a magic wand to wave and make this go away! I watch Bill Moyers on PBS from Detroit and he has a bevy of guests who say every politician has been bought by big business in the U.S. 60 minutes usually agree. Do we want to see these U.S. high rollers do the same here. Everybody give your heads a shake and speak up before it*s too late! Last time I looked this is still a democracy?

The casinos did the same thing in Michigan. They never wanted to share the revenue with racing. They had their lawmakers draft legislation giving them exclusive access. And in the future if there was to be gaming expansion it had to be taken to the people for a vote. With their huge pockets how do you think that would work for racing? This didn't smell right from the beginning. Worse yet our newspapers and networks are incapable of doing any critical reporting outlining the governments subversive motivation at the expense of an entire industry. Its bascially hopeless given the anemic/pathetic response from the opposition parties.

Ontario will soon be like where I am from NW Indiana--where almost every billboard is for a casino! Driving thru there a couple weeks ago, I saw that I could win a new Corvette, a trip to Hawaii; $$$$ with Lucky 7s--? They pay for these 400 million dollar casinos like Four Winds by people losing their life savings--not by winning. I had a friend that was a security guard at the Empress & he told me all the time old ladies came up to him & said they had lost their houses, etc., but were still coming to the casino---after these ladies lose their homes who will keep them--the government!

Excellent article Mr. James.
It remains to be seen if the 2.5 billion payoff will materialize anytime soon. Also explains why GCG has been so tight lipped.
The NDP should be remembered for what they did and the Liberals should be forgotten for good after the next election.

Thank you Mr. James for writing such an informative article. I've wondered why the Liberal Government would "kick" nearly 60,000 Canadians to the curb - and it is always about the money.

If Mr. James can figure this out, why not our leadership - does anyone really believe we are being truely represented, and if so, where are their articles in all of the major papers. We've had meetings and asked that a percentage be taken away from our purses to do what Mr. James has done on his own "dime".

Thank you Mr. James for both your insight and research pertaining to the SAR program. While everyone knew that the policy of closing the SAR program smelled of "rotten tuna", no one knew the true motive behind this action. Thanks to you, we now know. What everyone suspected, is that we are dealing with a Gov't more corrupt than we have ever had before in the history of Ontario and you have just proved that our suspicions were indeed correct. We do, however, still have an inherent problem of doing away with this gov't and re-electing an HONEST and ACCOUNTABLE gov't that will govern for ALL the people of Ontario..... not the gambling conglomerates in the US..... the question is how??? It is quite evident that Andrea Horwath and the NDP can't be trusted and are definitely "in bed" with the Liberals. Hudak of the PC's refuses to take a stand even though most of his party members have stated their positions in support of the SAR program. Therefore we are limited in terms of alternatives. Maybe it's our turn to start playing "dirty" politics and quite possibly, we should be enticing some of the Liberal MPP's to cross the floor if they wish to retain their seats in the Legislature in the next election or alternately resign completely. Just food for thought. Thank you again Mr. James.

This is a superb analysis of the situation in Ontario. He is DEAD ON with his thought process. The only problem is that the Conservatives and NDP could not see the Forest through the Trees. Now the Liberals will have all the " SLUSH MONEY" they need to buy votes for future elections. And not to mention that Most of the revenue will be going back to the U.S.!!

It's not just his belief, it's the 100% truth. Wish we could convince the rest of the Province. Governments are really getting too corrupt. Something needs to happen.

It's about time somebody said what many of us are thinking. That the cancellation of the Slots At Racetrack program is a decision of a corrupt Liberal government looking to line their own pockets with money from the Casino operators.

I don't necessarily agree with all of Mr. James reasoning in his article but I certainly agree with his central premise. Corruption, whether for the sake of personal or party gain, is the only angle that makes the cancellation of this program make any sense at all.

It's too bad that the media in this country don't seem prepared to follow this story in this direction.

The election, if ever called, at Kitchener-Waterloo will be interesting if for some unexplained reason the Liberals do not elect a candidate. Elizabeth Witner must be rolling her eyes at the tenacity of the provincial Liberal party. Again I say, "do not underestimate the people of Ontario", last time I checked we still have a democracy here in Ontario. Be sure of one thing, whenever we do have another election the provincial Liberal party will be lucky to elect one candidate. Of all the conversations I have had not one person was uneducated about their situation or the scandals that have eminated as a result of the Queens Park debacles. WE have great media coverage, most of us have computers, or cell phones with all the gadgets. Do not underestimate how knowledgable the people of Ontario are. It will be the best voter turn out this province has seen in years. I hope I'm around to witness it. sincerely Bruce T. Winning PS. Great article Mr. James.

One word decribes Mr James and his comments - Brilliant!