Leading up to what track operators have alluded to as being the final evening of live harness racing at Sudbury Downs, local Councillor Claude Berthiaume has stepped up his call for some sanity in the provincial decision to cut the local and Ontario horse-racing industry down at the knees.

As an article by northernlife.ca explains, Berthiaume is speaking out as the city mulls a new revenue-sharing agreement for racetrack-housed slot machines during the upcoming post slots-at-racetracks agreement era (effective April 1, 2013).

Turning their collective backs on a loyal and economically-positive industry, multiple Ontario municipalities have opted to not play hardball with the Ontario Liberal Party in support of the historic provincial horse-racing sector. Instead of standing up in support of racing, multiple jurisdictions have simply told the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. that they will agree to rake in 5.25 per cent of revenues derived from OLG slot machines housed at the local raceway and not care if racing itself gets a piece at all.

Berthiaume is unwilling to accept the fact that the Ontario Liberal Party, the OLG, and the City of Greater Sudbury would willingly allow the move to be made, thus throwing the expansive industry into its darkest days.

As the report states, a City Council meeting on November 20 saw Berthiaume call for the city to demand 11.25 per cent of the slots revenue so it can, in turn, transfer six per cent of that revenue to the local horse-racing industry.

“I think we should renegotiate this. We should ask for the extra six per cent so we can continue to have horseracing in the Sudbury area,” Berthiaume was quoted as saying.

The city's chief administrative officer, Doug Nadorozny, rode to the defense of the OLG, stating that the move away from the slots-at-racetracks agreement was "a provincial policy decision that has been made and inflicted on OLG.” He was also quoted as saying that the OLG “don’t want to hear” any discussion relating to the local horse-racing industry.

“I can’t understand why they want to kill the horse-racing industry,” Berthiaume said. “But we should be asking for more than 5.25 per cent. We should ask for at least 10 per cent.”

In late September, after alluding to live racing ceasing after November, Sudbury Downs announced that it was terminating the employment of 38 of its staff members over the high level of uncertainty surrounding the Ontario horse-racing industry. It also explained that that more job terminations could be occurring at the track on December 31 of this year and March 31 of 2013.

First-race post time for Sudbury's Saturday program, the final card slated for 2012 and possibly the final card ever at the track, is 7:15 p.m.

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at Sudbury, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Sudbury Downs.

(With files from northernlife.ca)