Incoming Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop has let it be known that he thinks the Province of Ontario should be doing more to keep the Fort Erie Race Track viable and that slot-machine gaming should be re-introduced at the historic border oval for Thoroughbreds.

Redekop – who won the mayoral vote on October 27 and will be officially sworn in next month – has told Bullet News Niagara that the Town of Fort Erie shouldn’t have to support the raceway to the tune of $500,000 annually.

The incoming mayor told the publication that he believes that the provincial government and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. should reverse their decision to remove slots from the track.

"The municipality wasn't designed to generate taxes to prop up businesses of any sort, even unique businesses," said Redekop, who was also the mayor of Fort Erie from 1997 to 2006.

He went on to state that other Ontario municipalities that are home to horse raceways do not earmark money for the track in order for them to survive.

“They don't do it any place else in Ontario and they shouldn't be doing it in Fort Erie,” Redekop was quoted as saying.

(With files from the Bullet News Niagara)

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