On Friday, March 14, MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) issued a letter to Ontario Racing Commission Chair Elmer Buchanan in which he reiterated his support for the Dresden Agricultural Society’s application for 2014 race dates at Dresden Raceway.
The contents of McNaughton’s letter appear below.
Dear Elmer;
As you will know, since my election in 2011 I have been advocating on behalf of owners, breeders, trainers, drivers, grooms, and all those whose livelihoods depend on the Ontario horse racing industry.
Most recently, on February 11th of this year, I wrote to Premier Wynne asking that favourable consideration be given to the application of the Dresden Agricultural Society in which they requested that some dates be granted for racing at the Dresden Raceway.
I need not tell you about the long history of racing at Dresden, nor need I remind someone whose origins are in a small rural Ontario community of how important race days are to this community in my riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Quite simply, for my constituents the cruelest blow has fallen on the future of horse racing in Dresden – a historic track, owned by members of the community through an agricultural society almost as old as Confederation.
To you I repeat my support for the application of the Dresden Agricultural Society for race dates this season and I trust you will look with favour on their request and preserve at least some of the racing tradition in this town.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance in this regard.
Yours sincerely,
Monte McNaughton, MPP
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex