On Sunday, March 25 at Rideau Carleton Raceway, horsepeople took to the track between races to protest the inexplicable and devastating decision by the Ontario Liberal Government to cut the provincial horse-racing industry out of the mutually-beneficial slots-at-racetracks program
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A report by CTV.ca has quoted horsewoman Julie Ferguson as saying that the government's decision is "devastating, absolutely devastating."
The current slots-at-racetrack program allows the provincial horse-racing industry to employ up to 60,000 Ontarians and create a $2-billion annual economic impact on the provincial economy.
The current slots-at-racetracks program has allowed the Ontario Government to annually reap roughly $1.1-billion in direct revenue from racetrack slot machines, and has paved the way for the provincial horse-racing industry to annual pump $261-million in direct taxes to the Ontario Government each year.
To view the video of the Rideau mid-card protest, click here.
It already hurt the Western
It already hurt the Western Quebec/Ottawa Valley horsemen when Hippodrome Aylmer closed down. Now if Rideau goes there would be no racetracks between Southern Ontario and Nova Scotia. I don't understand the logic of putting so many horsemen and other businesses related to horse racing out of work. There could even be a small slaughter of horses since the demand to race horses every 2 weeks would be near impossible in Southern Ontario (Woodbine, Flamboro etc..) plus would even be worse if Sudbury also closed down. There is nothing wrong with the status quo and if Rideau could get some gaming tables in it would be just as good as a casino in an area away from schools and homes. I bet the Ontario government didn't calculate the increase in welfare cheques it will have to give out when it decides to take down a large part of the industry.