With the news that the City of Surrey has chosen to enact its lease recapture clause on the land currently occupied by Fraser Downs, the harness racing industry in British Columbia wants answers. Now.
In a letter dated Aug. 22, 2025 and addressed to a number of MLAs in the Surrey, B.C. area, Kelly MacMillan, the President of Harness Racing B.C. called for government intervention in order to protect the families and jobs affected by this sudden and shocking development.
"Immediate action is required by Surrey MLAs and the Provincial Government to stop the dismantling of Fraser Downs and to uphold the public commitments that tied casino operations to live horse racing," said MacMillan. "Allowing an American corporation to shutter racing while continuing to profit from the casino breaks that bargain. Until those commitments are enforced, including funding mechanisms that sustain the industry, City and Provincial officials must halt redevelopment and protect Surrey families from the economic, social, and human fallout of this closure."
The full letter from MacMillan is available below. For more on the recent news concerning the announced closing of Fraser Downs, click here.
To:
Amna Shah, MLA – Surrey City Centre
Jagrup Brar, MLA – Surrey Fleetwood
Jessie Sunner, MLA – Surrey Newton
Garry Begg, MLA – Surrey Guildford
Trevor Halford, MLA – Surrey White Rock
Mandeep Dhaliwal, MLA – Surrey North
Brent Chapman, MLA – Surrey South
Elenore Sturko, MLA – Surrey Cloverdale
Linda Hepner, MLA – Surrey Serpentine River
CC:
Premier David Eby
Hon. Mike Farnworth, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
Hon. Niki Sharma, Attorney General
Hon. Nina Krieger, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Denise Praill, Member, Horse Racing BC
Gary Johnson, Member, Horse Racing BC
Subject: Fraser Downs Crisis: Immediate Action Required to Protect Surrey Jobs and Families
Dear MLA Shah, Halford, Dhaliwal, Chapman, Sturko, Brar, Sunner, Hepner, and Begg,
Immediate Action is Required by Surrey MLAs
Immediate action is required by Surrey MLAs and the Provincial Government to stop the dismantling of Fraser Downs and to uphold the public commitments that tied casino operations to live horse racing. Allowing an American corporation to shutter racing while continuing to profit from the casino breaks that bargain. Until those commitments are enforced, including funding mechanisms that sustain the industry, City and Provincial officials must halt redevelopment and protect Surrey families from the economic, social, and human fallout of this closure.
The abrupt closure of harness racing at Fraser Downs is not a minor operational change. It is a crisis for families, workers, and businesses in Surrey, and it is a breach of the public trust on which expanded gaming in this province was built. People are losing their jobs and their homes. Small businesses built around racing have lost their anchor. Some individuals are already on suicide watch. Meanwhile, Great Canadian continues to operate the casino at Fraser Downs and collect revenue, despite the fact that the casino was only ever approved because it was tied to live racing.
This decision did not fall from the sky. It was enabled by choices at both the City and Provincial level, choices that are now leaving hundreds of Surrey residents without income or security. And it raises urgent questions that you, as Surrey MLAs, must answer.
The Original Commitment
When Fraser Downs was approved for slot machines in 2004, Surrey Council explicitly linked those approvals to the existence of live racing. The Council report (R054) tied the Host Financial Assistance Agreement, which delivered 10 percent of net gaming income to the City, to the racetrack site itself. At the same time, the Province earmarked a share of slot revenue for horse racing. By 2012, 25 percent of net slot revenues at racetrack casinos were dedicated to purses and industry support under the Horse Racing Industry Management Committee (HRIMC).
These were not side deals or afterthoughts. They were the foundation on which gaming expansion was justified to the public.
So the first question is: How can it possibly be justified that the casino continues to operate while racing has been terminated, when both Surrey and the Province approved that facility on the explicit understanding that racing and gaming were tied together?
A Broken Bargain
The City now claims that its only legal relationship is with Great Canadian as the leaseholder, and that it has no contractual relationship with the racing industry. That may be legally convenient, but it ignores the spirit and intent of Council’s approvals.
So the second question is: Do you accept that the City of Surrey can benefit from 10 percent of gaming revenues that were premised on a racetrack-casino partnership, while disclaiming any responsibility to the people and businesses harmed by shutting racing down?
The Province, likewise, has long promised that slot revenue at racetracks would sustain the industry. Families built their lives on that assurance. Now, the 25 percent allocation remains on paper, but the industry it was meant to support is being dismantled in practice.
So the third question is: Do you believe it is acceptable for the Province to continue collecting revenue from slots at Fraser Downs while the very industry those revenues were meant to protect is destroyed?
Human and Equine Consequences
This is not an abstract debate. Hundreds of workers, men and women, who cared for horses, cleaned stalls, drove, trained, bred, and managed races, are unemployed today. Families that relied on Fraser Downs for their livelihood have lost their income overnight. Some have already lost their homes. Others are in such despair that they are under suicide watch. Surrey families are bearing the full weight of a policy reversal that benefits only Great Canadian and its shareholders.
And it is not only people who are suffering. With no income to sustain their care, the future of the horses themselves is at risk. Horses require daily feeding, stabling, veterinary treatment, and training. Without a racing operation to anchor that investment, owners and trainers face impossible choices. What will become of these animals, some bred for years specifically to race, if the infrastructure of their care is pulled away? The government must account not only for the human cost, but also for the equine welfare implications of closing Fraser Downs without a plan.
So the fourth question is: What responsibility do you accept, as MLAs for Surrey, to the families who are facing homelessness because of this closure?
The fifth is: How do you explain to your constituents that government will enforce a lease recapture clause for a casino operator, but not enforce the commitments made to workers and families who relied on racing?
Provincial Responsibility
The Gaming Control Act is clear: the Minister has the authority to issue directives to BCLC on matters of policy. BCLC’s service agreements govern facility operations. That means the Province does have the power to insist that racetrack casinos cannot operate without racing, or at minimum that the revenue flows continue to sustain the industry.
So the sixth question is: Why has the government not used its authority to ensure that Fraser Downs’ casino cannot operate independently of racing?
The seventh: Will you call on the Minister to issue a directive under the Gaming Control Act tying casino operations at racetrack sites to racing or enforceable replacement funding? If not, why not?
Historical Commitments
When the Province introduced slots at racetracks, it was to stabilize horse racing in the face of expanding gaming. When the Province converted annual grants into a fixed 25 percent allocation in 2010, it was still on the assumption that racing would continue. Every government since has affirmed that racing and gaming are linked.
So the eighth question is: Do you believe that government commitments, repeated over two decades, mean nothing when an American corporate operator decides it wants a casino without a racetrack?
The ninth: If you believe those commitments still matter, what steps will you personally take to see that they are upheld?
Surrey’s Future
The City points to redevelopment of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds as justification. But redevelopment was never meant to replace racing, it was meant to build on it. To proceed with redevelopment while allowing the casino to remain is not modernization; it is a betrayal of the public bargain struck in 2004.
So the tenth question is: Do you believe Surrey residents should simply accept redevelopment profits for Great Canadian while losing the jobs, traditions, and community benefits of racing?
And the eleventh: What will you do to ensure that redevelopment does not proceed on the backs of displaced workers and broken promises?
And why, less than a week after this shocking notice, is the lighting at the track surface already being dismantled? What possible urgency exists when there is no approved plan in place, and redevelopment remains years away? The City seems determined to rush ahead, tearing down barns and dismantling facilities without any replacement or clear future use. Why create an idle, vacant site now, while destroying people’s livelihoods, when no actual redevelopment plan has even been introduced?
The Bottom Line
The Fraser Downs casino was never meant to stand alone. It was created for the express purpose of sustaining horse racing in British Columbia. The City benefits from revenues justified by that purpose. The Province benefits from revenues justified by that purpose. Great Canadian benefits from revenues justified by that purpose. The only ones who are losing are the workers and families who were promised stability and protection.
So I leave you with this: Will you stand with Surrey families and the commitments made to them, or will you stand with Great Canadian, an American-owned corporation now sending its profits south of the border, at the expense of Surrey’s workers, traditions, and community?
This is not just a question of racing. It is a question of whether public commitments matter more than corporate interests, and whether Surrey families can count on their elected representatives to defend them.
Sincerely,
Kelly MacMillan
President, Harness Racing BC
Member, Horse Racing BC
Cell: (250) 801-5189
(HRBC)