Hatfield: Bring Slots Back To WR

Published: September 23, 2013 01:46 pm EDT

On Monday, September 23 in the Ontario Legislature, Windsor-Tecumseh NDP MPP Percy Hatfield asked Premier Kathleen Wynne to release the revenue numbers for Caesars Windsor and to bring slot-machine gaming back to the now-defunct Windsor Raceway.

The Ontario New Democratic Party issued a press release Monday in which it quoted Hatfield as asking Wynne, “Will this government re-open the slots at Windsor Raceway to breathe new life back into the provincial harness racing industry, get those 2,000 people back to work, and demonstrate to the people in this province, Premier, when you say it, you mean it when you stand up as you did repeatedly this morning and said that jobs are a priority to your government?”

The contents of the NDP release appear below.


Percy Hatfield calls on government to re-open slots at Windsor Raceway

Today Percy Hatfield, MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh, called on the Premier to come clean with revenue numbers from Caesars in Windsor and to re-open the slots at the Windsor Raceway.

“How much additional revenue has been realized at Caesar’s since the slots at the track were shut down and so many people, 2,000 people, were left without good-paying jobs in my community?” Hatfield asked.

When the provincial government shut down the slots at Windsor Raceway it led to the collapse of the harness racing industry in Windsor and Essex County and the loss of 2,000 jobs. The justification was that those who gambled at the track would gravitate to Caesars in downtown Windsor and do their gaming there. Prior to closing the slots at the Windsor Raceway, the government was taking in an estimated $8 million a year in profit from the Windsor Raceway track.

Hatfield said the Premier has had enough time to calculate numbers and should release the findings of her government’s experiment.

“There’s no shame in admitting you made a mistake, Premier. No shame whatsoever,” Hatfield said and called on the Premier to reverse her government’s ill-fated decision.

“Will this government re-open the slots at Windsor Raceway to breathe new life back into the provincial harness racing industry, get those 2,000 people back to work, and demonstrate to the people in this province, Premier, when you say it, you mean it when you stand up as you did repeatedly this morning and said that jobs are a priority to your government?”


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