by SUSAN MANN
The horse racing industry is anxious to see the Ontario government’s plans to stabilize the industry now that Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne has instructed the Horse Racing Transition Panel to come up with a comprehensive five-year plan.
The plan is to go from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019, she says in a Sept. 10 letter to the panel. The plan is due out in October.
Brian Tropea, general manager of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, says they’ve told the panel it’s important to have a five-year plan “so we were happy to see that.”
There were indications the government was only prepared to put $180 million over three years toward the industry, but “seeing that extended out to five years is good news.”
The $180 million over three years was transition funding for the industry. The funding was provided after the provincial government cancelled the Slots At Racetracks program in 2011. It provided the industry with $340 million annually. That amount was split equally between the racetrack operators and the horse groups, which used their portion for purse (racing prize) money. The racetrack owners portion was intended for promotion, marketing and to grow the industry.
Tropea says the plan should include the amount of purse money available, the number of race dates “or how we’re going to grow the industry back to the size comparable to what we have today.” He notes there are indications the government wants to cut the number of race days and the amount of available purse money.
Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, says they want the government to clearly spell out how it will integrate horse racing with the Ontario Lottery Corporation’s gaming strategy. “The government and premier have been talking about integration since early this spring and we sit here getting close to October and none of us know what integration means yet.”
The horse racing industry association also wants to know what “lines of income can the industry expect in the upcoming years.” Once they get those answers, industry participants can start making plans for themselves, she says.
In her letter, Wynne says she wants the panel to include advice on how to distribute the proposed minimum 800 race days for the three breeds (quarterhorses, standardbreds and thoroughbreds) by racing category (premier, signature and grassroots) and to identify which tracks should hold the different race categories. She also wants the panel to comment on competitive purse levels and the “stable support required for the breeding sector to maximize the economic benefit to Ontario,” the letter says.
The panel is also asked to recommend a revised governance structure to accomplish the five-year plan, including the role of the Ontario Racing Commission and industry associations, and it has to come up with a specific amount of government funding over the five years needed to achieve a “vibrant, sustainable horse racing industry that is accountable, transparent, customer-focused and of net benefit to the taxpayers of Ontario,” Wynne writes.
“I’ve said all along I want to have a stable industry in the province and I want to know how we’re going to get there so it can be a sustainable industry,” Wynne says in an interview Tuesday. “I’m optimistic we’re going to be able to get there.”
Tropea says historically people have invested in the industry based on the amount of purse money that was available. Purse money and racing opportunities drive the demand for horses so “any decline in either of those things causes a decline in the value of your assets.” If both of them are cut at the same time, “then there’s a significant decline.”
That’s currently happening in Ontario where horses are being relocated to other jurisdictions in North America where they offer more racing opportunities for more purse money, he explains, noting the industry doesn’t see how it can be competitive because states in the United States around Ontario are implementing slots at racetracks programs while the provincial government has ended that same program here.
According to an Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association study posted on its website, since the provincial government ended the slots at racetracks program in 2011 about 9,000 jobs have been lost and 3,000 horse owners have pulled out of the industry. The industry is down nearly $850 million in investment dollars. The job losses have also affected farms. The association’s study says that employment of licensed workers at tracks has dropped 28 per cent since 2011 and for every job lost, 2.5 jobs are lost at the farm level.
Leslie says the losses they’ve documented were as of this spring. But the industry continues to lose jobs and investment. “It’s even worse now than it was then.”
As for criticism of the panel’s costs by Perth Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece, Tropea says he doesn’t know what the going rate is for expertise advice. “From what I understand it’s not out of line with what consultants are paid.”
Pettapiece obtained documents through a Freedom of Information request that showed the three-member panel billed taxpayers $526,649 in compensation and expenses between June 2012 and March 2013.
Leslie also didn’t have a problem with the amount of money the panel has billed. But if the government consulted with industry before cancelling the slots at racetracks program, it wouldn’t have needed to spend that money, she says. Since the government failed to consult with the industry and left it in a mess, “they were going to have to pay somebody to get involved and try and figure it out. I, for one, think the panel have worked very hard.”
Wynne says the three-member panel of John Snobelen, John Wilkinson and Elmer Buchanan has travelled all over Ontario and talked to people involved in the industry. “We wanted their expert opinion,” she says. In addition, this is a big piece of work that’s about reengineering the industry.
The Progressive Conservatives have said they want a viable horse racing industry, she says, yet they don’t “see that it’s important that we have good advice.” BF
Comments
The current plan appears to have a "circuit" that focusses on Southern Ontario racetracks leaving tracks like Ottawa out of the "signature" series because they are too "remote". I'm not sure how this can be construed as "sustainable for Ontario". Farms and businesses in rural Eastern Ontario will continue to decline. This is unacceptable.
Why should government support any aspect of what is essentially entertainment, any more than any other? Why, in the minds of horse owners, are jobs in that industry any more important than jobs in the visual, recording, and/or performing arts, especially with all of the "spin-off" jobs associated with any, and all, of them?
There is still far-too much sense of entitlement in the horse racing industry.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Horse Racing is an agricultural based business that supports rural business and employment. Not many jobs in the performing arts in rural Ontario.
You're still waving the flag that some net-negative industries are better than other net-negative industries, and that is, at best, elitism of the sort too-often seen in supply management, ethanol, and other things completely dependent on legislation, not economics.
In addition, I, for one, would far-sooner see a play at Stratford than any horse race - and it has a much-longer season than our local race track
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Horse racing is not ag based because the race is not happening at the farm . Horse are mostly kept or boarded at a rural setting not always what would be deemed to be a farm . Horses be fore the invention of the tractor were widely used as work animals on farms . Now most horses are nothing more than pets . Pets are not considered to be a part of farming . You never hear of cat or dog farms . It is a horse ranch not a horse farm .
You can bet your first nickel that if farm groups ask to raise the gross minimum for FBR registrations there will be many horse people left out in the cold . The biggest farm org in the province does not any where list enertainment as being some thing they represent Agriculture for . It is always Agriculture for the production of Food , Feed , Fuel & Fibre .
Horse racing may not be Agr-based but raising racehorses sure is! They eat hay and oats,farmers grow hay and oats! Go to any hay auction and you will find horse owners always spending the most money on the best hay.l see 4-H horse clubs, there are always horses of different types and sizes at every fair in the province,l believe there are even a few horses at the Royal! Living in part of an Amish community l can tell you horses have always been and always will be a part of Agriculture.
Elephants and Giraffes eat hay and oats too . Does that make them "Agr-based" ? I only see them on nature shows in the wild and in zoo's . Heck I eat ruffage and whole oat cereal . One could even argue that they are taking food away from the needy ! Competing for the same food .
Piont being you are trying to stretch the connection to agriculture as it once was in history . History is fine and good but do we want to live like cavemen also . Heck if some one wants to use horses instead of tractors then go to it but I have yet to see a horse with a pto , remotes and a place to power up the gps and monitor . That is agriculture as it is today . Don't think we want to back to the time of having slave labour now do we . I could maybe accept the connection for being used to produce food or if they were raised for food but horses are more pets than any thing . Other parts of the world use oxen and not horses for a reason . Horse racing is about as honest and as plagued with banned substances as baseball .
To bring the Amish in to this is really just grasping at straws and nothing more .
l didn't see Elephants and Giraffes plowing at this years Plowing Match near Mitchell, nor any other year!You should have a little respect for the horse industry in this province past and present.Whether it is the working horse of the Amish or the big harness horses at fall fairs they still are a part of the Agr-community.Most Veterinary clinic's have someone who specializes solely in treating horses and there is a Auction Sales Barn near Listowel who have made Horse raising and sales a backbone of their Auctions services for decades and draw thousands for big horse sales.
l know a man that uses horses to draw logs out of the bush and l can tell you he/they do a much better,cleaner job than any 200HP tractor could do! We may be long past the days when horses were our primary source of "HP" but they still demand a spot in our Agriculture Economy.
I think your talking way out of context. People are concerned about public funds being spent on the purses for horse races. even before the slots were introduced I believe the horse industry overall was having difficult times being able to support it self, from its main source of track revenue, which was people betting on the horses. The rest of the horse industry that you speak of generates funds by charging tax, the race horse business takes more then it gives back.
Sean McGivern
If you want to spend money on a horse industry, spend it offering prize money to equestrian riders, every race track in Ontario could become a show jumping track. If you want to see people blow up money just look at any one with a pleasure horse, there are teenage girls out there working 2 part time jobs just so they can have a horse, every one of these young girls thinks their the next Olympic riding champion.
Think about all of the money the parents spend trailing horses to and from shows, paying board and buying new riding out fits, you get the picture.
If the race horse industry can't support it self then it should only be natural that it comes to an end.
The younger generation has no interest in going to a race track to bet on horses its sport of a former generation and its time has come gone and will never return to its glory days.
Lets focus on producing food, fiber and fuel and lets not waste valuable tax dollars on gambling, for all I care the slots could go south with the race horses.
Gambling doesn't benefit our society any more then it hurts it.
Sean McGivern
I agree, I don't understand the concept of putting hard earned money into a machine for it to keep, but I think there needs to be a place to gamble, just not in horse racing, otherwise money will just go across the border or will cross borders via online gambling. As far as I am concerned, and from actions of a few people I know distantly, the Ontario casinos are in large part a clawback of OAS, social assistance and CPP. Raube Beuerman
All I have to say to horse racing and the government is take that money and shove it , and I mean to lower the debt . Why is the horse racing so important that they need millions because no body goes to support or watch or bet on them. Must be our government in (action) really exciting isn,t it folks watching our money go down the drain.
The Ontario race track industry will stagger on but the best horses will go south of the border where slots and race tracks still have a good partnership.It was too bad the Province and horse people had a good money making agreement for a decade or so.
Simple Greed got the best of the Liberals.
Everyone ignores the completely-valid point made way-back at the start of this issue when one member of Cabinet pointed out that, in effect, the slots money could be better used to buy insulin pumps than to prop up the value of race horses.
The greed, in this matter, always has been on the part of the race horse industry which continues to think they're the only people who matter, and/or the only people who deserve to receive money coming from gaming revenues.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
It is really sad when the right thing is a mere few hundred million dollars worth . that is a drop in the bucket compared to all of the bad decisions , poor track record of over spending on other things that will cost tax payers millions more per year so the gov can help their feinds make money off the backs of tax payers and consumers . Heck one minor election boondoggle cost us almost a billion bucks because of election and power hungry greed .
Supply Management needs an overhaul big time . Wynne saying that she supports it does not say that she does not think that changes are needed to make that sector more competitive and priced more in line with global prices of SM products . There should be no value given to quota . Quota is the right to produce a product and the price of that product should be comparable to global prices . What would be wrong with SM having to compete or sell their goods under the Buy Local banner . Buy Local seems to be the "Good Enough" Gov. answer for every one else . Every one esle in Agriculture has to compete at a global price . Or Gov. has to prop up all other sectors with fully funded programs , not gutted programs with a cap like the RMP . Now don't get me wrong , I do not agree with Ontario Pork in wanting SM to be gone because it was not that many years ago that hog farmers were worse than SM farmers for driving up the price of land , and it is really sad that hog farmers have stooped as low as they have because of jealousy . Sorry folks but you really look petty and I think you failed to realize that in order for that to happen you will have to be willing to give up/forfeit your share of any dollars from the RMP capped program so that those dollars can go to the SM sector you wanted gone . I am not sure that Pork will get the others from the OASC group to give up their dollars to support a pork wanted killing of the current SM system . I am pretty sure that Gov. is not going to come up with more dollars to support SM unless they take it away from some other ag sectors . Pork has said they can compete globaly , then let's see them do it with no gov. support other than the creation of new markets . If they truly want to see the demise of SM as it is then they better be willing to lead by example and go it with out any support . Put your money where your mouth is , is I think the old saying . Time to step up to their own challenge from a sector that has lived on support dollars for far too many years .
Horse racing according to their own people is not sustainable with out gov funded purses . Then it is not sustainable period so get rid of it . The sooner the better . It is entertainment people not a neccessity of life . Back in the old days when I would go to a stag and a card game was going to start , you did not call a gov guy and tell him to bring over that prize purse because there was going to a game starting and we couldn't start with out the prize money ! NO you put your own money on the line and won back or lost what you were willing to chance !
Wind Energy is sustainable at a price much lower than the current rates . Wind developer reps have sat at my kitchen table and told me that them selves . They were wanting me to sign contracts to build wind turbines on my farms for less than half of the current rates being offered by the liberal gov. The liberals bought hook line and sinker McFlinty's dream of being able to have a legacy to be remembered . Well the truth is he will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and Wynne is going down the same path . The only other problem is where are our bureaucrats that are supposed to be working for us the people who pay their pay checks . They should stand up and tell the gov. of their wrong doings but instead bury their heads and think of job protection . That is also the case with many of them when it comes to the health problems associated with wind turbines and their placement too close to people's houses . These problems are real and should never be ignored or put off as being trivial and fake . Then when you look at the hydro rates and where they are projected to go because of Greed Energy , they will drive more industry out of the province and make Ontario even worse as a have not province , making Ontario a place that will not be looked at as a place to set up industry that has to compete on a global scale at global prices . The GEA is no more than a poorly executed SM plan which we all know needs revamping . Where are our Farm Leaders ? When will they start demanding change and start speaking out against bad Gov policy that really matters rather than helping Gov shove more bad policy down our throats and looking for their gov after life landing spot .
Gov. of ALL stripes has been failing the people of this province for way too long . What we need is a New Party to step up and demand accountability . All you have to do is look at our health care system , our hydro system , and the fact that gov is now the biggest employer in the province . I will have a real problem supporting any Liberal in the future and the other two are not any better . We need to stop the financial bleeding . This is not just a case of blood letting .
Liberal No More !
Much the same as OLG putting the price of a 6/49 ticket to $3.00, they certainly were making money at $2.00 but $3. they rake in so much more !
The same with Slots at racetracks, OLG were making over 1.1 Billion in revenue from the Slots/racetrack combo but they are figuring these new Mega-Casino's coming down the line will bring in so much more and it will be a 100% take instead of the 75% OLG where getting from the racetrack deal.
You can look at it as simply the Government trying to make more money off the already overtaxed public or its just Greed!
To all that don't see the viability in having an industry that supported as many as 60,000+ full and part jobs, generated 2.1 billion in economic activity and added 1.1 billion annually to government coffers, congratulations.
You'll be pleased that 9000 of those jobs, and the taxes paid by the people who had those jobs, have already disappeared thanks to the Ontario government. Many, finding themselves newly unemployed will be seeking government support which of course will now come courtesy of your taxes and more borrowed government money to add to the record deficit and the 10 billion a year interest payment.
Oh, and by the way, if you aren't a slot player you've never contributed a cent to horse racing since any government money for horse racing came strictly from slot machines located at the racetracks.
Al
If there is so much economic activity produced from horse racing then why is it not self sustaining ? Are there other problems ?
I will say that the abrupt stop to the money flow seemed harsh but I think the leaders in the racing industry were being short sighted to the reality of a 10 year deal and the chance of it not being renewed . The economic downturn likely did not help things either but you can't always help what happens financially to some one who was a good customer that causes them to stop participating because they need to spend the money on more important things .
As for your saying that those who lost jobs will cost us more , adding a few more to the mix will not change things while we have this Liberal spend , Spend , SPEND with no accountability gov in power .
Well I,m not a horse racer or owner , but I would love to get some of this government money. Why should they get money to have a sport that sucks money out of an addicted gamble and ruins families , its beyond me. OH Ya I know its gives jobs ? Well put the money into something good that will help people not hurt them , maybe help create some job in the manufacturing .
l believe the Government is making better use of the money..they are building Mega-Casino's.
Put money into manufacturing or helping get jobs here not gambling where the money is a dead end it has no use once it is spent at the casino. The worst one to handle our money is the government , look at the record and judge for yourself and the debt and the money they pay out for the service they get.
Would be all for the money going for jobs or for paying down the debt but then you have to stop the needless spending and bad political decisions like the GEA which is driving jobs out of the province . Next we will be paying these companies to use the extra hydro at the expense of the tax payer through higher taxes and even higher hydro rates . . OH Wait !! We already do have an industrial price for hydro that is cheaper for large corporations and they are still leaving . The other sad thing is that even the medium size manufacturing plants are leaving also .
It's all about what's best for society as a whole, and not just one segment of it. Government has every right to decide how the money generated from government-sanctioned gambling revenues should be spent - and if government believes gambling revenues would be better spent by buying insulin pumps, as was suggested by one Cabinet Minister some time ago, then government has not only every right to do so, it also has the responsibility to do so.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Your veiled sentiments expound a tad bit of truth.
If the government really believed insulin pumps are more important than the perception of paying fees, rent, labor, etc, connected with the tracks, then you are correct.
The problem is that what the government says and what the government does is usually two completely different things.
The government that canceled the track agreements is also the same government cutting back on diabetic support.
Do some simple math. 1.1 billion per year from the slots at racetrack program to government coffers plus all the economic activity associated with racing and taxes paid on the same. The money generated for the government from the slots at racetrack program, far exceeded what was put in.
Perhaps you need to ask how many insulin pumps the Gas plant fiasco could have bought, or the ORNGE fiasco, or the e-health fiasco, or the green energy fiasco.
The provincial debt is closing in on 300 billion. Over 10 billion a year in interest payments. Yearly deficit of 11 billion. And you think these clowns will handle any revenues responsibly and do what's best for society?
The OLG has not been a subsidy, a common misconception. It is payment for services rendered. Racing provides 60,000 jobs much of it in rural settings. Some of these jobs include veterinarians, farriers, feed mills, tack stores and stable supply companies.
Additional benefits go to restaurants, hotels, stores in the area where the race tracks are located. Horse racing has funded equestrian programs and therapeutic riding including a multi-million expansion of the veterinary facilities at the University of Guelph.
Look at the whole picture. Race tracks were there first and the OLG casinos came later and now want to get rid of them so there is more room for gamblers.
Looking at the "Whole Picture" don't forget that OLG has the right to end the deal or change the deal for services rendered . It is business . I would think there must have been some conversations taking place about the contractor deal before the end was announced . I suspect some one did not pick up on or did not want to believe what they were bing told . Unlike a union who is many times able to hold a company hostage during negotiations , gov was and had an altenative in their court . Much like a company moving from Ontario to south of the border . It is not a right for the racetracks to think that they deserve a supply of money endlessly . Don't forget that many race tracks were in trouble before the OLG offered help financially for services rendered . I think it was as much that the race tracks were looking for help more than the OLG was looking for a place to set up slots .
I do not agree with how OLG and the Gov. pulled the plug but I do have to ask where the racetrack leaders heads were at in thinking that things were always going to be as they were .
Will a new 5 year plan really make the cut or will it just be a band aid for 5 years and then the demise of the weaker will happen ? A new 5 year deal will be at a lower rate than what it is now . So if a lower rate is good enough was OLG paying too much before ?
I do feel bad for any who have or will loose thier job . That always sucks no matter what .
One of the basic truths about the way government operates, is that they will support you 1,000%, right up to the moment they don't. They have to do it that way because if they don't, necessary, and fairly-obvious, changes will take too long, cost too much, and will always result in too much whining.
For example, the government should have abruptly changed the Canadian Wheat Board instead of going though years of endless wrangling, hand-wringing, grand-standing, and fear-mongering.
The abrupt way government went about changing its support for the race horse industry is a lesson supply management ignores at their own considerable peril - when changes come there, and they will, they will be abrupt, and the 90% of us not in supply management will ask, in almost unison - "Where were your heads in thinking that things were always going to be as they were?"
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Lets not forget, the Racetrack/slot combo where are great money makers for the horse people and the Government for more than a decade.The ruling Liberals are probably right in their assuming that bigger Casino's near cities will bring in more money than the tracks.l seriously doubt that any Politician from any Party believes dumping Supply Management will contribute anything but another couple of Agr-sectors to prop up on a regular basis.
The comparisions of the western Wheat board downfall and SM is nothing new,other than getting SM oppenents all excited.It was at best a very weak comparision to start. Really, how can you compare something when its limited to 3 Provinces ?
The point is that government almost always changes its mind abruptly, and that's something supply management continues to ignore.
When government claims to support you completely, what it really means is that they will dump you like yesterday's newspaper if it makes sense to do so, which is exactly what they did to Ontario's race horse industry.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
If it involves votes or making more money,then yes!..very abruptly
That's what so many people don't understand about the GEA,it was never about energy self-sufficiency,it was about votes.People in Toronto like the idea and still do.The same about the cancellation of the gas plants,again Votes! The Slots is about making MORE money with bigger Casino's.
Dumping Supply Management doesn't equat to either Votes or more money!
You're splitting hairs, and missing the point - while the OLG may not be a subsidy, the OLG has created, and financed, a subsidy for the the race horse industry. In addition, the race horse industry is nothing more than entertainment, and, therefore, something which, by-and-large, society could easily do completely without.
The point the government is trying to make, in the face of considerable, albeit understandable, obtuseness on the part of the race horse industry, is that they, the government, believe there would be more economic benefit, and social benefit, created by diverting OLG casino revenue away from the race horse industry, and since it's their money, they have every right to do so.
I mean, really, how can the race horse industry be so stupid, and so greedy, to not understand that what government gives, government can, and has every right to, take away?
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
You are correct. The OLG paid rent and other fees for services rendered. The race tracks provided the infrastructure and did the grunt work while the province captured a 80% fee.
You are also correct, the race tracks were first.
Agricultural societies had long ago been given the right to "gaming". The province approached horse tracks because gaming was already allowed and in place. No need to vote on new "gaming" because consent was there.
The province used the horse tracks to their advantage.
But times have changed and the province wants to capture a piece of the "gaming" found on the internet. That would be a big prize if they can manage it. Somehow, I don't they can, but they will destroy everything in their path to try and accomplish it. Greed is a nasty thing.
Not all slots or casino's are at race tracks .
Saying the province used the horse tracks to their advantage is correct but then you must look at the other side , the tracks signed an agreement and likely with in that agreement there was likely a time line ( start & end date ) and a renewal clause . There must have been an advantage to the tracks for signing other wise they would not have signed in the first place . Would think it was of benefit to both .
Not saying I agree with the gov decision or with what the new agreement will look like . Just trying to show both sides . Many times emotion plays into things and you only see things from the side you are on . I wonder if some one on the track side dropped the ball when it came to renewal time . I don't know .
We may never know who approached who when it came to putting slots at Racetracks but l think its a mistake if anyone thinks these Horse/racetrack owners got rich over the deal.For the majority of Harness race horse owners it was a labour of love raising horses,it was in their blood, always trying to breed that "big winner".That was the way it was before the slots and way it still will be for most still in the business.
Race horse owners were rich for about a minute, when, thanks to increased purses, a $3,000 horse became a $10,000 horse - then old, and bad, habits set in again.
What had been a scungy old truck and a ratty horse trailer, became a $60,000 monster truck and fifth-wheel trailer. What had been a Dickies jacket from TSC became a $700 leather jacket from a boutique, and so on, and so forth.
The simple fact of the matter is that too many horse owners started to act, and spend, like they owned quota.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
Well then they deserved it, my uncle kept 3 or 4 horses in an old ramshackle barn with a small oval track for what seemed like a life time.He finally came up with a bit of a winner near the end only to have it break a bone in its leg after 1 year and a few wins.l guess he missed out on the $700 jackets.
Your scenario could fit quite a few Pork producers over the years as well.
Yes, we know. Racetracks were there first and the only way the people of Ontario allowed casinos where the infrastructure was there already.That is what the OLG paid for. Now they want it for free so they can expand. That is definitely not how business is done. Only the government can get away with that.
No, I am not involved in the racetrack business but I hate to see the government tearing down what was working very well. Will the OLG make more money then the racetracks? Doubt it, too many around now.
Renewal? What renewal?
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