Plan for Ontario’s horse racing industry nears completion

by DAVE PINK

A long-term arrangement to save the Ontario horse racing industry could be framed by the end of the month, says the president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association. (OHIRA)

Without it, the future looks bleak, says Sue Leslie.

“The provincial government has, to a degree, stabilized live racing in the short term,” she says. “What hasn’t been stabilized is the long-term viability of the industry.”

The future of horse racing has been under a cloud for more than a year, after an announcement early in 2012 by Ontario Lottery and Gaming that it would pull its slot machines from the province’s racetracks and open new gaming rooms in the province’s larger urban centres. The racing industry had been dependent on that profit-sharing agreement with OLG.

Now, Leslie says that after intervention by Premier Kathleen Wynn and the announcement of some short-term funding for 12 racetracks there is hope. But she is banking on the recommendations from the three-member Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel set up last year to guide the racing industry into the future. The recommendations to be made by Elmer Buchanan, John Snobelen and John Wilkinson, which will almost certainly involve some integration with the OLG, are expected within the week, says Leslie.

“Right now, the horses are racing,” she says. “But what we need is investment in racing, and no one is going to invest unless there is a long-term plan. It’s crucial to our survival.”

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced transitional funding of more than $545 54.5 million about one week ago, to racetracks in Toronto, Milton, London, Clinton, Elora, Hanover, Peterborough, Sudbury, Hamilton, Barrie, Sarnia and Fort Erie, to help them through the 2013-2014 season. BF