Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel Figures Raising Eyebrows
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
It’s a sad reality that Ontario’s horse racing industry hasn’t been talking about until now –slaughtering 13,000 horses. The 13,000 figure comes out of a 49-page interim report drafted by the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel comprised of three former Ontario cabinet ministers representing each of the three parties in the legislator - Elmer Buchanan (NDP), John Snobelen (PC) and John Wilkinson (Liberal).
The report outlines the ramifications of the impacts to Ontario’s horse racing industry if the provincial Liberal government’s plan to cancel the Slots at Racetracks Program sees the industry collapse. The collapse of the industry could mean upwards of 60,000 jobs lost and an estimated of 13,000 horses slaughtered. With a limited market for race horses, the majority of the horses would have to be slaughtered or euthanized because there would no longer be an industry that can support them.
The discourse surrounding this policy move is highly divisive and can be confusing to those who aren’t involved in the horse racing industry. The provincial Liberal government has been calling this a subsidy while the horse racing industry is calling it a partnership. Some of the wording of the report is harsh, stating “the original intent of the program was to stabilize the industry —not inflate it to immense proportions,” the panel writes. “But thanks to the flow of slots money … the industry has experienced unexpected, unplanned and ultimately unsustainable growth.”
The transition panel will be releasing their final report by the end of September; and until then the panellists will be working with the industry to find a proposed transition model that might give the industry a fighting chance.