Ontario Liberals Throw another $100M at Horse Racing

Mar 31, 2014

The Ontario Liberals are giving more money to appease the province’s horse-racing industry.

Premier Kathleen Wynne will announce Monday that she plans to increase support to the horse-racing sector to $500 million over five years, that’s up from $400 million that she announced in October. The funding is subject to review in 2017.

The additional funding is aimed supporting jobs in the horse racing industry.

With the chance of a spring election looming, the minority Liberal Wynne-led government is trying to fix the mistakes of the past, controversial decisions that were made by Wynne’s predecessor, Dalton McGuinty.

McGuinty announced the end of the Slots at Racetracks program in 2012. The partnership agreement gave the province’s 17 race tracks gambling revenue from 1998 to 2012. The program helped keep the industry in business, especially as interest in the sport has been dwindling over the years.

The industry says horse racing directly and indirectly employs approximately 60,000 people in the province.

Video: Spring Planting Prep Just Got Serious… We NEED This!

Getting closer to planting season means one thing… it’s time to get EVERYTHING ready.

Today didn’t go exactly as planned—we thought we’d be hauling potatoes again, but instead we spent the day digging equipment out of the cellar, hooking up the grain drill, and getting tractors ready to roll. With wheat planting just around the corner, every piece of equipment matters.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal day without a few problems… dead batteries, hydraulic issues, and a truck tire that absolutely refused to cooperate. We tried everything—jump packs, bead bazooka, ratchet straps… and eventually had to bring out the “big guns” just to get things moving again.

But that’s farm life—adapt, fix, and keep moving forward.

We’re getting close to go-time. Wheat seed is coming soon, and planting season is right around the corner