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Published: February 17, 2012 10:47 am ET
Last Comment: February 17, 2012 2:15 pm ET | 2 Comment(s) | Jump to Comments
“It almost enraged me to hear that speech from Dwight Duncan. It made it sound like we were dragging $345 million right out of the taxpayers' pocket. It’s as close to a lie as you can get."
Disbelief regarding the Drummond Report's recommendation for the Ontario Government to attempt to walk away from the highly-successful slots-at-racetracks (SAR) program continues to elicit pointed comments in the mainstream media from politicians, horse-racing industry officials and horsepeople themselves.
Horseman Anthony MacDonald, whose comment above speaks volumes in regard to what he thinks of the situation, is the most recent member of the horse-racing industry to try to focus on the facts regarding Ontario's slots-at-racetrack program.
“Government is saying ‘we are not interested in the 60,000 to 70,000 jobs that are created by Ontario harness racing,’” the resident of Guelph, Ont. told Nick Oakes during an interview for his weekly column in The Guardian.
“I can’t see how making 60,000 people jobless would be something they (the government) would want to do right now. You’ll end up with a whole lot of people having to move, a bunch more going on welfare and the rest looking for shift work that just isn’t there right now.”
MacDonald went on to say, “We (the Ontario racing industry) got blindsided by a sucker punch. We invested millions of dollars in the province and now Dwight Duncan says ‘no, you don’t (racing doesn't) need that money (from the program) now.’"
(With files from The Guardian)
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17-2-2012 2:15 pm"BLIND-SIDED" exactly
"BLIND-SIDED" exactly Anthony. I wonder if my horses can apply for welfare when Dwight Duncan's ridiculous plan goes into effect. I won't be able to afford to keep or feed them and they can't afford to feed themselve's? As an industry, we need to put all of our differences aside right now and unite as one group to fight this. Alot of people like to voice their opinion, but we all need to ACT on it.
17-2-2012 3:38 pmWe need more Anthony
We need more Anthony MacDonalds right now!!!!
Being a horse guy, I don't think my operation is much different from most.
Purse money is made....purse money is spent ...fuelling the public ECONOMY..AND FEEDING FAMILIES IN ONTARIO
your idea DWIGHT...is to take the purse money...spend it back into the ECONOMY....I don't think theres much left to feed the families of most Ontarians..
SPEAK UP AND TALK TO YOUR LOCAL POLITICIAN...THEY WORK FOR US!!!!
MAKE THEM WORK