Liz Sandals misses the mark with her comments (Tribune, Aug. 9).  As a horseman and one of her constituents, I am disappointed that she would deliberately mislead the community on something that has such a devastating impact on so many of her constituents.
Let’s be clear on the facts. Horse racing in Ontario has never been subsidized – it was a partnership agreement initiated by the province to establish gambling venues at the existing racetrack facilities. Profits are split between the province (75%); the local communities (5%); the horse industry (10%) and the track operators (10%). The Ontario government gets over a billion dollars from this arrangement.  With a skyrocketing debt and deficit, a program that makes money for the provincial government should continue.
Rather than making the horse industry the scapegoat, Sandals should explain to her constituents how her government’s mismanagement of the public purse has seen billions lost in the Ornge air ambulance fiasco, the mismanagement of tele-health and the incomprehensible relocation of a gas plant – just to name a few recent Liberal misadventures. Aren’t those misspent funds “supposed to go to public services like health and education”?  When Sandals is pondering sustainability, I suggest she look at the poor management and gross over-spending of her own party as a prime example of what is not sustainable.
Ontario is home to 27,000 active race horses owned by some 12,000 people. This short-sighted decision by the Liberal government will have disastrous consequences for their families, their horses, the people they employ and the businesses they support. Horse people pay taxes, hire staff, buy trucks, trailers, feed, equipment and diesel right here in rural Ontario.
The provincial government has dug a $16-billion hole and is trying to fill it with the blood, sweat and tears of hard-working Ontario citizens.  I find it astonishing that an elected representative stands behind a decision that kills jobs, cuts government income and devastates an industry. I fear our province is in great jeopardy.
Anthony MacDonald
Guelph
Editor’s Note:  MacDonald is a candidate for the provincial PC Party nomination in Guelph.