Ontario PCs say they alone have plan to preserve horseracing

November 29, 2013 · 0 Comments

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives say they alone have a plan to preserve the province’s horseracing industry.
In a press release issued recently, the Tories said that although Premier Kathleen Wynne now admits that the government’s decision to cancel the Slots at Racetracks Program (SARP) was “not a good decision,” the Liberals and the NDP are still taking horseracing in the wrong direction.
The party’s Rural Affairs critic Randy Pettapiece (Perth-Wellington) called on NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to apologize for her participation in the Liberals’ decision to cancel SARP, which he said had devastated Ontario’s horseracing industry.
“On CBC French Radio, the Premier admitted the decision was ‘not a good decision.’ The Premier was at the cabinet table when that decision was made, but she didn’t speak up,” he said during Question Period. “The Leader of the NDP also had a chance to speak up, but she chose not to.”
Pettapiece called on Wynne to accept the Ontario PC plan for horseracing, which he said will restore the industry to prosperity.
“Only one party stood against the 2012 Liberal-NDP budget,” he declared. “Only one party has produced a bold but achievable five-point plan to put the industry back on track. That’s Tim Hudak and the Ontario PCs. The industry needs more than a meaningless, gimmicky motion from the NDP – a motion to restore what they themselves allowed to collapse. We need real action from a team with real credibility on the horse racing file. That’s what we’re offering. When will you get on board with our plan?”