When the provincial government’s revenue sharing program for slots machines at racetracks comes to an end, it won’t just be the racetracks taking a hit.
The harness industry stands to lose about $300 million across the province with the end of the program, but an even greater effect could be felt by the communities that host the tracks.
It’s an outcome that was considered unthinkable only three years ago.
At that time, when Quebec’s horse racing industry was on the brink of collapse, many Quebecers who made their living in that sector packed up and headed west.
Yvon Giguere was one of them. He was managing a track in Montreal when the track’s operator suddenly went bankrupt.
“From the guy selling the hot dogs to the top-level manager, we found (ourselves) overnight with no more job,” he says.
“After 20 years of working in the same place … you say ‘OK, I will have to move.’”
So Giguere, like many of the 7,000 other Quebecers who lost their jobs in the industry, moved to Ontario.
It seemed like the perfect fit. While tracks were going bust in Quebec, they were booming in Ontario.
Now, Giguere finds himself in the same situation he thought he had escaped.
And this time, it’s 30,000 Ontarians who are staring at potential unemployment.
In towns like Elora, where Grand River Raceway employs 120 people, those numbers add up.
“There’s a lot of pain out there in rural Ontario,” says Centre Willington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj.
That pain extends all the way to Ross-Zuj’s office.
Money from racetrack slots also finds its way to the municipalities hosting the tracks. And with the province choosing not to renew its revenue-sharing agreements, Centre Wellington stands to lose an annual $1.5 million from its budget.
“Every year, all of that revenue is consumed by projects that are needed for the community,” says Ross-Zuj.
