Ontario Conservative Senator Bob Runciman will carry his fight against the
McGuinty government’s plans to throw at least 30,000 Ontarians out of work to
Georgian Downs in Innisfil, Ont. later this month.

Runciman will be at the harness racing track along with Simcoe North MPP
Garfield Dunlop to draw attention to the negative economic impacts and
significant job losses that will come from the government’s decision to pull
slots out of racetracks early next year, a decision that is expected, according
to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, to result in the closure of all but five or
six of the province’s 17 horse-racing tracks.

“The McGuinty government’s action is an ill-considered, short-term cash grab
without – apparently – any understanding of the significant job losses and the
long-term negative impacts on individuals, families, businesses and
communities,” Runciman said.

“More Ontarians have to be made aware of the damaging economic and personal
impacts and they have to put pressure on provincial politicians to force a
reconsideration of the decision,” Runciman said.

“At a time when Ontario has lost almost 500,000 manufacturing jobs since
McGuinty took office, it’s nothing short of mind-boggling that the government
would initiate such a harmful policy,” he concluded.

Runciman and MPP Dunlop, who has been a vocal opponent of the decision to
scrap the slots-at-racetracks program, will hold a media conference in the The
Loft room at Georgian Downs on Saturday, July 21, at 5:00 p.m. Runciman is
speaking at a fundraiser for the MPP later that night.

The Slots at Racetracks program directs 10 per cent of revenue from slot
machines housed at horse-racing facilities to the tracks and a further 10 per
cent to the horse industry. It was widely credited with revitalizing the
industry over the past decade, while contributing over $1 billion annually to
the government to spend on programs such as health care and education. The
McGuinty government announced this spring that it is ending the program next
year.