Ontario Racing About to Get It Again?

In today's The Globe and Mail, Premier McGuinty is seeking to limit debate on the new provincial budget to a whole thirteen hours, obviously an attempt to stiffle debate on the budget bill.   The reason given is to limit debate on the tax increases in the legislation which permitted the New Democrat Party (NDP) to abstain in the initial vote, allowing the government to survive.  Whether or not this attempt to ram through the budget is enough to get the NDP to vote against the budget remains to be seen.

For racing interests, this could be a troublesome if the budget is voted upon 'as is' if it passes as it limits debate to a total of thirteen hours which means the opposition will have to decide which issues are the most important to them to discuss.  Will the transitional aid the government has talked about be discussed?

You know, the transitional aid which no one knows anything about.  Will it be purse supplements, will it be additional support to transition workers in the racing industry into new jobs?  If you are disrupting the lives of as many people ending the OLG Slots at Racetracks program, the details of this aid should be known before the budget is voted upon.  After all, this is a government, who has shown its contempt for the industry.  They should be forced at least to explain their plans for transitioning the industry and/or employees.