OHRIA Ramps Up Media Campaign

ohria-billboard-2012.jpg

The Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association (OHRIA) has increased the exposure for its value for money campaign both over the airwaves and on roadside billboards

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The billboard above was spotted outside Brantford, Ont. while a 30-second audio clip has been featured throughout Ontario.

-- Right-Click here to download --
 

OHRIA urges members of the industry to visit the value4money website, allowing Ontarians to write members of Provincial Parliament to show their support for the horse racing and breeding industry in Ontario, and has also launched a petition drive that will be presented by OHRIA in parliament.


Send your message here to your local MPP:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do

Or here:
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/about/contactus/

Or email Premier Dalton McGuinty directly here:
[email protected]

Or Finance Minister Dwight Duncan here:
[email protected]

You may want to CC Tim Hudak, leader of the opposition, here:
[email protected]

Or Andrea Horwath, leader of Ontario's NDP party, here:
[email protected]


For Trot Insider's complete coverage regarding the fallout and uproar in response to the Ontario Liberals' Drummond Report, click here.

Comments

And they thought we'd go quietly. Drive On folks, we've got Rural Ontario covered, now teach the Urban folks about our Industry and horses.

Right on, Mona. Do they not represent the 16 OTHER (Standardbred) tracks and Horsepeople??? We have already been assured (by Mr Eaves) that WEG is happy to collaborate WITH the Liberal Plan. Aren't we fighting for the rest of Ontario's harness racing Industry????

AND WE NOW HAVE, IN WRITING, THE SUPPORT OF THE ONTARIO FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE.. Let's keep the momentum going...... Below is the e-mail we just received from OFA, and you can check it out for yourselves at the OFA website: www.ofa.on.ca/media/news/Betting-on-the-wrong-horse

Betting on the wrong horse with OLG? (2012)
0 Comments

By Mark Wales, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) urges our provincial government to step back and take a serious look at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) proposal to end the Slots at Racetracks program. The recommendation to end the program effective March 31, 2013 was recently adopted by the Ontario government in an effort to improve provincial gaming revenues.

The OLG made the recommendation as part of its modernization plan, an effort to increase revenues. The plan suggests the casino and slot facility modernization and the end of the Slots at Racetracks funding. The result of the proposed plan is expected to yield an additional $740 million in annual revenue to the province by 2017. Ironically, the OLG included at statement in their own strategic plan that says, “Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.”

In other words, the proposed modernization plan is a gamble. And a very risky gamble for our province to be taking because the OLG does not appear to consider, in any way, the potential cost of these proposed changes – they are only looking at the possible increase in revenue. The OLG is gambling and the stakes are Ontario’s horse racing industry, rural communities and thousands of small businesses.

The result of OLG’s decision could see the end of racetracks in Ontario, causing the dissolution of a vibrant horseracing and breeding industry. And along with it, the province will lose approximately $2 billion in economic activity, more than 30,000 full-time jobs and valuable businesses that directly support Ontario’s agricultural infrastructure.

It appears OLG has failed to consider the impact their decision will have on Ontario’s horseracing industry and the jobs it sustains across Ontario. The industry currently works with OLG in a mutually beneficial relationship, the Slots at Racetracks program – a revenue sharing agreement. The racing industry is OLG’s most profitable partner. Can OLG actually increase revenues while losing its best partner?

OFA strongly urges the province and the OLG to start working with the Ontario horseracing industry to build on the productive and profitable relationship they have already enjoyed over the past decade. This partnership can be improved for mutual benefit and will continue to demonstrate its significant and valuable contribution to the Ontario economy and our rural communities.

We simply can’t afford to lose Ontario’s horseracing industry on an OLG long shot!

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