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Vol. 75 · # 14 Wednesday, April 11, 2012 GST Included $1.25 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Province guts horse industry Horsemen and women across the province feel the McGuinty government has dealt their industry a death blow. Ontario's Finance Minister Dwight Duncan outlined a plan in last month's provincial budget to terminate a 14-yearold agreement the province has with Ontario's 17 horse racing tracks as of the end of March 2013. According to Duncan, the subsidy the horse racing industry receives from the slots at racetracks is "not sustainable." Horse industry people are incensed that Duncan is calling their share of the slot money a subsidy. "It is not a subsidy," stated Barb Graham, "it is a revenue sharing agreement." In an interview with the Orono Times last week Graham, a quarter horse trainer with a farm and 10 horses of her own on the 6th Concession, explained that in the 1990s when the government wanted to get into the casino business, nobody wanted them in their backyard. As race tracks were already zoned for gambling, and were far enough away from anybody's back yard, Graham said an agreement was made with the Mike Charlie Reid of Meadowview Farms, with two of the yearlings colts bred on his farm, fears for the future of the horse racing industry in Ontario after he has spent a life-time developing the blood lines. Harris government in 1998 to put slot machines at the racetracks. Under the agreement the government gets 75 percent of the revenue, the municipality where the slots are located receives five percent and the horse racing industry receives 20 percent. Of the 20 percent going to the horse industry, ten percent goes to the track owners and a further 10 percent to the people who race, through purse money. "And the government gets a portion of every bet made at the track," Graham said. The agreement was originally meant to replace a shortfall in wagering dollars as people bet on the slot machines instead of horses. According to horse racing industry numbers, close to 60,000 people are employed racing and breeding horses in Ontario and they pay out $1.5 billion in wages and salaries annually. Graham said her family bought their farm in 1999 and since then have poured a lot of money into the local economy converting a chicken farm into a horse farm. "Any money we make is sunk back into the local economy," she stated. "I can't see selling the farm, I can't see not having horses in my life," said Graham who claims she was always crazy about horses, even as a baby. This year Graham said she was going to get plucky and breed three of her mares instead of the usual two. HORSE see page 3 Regional Chair election jumps second hurdle Courtesy of: Blake Wolfe The Standard Newspapers, Port Perry/Uxbridge The next step in moving toward an elected Durham Regional Chair will now rest with the Region's eight lowertier municipalities, after Regional Council passed a bylaw to make the change. Councillors voted 24-2 in support of the matter at last week's Regional Council meeting in Whitby. The decision came approximately four hours into the April 4 meeting, which included several Durham residents speaking both for and against a directlyelected Chair, during a special public meeting on the matter. Uxbridge Regional Councillor Jack Ballinger and Brock Mayor Terry Clayton were the lone holdouts on the motion, often seen as a northvs.-south issue. The by-law will now move to local councils for consideration, with a decision from each municipality required by September 1st. This will be the next step in the `triple majority' process, which includes the passing of the bylaw by Regional Council, plus approval by at least five of Durham's eight municipalities representing more than 50 per cent of the Region's electorate. If the triple majority is satisfied by Dec. 31, 2013, the Chair would be elected as early as the 2014 municipal election. The current movement on the by-law follows the recent announcement from Municipal Affairs Minister Kathleen Wynne approving Durham to proceed with the steps toward making the change, in response to a December 2010 request from Regional Council. Chair Roger Anderson, who has held the seat since 1997, was reappointed to the position in late 2010 by an overwhelming majority of Regional councillors. `In response to the referen- dum question included on the ballot, a majority of Durham voters in the October 2010 municipal election opted to make the Chair an elected position. Since then, the issue has attracted significant attention. In the Region's southern municipalities, the move toward direct election has been either championed - such as by Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, a long-time proponent of the change - or seen by REGIONALCOUNCIL see page 4