Rod Seiling has been ousted as chairman of Ontario Racing
Commission and is being replaced by former NDP agriculture minister Elmer
Buchanan.
Premier and Agriculture Minister Kathleen Wynne made the
announcement at the racetrack at Elora Friday, completing the back-peddaling on
her predecessor’s decision to pull slots out of racetracks and to build a
string of new casinos instead.
That plan ended in the dismissal of its author, Paul Godfrey
who headed the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
Now Wynne is promising up to $400 million over the next five
years to support the horse racing industry.
Unfortunately, the promise comes after a year of financial
pain that ended jobs for many people who worked with horses and a sharp decline
in horse-farming profits.
Both Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission and the Ontario
Racing Commission have come under political fire for lavish salaries, bonuses
and expense accounts.
Wynne said Buchanan will be in charge of splitting the
Ontario Racing Commission into two areas of responsibility. One will be
supporting the racing horse industry. The other will be working with the
Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission “to grow the racing fan base.”
Buchanan has handled a number of hot political issues since
the NDP was ousted from power.
He headed the transition of the Ontario Pork marketing board
out of single-desk selling, he was acting chairman of the Ontario Farm Products
Marketing Council when the associations for wheat, corn and soybeans merged and
he has been vice-chairman of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Council which
has been trying to stick-handle its way through controversies in the egg and
chicken marketing boards.
Buchanan was agriculture minister in 1994-95 and after the
election defeat, served as treasurer for the party. He has also been one of three members of a panel that had the job of picking up the pieces after the government bungled the politics of its horse racing policy change.
