Fact Check: Liberal panel expensed $700,000 as 9,000 rural jobs killed

TORONTO, May 13, 2014 /CNW/ - A panel created by the Ontario Liberals to preside over the dismantling of the horse racing industry expensed more than $700,000 to taxpayers as more than 9,000 jobs were killed. (http://goo.gl/h9qRTs)

The panel billed the public for hefty expenses and per diems as it assessed the impact of a Liberal plan that the Auditor General now says the government knew "would have a significant negative impact on the horse-racing industry and force it to be downsized". (http://goo.gl/nktkN3) 

The excessive expenses rub salt in the wounds of communities hit by job losses in the wake of a botched plan the Auditor General found was needlessly damaging for the province's horse-racing industry. (http://goo.gl/kg3zwI)

Here are the facts:

• The Panel spent nearly $700,000 on salaries and expenses, while 9,000 horse jobs were killed
• Ontario's Auditor General reported that the government knew that cancelling the Slots At Racetracks profit-sharing program "would have a significant negative impact on the horse-racing industry and force it to be downsized"
• The Auditor confirmed what horse families already knew: "rural communities where horse people live and work would be negatively impacted"

SOURCE: New Democratic Party of Ontario

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