This letter to the editor in the Hamulton Spectator explains how the Ontario budget has effectively put an end to horse racing and horse breeding in Ontario: The recent provincial budget has moved the Ontario horse racing industry into history. The revenue sharing agreement with the slots at the tracks will end, so goodbye horses. This is no small potatoes. The move will have significant effects on the race industry and rural communities. Suddenly there is no work for Ontario horses. Breeding farms have three years worth of investment in horse stock — spring foals, fall yearlings, and pregnant mares to continue the cycle. Now all of these horses, over night, have switched from being an asset to a liability. This will bring financial ruin to most breeding farms across the province and for those who supply or are employed by the horse industry. The horse racing sector currently adds 60,000 jobs to Ontario’s rural economy. The racing expenditures for feed, supplies and services exceed $2 billion annually. The governments take their cut. Without consultation the budget ended all this. In 2008, the Quebec government closed racetracks in that province. The outcome was mass slaughter of horses.

A large sinkhole has opened up at the intersection of Bayview and Hillsdale Ave. City and Enbridge people were digging things up and  mulling over just what was causing the collapse. In this picture, taken from the sidewalk just outside the Bank of Montreal, it appears that there has been a previous attempt to fill a depression in the road.  There is no access to Bayview from Hillsdale. 

Mayor Ford says he will attempt to make the municipal election of 2014 a referendum on subways for Toronto. Ford made the remarks on his call-in show on Talk1010. And the new Chief General Manager of the TTC,  Andy Byford (center) has said he would have preferred a plan to build subways over LRTs. Of course, Byford is careful to express these thoughts as his personal opinion with no political leaning whatsoever. He stands ready, he said, to build the LRTs authorized by City Council without delay or complaint. But his professional standing is worth noting. It’s clear from his carefully worded remarks that he thinks subways are the way to go. “My personal preference would have been to have had a subway, I think if we can expand the subway system then I think that that is a good investment for the future,” he said. What about those who insist LRTS are better? The media has failed to report much on the princples behind this point of view. We assume its because they are cheaper and faster to build. Is that it? Meantime, Mayor Ford has invited anyone who feels qualified to seek a candidacy on a pro-subway ticket to give him a call. It’s an interesting idea and seems to have struck a nerve with Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22)  (right) who vows to stop the mayor from using his office to take calls from anybody interested in opposing LRTs at the next election. But this is incidental because no one can stop anyone from running for anything in Canada. Subsequent to this post Mayor Ford apologized for inviting people to call his office phone and said any discussions about candidates for the next election would occur on a personal private line not his  office line.