Does it really matter if the ground "beef" you throw into the chili came from Black Beauty instead of Betsy the cow?
Apparently over there among your effete European connoisseurs of all things beef it does.
Meanwhile there's a move afoot in Oklahoma to reintroduce horse meat processing in the state, which used to account for a healthy export trade of horse meat to Europe.
In Ontario there are at least 13,000 horses destined for the sausage factory since the provincial government stabbed the horse racing industry in the back.
So there's no shortage of product, and the Europeans have been eating the stuff for years, so why the sudden issue?
Even corporate uber-pirate Nestle was in the news today because researchers found horse DNA in some of their processed foods. Of all the indignities Nestle has perpetrated on the food chain I would think this is one of the least malign.
I think it's one of those manufactured front page "issues" designed to take your mind off more important stories.
Showing posts with label Ontario Liberals stab horsepeople in back. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ontario Liberals stab horsepeople in back. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Slow motion bait-and-switch
Back in '93 Ontario's first and only "socialist" government, being short of funds and casting about for new sources of revenue, introduced casino gambling in the province.
Five years later, that government had been swept out of power, but the casinos were doing a roaring trade. Conservative Premier Mike Harris, once an outspoken critic of casinos, undertook a major expansion of legal gambling in Ontario. After all, the Conservative government was short of funds and was casting about for more sources of revenue.
That met with a lot of resistance. The government soothed the populace by coming to a revenue sharing agreement with the horse-racing industry. It was a brilliant strategy.
Horses are warm and cuddly. Horse racing culture is a warm and fuzzy place that smells like hay and straw and all that good country stuff. It's got a rural wholesomeness that slot machines don't have. Tying the expansion of gambling to that folksy horsey image was a win-win. Harris got his gambling expansion.
Fast forward fifteen years. The government of today, now Liberal, is short of funds and casting about for more revenue. That 20% of gambling revenue that the horse racing industry gets in return for letting slot machines associate with its wholesome image has become nearly $350 million a year.
Somebody in that Liberal government realized that's a lot of oats. They also realized that after a generation of legalized gambling most Ontarions have become acclimatized to the idea. They don't need the warm and cuddly horse culture to help the medicine go down.
So quicker than you can say stab-me-in-the-back, the government decides the revenue sharing agreement of fifteen years ago isn't a revenue sharing agreement at all.
It's a subsidy!
"In these difficult times, we can't justify subsidizing the horse racing industry to the tune of $350 million a year... that would buy 27,000 hip replacement surgeries... "
When you frame it like that, the horse racing industry doesn't have a chance.
Five years later, that government had been swept out of power, but the casinos were doing a roaring trade. Conservative Premier Mike Harris, once an outspoken critic of casinos, undertook a major expansion of legal gambling in Ontario. After all, the Conservative government was short of funds and was casting about for more sources of revenue.
That met with a lot of resistance. The government soothed the populace by coming to a revenue sharing agreement with the horse-racing industry. It was a brilliant strategy.
Horses are warm and cuddly. Horse racing culture is a warm and fuzzy place that smells like hay and straw and all that good country stuff. It's got a rural wholesomeness that slot machines don't have. Tying the expansion of gambling to that folksy horsey image was a win-win. Harris got his gambling expansion.
Fast forward fifteen years. The government of today, now Liberal, is short of funds and casting about for more revenue. That 20% of gambling revenue that the horse racing industry gets in return for letting slot machines associate with its wholesome image has become nearly $350 million a year.
Somebody in that Liberal government realized that's a lot of oats. They also realized that after a generation of legalized gambling most Ontarions have become acclimatized to the idea. They don't need the warm and cuddly horse culture to help the medicine go down.
So quicker than you can say stab-me-in-the-back, the government decides the revenue sharing agreement of fifteen years ago isn't a revenue sharing agreement at all.
It's a subsidy!
"In these difficult times, we can't justify subsidizing the horse racing industry to the tune of $350 million a year... that would buy 27,000 hip replacement surgeries... "
When you frame it like that, the horse racing industry doesn't have a chance.
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