Ontario Ombudsman André Marin. File photo

TORONTO – Ontario’s Ombudsman has decided against an investigation into the province’s decision to end a program that helps offset to fund the horse racing industry.

André Marin received more than 350 complaints about the province’s announcement last March, which stemmed from recommendations in the Drummond Report that were used to help shape its 2012 budget.

The Ombudsman assigned a team of investigators to conduct an in-depth assessment of the complaints and issues, interviewing dozens of horse owners, trainers and many other people whose livelihoods were affected by the decision. They also interviewed senior officials in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and reviewed a large volume of documents relating to the decision.

“We recognize that the government’s decision has created an enormous level of uncertainty in the horse racing industry,” Marin says in a letter sent to all complainants. Nevertheless, he says, the government’s decision was a matter of “broad public policy” and is “not the type of decision that would normally be subject to scrutiny by the Ombudsman.”

“The Ombudsman does not substitute his views for the judgment of elected representatives, who are responsible for setting broad public policy. Under the Ombudsman Act, his investigations focus on government administration,” Marin said.

The Ombudsman’s review found the decision was made after the OLG’s own strategic business review, which included stakeholder consultation – and it was considered by a committee of the Legislature as part of the 2012 budget bill. Since then, the Ministry continues to deal with issues of transitional funding for racetracks and the OLG has negotiated to retain slots at some racetracks after the program ends at the end of this month. Premier Kathleen Wynne announced additional changes March 8.

The Office of the Ombudsman has conducted some 30 systemic investigations since 2005, sparking numerous government reforms, including an overhaul of OLG lottery security and its investigations of “insider” wins.

Marin’s full letter can be found here.

The OLG provides $337.5 million yearly to the horseracing industry and $110.6 million to host municipalities, according to its 2010-2011 annual report. That year, it gave $613,000 to the host Municipality of Central Huron, $1.2 million to Clinton Raceway, which owns the building that houses the Slots, and $1.2 million for the horse people’s purse account.

Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson has said the end of the slots at raceways programs demonstrates that “Toronto Liberals” don’t understand rural Ontario.

A three-year transitional deal for Clinton, Western Fair, Hanover and Grand River raceways announced by the province last week, was short on details, like how much money would be contributed to boost purse accounts for race winners and how many race dates each track will be allocated. It is expected details will be released once the province has negotiated agreements with all not-for-profit racetracks.

Cynthia Moyers, Huron-Perth Landowners Association. File photo

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – A group of local ratepayers in Central Huron want more opportunity to speak during council meetings, the president of the Huron Perth Landowners Association told the municipal council recently.

Cynthia Moyer presented council with a number of suggestions for change to the municipality’s procedural bylaw that were crafted by a group of local ratepayers during a series of meetings.

“The beauty of municipal governments is that close connection with the community, close connection with the ratepayers,” said Moyer, urging council to engage its residents whenever possible.

Among the suggested changes: increase time allotted to delegations from five minutes to 15 minutes; allow delegations to be added to the agenda once ratepayers know what’s scheduled to be discussed; remove discretion of the clerk to approve a delegation’s request to speak; and move question period to the front of the agenda so ratepayers can have input before decisions are made.

She asked council to consider striking a committee with representation from council and the public to continue its review of the procedural bylaw.

“The community understands how important rules are and essentially the rules on how you govern yourselves and the meetings is kind of a covenant with them. They can expect that what you’re going to do at every meeting can be consistent. And consistency is as important to them as is accountability,” she said.

Coun. Burkhard Metzger thanked Moyer for the “respectful” tone of her presentation, referring to an incident during the Feb. 5 council meeting when he chastised a ratepayer who asked a litany of questions, some of which were unrelated to the evening’s agenda.

“Today proved to me that an efficient presentation, a respectful presentation that funneled everything the group had discussed through Cindy came to us and we had a respectful discourse and everything went fine. That’s how this input works. The reason why it fell off the rails was because it wasn’t all that respectful when it started,” he said.

Council deferred further discussion on the draft procedural bylaw until staff had time to review the changes, including numerous housekeeping changes, suggested by raterpayers and changes suggested by Ombudsman Ontario Andre Marin in his recent report on closed-door meetings in Central Huron. He recommended the municipality’s rules holding closed-door meeting be consistent with the Municipal Act.

The next version of the draft procedural bylaw is expected to be posted on the municipality’s website, with an opportunity for members of the public to make comment in writing or verbally at a future council meeting.

File photo courtesy of Clinton Raceway.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – Summer standardbred horse racing at Clinton Raceway will continue after a tentative three-year transitional funding agreement was reached with the provincial government today.

However, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s announcement of transitional funding to Western Fair, Clinton, Hanover and Grand River racetracks was short on details, like how much money would be contributed to boost purse accounts for race winners and how many race dates each track will be allocated. It is expected details will be released once the province has negotiated agreements with all not-for-profit racetracks.

“We’re further ahead then we were a week ago, that’s for sure,” Ian Fleming, manager of Clinton Raceway, said. The racetrack has applied for 20 race dates this summer, which is one more than last year.

“They’re still discussing what the purses sizes will be but they say they’ll be competitive so you take them at their word that it should be good,” he said, after attending a press conference at Grand River Raceway in Elora, where Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement.

“We have maintained as a government that we want to have a sustainable horse racing industry,” Wynne said. “We’re working to ensure the dates for the 2013 racing season will be in place and provide long-term stability to the industry.”

To watch video of the press conference, visit online.

Woodbine Entertainment Group, the province’s largest horse racing provider and operator of Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks, signed an agreement on Jan. 23, 2013.

Following recommendations from the Horse Racing Industry Transitional Panel (HROTP), the agreements will also integrate horse racing with the provincial gaming strategy to ensure future revenue streams for the industry.

HROTP, made up of former cabinet ministers Elmer Buchanan, John Snobelen and John Wilkinson, released its final report on Oct. 23, 2012. Up to $30 million will be available for the Horse Improvement Program in 2013. HROTP, the Ontario Racing Commission and members of the province’s breeding industry are discussing the allocation of these funds.

“There is a full range of jobs that is supported by this industry and I understand that,” Wynne said.

The Clinton Raceway is still waiting for a lease agreement in principle to be finalized with the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLG) for the Beech Street site in Clinton. OLG had expected to finalize the agreement by Feb. 28.

The provincial government will end the province-wide Slots at Racetracks program March 31, 2013.

File photo courtesy of Clinton Raceway.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – The manager of Clinton Raceway expects to hear good news when Premier Kathleen Wynne makes an announcement on the future of horse racing in the province today.

“I’m hoping they’re going to announce there will be racing at all the not-for-profits this summer,” Ian Fleming said, in an interview this morning.

He tried to wrangle some indication of where the future lies when he got a call from the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel member John Wilkinson to say he should be at the meeting at Grand River Raceway in Elora to hear the announcement scheduled for noon today. However, he said Wilkinson was “tight-lipped.”

He anticipated the meeting would give the green light to  a 20-race season in 2013.

In order to receive transition funding, racetracks will have to meet accountability and transparency requirements.

The raceway is still waiting for a lease agreement in principle to be finalized with the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLG) for the Beech Street site in Clinton. OLG had expected to finalize the agreement by Feb. 28.

The provincial government will end the province-wide Slots at Racetrack program March 31, 2013.

Burkhard Metzger, who is the new director representing the Municipality of Central Huron, Dave Frayne, who is the returning chairman representing the Municipality of South Huron and Perth South; and Mike Tam, new vice-chair representing the Municipality of West Perth took part in the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority’s annual general meeting recent.

The board of directors of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) re-elected Dave Frayne as chair at the Feb. 21 annual meeting and the board elected Mike Tam as vice-chair. Frayne, a councillor with the Municipality of South Huron, represents South Huron and Perth South on the board of the local conservation organization. Tam is a councillor with the Municipality of West Perth and represents that municipality on the board.

The conservation authority also welcomed Burkhard Metzger to the board as the new representative for the Municipality of Central Huron.

Ausable Bayfield Conservation works closely with landowners and residents in the watershed to protect soil, water, and living things by creating awareness and taking positive action together. The local agency is unveiling the new Watershed Report Card, which is released every five years, at the annual Conservation Awards evening on Thursday, March 21. For more information, phone the office at 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or visit abca.on.ca for information.

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority is an independent, corporate body established under Ontario’s Conservation Authorities Act. Local municipalities identified the need for such an organization in 1946 to deal with serious problems of flooding, soil erosion, water supply, and water quality. Twelve member municipalities appoint the members of the local board of directors that governs ABCA.

This local conservation agency is the first of 36 conservation authorities formed across Ontario. Ausable Bayfield Conservation’s area encompasses the drainage basins of the Ausable River, Bayfield River, Parkhill Creek, and the gullies that drain directly to Lake Huron, from an area north of Bayfield to an area south of Grand Bend. The 2,440-square-kilometre area of jurisdiction is largely rural with a population of about 45,000. A group of 34 community members met over a 12-month period to create a Conservation Strategy to guide the organization and blaze the trail for a mission and vision for the work in the watershed. Its mission is to protect, improve, conserve, and restore the watershed in partnership with the community and its vision is for healthy watersheds where our needs and the needs of the natural environment are in balance.

Members of the organizing committee, Larry Wein of the Exeter Lions Club and community volunteer Janet Clarke, presented Louise Rether-Kopp with her prize at Morrison Dam Conservation Area east of Exeter on Thursday, Feb. 28.

The Conservation Dinner committee has announced that Louise Rether-Kopp is the winner of the early bird prize, which was drawn on Feb. 25.

The Exeter long-time patron of the Conservation Dinner wins a limited-edition print by popular artist Elisabeth Tonner-Keats. The work of art is called Midday Pause and the framed print is number 168 of 475.

The Conservation Dinner is organized each year by the Exeter Lions Club, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation, and other community members on the dinner committee. The support of businesses, donors, patrons, volunteers, and artists has helped the annual event raise more than $650,000 for local projects in the event’s history which spans almost two and a half decades. The Conservation Dinner supports accessible trails for environmental health and human health, conservation education and recreation opportunities for young people and the young-at-heart, and commemorative woods that improve forest conditions and remember loved ones, among other important local conservation work that could not happen without this kind of public generosity.

The 24th Annual Conservation Dinner takes place Thursday, April 18 at South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter.

To purchase a ticket, or to donate, phone 519-235-2610 or 1-888-286-2610 or visit online. Tickets are $60 each, with a charitable gift receipt for income tax purposes for $30. The volunteer committee welcomes donations of financial support, art, sports and entertainment memorabilia, crafts and furniture, travel packages, jewelry, and other items.

This year’s event should be very special indeed with Canadian theatre icon Peter Smith, interim artistic director of the Blyth Festival, as the special guest for 2013 and with Goderich artist Madeleine Roske, an acclaimed painter who has five works in the permanent collection of the Huron County Art Bank, creating this year’s feature piece. The gala event also features the dinner, a lively live auction, silent auction, special raffles, general raffles, a ticket for a wine tasting, great fellowship, and much more. Items available for bidding that evening include fine original art, carvings, sports and entertainment memorabilia, jewelry, travel packages, one-of-a-kind items, and much more.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CENTRAL HURON – Public input will bring focus to a vision for the Municipality of Central Huron, says its mayor, Jim Ginn.

People who pay taxes in the areas of Auburn, Holmesville, Clinton and surrounding rural land are being asked to complete an on-line survey of 22 questions that create profiles of the respondents and establishes priorities in recreation, facilities, programming, communication and other areas to guide municipal planning for the next three decades.

“It’s really a survey of our citizens to see what they would like and what they’re willing to pay for,” Ginn said.

The long-term plan will also guide the municipality’s asset management plan for the next 30 years, which is now required by the provincial government in order to apply for funding to repair and upgrade roads and bridges, improve water and wastewater treatment, and revitalize community infrastructure.

Already, the municipality has engaged school children in the process.

“We wanted to get the students who will certainly be adults by the time we get to the end of the strategic plan,” Ginn said.

Staff has also held a session with various community organizations and special interest groups.

The draft document will be presented at a public meeting, with a final version expected this summer. Ginn expects the “living document” will be refreshed with each new council term.

Council included the development of a strategic plan as a deliverable in the contract of its chief administrative officer, Peggy Van Mierlo West, when she was hired last summer.

The deadline to complete the survey is March 31. Participants may be entered in a draw for prizes that include a 30-day membership at the Clinton YMCA, a one-week summer day camp at REACH Huron and one hour of ice time at the Central Huron Community Complex.

File photo courtesy of Clinton Raceway.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – This summer’s harness racing season should be hammered out by the end of the month, says Ian Fleming, who is the manager of Clinton Raceway.

With the March 31 deadline looming for the end of Slots at Raceways program, Clinton Raceway and other raceways across the province are waiting for confirmation on their 2013 race dates and transitional funding formula to continue operations and maintain attractive purses.

“I’m still confident we’re going to race, but I haven’t seen it on a piece of paper,” Fleming said. The announcement has been delayed over the past month, probably as a result in recent changes within the Liberal government, he said.

Clinton has applied for 19 race dates in the 2013 season, which is the same as 2012.

“What it boils down to is there are a bunch of jobs in Ontario that rely on racing and the government needs to decide what it’s worth to keep those jobs,” Fleming said.

In January, the province reached an agreement in principal for transitional funding with the province’s largest racing venue, Woodbine Entertainment Group to keep the tracks open at the Woodbine and Mohawk as the industry adapts to a more sustainable model.

In order to receive transition funding, racetracks will have to meet accountability and transparency requirements.

The opposition New Democrats wrestled $50 million in transitional funds from the Liberal government in exchange for not voting against the 2012 budget and thereby keeping the minority government alive. In October, the transition panel appointed by the province concluded the horse racing industry needs provincial funding to remain viable. It will require less than the $345 million yearly it received under the Slots at Raceways program, the panel said, but exactly how much money the horse racing industry will need won’t be made public until negotiations between the province and the horse racing industry are complete.

Fleming predicted there won’t be enough money to go around but said, “You never know with the government. Maybe they’ll come up with more or maybe they’ll decide to give less.”

“The past eight months have really been a bouncing ball. You don’t know what’s going to end up happening,” he said.

One way or another, the breeding season is coming up and horsemen will need to decide shortly whether to invest in the future of harness racing.

“They really need to know by the end of the month,” he said.

Fleming, who owns broodmares, isn’t changing his breeding plans in the face of uncertainty. While he admitted his costs may be lower because he keeps the horses on his Central Huron farm rather than boarding them elsewhere, he also said he’s always look at as “the glass is half full rather than half empty.”

Activity is quiet in races in which the horses are also eligible to be claimed for a fixed price. Few horsemen are replacing stock that has been claimed or sold until they know what’s going on. Some have left the business, too.

“There are less horses in the country today than there were six months ago, for sure,” Fleming said.

Last month, the Ontario Lottery Corporation (OLG) struck lease agreements in principle with eight racetracks, including Clinton Raceway.

OLG provided the site holders with a Letter of Intent, which sets out the general terms, subject to approvals, between the site and OLG.

Clinton Raceway, which has operated for 42 years, employs 70 people at the height of racing season, and has 32 horse people.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – There are no red flags to exclude Central Huron as a possible location for long-term underground storage of the country’s high-level nuclear from spent fuel cells, according to an initial screening review.

A desktop review of readily available information available from resources like the Ontario Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Library, provincial ministries of the environment, natural resources and culture and information from the low- and medium-level nuclear waste repository licensed by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) at the Bruce Power site (its Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Safety Report is currently in public comment period) were used to determine whether there were showstoppers that would make the community unsuitable for a deep geological repository, said Bob Leech, a geologist from AECOM, a consulting firm hired by Nuclear Waste Management Organization. He delivered his findings to Central Huron Council during a meeting held at the Central Huron Community Complex to accommodate local residents who wanted to hear the presentation.  Public meetings are scheduled for March 26 and 27.

The review considered five high-level criterion within the municipality’s boundaries: sufficient land to host the facility, land that’s outside of protected areas, such as heritage sites; land that doesn’t contain known groundwater resources used for drinking, agriculture or industrial uses; land that doesn’t contain natural resources; and land that doesn’t have geological or hydrogeological features that would make development of a facility unsafe.

Leech said it’s a “layer cake geology” of about 32 layers in this eastern flank of the Michigan Basin, with the Precambrian Canadian Shield at its base. More than 1,000 water wells, spent oil and gas pools now used to store natural gas, sand and gravel pits, and fingers of salt that extend inland from Lake Huron all occur in rock layers above the 450-million-year-old shale, dolostone and limestone layers where the underground storage facility will be built. The facility, with shafts and buildings, will require about 100 hectares – or nearly 250 acres – of surface land, with the large caverns built at least 500 metres below ground would require anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 square kilometres of rock.

Mahrez Ben Belfadhel, who is the director of NWMO’s APM Geoscience, said abandoned mines and areas where resources like gold exist in the rock formation aren’t considered for the underground storage site.

“Usually the geology of mines is not suitable because you have fractures. Minerals form where you have fractures and flowing water,” he said, adding they don’t want future generations to inadvertently disturb the underground storage facility while exploring for resources.

As a result of the salt deposits that extend under Central Huron’s land, if it moves forward as a potential site, geologists will need to investigate further.

The closest fault to the municipality is about 30 km away, and the bedrock is predictable, Leech said.

“This is one of the most stable areas in North America,” he said. To read his PowerPoint presentation to council, please visit Central Huron presentation_website

After the public meetings, the municipality will be asked to decide whether it wants to move forward in the site selection process.

“The ball is in your court. There’s not a lot of pressure on you,” said Michael Krizanc, who is communications manager of NWMO, asking council for a response within the next few months.

Step 3 is a preliminary assessment, in part, of whether a safe site can be found, whether it can benefit the community, and whether there is potential for the community to continue its interest to explore the project.

From the more than 20 candidate sites, one or two will be selected for an in-depth five-year study. The community, including both the potential host municipality and surrounding area, will be consulted to see if it’s willing to host the facility.

The final site selection could take seven to 10 years. It could be decades before any spent nuclear cells are shipped to a new underground facility.

In Canada, there are about two million used fuel bundles in storage, which would be moved to the central underground storage facility.

NWMO is funded by Ontario Power Generation, NB Power, Hydro-Québec and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

HEATHER BOA Bullet News CLINTON – The three lowest bidders for installation of solar panels on buildings owned by the Municipality of Central Huron are invited to make presentations to council before it makes a final decision.

Fritz Construction with a bid of $1,826,984, Solarize Energies with a bid of $1,831,232.30 and Panasonic with a bid of $1,887,137.19 will be given 45 minutes each at a special council meeting on Mar. 7 to explain project details.

The municipality received 10 bids, but one was late and three were incomplete. The highest bid was more than $2.6 million, Peggy Van Mierlo-West, who is the municipality’s CAO, told councillors at a recent committee of the whole meeting.

Central Huron holds microFIT contracts with the Ontario Power Authority for two 250-kW projects, one on REACH Huron and one on Central Huron Community Complex. The program lays out a strict schedule of assessments, permitry, domestic content requirement and milestones. The project must be complete by July 2014 in order for the municipality to receive 71.3 cents per kWh for the 20-year contract term.

In a report from the municipality’s finance department, Steve Doherty, who is finance supervisor, suggested inviting the bidders to a council meeting to help council understand the differences in solar panels and other technical aspects of the bid. He also suggested a third-party consultant to help council determine which bid is the best for its money. That consultant could also manage day-to-day aspects of the project, he said.

“Projects of this magnitude are often subject to change orders and decisions that need to be made on the fly – things that we would not be able to properly address without a knowledgeable project manager on site,” Doherty said.

Coun. Brian Barnim, who owns 10 MicroFit solar projects at the west end of Clinton, said an independent consultant is a good idea to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s” and ensure proper installation at the end of the project, but should not cost tens of thousands of dollars.

He said there may be some variance between bids but there are only five components to a solar project.

“Everybody has an idea of what a better mousetrap is but there’s really not too much variance here. It’s pretty straight forward,” he said. “It is good to have them come and do a presentation but the ones that are out quite a bit from the [lowest] bid, I didn’t see the differences in what they are doing in terms of revenue generation or any alarming new technology that they’re using – because it doesn’t exist.”

The municipality will invite an independent consultant to the Mar. 7 special council meeting.