This August the Charlottetown Driving Park will be renamed Red Shores Racetrack and Casino. Summerside Raceway is to become Red Shores at Summerside. Mark this date down - July 16, 2009. That’s the date history books will record, that harness racing in the Kentucky of Canada began its final downward spiral - a victim of government’s addiction to gambling dollars.
The announcement of this latest diminishment of our Island heritage came from the Atlantic Lotto Corporation - not from the PEI government, nor their agency Harness Racing PEI. That alone should tell you who is calling the shots. Over 100 years of Island tradition has just been turned over to ALC. It proves once again, that when incompetent governments can’t control spending, they are capable of any shameful deed required to maintain their position and perks. It includes in this case, abdicating their authority to Atlantic Lotto.
Since I’m an old rock n’ roller, I thought it appropriate to quote Don MacLean’s classic song, American Pie to mark the occasion – for many of us, this will indeed be the day the music died.
In years to come we will have occasion to remember that on this date, PEI’s government and its minions approved the decision to give our racing heritage to ALC to do with as it pleased. Thus sacrificed on the altar of greed and expediency is 120 years of Island history and tradition. One hundred and twenty-two years actually in the case of Summerside Raceway, the longest continuous operating race track in Canada.
Think biblically here – Book of Genesis; ‘Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage’. Indeed. And so did the PEI government. This is not about preserving harness racing on PEI, helping the wager or bringing new fans to the sport. That’s a huge con. ALC was warned long ago to get its act together, because of the new multi-million dollar casino going into Moncton. They did nothing and now they are scrambling on the backs of the historic Charlottetown Driving Park and Summerside Raceway to try and protect their market. And to date not one Island politician has spoken up to question this decision. How shameful is that?
A few years ago you’ll remember, when the government of Pat Binns began exploring the prospect of a racino to aid harness racing I, like many others, favoured the idea. However, there was one caveat. The dangers inherent in the example of Ontario. In that province many track operators virtually ignore racing and/or whored it out to get their hands on the slots. Seemingly few in Ontario’s government or the industry itself really care. The slot money flows, they get their share and the taxpayer is oblivious – at least for the time being.
I’ve always said this was a cautionary tale for PEI and that the racino project must be handled properly. It has not been - now future generations will pay the price and an important part of the Island’s history will have been lost.
I have written in the past that harness racing was being left up the track, as thanks to the government and their agency Harness Racing PEI, the people at Atlantic Lotto took more and more control at the Charlottetown Driving Park. Obviously this Red Shores Casino decision is the result. Reaction thus far from the general public is almost totally negative. A recent Standardbred Canada poll shows 77 per cent of respondents gave it a thumbs down. Doesn’t matter, nothing will change. Neither ALC nor the politicians care what the public wants. Addicts need their fix and governments will agree to anything, as long as Lotto Corporations feed their need for dollars and will look after them and their friends. Thus we are witness to the beginning of the end of harness racing as we know it, in the Kentucky of Canada.
Ol’ Waylon perhaps said it best when he sang -
"This is the last cowboy song, the end of a hundred year waltz.
Voices sound sad as they’re singing along, another piece of America lost."
Make that another piece of Prince Edward Island lost.
Hal Hennessey
Eastern Graphic columnist and former PEI resident now living in Quebec