The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s (OLG) announcement not to renew its gaming contract with Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs and its parent corporation Great Canadian Entertainment (GCE) puts jobs at risk at the slots, the racetrack, and beyond.
SEIU Local 2 has sent a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and is seeking a reversal of the decision.
More to come.
Contents of Letter
October 6, 2025
Sent by e-mail (premier@ontario.ca) and fax (416-325-3745)
Premier Doug Ford
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1
Canada
SEIU Local 2 is the largest Union in Ontario’s horse racing industry. We know this industry well. As you are aware, there are more than 30,000 jobs created and supported by Ontario’s horse racing industry. These are good paying jobs, and many are in smaller Ontario communities and provincial rural settings.
We are writing to you to express our shock and profound disappointment regarding OLG’s bombshell announcement this week to not renew its gaming contract with Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs and its parent corporation Great Canadian Entertainment (GCE). This ill-fated decision has taken all stakeholders by complete surprise and will have catastrophic consequences for our Slot members as well as those employed at Kawartha Downs Racetrack. The track cannot continue without the Slots on site. As such, both unionized groups will lose their jobs as well as their non-union/management colleagues. No fewer than one hundred and fifty (150) jobs, not including the jobs attached to supplier businesses and contracted services, hang in the balance.
As the bargaining agent for Shorelines Slots employees, we successfully negotiated a new four-year renewal Collective Agreement with GCE just this Spring with decent annual wage increases and increased sick days for our members. This multi-year deal is proof positive GCE has every intention of continuing is Shorelines Slots operations at Kawartha Downs. The Slots operation has been an ongoing success showing consistently impressive performance metrics.
It is OLG bureaucrats that have decided to shutter Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs, not Great Canadian Entertainment. To compound this perplexing and irrational decision, without the Slots on site Kawartha Downs Racetrack cannot proceed with its plans for significant investment and expansion. Racetrack ownership has been vigorously pursuing ambitious plans to develop the property into a year-round destination location. The Slots operation is the anchor tenancy that serves as the cornerstone/springboard for this exciting and promising future expansion, creating additional good-paying, year-round jobs.
Consistent with the above, just two short months ago we successfully negotiated with Kawartha Downs a new three-year contract for our racetrack members. The membership as well as racetrack ownership are very pleased with the long-term employment/economic security of the multi-year Collective Agreement. The Union agreed to a multi-year deal based on Kawartha Downs’ plan for significant investment and expansion of the business going forward. That requires time and capital, and Kawartha Downs is committed to both.
The surprise OLG decision this week has now thrust all of this productive groundwork into limbo.
Both the Slots jobs and the racetrack jobs constitute important tariff-proof employment that Donald Trump cannot destroy with his economic attack on Canada, especially in Ontario. Now more than ever, we need these tariff-proof jobs.
Mr. Ford, you promised in your first election that if any racetrack wanted their Slots back, they should have them. Kawartha Downs lost theirs and you intervened to ensure it came back and it has operated successfully ever since. We need these tariff-proof jobs and cannot afford to lose this Slot operation. Kawartha Downs has impressive expansion/development investment plans going forward. That can’t happen without the Slots on track.
Mr. Premier, there is a strong evidence-based economic argument for keeping Shorelines Slots operating at Kawartha Downs. The Slots operation is profitable, generates valuable revenue for the province and provides long-term, good-paying tariff-proof jobs in the community. Its strategic presence as the anchor tenant at Kawartha Downs is the critical catalyst responsible for generating significant expansion investment by racetrack ownership towards developing its property into a year-round destination location. This business expansion in turn will produce even more tariff-proof jobs in the Kawarthas when the need for same has never been greater.
The business case is robust and compelling.
As Premier of Ontario that told voters “a promise made is a promise kept” we are imploring you to please honour your commitment and instruct the OLG bureaucrats to back off and leave Shorelines Slots alone. Our members’ good-paying, tariff-proof jobs (with more yet to come) depend on it.
Sincerely,
David Bridger
President
SEIU Local 2
cc
Local 2 Officers & Executive Board Members
Shorelines Slots Union Stewards
Kawartha Downs Union Stewards
Chris McDonald,
Executive Director, Labour Relations
Great Canadian Entertainment
Richard Weldon, President
Kawartha Downs
Honourable Minister Stan Cho,
Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming
