How one horse can leave its hoof print on the P.E.I. economy
CBC
The P.E.I. harness racing season got underway this month. It's a time driver Mike McGuigan looks forward to every year.
"There's a buzz through the summer and you're starting to feel it now," he said.
"It's a long winter with no racing and the weather's getting a little better and you can feel the excitement that the races started."
Drivers and trainers like McGuigan aren't the only ones feeling the excitement.
That's something the marketing people at Charlottetown Driving Park at Red Shores want people to know in their ad campaign.
It's everyone from the owners to the farmers who feed the horses and stablehands who clean the stalls.
Lee Drake, manager of racing for Red Shores, says it takes 216 support staff to keep racing on track at the park, in addition to the blacksmiths and veterinarians who work regularly with the horses.
There's also fans who pay to watch and, if they're lucky, win.
"We really have to tell our story, that one race horse really does touch many, many Islanders and many different forms of employment and helps the economy," he said.
"We've seen great growth over the last couple of years, record-breaking sales, more people getting involved in the ownership side of the business … it's a big circle of economic impact here on Prince Edward Island."
Red Shores is operated by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, which is jointly owned by the four Atlantic Provinces. Each province has lottery and gaming legislation in place.
P.E.I. is represented by the Prince Edward Island Lotteries Commission. Its annual report shows Red Shores had revenues of more than $22 million in 2023.
From the funds ALC generated in 2023, $4,371,000 was used to assist the P.E.I. Harness Racing Industry Association in growing the industry and making it more sustainable, according to the annual report.
The commission also supports the industry in the form of grants related to sales taxes due from pari-mutuel wagering in the amount of $420,172.
A long-serving United Church minister is preparing to leave his pulpit, adding pressure at a time when filling vacancies has become increasingly difficult.
Garrett Hawkins is on the cusp of making it to the big leagues. The pitcher from Biggar, Sask., has been added to the San Diego Padres 40-man roster.
Charlottetown Police and Fire Services are asking residents to avoid areas around Green Street due to a structure fire on Sunday morning.
Despite being born on a Christmas tree farm in Ohio, he wasn't really a fan of the holiday season.
A Hamilton hospital network is taking a closer look at how psychedelics might be useful in medicine.
Most people would prefer to spend the Christmas holiday weekend in warmth and comfort — but a Philadelphia man is going to spend it trudging 120 kilometres in the cold across Windsor-Essex.
Long before the first Calgary Stampede, the city attracted a different kind of cowboy.
After waiting four years to get his son the support the family says he needs to navigate school with learning challenges, a father from London, Ont. is fighting to make equitable healthcare and education a fundamental right.
Waterloo region and Guelph are under two yellow weather alerts warning of freezing rain changing to heavy rainfall Sunday, Environment Canada says.
A survey recently conducted on Prince Edward Island turned up a type of freshwater snail that experts say has never before been identified in the Maritimes.
A downtown Toronto long-term care home is rebuilding with a new design that considers lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, going beyond the province’s standards — but some say those standards are out of date.
It’s another wet and stormy day for much of Newfoundland and Labrador.
It’s been years since the tiny but aggressive European green crab made its way over to the Magdalen Islands, and some researchers in Quebec are warning it could be headed for the Gaspé next.