Justice committee  I'm not familiar exactly with the discussions with agriculture. I think the CPMA does a great job of regulating the industry. In terms of the support, we work extremely closely with the AGCO on a regulatory basis. In terms of protecting this industry, if our proposal to merge these two bills relative to horse racing occurs, I think there's an opportunity for working with the provincial regulators in each jurisdiction to support racing.

Justice committee  In particular, we've talked about just the ways in which we will potentially be able to integrate racing. One thing Woodbine Entertainment does is that we have the only digital footprint across the country. We work with every racetrack in the country with our online wagering and we are hoping to work with the sports betting operators as they come into Canada.

Justice committee  Bill, I'll go ahead hesitatingly. You may want to add to it. Listen, there's no question that it is a very labour-intensive industry. On the thoroughbred side when we run live racing at Woodbine, studies show that there are approximately 2.1 persons employed per horse. We expect to have 2,000 horses on the Woodbine backstretch within a month or so.

Justice committee  I'll take that, although I'm sure we're all capable of addressing it.

Justice committee  We've suffered in a couple of major ways during the pandemic. On one, I'll speak about Ontario. Woodbine Entertainment generates approximately 95% of the wagering revenue in the province. There are 15 racetracks in the province, and most of the wagering is on the Woodbine Entertainment product, both harness racing and thoroughbred flat racing.

Justice committee  Thank you. Listen, I think that by protecting it as you suggest what it will require with these behemoth sports betting operators—most of whom, as we know, are foreign, and the names are familiar to us—is understanding their backgrounds. Most of those companies are in the United Kingdom.

Justice committee  Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the committee and other attendees. I'm Jim Lawson, the CEO of Woodbine Entertainment Group. My colleague Christina Litz and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this morning. Woodbine Entertainment is the largest racetrack operator in Canada.

Justice committee  Thank you. Currently the only backbone for the horse industry's business is parimutuel wagering. The industry operates the only legal single-event sports betting in Canada today, and it allows racetracks to earn income from legal wagers that are used to cover the substantial costs to produce our content.