I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me to speak to you today with respect to private member's bill C-355.
I'm the president and chair of Racetracks of Canada. We're an industry association that represents the 30 racetracks across this country, including standardbred, thoroughbred and a one-quarter horse track in Ajax. Our mandate is to further the interests of the horse-racing industry and advocate for racetrack operations across Canada.
Canada's horse-racing industry represents $5.7 billion in annual GDP, employs over 47,000 people and has over 45,000 active horses. We unequivocally support Bill C-355. Racetracks absolutely do not condone the slaughter of horses. In fact, each track has programs in place to prevent this procedure and practice with respect to racehorses.
Having said that, we want to ensure there's no impact caused by Bill C-355 with respect to the ability to transport horses into and out of the country for racing purposes. It may be as simple as a sentence in the bill that exempts either horses being transported for sport or horses being transported for horse-racing purposes.
I'm happy to answer any questions, and I thank you again for your time today.