Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
It was unfortunate that I didn't get to speak in the first round, because I would have loved to speak to Chris D. Lewis. I'm Chris B. Lewis. Actually, when I was vetted, Madam Chair, just for the record, they asked me if I was a commissioner. There's an OPP boat in my riding named after him, so everybody thought after I was elected that it was named after me. It wasn't, just for the record. Now it's on the record, and the slate is clear.
Madam Chair, you know me to be a very upbeat person, I believe. Today, I'm not so upbeat because just this past week we lost 200 more jobs. One factory and 200 more jobs were lost in Windsor-Essex. I always bring my hat back to say, “Okay, what are we going to do? How can we all work together and figure out a way around this to push it forward?”
First and foremost, to all the witnesses, thank you so very much. I want you to know that when I speak to you about this I'm speaking both because I'm an owner of two horses—although for barrel racing so nothing to do with the betting—and because my daughter and my wife spend so much time on their horses. My daughter wants to be a veterinarian. So much of what you've been speaking of hits home beyond belief. They're actually right behind me, but I won't show them there.
I really want the witnesses to understand that I know exactly what you're talking about with regard to how much it costs and those types of things.
For once, Madam Chair, I'm going to greedy. I'm going to say that because we are losing so many jobs to the United States and to Mexico, and I'm just seeing hemorrhaging and bleeding beyond belief locally, that this conversation should be much larger than the horse-racing industry. It really has to be focused on how we ensure a secure path forward for all Canadians, be it the horse-racing industry or the single sports betting industry. I know, Madam Chair, that's what we're talking about today, but in my mind this is so much larger than that right now because, darn it, people deserve the very best.
I have a couple of questions. I'm sorry, but I'm very passionate today, as you can probably tell.
To Madam Thomassin, you mentioned $5.6 billion to the industry and $3 million back to the government. If this were to go forward—and I really hope it does, by the way—do you have any idea how much more revenue to the government this would produce and/or how much more help it would be for the horse-racing industry?