Madam Chair, tonight I will be directing most of my questions to the Minister of Tourism. Tourism is a huge part of the Canadian economy, and it is an even bigger part of the economy in my riding of South Okanagan—West Kootenay. In Canada in normal years we welcome 22 million people, and three million of those visitors come to the Okanagan and the Kootenay area.
A lot of those tourism businesses have really been impacted over the last two years by the COVID pandemic. One of the groups that has been hit the hardest has been independent travel advisers. These are home-based sole proprietorships, and 85% of the business owners are women. Again, women have been hit hardest by the pandemic in terms of their work and their business opportunities, much more than men.
Independent travel advisers are paid by commission under contract with travel agencies, They have a delay in pay of five to 12 months, because they only get paid when that travel actually happens. Lately, a lot of that travel just has not happened. These travel advisers were able to access CERB when it was available, but they were dropped like a hot potato recently when CERB ended. They are simply not eligible for any of the supports that are now being offered by the government, yet because of ongoing travel restrictions and delays at the border, as well as testing requirements, a lot of people just are not travelling. These businesses are really hurting. They are asking for an emergency funding program to bridge that gap until people start travelling again.
I would like to ask the minister this. What support will the government give to independent travel advisers?