Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 18th, 2011

[Helen Jean Newman]

Whale watching is very important to the area, but I want to stress that it is done with great respect. There is a code of ethics in place for all the whale watchers on the Bay of Fundy. There is a great deal of whale research being done. In fact, companies in the region and whale people were instrumental in having the shipping lanes going into the Bay of Fundy changed to protect the whales, because they found that many of the whales that were dying were doing so as a result of damage by boats.

That has led to an increase in the rare right whale. The right whale is the rare one; it was almost extinct, because it was the most highly sought-after whale. The reason was that it floated to the surface very quickly; that's why it was called the right whale. When people were out whale hunting, they were going for the right whale.

Another whale that we have in the Bay of Fundy is the humpback whale. It is one of the largest whales. It's called the clown of the sea. These are whales that love to play. If you're out whale watching in mating season with the humpbacks, it is spectacular to see them break.

Don't ask me to name the other species. There's minke; there's finback, but....

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Could you please name all the species?

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

If the Bay of Fundy wins a place in the top seven, what impact do you think there will be on local infrastructure, with the potential increase in tourism? Is the infrastructure adequate? Are you adding to it, or do you feel it's in great shape for the growth in tourism?

[Helen Jean Newman]

There are two answers to the question.

On the New Brunswick side, as I mentioned, there's certainly still lots of capacity. We have hotel rooms and whatnot with a lot of capacity. We are also investing in infrastructure in partnership with ACOA and some of our federal partners in Geopark in the Saint John area. We're working to complete the Fundy Trail, a phenomenal parkway, which you can drive as well as hike or bike or walk, along the Bay of Fundy. And this past July, a major aquarium opened in Saint Andrews, the Fundy Discovery Aquarium.

We realize there will be implications from winning this, so we certainly have our eye, within the fiscal environment we're all working in, on how to make sure that we are ready to provide the best possible experience for people who come.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

What environmental impact might you expect from an increase in tourism?

[Helen Jean Newman]

We think the environmental impact can be carefully managed by virtue of the fact that the people who go to see the seven wonders will be the right type of people. We'll have to make sure, and are making sure, that we have the regulations in place.

We'll use another New Brunswick example, and then I'll stop. The Bouctouche dunes are an incredible sight. The numbers of tourists became a bit high there, and so the officials basically limited the numbers there because they wanted to protect the piping plovers. They put programs in place so that only so many people a day were allowed. But it was handled in such a way that it didn't annoy people; they understood, because of the sensitivity of the area.

We will have and we do have those sorts of plans in place.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Twice a day 100-billion tonnes of water is moved by the tides. What potential is there for hydroelectric power?

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

It's an exciting opportunity and one that Nova Scotia has been working to develop with much excitement. We're doing a lot of research to make sure that we harness those tides, and in the most respectful way. There is significant opportunity for the province.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thanks again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Young.

You certainly referred to a diversity of whales and there were a diversity of questions, which you guys are handling very well.

Next up we have Mr. Rousseau. Now we're to have five-minute rounds.

[Jean Rousseau, NDP, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Thank you very much for your presentation.

November 11 is coming up very soon; it's in three weeks. What kinds of marketing tools do you have for the final run? Can we do something else as a responsible government, since I'm concerned with tourism, to help you?

Is there any marketing stunt for cash? My colleague talked about stars mud fighting.

Are any political leaders going to see the place?

We need something very fast, within three weeks.

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

It's a great opportunity. The timing is right. Next week, we're going to be releasing that celebrity video, and it's going to be a viral campaign. We'll be looking to everyone to share that video via their social media contacts. It's one of those very funny videos that we hope will be shareable.

We've had a full PR and marketing campaign that we're continuing to roll out as we go along. We have the CTV partnership, so we've been doing closed captioning; we have online media buys that are going on right now—in our competition's destinations, for instance, so that when you're looking for the Grand Canyon and voting for them, you'll see the Bay of Fundy there. VIA Rail is rolling out now; and our Air Canada partnership....

[Helen Jean Newman]

We have a calendar with a whole successive wave, and as Stacey said, a big focus is with the online world. Are you going to see big ads in The Globe and Mail, The Gazette in Montreal, the Calgary Herald, The Vancouver Sun? No. We wish we could, but the reality of the fiscal environment is that we're being strategic with other methods that we use.

We have something planned from a media and PR perspective for every week, but there is no big stunt, other than the celebrity video. We really think it's going to have some magic.

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

CTC is currently running a contest that covers the U.S. market for us. There's a free trip to the Bay of Fundy, if you vote for the Bay of Fundy. We're doing the same thing right now with CTV. So far I think we have 9,000 entries. Is that right?

[Helen Jean Newman]

It's 44,000.

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

It's 44,000. Correction, that's a big number. I think there are 8,000 unique entries. There are things that are happening.

We would be happy to facilitate a mud fight on Parliament Hill. I have a jar of Fundy mud that I can bring to the Hill.

[Jean Rousseau, NDP, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I'll participate in that. I'll be glad to do it.

You should focus on the waves, because there was an orange wave here a couple of months ago.

What percentage of the vote do you think we will need to win this?

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

It's difficult to know, because we don't know where we are in the standings at any given time.

We only know where we're trending. In the last trending information that was sent, the Bay of Fundy was trending upwards, but we really don't know. That's why it's so important to get as many votes as possible.

[Jean Rousseau, NDP, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Rousseau.

Mr. Gill.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses, first of all, for taking the time to be here and provide this very important information. I think it's a very proud moment for all Canadians. You're doing an amazing job of promoting Canada on the world stage.

I liked your presentation.

One of the things I'd like to ask is this. You mentioned promoting this in the mainstream media, as in major corporations and others. Has any effort been made with the ethnic media? Politicians, especially the ones who come from some of the major cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, will tell you about the importance of ethnic media.

I will not hesitate to admit that since I joined the committee and came to Ottawa, this is the first time I've heard about this initiative. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

It's a really good question. I think a lot of our time was first spent on getting our own region really excited about the campaign and to reach out to a larger audience. Our focus was then on national media exposure so that we could reach the most people in Canada.

From my marketing and communication perspective, I know that in reaching an audience like Toronto, it's very important to utilize those channels. As for your point, reaching out to those channels is something that we should look at as we count down the 23 days. I thank you for that suggestion.

[Helen Jean Newman]

I also think it's a bit hard too, because the ethnic media is certainly receiving the information.

[Stacey Jones-Oxner]

Absolutely.