Evidence of meeting #8 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael Villeneuve  Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nurses Association
Nick Saul  President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Food Centres Canada
Shaun Thorson  Chief Executive Officer, Skills Canada
Patrick Bateman  Interim President, WaterPower Canada
Sasha McNicoll  Senior Specialist, Policy, Community Food Centres Canada
Ron Lemaire  President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association
Martin Roy  Chief Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada
Kathleen Sullivan  Chief Executive Officer, Food and Beverage Canada
Charles C. Smith  Spokesperson, Canadian Arts Coalition

4:55 p.m.

Interim President, WaterPower Canada

Patrick Bateman

Yes, for sure. Thank you, Mr. Falk, for your kind words.

With respect to the limited time you have here, I'll undertake to follow up that question with a written response, because the answer is probably much longer than the time you have today.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Fair enough. I think I'm out of time.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you for your offer, Mr. Bateman, and we look forward to that somewhat detailed response.

For the last five minutes of this panel, we will turn to Mr. Fraser and Mr. McLeod, who are splitting the time.

Mr. Fraser is first.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Thank you very much. I will start with Mr. Saul.

For what it's worth, to me it is unconscionable that in a nation as wealthy as Canada we still have questions about our neighbours being able to afford food.

You have quite articulately pointed out that food won't solve hunger, but that income will. You cited the Canada child benefit as one example of a visible and meaningful reduction in food insecurity when we simply got money to people who didn't have it before.

For what it's worth, to pick up where Mr. Falk left off, I'm hearing from food banks in my community that when CERB landed on people's kitchen tables, they didn't go to food banks as often as they did before the pandemic. This indicates the magnitude of the problem to me.

You made a couple of specific suggestions, but I'm thinking more broadly. Can you comment on the importance of finding people who don't have money and who might be going through the demonizing process of applying for social assistance where their life choices are judged.... When people are given money, in your experience, do they spend it on things like food and housing and basic needs, or do they fall into the tired old trope of people who spend it on vices, whether it's drugs or alcohol?

The answer is clear as day in my community: People spend money on what they need.

4:55 p.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Food Centres Canada

Nick Saul

I'm going to echo what you're saying. Poverty is not about a lifestyle choice or a character flaw or poor budgeting; it's about low wages. It's about inadequate social supports. People want to work. People want to contribute. People have things they want to get done in their lives. They want to make sure their kids are safe and healthy and move well.

It's very clear that if you support people, they contribute. They keep those dollars in the economy and they keep the economy going.

We probably put out about $10 million in grocery gift cards so that people had that income to keep the economy going. When those grocery cards disappear, but they have income, it keeps the economy going.

We are signatories to an International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights around the right to food. It is our duty to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food. It is unconscionable to me that four and a half million of our fellow citizens, about 12% to 14%—

Look, if you look at that number, you see that if you're white, it's about 11%; if you're a new immigrant, it's about 17%; if you're black, it's 30%; if you're indigenous, it's about 30%. If you go north to Nunavut, it's over 50% of people who are food insecure.

We have a lot of work to do on this issue. I want to be really clear and underline this: It is not about charity. It's ensuring that people have good jobs that aren't precarious, so that they have good incomes and they can go home to a full fridge, not an empty fridge. The kinds of recommendations we're making here are about putting income in people's pockets, and then they spend it in their communities.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that's my time.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you. Yes, your time is up.

We will go to the north now. Mr. McLeod will wrap it up.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question to Skills Canada.

Your first recommendation addresses the promotion of skills development for indigenous people. We saw in yesterday's statement by Minister Freeland a commitment of $144.2 million in the next fiscal year towards the ISET, the indigenous skills and employment training program. Would you consider this a good start towards meeting your recommendations, and where would you like to see the government go from here?

4:55 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, Skills Canada

Shaun Thorson

Yes. It's absolutely great to see that direction and that announcement. It definitely supports what we're talking about. As I mentioned earlier, we really want to put tools and materials in the hands of youth or indigenous youth so that they have the best understanding possible about the career options in skilled trades.

Definitely we support the announcement from yesterday.

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you.

We will have to end it there. I hope within a couple of weeks we can get back to our hour-and-a-half schedule. This is pretty fast and rapid.

To the witnesses, thank you very much for your presentations and submissions, and thank you for appearing as a witness today. I know it was on fairly short notice for some. If there is something you think you have missed, drop the clerk a note. Mr. Bateman, I believe you are going to provide a little further information as well.

Thank you for your presentations again, and we wish you well. Stay healthy.

With that, I will suspend for the next panel.

The meeting is suspended.

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

We shall reconvene.

I'd like to welcome the second panel to the finance committee for our continuing hearings on pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2020-21 budget.

I'll not go through all the preliminaries, because we're going to be very tight on time. I would say to the Conservatives that you wanted the second panel to be the same as the first in terms of questioners. Because we're only going to get two people on or you can split your time, you can think about if you want to change that and just let me or the clerk know.

First up on questions will be Mr. Kelly, followed by Ms. Koutrakis.

We'll start with our witnesses. From the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, we have Mr. Lemaire, president. You have five minutes.

5:05 p.m.

Ron Lemaire President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association

Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee.

On behalf of the Canadian fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain, I welcome the opportunity to share our recommendations for budget 2020-21.

Since the start of the pandemic, the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain has seen massive shifts in our markets, changing retail sales patterns, the rise of e-commerce and major disturbances in food service. We recognize there will be winners and losers as we emerge from 2020.

Today my comments will focus on the need for a financial protection mechanism for produce sellers in Canada, which is a tool that has long been a priority for our sector and has only been intensified by the COVID-19 environment. Other programs and tools that also require consideration include the swift deployment of the universal broadband fund and other critical infrastructure; targeted tax credits for essential services to support required changes in COVID business practices, including the purchase of new equipment and PPE; and more effective programs to support our domestic food supply as an essential sector and to bolster food security in Canada.

Our recommendations can be found in our submitted brief. More information is in our comprehensive report, which outlines 24 recommendations for government action to support our sector in COVID recovery.

We have an immediate need for a Canadian limited statutory deemed trust to effectively protect produce sellers during buyer bankruptcy in Canada. This is at no cost to the government and would provide an avenue to reinstatement of protection in the U.S. for our exporters.

Growing, harvesting, packing and selling fruit and vegetables comes with a number of risks. COVID has only created greater challenges, as overhead and capital costs continue to rise, while returns are delayed until the product is sold and payment is collected down the supply chain, usually long after the farmer or produce seller has shipped their product.

We know bankruptcies are coming. Federal support, loans and credit have created a false sense of security. Economists have already coined the term "zombie companies". These companies are leveraging federal programs or tapping banks for more credit. Over the next two years, the pandemic will drive Canadian produce companies into bankruptcy. We anticipate company failures, especially among hard-hit food service businesses. These closures will be felt by urban Canadians, who will miss their favourite restaurant, but they will be felt the hardest in rural Canada, where farmers will be forced off the family farm.

In the case of an insolvent buyer, the current super-priority provision for farmers fails to effectively protect our sector, as the terms of payment for fresh produce sales regularly extend beyond the 15 days between delivery and buyer bankruptcy as prescribed in the act. Sellers of fresh produce are rarely able to recover their product, as other commodities are most often able to do under the BIA.

Canadian fruit and vegetable farmers have already begun to identify a growing concern related to their accounts receivable and delays in payment due to COVID. Compared to the same period in 2019, the industry is seeing 25% or more of their accounts overdue. For some, this equals over half of their estimated annual income. These delays put an increased burden and strain on the sector and are clear indicators of financial turbulence and potential bankruptcies down the line. Our lack of financial protection for produce sellers also means we can no longer access protection tools in the U.S. without incurring significant cost. For Canadians to file complaints in the U.S., we now must post a bond twice the value of the claim.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are already being felt south of the border. Over the first three quarters of this year, the value of complaints filed under the U.S. Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act for non-payment has risen by 52% in 2020 compared to 2019, and this is expected to rise even further in Q4.

We urge the government to implement a Canadian limited statutory deemed trust to effectively protect produce sellers during bankruptcy in Canada. It would be fitting for a financial protection mechanism to be included in the budget implementation act, as it would support one of our critical sectors and strengthen our own food sovereignty and security. This no-cost tool has been supported by this committee and the AGRI committee twice, most recently in recommendation 15 from its report of November 2020 on enhancing business risk management. More importantly, the tool would protect sellers domestically, remove complications in cross-border trade in the U.S. and reduce potential costs imposed on Canadian consumers.

In closing, thank you to the members for the opportunity to share our comments today. I will be happy to answer questions.

5:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you very much, Mr. Lemaire.

We'll now turn to Festivals and Major Events Canada and Mr. Roy, chief executive officer.

Go ahead, Mr. Roy.

5:10 p.m.

Martin Roy Chief Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada

Good afternoon.

Festivals and Major Events Canada, also known as FAME, and the Regroupement des événements majeurs internationaux, or RÉMI, represent over 500 festivals and events across the country. Together, the coalition has a direct and affiliated membership active in the tourism and culture sector, which is responsible for generating over $1 billion in revenue a year. That attests to our members' significant contribution to the country's GDP.

These associations have joined the coalition of the hardest-hit businesses and are calling for an increase of the Canada emergency wage subsidy for the category of businesses most affected by the pandemic, as well as greater support for fixed costs and better access to liquidity.

FAME and RÉMI welcomed a number of the measures announced yesterday, particularly the enhanced wage subsidy. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many members from all parties who supported us, as well as the government. I will, of course, share a few of our reservations and talk about what still needs to be done, but overall, we find the measures encouraging. The measures announced yesterday are a step in the right direction, and I want to make that clear.

It is important to understand that the emergency wage subsidy needs to provide considerable flexibility while taking into account the hyperseasonal nature of our business. Asking an event operator to compare their summer revenue to their January revenue would be pointless. When it comes to liquidity, we still believe the government needs to intervene financially through a fund to reduce the deficits of cultural organizations, including festivals and events. That financial support cannot be limited to loans; it must also be subsidy-based.

The majority of festivals and events are non-profit organizations, with no loss provisions or capitalization. According to a survey, FAME estimates that festivals and events currently have a combined deficit of at least $150 million. Why? Because, in the six months before the pandemic, event organizers made the usual expenditures in anticipation of the 2020 installments of their events, but were prevented from generating any revenue during the three to 10 days of the event or festival, as they normally would have.

We had called on the government to immediately renew investments in the two main programs that support festivals and events. The investments were made in 2019, but only for a period of two years. Thankfully, the government renewed that funding yesterday. My only concern is that the funding is yet again limited to one year. At some point, we will need predictable funding to operate. It's incredibly challenging for event and festival operators to cope when the government reduces funding to later cancel it outright. Ideally, agreements would cover multiple years.

Until 2018, approximately $31.5 million of the $50 million in funding delivered through the two main programs for presenters was divvied up among more than 1,050 festivals. That figure jumped to around $42.5 million in 2019-20. The government provided an additional $10 million or so in 2020, in response to the pandemic, bringing the government's spending on festivals and events to more than $50 million. In 2021, the investment will once again total at least $42.5 million, but the fear that it will drop back down to $31.5 million in 2022 looms. That worries us.

Furthermore, we recommended that the government establish a transition fund for green digital events, and in yesterday's economic statement, the government set out funding to support the planning and presentation of COVID-19-safe shows and events delivered both live and digitally. Once the details are released, we will know whether that funding aligns with our recommendation.

As far as the recovery goes—which, I know, is what the committee is keen to hear about as part of its pre-budget consultations—we urge the government to set up a program modelled on the former marquee tourism events program, which the Conservatives introduced after the 2008 crisis. The program would require a $225-million investment over three years. No doubt that is what the Minister of Canadian Heritage was referring to when he appeared on the television show Tout le monde en parle and said that he was having discussions with the Minister of Economic Development. The marquee tourism events program was administered by Industry Canada.

We are proposing that the new iteration of the program be managed by Canada's regional development agencies. In yesterday's economic statement, the government recognized the importance of providing events and festivals with unique support. In our view, such a program would go a long way towards providing the support the sector needs. The new program would deliver stimulus while attracting more tourists through festivals and events. Initially, the program would support domestic tourism, but would help draw international tourists when the situation allows.

A quarter of festival goer dollars are spent on hotels and accommodations, and one-third on restaurants. By helping festivals and events as part of the economic recovery, the government would be providing indirect support to restaurants and hotels, which have been hard-hit by the crisis, as well as transportation operators, artists and performers.

The government needs to act swiftly so the sector can keep its teams in place. The sector must prepare now for festivals and events in 2022.

Thank you.

We recommend moving quickly to keep the teams we have in place. To put on festivals and events in 2022, we have to start getting ready now. Thank you.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you very much, Mr. Roy.

We turn now to Food and Beverage Canada and Kathleen Sullivan, CEO.

Ms. Sullivan, the floor is yours.

December 1st, 2020 / 5:15 p.m.

Kathleen Sullivan Chief Executive Officer, Food and Beverage Canada

Thank you and good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Sullivan, and I'm CEO of Food and Beverage Canada, an association representing Canada's food and beverage manufacturers.

Food and beverage is the largest manufacturing sector in this country. It includes 7,000 companies. They employ 290,000 Canadians and generate close to $120 billion in annual revenue.

Unfortunately, it is also a sector that is often overlooked. Most of our food does not go straight from the farm to the grocery store. Instead, agriculture products are shipped to Canadian food plants, plants that turn wheat into flour and then bread, turn cow's milk into yogourt and cheese, and turn potatoes into perogies.

Food manufacturing is a critical component of Canada's domestic food supply. Our 7,000 companies buy over half of Canada's agriculture output, add value to crops and livestock production and, most importantly, ensure that Canada maintains its food sovereignty.

We should all be very concerned that with COVID-19, Canada's food system has experienced a series of shocks: the collapse of food service, the disruption of supply chains, the impact of border closures, the additional costs to protect our workers and, most recently, the fees imposed by some of Canada's largest grocery retailers. These shocks have destabilized not just my sector but the entire food system.

In 2018, Dominic Barton and the agri-food economic strategy table tapped agri-food to drive economic growth in this country. To achieve this, we will need to address some fundamental issues. Today I'll focus on three—resolving agri-food's labour problems, rebalancing relationships across the supply chain, and ensuring that our front-line food workers are recognized as a priority and continue to be protected throughout COVID-19.

With respect to labour, even before COVID-19, labour was the biggest issue and the most limiting factor facing our entire agri-food sector. We simply do not have enough people for the jobs we have, and we do not have the right people with the right skills. On any given day, this, Canada's largest manufacturing sector, is short 10% of its workforce. By 2025, we expect to be short 65,000 workers.

This is a missed opportunity for our economy. There is demand for Canadian products here at home and abroad, but until we address the industry's labour problems, our ability to invest and grow will remain constrained.

We are therefore encouraging the federal government to work with industry to develop a labour action plan for Canada's food and beverage manufacturing sector, and I would say for the entire agri-food sector.

The second issue is to rebalance the supply chain. Canada's grocery sector is over-concentrated. We have just five retail companies controlling 80% of Canada's grocery market. This circumstance has allowed retailers to regularly impose arbitrary transaction costs, fees, and penalties on their suppliers. Most recently, in the past few months and despite the pandemic, major retailers have announced even more new fees. This simply can't continue. Other countries have faced this challenge and have addressed it by implementing a grocery code of conduct. We, along with 33 other industry associations and producer groups, are encouraging Canada to do the same.

We are pleased that at their meeting last week, the federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers committed to striking a working group to look at this issue. We encourage the federal government to continue to prioritize this and to commit to having a code in place by the end of 2021.

Finally, I would like to talk about our front-line food workers. Even in a pandemic, Canadians need to eat. It is thanks to the efforts of our front-line food workers that Canada's food plants have continued to operate through COVID-19. This has been no easy feat. As companies, we have invested an estimated $800 million to keep our workers safe. We have also spent countless hours reinforcing with them the importance of their contribution. It is critical that governments also reinforce with our front-line food workers the essential nature of their work. As we move forward, in particular we are asking that governments consider the importance of front-line food workers in any rapid testing and vaccination programs.

Despite the measures we have put in place to mitigate risk, food plants remain congregate settings, and it is on all of us to do what we can to ensure our food workers remain healthy while they produce the food that allows us to eat.

I thank you for the opportunity to present to you today, and I look forward to your questions.

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you very much, Ms. Sullivan.

We are turning to Mr. Smith, with the Canadian Arts Coalition.

Welcome, Mr. Smith. The floor is yours.

5:20 p.m.

Charles C. Smith Spokesperson, Canadian Arts Coalition

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's an honour to be speaking with you this afternoon.

As you may know, the Canadian Arts Coalition is a body of arts organizations across the country. It is non-partisan and collaborative and is made up of major arts organizations that are either service organizations or presenting organizations, and so on.

We had a number of concerns that we presented to you because we were really concerned about the way that COVID-19 has effectively upended the day-to-day life of Canadians and those around the world. We're particularly concerned about that in the arts, which obviously have been put on hold, as we heard just a little while ago from FAME.

We are concerned about how the arts and the broader Canadian society will rebound and how we need to work together to build a truly inclusive society, one in which the arts play a prominent role, as they have during these past few months, with many Canadians turning to the arts as a way to get through their days and to enjoy the moments they have while being in isolation or whatever it may be.

We're aware at the same time of the economic benefits of the arts, culture and sports. For example, we understand that in 2016 they contributed about $1.7 billion in our economy. You've heard already from FAME about issues with hotels and restaurants, and we would underscore that, but we also think it's really important in terms of our demography—in terms of indigenous peoples, persons who are deaf or disabled and the racialized populations—and how we build our sense of Canadians in this way.

To give you a sense of the recommendations that we've brought forward, we did a survey of our members and found a number of startling things that we put into the recommendations. In the recommendations you have in front of you, which were submitted back in June, there have been some changes.

Number one is that funds need to be dedicated to enable a safe, green reopening of arts venues and to encourage the public to return to the live arts. This is a challenge that we're going to face as people feel confident about going into rooms that are sizable and have more than, let's say, five, 10, 15 or 100 people.

Second, it's really important at this point in time to address some of the systemic issues, particularly issues around systemic racism in arts funding, by providing funds to ensure enhanced interim ongoing operational and project funding for indigenous, racialized, deaf and disabled, and community-based arts organizations.

Third, we feel it's really important to extend income support programs, including EI and CEWS and to begin to consider quite seriously a universal basic income.

Also, there really is an important aspect—FAME mentioned this earlier—about investment in digital technology, as that is the way many of the arts programs that are out there right now online are being presented to the public.

We were very happy when we saw that the economic statement yesterday addressed some of the issues that we put forward in our paper. We want to congratulate the government on these steps.

It's important that increasing the maximum wage subsidy rate to 75% be extended from the end of December on to March 13 of 2021.

Also important, as we see it—and we support it—is the providing of a top-up of $500 million to regional development agencies, as FAME mentioned, and community futures networks. Those bring in tourists, as we know, and the arts are rather critical to that. We have a great advantage, given the diversity of our arts programs that bring people in from around the world to see art by indigenous people, by people of colour and so on, and also in our regions across the country. Arts are very important here.

We are very pleased to see the addition of $181.5 million in the 2021-22 budget for the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts. The safeguard that we would wish to make clear is that those funds should also be used to ensure that there is an inclusive arts ecology, and that, for us, means paying particular attention to indigenous artists, artists of colour, the deaf and disabled, and small and regional arts organizations, as well as community-based arts organizations.

We think it's very important to work across the sectors and also to work across governments as they are beginning to look at how best they can marshal their energies to support the arts to come through this and into the future. Those are the concerns we bring forward to you. We want to see how our community can be included in terms of involvement and implementation, particularly our organization in the arts and other organizations, so that we can tailor this response.

We've been pleased to see that the recommendations we made to you back in early July, I think it was, are now becoming a reality. That's because of the attention the government is paying to people who are in the field, who have their finger on the pulse and who are able to channel that information to you so you can consider it. I think the expression is you're building it as you're flying. We're on that plane with you and we want to be able to construct as you move along as well.

I think that's what I really want to say this afternoon, other than that we look forward to remaining involved with the government as it moves forward on this timely matter to ensure that the arts are essential in Canadian lives and that the arts ecology is inclusive, as I have mentioned, and that it builds the social cohesion and identity of who we are as Canadians.

Thank you.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you very much, Mr. Smith.

I neglected to thank people in the beginning for their submissions prior to the middle of August, which seems like about half a century ago, but thank you for your written submissions as well. What is in those submissions will be considered as part of the consultation.

We'll turn to a six-minute round first. We'll start with Mr. Kelly, who will be followed by Ms. Koutrakis and Mr. Fragiskatos, who will split their time, and then we'll go on to Mr. Ste-Marie.

Mr. Kelly, the floor is yours.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Thank you.

My first question is for Mr. Roy.

Many countries are planning to commence vaccinations as early as next week and plan to have, in some cases, their vaccinations completed by June. What would the impact of having vaccines out and completed to the majority of Canadians early next year have on next summer's festival industry?

5:25 p.m.

Chief Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada

Martin Roy

A vaccine would obviously change everything for us. It would probably be the key to resuming normal operations, to the extent possible. It's not all about a vaccine, though. It's also about predictability. We know vaccines are coming, but we don't know when exactly, at least not for Canada. The process of getting people vaccinated could stretch into June, but we need to make decisions about whether or not to hold events and festivals many months in advance. Basically, we need to decide in the next month or two what we are going to do in July. It is important to understand that we really need a clearer sense of the vaccination timetable so we can plan accordingly for events and festivals.

In addition to the vaccine issue is rapid testing, of course. If rapid testing were to be deployed on a large scale, we could, for instance, set up checkpoints at festival entrances not just to ensure the safety of the items being brought onto the grounds, but also to rapidly test festival goers for the virus.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Indeed, having the ability to rapidly test people would undoubtedly improve the ability to hold festivals as well.

I come from Calgary, home to one of the premier destination festivals in the country. It was heartbreaking to Calgary to lose the Stampede last year. The Stampede takes place the second week of July.

You mentioned the calendar. We've been trying to get answers from the government repeatedly about the vaccination calendar and when vaccines will start, when they'll be available and when the majority of Canadians might expect to receive a vaccination.

Would it help your industry to know when vaccinations would begin and when the majority of Canadians would be vaccinated? Would it be more helpful to have vaccines done by June or by September for the summer festival circuit?

5:30 p.m.

Chief Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada

Martin Roy

If we're going to save the summer 2021 festival and event season, a big chunk of the population would have to be vaccinated by the summer. You mentioned the Calgary Stampede, which takes place in July. That's just it. Being a northern country, we tend to hold our festivals and events between June and August. That would mean that as many people as possible would have to be vaccinated before the summer if we are going to have anything resembling a “normal” season in 2021.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Do any of your festivals and members of your association currently have access to rapid tests at the entrance to a festival? Does that exist?

5:30 p.m.

Chief Executive Director, Festivals and Major Events Canada

Martin Roy

No. We still do not have access to rapid testing, and it's a long way off. We are, however, keeping a close eye on how things are going at the Calgary airport. We are eager to see how it all turns out.

If rapid testing were to become widely available, it could be used not just at festivals and events, but also in restaurants and other recreational spaces. From what we have heard, the use of rapid testing will be limited to health care facilities for the time being. Our understanding is that rapid testing will not be available to the entertainment industry.

Conversely, the culture and entertainment industry would benefit immensely from access to rapid testing.