Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to be unoriginal in that I'm also going to ask my questions to Ms. Potter during this round of questioning.
Ms. Potter, since I only have two and a half minutes, I'm going to ask my two questions at the same time, even though the topics are different.
First of all, I would like you to give us an idea of the state of the international conventions sector. We know that large cities like Montreal are struggling right now, and so are their hotels, among others. Montreal was the main destination in the Americas for international conventions. In the tourism industry, have these conventions resumed? What is the situation and what specific measures could the government deploy to better support this industry in Canada?
My second question is about the seasonal and cyclical nature of many jobs in the tourism industry. This is perhaps more the case in the regions. The government had special employment insurance measures in place during the pandemic. It has now removed them, causing a return to the old EI system, and almost doubling the number of hours needed to qualify for benefits. Are tourism businesses in the regions complaining about the situation and the fact that they can no longer retain workers with seasonal jobs?