Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

I'll start with my opening remarks. I know that Ms. Dzerowicz will make her way in by the time we start hearing from our witnesses.

I call this meeting to order. Welcome to meeting number 60 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. Pursuant to Standing Order 83.1 and the motion adopted on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, the committee is meeting to discuss the pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2023 budget.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

I'd like to make a few comments for the benefit of the witnesses and the members. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating via video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike. Please mute your mike when you are not speaking. For interpretation, for those on Zoom, you have the choice at the bottom of your screen of English, French, or floor. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

I remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair. For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses for this first meeting on pre-budget consultations in advance of budget 2023. From the Canadian Health Coalition, we have Steven Staples, national director of policy and advocacy. From the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, we have Dennis Darby, president and chief executive officer. From the Community Radio Fund of Canada, we have Alex Freedman, executive director. From Electric Mobility Canada, we have Daniel Breton, president and chief executive officer. From the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, we have Beth Potter, president and chief executive officer. From Société d'aide au développement des collectivités et Centre d'aide aux entreprises, we have Pascal Harvey, general manager.

Welcome to all of our witnesses. We will be hearing opening remarks from each of the witnesses for up to five minutes.

We will start with Mr. Staples from the Canadian Health Coalition for five minutes, please.

[Steven Staples, National Director of Policy and Advocacy, Canadian Health Coalition]

Thank you, Chairperson and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

My name is Steven Staples. I am the national director of policy and advocacy for the Canadian Health Coalition.

The Canadian Health Coalition was founded in 1979 to defend and expand public medicare in Canada. We are comprised of frontline health care workers, unions, community groups and experts. I am delighted to speak to you on the topic of the pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2023 federal budget. The aspect that we would like to address today is public health care spending.

Today we would like to make six recommendations to the government through this committee.

One, we need to pass Bill C‑31, which includes the dental benefit, and transform the benefit into a robust program for everyone in Canada with universal coverage as soon as possible.

Two, we need to move forward with the Canada pharmacare act by 2023 to provide free coverage for prescribed medicines, funded by $3.5 billion for essential medicines, as recommended by the 2019 government-appointed Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, led by Dr. Eric Hoskins.

Three, we need to increase investments to end the health care human resources crisis, beginning by delivering on the governing party's 2021 election promises to provide $3.2 billion to the provinces and territories for the hiring of 7,500 family doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. In addition, as promised, we need to train up to 50,000 new personal support workers and fund their guaranteed minimum wage of at least $25 per hour.

Four, we need to introduce and pass the safe long-term care act by 2025, which must enforce national standards as well as ensuring patients receive at least four hours of direct care. Additionally, we need to provide funding to promote publicly owned non-profit long-term care facilities while phasing out for-profit investors from the long-term care sector.

Five, we need to work with the provinces and territories to increase federal funding through the Canada health transfer that is accountable while improving outcomes for people in Canada through new public health care programs such as dental care and pharmacare.

Six, we need to enforce the five principles and the conditions of the Canada Health Act to ensure Canadians are not faced with extra billing, user fees and diminished accessibility to health care as some provinces move forward to for-profit care providers, beginning with funding more robust monitoring and sanctioning capacity by the strategic health care policy branch.

That's what we need to do in this budget.

The Canadian Health Coalition has gone on record supporting the terms of the confidence and supply agreement announced by the leaders of the governing Liberals and the NDP in March 2022. The agreement contains four health care commitments by the Prime Minister: public dental care, national universal pharmacare, frontline health care investments and safe long-term care. In return, the government achieves stability through confidence votes with the support of the NDP.

Our chairperson, Pauline Worsfold, who is a frontline nurse in an Edmonton hospital, said, “This agreement has the potential to deliver significant improvements in public health care for patients, families, and frontline workers.” Pollsters tell us that it has widespread public support, with close to six in 10 Canadians being comfortable or somewhat comfortable with the agreement between the Liberals and the NDP.

Already we are seeing the benefits of parliamentary co-operation with Bill C‑31 and the dental benefit act. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadian children will benefit from the initial targeted investment, and we are encouraged by Minister of Health Duclos' comments that this is an interim measure and that the program will be expanded in the coming years.

We support the Canada Health Act and its principle of universality, and we would like to see public dental care be available for all families, not just those that pass a means test.

I'll reserve the rest of my comments for the discussion. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Staples and the Canadian Health Coalition.

Now we will hear from the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Mr. Dennis Darby, for up to five minutes please.

[Dennis Darby, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon.

It's my pleasure to be here on behalf of Canada's 90,000 manufacturers and exporters and our association's 2,500 direct member companies to discuss what we think we need in budget 2023.

To set the stage, manufacturing represents about 10% of Canada's GDP. It produces two-thirds of Canada's value-added exports and employs just over 1.7 million people in good-paying jobs across the country. Since the very beginning of Canada, manufacturing has been the backbone of the Canadian economy, and it certainly drives our prosperity.

We must admit, however, that our industry is grappling with some of the hardest challenges it has ever faced. Chronic labour shortages, ongoing supply chain disruptions, massive looming transitional investments to get to net zero, and trade uncertainty all threaten the very existence of manufacturing and exporting Canada.

Now our members tell us, and our research confirms, that if we do not act now to resolve these challenges, we risk being shut out of the global advanced manufacturing transition that's happening. The pandemic reminded us how vitally important it is to have a strong domestic manufacturing industry, so I want to lay out how we think we should get there.

Number one is that Canada really must implement a national industrial strategy. This is needed to coordinate our efforts and initiatives into one overarching plan. We believe the goal of a national industrial strategy should be to double Canada's take of the OECD manufacturing investment from where it is right now at about 1% relative to our OECD countries to 2%. We call it the 2% challenge. It would bring billions of dollars of investment, moving us from about $25 billion a year—we're one of the laggards in the OECD—to on par, to about $50 billion a year.

Over the years, the government has commissioned experts to draft industrial strategies. Monique Leroux's work is the latest in this line, and that report has our full support. Budget 2023 should really move towards finally implementing that.

Number two is that we need to reduce labour shortages. Pandemic immigration backlogs must be addressed to encourage our government to dedicate all the resources required to do that. We must open up an introduction of a trusted employer stream for the temporary foreign worker program. In time, we need to aggressively—really aggressively—increase our intake targets to about 500,000 a year in the economic stream alone. On the other side of the coin, we have to help employers directly with training and upskilling and by providing them with money through the taxation system. The bottom line is that we need more workers, and we need funds to train them.

Number three is supply chain disruptions. The government's role is that it needs to increase and speed up investments in critical transportation and trade infrastructure. The supply chain task force will be issuing its report soon. We support their work, and we urge swift adoption of their recommendations.

Number four is that we really need to grow business investment and exports. Manufacturers need the federal government to increase incentives for innovation and for investment in the adoption of new technology. We must eliminate gaps in our incentive programs relative to our biggest trading partner, the U.S., specifically America's new Inflation Reduction Act. Extending the accelerated investment incentive is also key to helping manufacturers invest in the growth. With regard to boosting exports, governments should really help by expanding the trade accelerator program and should ensure that our trade import monitoring systems are world-class. Eliminating excessive export permit processing delays, which we've seen in the last few years, is one simple way to achieve that level of excellence.

Number five—and this is a biggie—is that we need to help manufacturers transition to net zero. The government should expand programs like the net-zero accelerator fund. We also need to specifically target SMEs, small and medium-sized companies, and help them with the net transitions by creating the SME net transition strategy. We have a net-zero strategy, and we would be happy to talk about this with the committee in more detail at a future time.

At the end of the day, the CME believes strongly that by addressing these five key areas with targeted investments and support for manufacturers we can ensure that our sector, and by extension all of Canada, prospers for decades to come.

Thank you. I'll wait for any questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Darby and the CME.

We will now hear from Electric Mobility Canada. We have Daniel Breton, who's in person in the room, I understand.

Okay, Daniel, you have up to five minutes, please.

[Daniel Breton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Electric Mobility Canada]

Good afternoon.

Thank you for welcoming me today.

Electric Mobility Canada is a national industry association dedicated exclusively to the advancement of electric mobility as a means to combat climate change and air pollution while supporting the Canadian economy.

Electric Mobility Canada has more than 175 members, including electricity providers, manufacturers of light, medium, heavy and off-road vehicles, infrastructure providers, utilities, technology companies, mining companies, research centres, government departments, cities, universities, fleet managers, unions, environmental NGOs and many others.

There are three main reasons to support electric mobility.

According to a 2021 Health Canada report, the economic impact of air pollution is estimated at approximately $120 billion a year, which is roughly 6% of the national gross domestic product. Air pollution causes approximately 15,300 deaths per year, which is eight times the death toll of car accidents. A significant portion of that comes from transportation.

According to a 2019 report from the International Energy Agency, Canada's light-duty vehicle fleet is the worst performer in the world in terms of GHG emissions and fuel consumption per kilometre driven. They are also the largest and second-heaviest in the world.

According to a 2019 report from Clean Energy Canada there will be approximately 560,000 clean jobs by 2030 in Canada, with almost 50% in clean transportation.

According to a 2020 report from EMC, from us, if Canada adopts a strong electric mobility strategy inspired by those of California, B.C. and Quebec, we can anticipate at least $200 billion in sales revenue between now and 2030.

Since 2019, the Canadian government has accelerated investment in the EV industry in order to create high-paying, sustainable jobs for Canadians while decarbonizing its economy. Just in the past six months, federal and provincial governments have secured more than $15 billion in investments and tens of thousands of jobs. That's great news, because all this work will most probably end up saving the automotive sector in Canada. Yet, more work needs to be done.

According to an Ernst & Young report published earlier this year, while Canada's been increasing its support for the transition to EVs, other countries are moving faster. This means that Canada dropped from eighth place last year to 13th place in this year's EY report.

According to an RBC report published just a few days ago, “in Canada, we've lagged since 2014, when spending on clean technologies fell sharply. Though we've made up some ground in the last few years”—as I mentioned—“the pace of spending is still about half that of other major economies. China leads the pack, spending about 1.5% of GDP on green investment each year. In some key industries, it's the undisputed global leader.”

The U.S., Australia and Japan are further behind, but a major shift is coming south of the border. The recently passed U.S. Inflation Reduction Act will pump $370 billion into clean investment and leverage additional money from the private sector.

Canada will need to adjust its policies or risk falling even further behind major economies. After a decade of investment we're still not spending enough on clean electricity, which needs about a $200-billion investment by 2035 to meet current green grid goals, and more thereafter to accommodate rapid growth in electricity demand.

That said, we're much closer to spending enough on green electricity than any other sector. Investment there needs to nearly double. Spending on EVs will need to grow from about $4 billion to nearly $22 billion annually, while spending on heat pumps to decarbonize buildings will need to grow more than eight times the current level.

Canada has the natural resources, the skilled workforce, the universities, the research centres, and now the will. That's why Electric Mobility Canada supports accelerated investment in the electric vehicle industry. This will help Canada realize its full potential as a world leader in this growing sector.

We recognize the impressive efforts that the federal government has recently undertaken to make Canada a global player, including many new programs and projects announced to support the electrification of vehicles in this country.

To help Canada get to the top, Electric Mobility Canada has the following recommendations for the 2023 federal budget. These recommendations are still in draft form because the deadline is October 8. Today we are providing you with the first draft, and we will provide you with the final recommendations on October 8.

Our recommendations focus on five main and interrelated pillars: rebates and incentives, charging infrastructure deployment, regulation, supply chain and government leadership.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Clerk, was Monsieur Breton muted?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Alexandre Roger]

No, he's just done his speech.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

He has finished. Okay.

Thank you very much, Monsieur Breton for your excellent opening remarks.

We'll now hear from the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. We have Ms. Beth Potter with us.

[Beth Potter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair and Committee members, I would like to thank you for inviting me today.

My name is Beth Potter and I am the President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

Before my remarks, I acknowledge that we are gathered here today on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.

TIAC is the national advocate for tourism in Canada. On behalf of thousands of tourism businesses, we promote policies, programs and other initiatives that foster the sector's growth.

Tourism matters. It enables socio-economic development, job creation and poverty reduction. This drives prosperity and provides unique opportunities to women, minorities and young people. The benefits spread far beyond direct GDP contributions and employment. The indirect gains extend through the entire travel ecosystem and supply chains to other sectors.

Despite some improvement over the last few months, tourism businesses incurred a heavy debt load to get through COVID and continue to struggle financially. They face barriers to attracting investment and have considerable challenges attracting and retaining the necessary workforce to run their operations. Disruptions in supply chains, inflation at a 40-year high and rising interest rates are now also impacting our businesses.

Our recent submission to Minister Boissonnault outlined key priorities to help tourism reach its full potential. We recommended key goals to be achieved by 2030. These relate to tourism spending, dispersion, workforce, international overnight visitors and our global competitive position. We have four pillars that will help to achieve those goals.

The first one is to attract and retain a sustainable tourism workforce. The recovery and growth of tourism largely hinges on addressing the significant labour shortages that exist. Tourism HR Canada also submitted a comprehensive proposal to Minister Boissonnault and recommended targeted recruitment campaigns and a specific indigenous workforce strategy.

In the areas of training and skills development, it recommended increasing the number of high school programs, modernizing post-secondary programs, launching comprehension national tourism job bridging programs as well as investing in skills development and training. TIAC supports these recommendations and urges the government to act on them. THRC is a unique organization and is a centre of excellence and expertise in this area. As such, we recommend that the government contribute ongoing resources to them to enable them to carry out this important role.

Our second pillar involves improving access for visitors to and within Canada. Enabling and facilitating the movement of travellers to and within Canada is critical to tourism success. To improve pre-border screening wait times and congestion at airports, additional resources should be allocated to greater adoption of biometrics and the use of other digital tools such as e-gates.

Additional resources should be allocated to expand the trusted traveller pilot program nationwide. The Canada electronic travel authorization program could be enhanced and used to harmonize and streamline a number of Canadian-recognized global security agreements. The government could also take a leadership role and assist in redeveloping routes to connect Canada via motorcoach.

Our third pillar focuses on developing and promoting tourism assets. Significant resources are needed to ensure that Canada has world-class tourism assets and to promote them for travellers to discover and experience. Estimates undertaken by industry experts suggest that it would take billions of dollars in new capital to fully achieve our asset goals. Support for the creation and refurbishment of tourism assets should entail a suite of financial measures. Much of this new financing could be administered via existing organizations. We know in particular the need for targeted support for assets in the indigenous tourism sector.

We recommend a new tax credit for retrofits and upgrades. This would incentivize investment in renovations across the country. A new capital cost allowance could be introduced for capital investments, allowing 100% of the investment in new tourism assets or major renovations to be claimed in the year in which they occur.

To help attract greater private investment, the government could establish pools of public lending capital. Such investment could help leverage billions of dollars from private sources.

To encourage the development of new, sustainable, innovative assets, or refurbishing existing ones, particularly in underserved rural and remote areas, new grants and non-repayable contribution programs could be created.

The marketing and promotion of our assets is also critically important. We recommend that the government increase its annual allocation to Destination Canada to a level on par with its counterparts in other leading countries and commit to that funding for five years.

We also recommend that the government introduce a national meetings, incentives conferences and events fund to also help stimulate the business event sector. The government should encourage its regional economic development agencies to provide greater assistance to destination marketing organizations for this purpose.

Our last pillar is a regenerative and inclusive tourism sector. As tourism works hard to get back to prepandemic levels, there is an opportunity to make the sector more resilient, sustainable and equitable. We recommend that the government invest in regenerative tourism and acknowledge tourism's role in carbon reduction by introducing tourism-specific programs in support of businesses for new sustainable projects and retrofits across the country.

Canada also strives to be a place of inclusivity and opportunity for all communities. TIAC recommends that the government introduce new tax credits for businesses that develop specialized equity recruitment programs, as well as allocate resources for the implementation of an indigenous-led workforce strategy.

In closing, I trust our more detailed proposals in our written submission, which we will table later this week, will enable you to consider the priorities in the upcoming budget.

Thank you very much. I look forward to our discussion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Ms. Potter from TIAC.

We will now hear from Alex Freedman, the executive director of the Community Radio Fund of Canada, for up to five minutes, please.

[Alex Freedman, Executive Director, Community Radio Fund of Canada]

Thank you, Chair.

Community radio stations are a critical part of Canada's broadcasting network. They are particularly vital to rural Canadians. They are the front lines in the fight against disinformation.

The sector includes more than 235 stations licensed as community, indigenous or campus in almost every province and territory. More than 120 of those operate in communities of less than 50,000 people. They broadcast content in more than 65 different languages. They are among the last local and live media outlets in communities across Canada.

These are all not-for-profit stations with boards and staff who live in the communities they serve. These stations are reliable. They offer accurate information, because their own families depend on it, and their neighbours do too. For example, during hurricane Fiona, staff at CFIM on the Magdalen Islands, at CKOA in Cape Breton—their station was actually pushed off its foundations by the wind—and CKMA in Miramichi barricaded themselves inside their stations with stacks of pizza and bottled water. They gave the latest updates on power outages, road closures and places where volunteers were urgently needed. They directed those who were injured to clinics with the least volume of patients. They made sure that everyone had the latest weather forecast.

All of this was available by livestream and social media, but without power it didn't matter. Word mostly got out on FM and AM transmitters to receivers powered by batteries. It was only reliable information, unlike the disaster voyeurism as reported by the major networks. Yes, everyone covered the storm. Some provided a service to their listeners. Others just got clicks.

Community media, however, is under threat. Canada has experienced a net loss of more than 275 local news outlets in less than 15 years. The impact of this collective dumbing-down is clear and evident. There's a reason that approximately 12 social media users were responsible for almost 90% of the pandemic disinformation. In the void of local news, Canadians are increasingly turning to social media for their information. We're seeing the impacts.

Margaret Sullivan, the author of Ghosting the News, said the following:

Studies show that people who live in areas with poor local news coverage are less likely to vote, and when they do, they [go along] strictly...party lines. To put it bluntly, the demise of local news poses the kind of danger to our democracy that should have alarm sirens screeching across the land.

The CBC relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in operational support but currently moves further and further from local broadcasting every day. Private broadcasters, who benefit from significant tax breaks, put shareholders before the audience. But community broadcasters, who receive no stable government support, keep doing what they do best—supporting our communities.

Many stations operate on an annual budget of less than $40,000 a year. Any support will make a huge difference for them. We propose two concrete measures that will make that difference.

First, continue the local journalism initiative. It's a program run by Heritage that has been a resounding success. We're one of seven groups who administer the program. This year alone, just our group funded journalists at stations in 41 underserved communities, or communities considered news deserts. Unfortunately, that program expires in 2024. Heritage Canada has already proposed renewing the program permanently at $15.4 million a year or greater. We wholeheartedly support that proposal. The funding has already made a difference, but the impact will only truly be realized over time.

The second measure is a systemic change for our entire sector. Relative to my colleagues, it's a small number. We're proposing an annual allocation to all 235 community, indigenous and campus broadcasters of a total of $25 million a year administered through the CRFC. We can and will ensure that those funds do not directly or indirectly support further disinformation.

The investment translates into an average of $90,000 per station, providing them with core funding for basic operations, rent on a station or broadcast tower, or paying staff a living wage. These minimal and fiscally responsible investments will provide stability and allow these stations to continue to invest in the Canadian voice.

I want to close by reminding you that, due to their licence, they are all not-for-profit. Every single dollar invested in community radio is reinvested in the communities they serve. Not a dollar is wasted. Not a dollar goes to shareholders. Not a dollar goes to six-figure executive salaries or to million-dollar bonuses paid to C-suite executives for their performance during the pandemic. Every dollar is invested in ensuring that there is a reliable source of local information for generations to come. If we want to support those fighting disinformation, we must fight and support those on the front lines.

Thank you very much. I will be happy to answer your questions in either English or French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Freedman from the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

Members, we will now hear from the Société d'aide au développement des collectivités et Centres d'aide aux entreprises.

Monsieur Pascal Harvey, you have five minutes, please.

[Pascal Harvey, General Manager, Société d'aide au développement des collectivités et Centre d'aide aux entreprises]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Dear committee members, I am very pleased to represent the Réseau des Sociétés d'aide au développement des collectivités, SADCs, and Centres d'aide aux entreprises, CAEs, in Quebec. I am the proud representative of 67 federally funded non-profit organizations dedicated to the economic development of Quebec's rural and semi-urban regions, as well as to the support of entrepreneurs and to business financing.

Of course, like many Canadian organizations and businesses, we are currently affected by labour shortages. We have to be very resourceful and innovative to help companies in dire need. Yes, there was the pandemic. Fortunately, we've come through it and we're starting to recover. It's a way for us to continue to stand out. However, we need to do it in a different way.

Over the past year, we have had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Sophie Chatel, the MP for Pontiac, on the “For a Green and Prosperous Outaouais” initiative. We really enjoyed working with her. This initiative has the potential to snowball across Quebec. However, we need tools to match our ambitions.

What the network is asking the federal government for in the 2023 budget is more money for the Green Shift program, to which $9.5 million was allocated. That funding expires in March 2024. The program is in its second year and it targets two of the three sectors where SADCs and CAEs are involved: technical assistance, business coaching and local economic development.

We believe that by 2023, our members will be able to provide even more assistance to businesses in rural and semi-urban areas. Therefore, we are requesting specifically an increased funding for the Green Shift program.

We are also requesting an increased funding for SADCs and CAEs, to develop a new innovation program that would allow SMEs in rural and semi-urban areas to better handle the green transition. In our opinion, this innovation program could be created jointly with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Inno-centre, in Quebec. It would help businesses with the transition to limit greenhouse gas emissions and better stand out in the Quebec economy.

These are the two requests we are making in the name of our members. This would allow us to continue to do our work well.

We are a group of locally engaged and managed organizations with volunteer boards of directors. What makes us strong in rural and semi-urban territories is our knowledge of businesses. I said I was the spokesperson for the members of the network, but, in fact, I am also indirectly the spokesperson for 10,000 Quebec businesses, since SADCs and CAEs provide direct assistance to them.

So, I have told you who we are and what our needs are for next year.

I'll be happy to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Harvey.

I want to thank all of our witness organizations—partners is what I'll say—on behalf of the members. You are doing an amazing job and bring us so much great information.

The members are eager to ask you questions. In our first round of questions, each party will have up to six minutes to ask questions of the witnesses. We are starting with the Conservatives.

MP Baldinelli, you are up for six minutes, please.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to thank all our witnesses for being here today.

I'm going to begin my round of questioning with Ms. Potter.

It's good to see you again, so soon after our last meeting at committee. I want to thank you for your continued advocacy for our Canadian tourism industry.

As you know, my riding is the number one leisure tourism destination in all of Canada, with 40,000 workers and 16,000 hotel rooms. Prior to COVID, we generated $2.4 billion in tourism receipts. We probably get 20 million visitors annually. Fifty per cent of the revenues that will be generated in my riding come from American visitation. That was greatly impacted because of COVID.

Like our national industry, COVID had a devastating impact. We were hit first. We were hit the hardest and, as the industry always says, it's going to take our sector the longest to recover.

As you mentioned, and maybe my colleagues aren't fully aware, prior to COVID.... Tourism matters. It's a $105-billion industry in Canada. It's one in every 11 jobs. It's 2% of our GDP. Two years ago, when COVID devastated things, borders shut down and the sector was closed, the government provided $1 billion in support in its budget—$1 billion for a $105-billion industry. My region alone generates $2.4 billion in receipts.

Several important programs were created to assist workers, but then in last year's budget, there was nothing. There was some programming and funding for indigenous tourism, which was highly important and highly needed. You had advocated for a continuation of benefit programs until at least the fall, but the government essentially said to the industry that come the spring, May, they would be over. That's fair enough. That's a government decision, but if they're going to stand by that decision, what they have to do is remove those obstacles that stand in the way of the success of our tourism sector. One of those was the continued border measures and programs, such as ArriveCAN, that continued to be in place. It was a huge obstacle. For American visitation, again, as of August, land border crossings are still at 50%. In my community that's 50% of the revenues. It had a devastating impact, and yet the government continued its obstinance and refused to make changes.

Just the other day Dr. Zain Chagla said those border measures could have been removed as early as the springtime. The data was out there. The proof was out there. Many countries, at least 60 countries around the world, had removed their border restrictions, and yet Canada continued to have them in place. In fact, last year's budget even committed $25 million towards the ArriveCAN app when that could have been put towards destination marketing, for example, once the borders were open.

It's always too little, too late when the government decides to finally end those border restrictions, and we have a long way to go. For example, how long do you expect the Canadian tourism recovery to take to get back to 2019 numbers?

[Beth Potter]

Through the chair, I can say that our forecasts predict that domestic spending should recover by the end of 2024, but international spending from visitation will not recover until the end of 2025 at this time.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

How much money did the Canadian tourism industry forgo? I mean 2019 was the best tourism year ever in Niagara, and I believe nationally as well—again, $105 billion, $2.4 billion in receipts in Niagara alone. How long will it take and how much are we forgoing to get there? How long do we need to get back to that $105 billion or $2.4 billion figure?

[Beth Potter]

At the end of 2022, we should be at $80 billion, so we will be a solid 24% short of that 2019 high mark. We are anticipating it is going to take us until the end of 2025 to get back to that high mark of $105 billion. If we can do the things I talked about in my opening remarks, we would like to see and work towards getting to a really robust $134 billion by 2030.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

Again, in terms of American visitation and international visitation, although not the greatest number in terms of our visitation base, they represent in my community alone 50% of the revenues that are generated.

When the government commits $25 million to programs such as ArriveCAN, would you not agree that the $25 million would have been better put towards organizations such as Destination Canada, towards the marketing of Canada? We're going to need a huge campaign to say to the world that Canada is open again. Do you not agree?

[Beth Potter]

Yes, and, in fact, within our proposal we are asking for a significant increase to Destination Canada's budget over the next five years so that we can communicate to the world that Canada is open for business again.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

Chair, is that my time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

That is your time. Thank you, MP Baldinelli.

Now we'll hear from the Liberals for six minutes of questions.

MP Chatel is up.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you so much.

The world is transitioning towards a green economy. Historically, these changes of such magnitude make losers and winners. The countries that will be successful in tomorrow's economy will be those that have prepared and have done everything to be successful under responsible leadership.

I was really interested, Mr. Darby, in what you said about your net-zero SME strategy. I would really like it if you could elaborate on that and also submit to this committee in writing, if you can, that strategy.

[Dennis Darby]

Through the chair, thank you very much.

First of all, we will share with this committee our net-zero strategy. I assume that will happen, if it has not already. We shared it in the past with the minister's office and with ISED, of course, which we deal with most directly.

Let me talk about that element. I agree with you. There's no reason that Canada should be behind in terms of its transition to net zero. Right now most of the focus has been on very large companies. That makes a lot of sense when you think about how they're the largest emitters.

In order to compete in North America, we have to help those SMEs. Most of the 90,000 manufacturers in Canada are small and medium-sized, family-owned companies, which are either part of a supply chain, provide one part or one ingredient or sometimes just serve a regional market. They need help to transition.

The funding that's currently in the net-zero accelerator fund should be extended so that all manufacturers can adopt technologies. On top of that, we think that Canada is in a position, because of our history and our experience in the energy sector, to be exporting that technology.

I think you're absolutely right that this is an opportunity we can't afford to miss—and let me finish with this—especially when I think about the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. We may not always like the U.S. and how it approaches these things, but when it sets its mind to it, it does an incredible job. They have put a huge package of incentives at the federal and state levels to try to use those incentives to bring that technology along. I think Canada has an opportunity to do the same. We're not too late, but we can't wait.