I think the statistic that should stun the committee is that 47% of Canadian hotels today, in our off-season, are pulling inventory out of the market. That's in our off-season, and that's because we can't service that demand. What a missed opportunity.
When we think about global travel demand, it's at an all-time high. If you just look at Google as a major indicator, you see travel to Canada is up 100% from 2019. People want to come to Canada, but they won't be able to find a hotel room, and they'll be dealing with all sorts of tourism businesses that will be closed over this time period.
Our competitors are eating our lunch. They are investing in the billions, and they have also resolved the labour challenges. I think there are some really good examples that we should look to, like the temporary foreign worker program, which in Canada today requires businesses to guarantee 30 hours a week for 18 months.
What happens in the off-season? Now you have a temporary foreign worker who requires 30 hours. You're in the off-season. Are you going to lay off Canadians to keep those temporary workers? We're not maximizing that program, but other countries have figured out how to do this. There is a temporary tourism visa that allows workers to come in, service the season, but then also re-enter in other seasons without having to go through another round of paperwork.