Industry Committee on Sept. 28th, 2006

[Richard Dicerni]

With regard to the CTC, we've spoken about the $5 million or so. With regard to the other matter, this was not an Industry Canada-related matter. This was done under either the Department of Finance or the CRA, because it's fundamentally a taxation matter. So the question would be better addressed to the commissioner of the CRA.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

You guys didn't communicate at all during this process?

[Richard Dicerni]

What I'm saying is in regard to the accountability as it relates to these various initiatives--

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I'll take that as a yes.

Here is the reality, though. These are tourism-related cuts. Right now the Senate committee for appropriations is discussing a $35 billion bill from the Department of Homeland Security that is going to change our border even more. We are talking about everything from helicopters and drone planes to a whole series of watchtowers. A whole series of things is going on concerning the Canada-U.S. border. We are going with gunboats and training facilities for them.

Here are some quotes. I want to read some of the quotes regarding the tourism response to this particular budget and the cuts, especially the $5.7 million cut from the Canadian Tourism Commission's budget. The vice-president said, “We believe that in North America, every sales-and-marketing dollar brings in $10 in tourism revenue. We believe that there's a strong business case...and a strong return on investment.”

Referring to the GST rebate elimination--this is not your responsibility, but it happened in this particular budget. This is from the president and CEO of Tourism Toronto. He said, “This is a complete shock to the industry.” Referring to the GST rebate elimination again, Randy Williams of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada said, “It's mind-boggling and a slap in the face.”

Your department is responsible for tourism, which in the first six months of 2006 has gone down to 1972 levels. We have a crisis in tourism here. The Canadian Tourism Commission was the only organization that had a $3 million cut from your department in the last budget session. It was the only thing in the CTC that was cut.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Do you have a point of order here?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, I have a question; it's not a point of order.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Okay, well--

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I'm entitled to--

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

He's here to answer on the $5.7 million, though, not about the Revenue Canada cut.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

It's a tourism--

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Just to clarify, Mr. Masse, they cannot answer anything with respect to another government department. They're here to answer--

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

That's my point.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

We already established that they didn't communicate with the other department.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Dicerni did not.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

And that's fine.

Can I finish my question?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You can finish your question. I'm just making it clear that they're here to answer cuts under Industry Canada.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Right. I appreciate that, Mr. Chair, and I'll draw my conclusion.

My conclusion is that we do know we have a tourism crisis happening right now in this country, and your department is responsible for tourism across this country.

With this GST one that's been done with the other department, and yours coupled with it, what is going to be the plan for the Canadian Tourism Commission? Because other departments...for example, the military got extra spending for advertising; they got millions more to spend for advertising.

How is the CTC going to be able to respond to all these changes and the drop in American tourism when it has less resources?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, isn't that more like a political question?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

It is a--

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Who's chairing now?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Order.

It does have a political tone to it.

Mr. Dicerni, go ahead if you're comfortable addressing the role of the Canadian Tourism Commission, its future as it goes forward.

Is that what you want answered, Mr. Masse?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

That's fine. Relate it to the CTC. I want to know how this department is going to handle this shift. He's responsible for that department.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Relative to the $5 million that was cut from CTC, Mr. Dicerni, you can speak to that and its future.

[Richard Dicerni]

I would like to make three points.

One, tourism is important, and I would be remiss here if I did not underline the importance and the recognition we put on tourism. I have spent, as I said, a fair amount of time with the commission. We have a series of meetings planned for the TIAC session taking place next month. I met last week with the Ontario tourism commission and spent some time with them. I've met with a number of deputy ministers.

We do appreciate that tourism is an important sector in this country. Related to that, we are making contacts with provincial governments with a view towards having a federal-provincial meeting of tourism ministers in order to address the issue. We are conscious of the fact that the increasing dollar is having an impact on tourism. We're conscious of the fact that higher gasoline prices are, in some respects, having an impact on Americans travelling by land.

We are monitoring this very closely and working, in part with the industry and very much with the embassy, to address the WHTI initiatives, and there is some movement potentially in Congress to address the border issue.

So we are quite sensitive to the importance, particularly in border communities.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

How does less money to the CTC, though, make it more efficient to deal with its number one challenge when the industry is going in the tank?