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.