Thank you.
Certainly you are outlining some major challenges we're facing in the tourism sector.
Mr. Williams, I can't remember if it was you who said this when you were before our committee in the service sector study, but we had a witness who described the situation in tourism right now as the perfect storm, in which we're facing the high dollar, high oil costs, and the downturn in the U.S. economy. I appreciate the point you're making today that these, in the past perhaps, masked some of the structural challenges that we're facing.
I think I read recently that Paris is still the number one tourism destination in the world. While I happen to think my home town of Toronto is a great place, it's not Paris. But Canada has amazing attractions that no other country has, and not only our natural attractions. I do believe Toronto, as the most diverse city in the world, has its own attractions that perhaps we need to be marketing better.
My question to you is, what kinds of attraction investments does Canada need to make? You said we should be maintaining parks anyway. There has been investment in some of the cultural attractions, at least where I come from. But what kinds of investments rise above the price differentials to make a destination really stand out in the world? What advice do you have for this committee to recommend to the government in terms of making those investments that really will help Canada market itself to the world?