Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
To each of the witnesses.... Like every other community across Canada, the tourism sector here in Alberta has been financially decimated by this pandemic due to the cancellation of rodeos, conventions, sporting events, iconic exhibitions and other tourist attractions. Our local community volunteer base is very frustrated, as is the local hotel industry.
As the Tourism Industry Association of Canada pointed out from its recent survey, without immediate financial assistance many hotels and other tourism businesses will likely have to close their doors permanently. One of the things I have heard in my discussions with local hotel business people is “What can we do so that we're ready if this happens again?” Because shutting it down.... I know we had opportunities at the very beginning. We talked about using hotels to help with pandemic planning. I know it was mentioned earlier that that was something that had been done, but they want to make sure they're ready for it.
For the Hotel Association, with regard to the activities that took place, how do we see expanding those so that our hoteliers are going to have a bit of an idea of how they might fit in if we have to go through this again?