Industry Committee on June 22nd, 2021

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

In the current situation, the tourism industry is calling for planning over the next two or three years in order to maintain its expertise and receive special financial support. In particular, the industry is calling for the extension of the Canada emergency wage subsidy for this sector.

I'm thinking specifically of all the tourism events, such as festivals, which can require up to two years of preparation. Above all, they require a great deal of work over a whole year. You seem very satisfied with the measures implemented by the government.

Will you lobby for a long‑term vision for the various festivals?

[Monique Gomel]

Destination Canada is not a lobbying agency. As I mentioned, our mandate is really around marketing and providing market research. That being said, we amplify and promote experiences across the country, including festivals, which are a key part of the experience that we deliver, so that is something we will continue to support in that capacity.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I understand, but you must still have an opinion. If you're satisfied with the measures in place, it means that you have an opinion. That's a form of lobbying.

On that note, I'll ask one last question.

What tourist attractions do you hold dear in the current situation?

Will you be showcasing the regions of Quebec, or will you be focusing more on promoting events in the main cities that appear on Canada's postcards?

Can we expect your promotions to be a little more diverse?

[Monique Gomel]

Certainly I think that there's a role for promoting all kinds of different experiences to all kinds of different visitors, both urban and rural. We aim to promote a huge range of diverse experiences, and I can say, in my opinion, as someone who lived in Quebec for five years, that I certainly cherish the festivals in Montreal and the mountains in the Laurentians. There's a lot to promote.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Will you include the parks of the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec, or Sépaq, in your promotion of Canada's parks?

[Monique Gomel]

Absolutely, the parks are a big part of our promotions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Masse.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Chair, I'd like to continue with the challenges with the government's decision recently. It's not even based on science. Apparently, the Pfizer vaccine is going to have a different response in a Canadian versus an American. It's left border communities extremely vulnerable, waiting around month after month to find out what's going to happen next.

Has there been any discussion about how there would be some involvement or amelioration by your organization for, I guess, many destinations? My friend from Niagara Falls will feel this. They're basically going to be frozen out of any interprovincial tourism for the most part. Some of it will happen, but some significant American visitation won't be there. Decisions are being made to isolate some tourist destination areas at their expense.

Has there been any discussion about what to do once we finally get some reopening, and will there be some extra consideration to those that are basically sacrificed this year because of a lack of foresight?

[Monique Gomel]

As I mentioned, we do take a team Canada approach. We work very closely with the provinces and territories in terms of aligning [Technical difficulty—Editor] something that would be considered.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

There's not much of a team Canada approach if you can't have American visitors. If you're dependent upon American visitors and the focus is going to be on interprovincial travel, you're basically sacrificed at the end of the day.

I just think that, if there's going to be a decision made like that, then organizations that are supported by the government and in the government—that's a different story in itself—need to have a plan to help these places once there is a final opening again. They're going to have to cling to their lives over the next number of months and, hopefully, if they do make it through, organizations that receive government funds are going to do things to help those areas later on, because it's going to be a terrible summer.

You don't have to answer that. It's okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's my rant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you, MP Masse.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Poilievre.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Thank you very much.

My question is for the Rocky Mountaineer. I think it's Ms. Gomel. I understand that the Rocky Mountaineer is a wonderful enterprise. It created this great entrepreneurial Canadian tourism experience. Then along came VIA Rail, using a subsidized version of the same thing. It took advantage of its taxpayer subsidy to compete on the same lines, offering a comparable service. Is that continuing to this day?

[Monique Gomel]

VIA Rail does have a service that runs through the Rockies.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Is it designed to compete with your tourism experience, or is it just a convenient way to get through the Rockies?

[Monique Gomel]

I'm not privy to how they've designed their service. I can say that we offer a luxury, world-class service that connects Vancouver through the Rockies.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

I've heard. I haven't been on it yet, but I understand that it's a fantastic experience. I come from Calgary myself, and as you know, Calgarians love to invade British Columbia every summer, as often as they can. I intend to take advantage of your experience there at the Rocky Mountaineer.

I think it's crazy to have a state-subsidized enterprise competing with private entrepreneurs. I'm not going to ask you to comment any further, because I can tell that you're being very diplomatic. I hope that in the future VIA will serve markets that don't already have a private enterprise doing so. The purpose of having a state-owned enterprise in this space is to correct for market failures. Obviously, there's not a market failure here, because you at the Rocky Mountaineer are providing the service.

Do you have any comments?

[Monique Gomel]

I would just echo my previous comments, that we do provide a world-class service. I would encourage you to definitely come on board this summer.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Thank you very much.

What is your take on the issue of the border opening? You must have American customers who come and want to experience the Rockies. Of course the most beautiful parts of the Rocky Mountain range are on the Canadian side of the border. Tell me how you've been affected by the continued border closure.

[Monique Gomel]

Rocky Mountaineer, as I mentioned, didn't operate in 2020 at all. We have delayed the start of our season. Normally we would start in April. We will be resuming operations on July 5, which is very exciting for us, but there will be a reduced schedule, as we'll really be focusing on that domestic market.

That being said, a lot of Americans are looking forward to coming on board the train and are booked on August departures. We await news on the border opening and we'll adjust accordingly.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

That's excellent. Good for you.

I encourage all Canadians to give the Rocky Mountaineer a look and to consider spending their tourism dollars here in Canada with great companies like yours and other tourism enterprises across the land.

I hope that VIA Rail will provide services the market is not already providing. We don't need to subsidize a state business to go after a private business—especially when you're paying taxes, ironically, to subsidize your own competition.

I'll leave it at that, as I can tell you're being very cautious in your words, which I understand, given your business. Best wishes for a great reopening and much prosperity to you, your workers and shareholders.

[Monique Gomel]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much, MP Poilievre.

Our last round will go to MP Ehsassi. You have the floor for five minutes.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Allow me to start off by thanking the two witnesses.

I found your testimony to be incredibly helpful. You have focused on some of the short-term challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that hopefully this season we will see a surge in tourism.

For the longer term, what are some of the indicators that you think members of Parliament should remain focused on to ensure that we see a sustainable recovery for your sector?

I will go to Ms. Gomel first.

[Monique Gomel]

Certainly we'll be monitoring things as they come. There's still a lot of uncertainty. I would say that we have made some shifts in our corporate strategy looking forward in terms of the types of travellers we will be targeting and our approach to marketing, so certainly we are reacting to the change in the climate.

Again, we will be looking at arrivals numbers from different countries, looking at all of the measures that we did before and adjusting where we allocate dollars in terms of our marketing to different countries. We are going to be kind of watching and adapting. We've become quite agile.

If the chair will allow, I'll ask Ms. Walden to elaborate on that one.

[Marsha Walden]

Thank you. Maybe just at the very highest level I'll say that we really see our role in helping our industry contribute to the quality of life of communities right across this country, while we're enriching the lives of our visitors [Technical difficulty—Editor] people and places of our land.

We have four pillars that will not only help us address short-term opportunities but also position us in the long term. First of all is ensuring that we have the social licence of Canadians to welcome visitors back into communities. Second is that we are doing things to increase the vitality of our industry over time. Part of that is focusing on a higher-value traveller who will increase their spending in Canada and help us sustain well-paid jobs in the country.

Third is that we focus on brand resonance to make sure that what Canada can offer as an experience remains competitive internationally and that we have budgets that support our ability to compete on a marketing level in the short term. Finally, the fourth pillar of our strategy is really around creating legendary experiences. We have many in this country already and we want to continue to have the work of our economic development agencies invested in those experiences to ensure that we can compete [Technical difficulty—Editor] because having the right product is what will make us competitive over the longer haul.

We have a role to play now in helping strategize around that to create demand-informed strategies and to work with regional development agencies to ensure that we are positioning our industry well for the future.