Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, and thank you for having me here before the committee today representing the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Canada, otherwise known as the RVDA.
The RVDA is a national volunteer federation of provincial and regional associations and their members, which have united to form a professional association for all businesses involved in the RV industry. In other words, we represent small and medium-sized businesses across the country. Our core objective is to bring together and represent retail businesses and provide support to promote the welfare of Canadian RV dealers and maximize the potential of the industry for the benefit of all Canadians.
RVing in Canada has a considerable impact on the economy. In 2019, the RV industry supported 67,200 jobs. The total spending was $6.2 billion, generating $4.8 billion in added value to our economy.
While COVID-19 has made the past few years challenging, we thank Parliament for taking swift action to support businesses and workers across the country. We are on the road to recovery, but it will take time to bounce back and thrive.
Three obstacles ahead of us are critical issues impacting our industry. The first—and we've heard it already—is the shortage of skilled workers. The second is the need for critical infrastructure in our national parks. The third is relieving border and supply chain issues.
The shortage of skilled workers remains a key concern for the RV industry. COVID-19 and its various waves hampered the ability for apprentices to access training programs. Currently, there are actually only two programs in Canada that offer RV service technician apprenticeship training leading to Red Seal certification. They are located in B.C. and Alberta.
Currently, out of over 1,200 full-time RV service technicians throughout Canada, only 424 have their Red Seal designation. The existing programs reach full enrolment every year and often hold waiting lists for several dozen prospective students. Training programs are offered in other provinces, but they're not accepted as full apprenticeship programs, meaning that they don't actually lead to Red Seal certification. As a result, few RV service technicians who actually work in the industry are able to be classified as apprentices or certified technicians. This means that many small and medium-sized businesses are challenged to find and attract RV service techs, and students have a hard time starting their careers in a trade that is in high demand.
We applaud the government for the focus on skills and training in the previous budgets. While the government has made good progress, we believe they can do two things to support skilled workers in the RV industry. First, we are looking for the government to create an apprenticeship travel grant that could be used by those required to travel in order to undertake an apprenticeship program. Second, the proposed new labour mobility grant of up to $4,000 a year to support temporary relocation within Canada by skilled tradespeople should be made available for those who are temporarily relocating to pursue their apprenticeship in Red Seal training.
The second obstacle facing the RV industry is the lack of infrastructure and tourism investments in our national parks. There are 119 federal campgrounds comprising over 10,800 campsites, but of these campsite 7,911, or approximately 80%, are not serviced. As the demand for campground services continues to rise, critical infrastructure needs, such as sizing requirements to accommodate larger RVs, access to the appropriate electrical outlets and waste disposal facilities remain unfunded.
As RVing is a large component of tourism, both internationally and domestically, investment in camping and RV infrastructure will play a crucial role in the overall contributions of the tourism industry to future economic development and prosperity post-COVID-19. Upgrades in infrastructure are essential if we want to ensure the future of this industry and make it more accessible to all Canadians. We recommend that Parks Canada receive dedicated funding for investment in its campground infrastructure.
Supply chain issues are holding back small and medium-sized businesses across the country. Transportation bottlenecks and difficulty sourcing key inputs are leading to production slowdowns and delayed or cancelled sales. The overall effects of these supply chain disruptions and increased inflationary costs are estimated to be larger, broader and more persistent than initially anticipated and will continue to weigh on small and medium-sized businesses' ability to grow. The government needs to provide funding and financial support, and look for solutions to break up the bottleneck of supply issues. It must ensure that the border does not close again.
We would also recommend that the proposed $1.9 billion for the national trade corridors fund to make Canada's transportation infrastructure more efficient and effective should make resources available to private transportation and trucking companies, so that they can better adapt to new technologies and increase the flow of goods in and out of Canada.
Thank you very much for your time.