International Trade Committee on Sept. 27th, 2022

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Ms. Barrett, how much of your members have been investing in their properties to get them ready and to continue to keep staff on board?

I don't know if things will return to the way they were. I understood what you meant: The structure is the same, but getting the culture back is going to be very difficult. In fact, even in Windsor, we couldn't even do the.... The only bus in the world that actually goes across international boundaries is in Windsor. It is finally going to return, hopefully.

How much investment are your members making?

[Barbara Barrett]

Right now our members are in survival mode. They've had to take out some loans just to survive at this point. There are a few who we're not sure are even going to survive. I don't know if you're looking for a dollar number, but because we're still down by 50%, we're very much in survival mode.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

You're just barely surviving and staying alive. I know the facilities are in tip-top shape, but they're still.... I know that a lot of them kept staff on during COVID.

[Barbara Barrett]

They did, yes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Ms. Ferreri for five minutes, please.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to all of the witnesses here today.

Thank you for letting me sub in as shadow minister to tourism. I'm happy to be here on World Tourism Day.

I'm going to start with Ms. Barrett.

How many times did you meet with anyone from the Liberal government to communicate your serious concerns with ArriveCAN?

[Barbara Barrett]

I met with them a number of times. I think I became known as a squeaky wheel. I met with the Minister of Public Safety and with the transport minister's office a number of times. I don't have an exact number, but I will say several times.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I'm going to ask you another number question, and I promise this will be the last one.

[Barbara Barrett]

Okay.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

How much money do you believe has been lost due to ArriveCAN by the businesses that you represent?

[Barbara Barrett]

Well, I would have to do some quick math, but overall, our industry is an average of 50% down compared to prepandemic levels.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Could you table that for the committee?

[Barbara Barrett]

Sure.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

This next question I'm going to direct—through you, Madam Chair—to Mr. Weber.

I have my passport with me here today, and I'm going to read the front page. Please note that obviously this is not in accordance with the new king, but rather our late queen, Elizabeth II:

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada requests, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely, without delay or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

In your opinion, Mr. Weber, did ArriveCAN hinder Canadians' ability to cross the border?

[Mark Weber]

I would say it did, yes.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you very much.

I guess I would go on to share a couple of stories.

Mr. Lovegrove, you hammered the nail on the head with your comments about threatening and intimidating language. I think that's really where this conversation needs to go in terms of what the government did in wrongly fining Canadians as well as harassment.

I have one constituent who was featured on Global National. She was sent a threatening and intimidating letter saying that she would be fined $1 million and that she would never be allowed back into her own country. For the Liberals and the government to say this ArriveCAN is merely an inconvenience for Canadians is insulting.

Mr. Lovegrove, as somebody who lost this money but still managed to survive, how do you expect to make up the money that was lost as a result of ArriveCAN?

[Douglas Lovegrove]

Thank you. I appreciate the question.

We're going to do it through hard work. We're going to heavily engage with our customer base in the U.S. We are going to have to do a little campaigning. Of course, I'd love to see the government step up to do some campaigning throughout our areas of business in the U.S. and promote business in Canada.

We are going to get through it through hard work, and by sharing the story of our business and why they should be coming up to see us.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you.

I have one super-quick question left for Mr. Weber.

Where is the data, and was it shared with you? I know you weren't consulted, but is there any data that indicates it was safer to wait to drop the ArriveCAN now rather than in October of 2021, or even February 2021 or March 2021? Where is the data that says it is safer to drop it now?

[Mark Weber]

Thank you.

I've not seen that data. I think that would be a good question for the Public Health Agency.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

We will go on to Mr. Maloney for five minutes, please.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Thanks, Madam Chair.

I want to get back to this issue of separating the ArriveCAN from the pandemic measures, because there appears to be a lot of confusion here.

Ms. Barrett, you said that your business was 95% down. That's because of the pandemic. Isn't that right?

[Barbara Barrett]

That's correct.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

That includes the border measures that were in place and the fact that the border was closed for a long time.