Thank you, Madam Chair.
Following up on my colleague's comments about making it less sticky, that was the whole point. The government liked to talk about CBSA compliance at about 90% and how it was facilitating travel, but it wasn't doing that. An Order Paper question that was just responded to showed that from January to August 31 of this year, a total of 1.6 million travellers presented themselves at the border for entry into Canada without having submitted ArriveCAN, which just adds to Mr. Bieger's point on land borders. During long weekends, we were having lineups of over two hours, yet traffic was 50% less than 2019 figures. The government didn't even consult its CBSA officers prior to the implementation of this program.
If you're going to create a program, do it right. Consult with the stakeholders. Were the bridge commissions or our American customs officers brought into the conversations about this? Let's do it. Let's do it right.
To Ms. Barrett's point about after the pandemic programming and supports that ended in the spring, fair enough; that's a government decision. However, if you're going to do that, let's get out of the way. Let's remove the disincentives that still stand in the way to their being able to create the wealth they need to survive. These businesses were down 95%. I live in a community that has American visitation that represents over 50% of the revenues generated for my tourism sectors. In 2019 alone, $2.4 billion in tourism receipts was generated. That was devastated. American visitation, although not the largest number, again represents 50% of the revenues that are generated. Why are we putting in place these disincentives to travel? That's what we have to get to.
ArriveCAN was part of the problem there, so when we say to the Frontier Duty Free Association or to our tourism businesses in Niagara that all the programming has ended and you're on your own, well, get out of the way, then. Let them do what it is they do best in my community, and that's welcome people from throughout the world.
That's my concern about the ArriveCAN app. That's why I've been arguing against it from the very day it was put in place.
Now, Mr. Bieger, because of COVID and because of the pandemic, you've seen traffic volumes down 50%. The financial impact on the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission has to be tremendous. What is that impact? I know there were government programs, but your commission is not owned and operated by the federal government, which can support the other four bridges in its jurisdictions in Ontario. Were any supports provided, other than what the government did for everyone else?