Evidence of meeting #28 for International Trade in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was measures.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you.
Again, I understand that this is a bit of a hypothetical exercise, but let's say we separate the two aspects of this issue and set aside the questions around the necessity of the vaccine mandate at the borders. If we went back in time and didn't have the ArriveCAN app at airports, would the delays have been better or worse than what we saw using the app? I'm assuming that the border agents would have had to look at vaccine verification from all sorts of different countries, which in itself could potentially have caused delays.
Can you speculate a bit on what the situation would have looked like without the app but with the vaccine requirement?
October 4th, 2022 / 12:35 p.m.
Manager, Government Relations, Vancouver Airport Authority
I won't speculate, but I'll go back to the data. Certainly at the beginning of the pandemic, when we didn't have another way to verify, or when the border agents didn't and were doing it on paper, as officials from the Public Health Agency were, it was slower at the air border.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Tony Baldinelli Conservative Niagara Falls, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to follow up with Ms. Potter.
Recently, in September, Statistics Canada released their leading indicators on tourism activity. They showed that for the month of August, about 1.1 million land border crossings occurred from the U.S. into Canada, so it was still down about 50%.
I want to touch on quickly, if I could, what we need to do with Destination Canada to begin the process of marketing in the United States. Did you find that Destination Canada funding this year was similar to what it was in the past? Were additional marketing funds put in to help advertise in the United States? What do you recommend going forward? Is there a budget number that you would like to see?
12:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
We are in the process of finalizing our budget recommendations going forward, but certainly we would like to see Destination Canada receive some additional funds specifically to re-engage the U.S. traveller, whether that's a day traveller coming across, a leisure traveller or a business traveller. We need to regain the confidence of the American market that Canada is not just a safe place to travel to but an easy place to travel to so they won't get caught up—
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Tony Baldinelli Conservative Niagara Falls, ON
Thank you.
I'll quickly go to Mayor Diodati, just following up on Destination Canada.
For many years—I believe it's 11—we had a representative sitting on the board of directors of Destination Canada. Being the number one leisure tourism destination in all of Canada, I expect, and hopefully you agree, that Niagara Falls deserves a seat on that board. Do you agree?
12:35 p.m.
Mayor, City of Niagara Falls
I 100% agree with that. I appreciate you bringing that forward. I hope there will be consideration for that. Our last member, Dragan Matovic, is no longer there. We definitely would like representation. I think it makes a lot of sense.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
All right. I want to thank the witnesses very much for their time and attention regarding this important issue for us.
We will suspend and then go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]