Mr. Speaker, on October 15 the finance minister announced a number of cutbacks directed at certain groups such as women, students, youth, aboriginals and people with literacy issues.
Another group he attacked was the 625,000 Canadians employed in the tourism industry.
In eliminating the GST tax rebate for foreign visitors, he puts our industry at a competitive disadvantage with other foreign destinations, this at a time when the industry is being hit with a rising Canadian dollar, security issues and a lack of international marketing. This is especially so for the bus tour and international convention segments of the industry.
The finance minister does not understand that international tourism is an export industry. He also announced that the figure is approximately $78 million. This is wrong, as it does not include the volume purchasers such as bus tour operators, who do not remit at source. According to industry officials, the figure will be three times this amount.
In addition, this decision results in 60 to 100 job losses for the town of Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
The decision will have devastating consequences for our Canadian tourism industry. I call upon the Minister of Finance to do the right thing and reverse this decision.