Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise tonight to talk about a question I asked the Minister of Industry with regards to tourism, particularly at it relates to Canada's strategy.
The Conservative government decided to move to international visitation tourism. It sent the Canadian Tourism Commission from Ottawa to Vancouver, away from the nation's capital, and orphaned it from the structures that made it successful. The Conservatives also cut the budget of this organization by 27%.
The response I got from the minister on a simple question asking about the connecting America campaign and the funds that were going to supposedly be provided to it came with deafening silence. There were no specifics at all with regards to this program.
As it happens, tourism in communities with American visitation has depreciated for a number of years, because we have been focusing on other markets. However, despite focusing on those other markets, Canada has dropped to a significant tourism deficit of 17.3%. Therefore, we have a problem here with regards to the strategy to go to international visitation not working, and also American Destination coming into Canada, which is significant.
Bill C-290 allowed for single-sports betting. It passed three years ago in the House of Commons unanimously, but it has been stalled in the Senate now for three years. I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary why the Conservative government will not move on that bill. The bill would increase tourism coming from the United States and allow the provinces to have the choice to introduce that.
The fact is, the United States is moving towards this issue, as seen by Governor Christie, and the United States already has four states that have it. The Americans are moving towards this.
Why will the Conservative government not pass legislation that has actually been moved through this House?