Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk today about the tourism communities in the riding of Kenora.
We know that many tourism communities have been very hard hit by COVID-19, and my riding is no exception. The livelihoods of many tourist outfitters, camp and hotel owners and guides, as well as businesses such as restaurants and retail stores, are all reliant on visitors from outside of our region. Canadian tourism operators have already lost a full summer season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and even if the government is able to meet its vaccination targets, it appears that another season, or at least the majority of another season, will be behind us before the majority of Canadians has access to a vaccine.
We know it is not the case in many other countries, including the United States. I note this as important, because in the Kenora region we rely a lot on tourists from the United States. Many of our regular visitors to the region have already received their first dose of the vaccine, or in some cases are fully vaccinated, so tourism operators in the Kenora riding are very reasonable in hoping that they will soon be able to safely welcome American clients back to their facilities. They are reasonable in hoping that large-scale vaccinations will bring an end to increased restrictions here in Canada and will allow our economy to reopen, so that is why I have been pressing for some clarity and some transparency from the government on when and under what circumstances we can expect to be in a position where those hopes can turn into a reality.
Above all else, these businesses are truly looking for clarity on whether they will have a season this year. I have heard from so many people who say to me that if they are losing another season they just need to know. Obviously, they would prefer not to lose another season and they would love to be able to operate, but their main concern right now is clarity. If they are losing another season or the majority of another season, they hope they can have clear information from the government that will allow them to plan ahead and make the adjustments necessary for that.
We need to have answers to questions such as whether fully vaccinated foreign nationals will be exempt from quarantine restrictions. We need to know how many Canadians must be vaccinated before restrictions can be lifted for our citizens, and we need to know what additional health and safety measures businesses might have to put in place to be able to safely operate this summer. There are many questions along those themes that need to be answered.
In November, I asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance if she could provide any details on the modelling, projections, public health advice or benchmarks that could help answer some of those questions. Unfortunately, she was not able to provide that information at the time. I put forward this question once again in question period not long ago and also did not receive a response. I am not saying that every cabinet minister should have this answer off the top of their head, but the government does have access to public health advice and public health experts who are guiding these decisions, and what we need is transparency from the government on how it is making plans based off of that information.
That is why I am asking, once again, if anyone on the government side can answer any of the questions that I have outlined based on the public health advice that they are following.