Finance committee  In my opinion, we're no longer dealing with jurisdictional issues, whether the issues are federal or provincial. Right now, we need to solve problems and focus on the recovery of the various economic sectors, including tourism. We need everyone to reach an agreement.

Finance committee  The Government of Canada can certainly provide instructions or guidelines to the provinces or to the various public health agencies across Canada and encourage them to recognize that rapid testing is an option that should be considered to allow shows and festivals to resume. I'm not an epidemiologist.

Finance committee  The emergency loan, which amounts to $40,000 or $60,000, is certainly useful for very small festivals and events. However, events such as the Stratford Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Quebec City summer festival and the Calgary Stampede have budgets of $30 million, $40 million, even $75 million.

Finance committee  I think that the most appropriate response is the one that we suggested. It's to create a program specifically for festivals and events. We hope that this will be included in next week's budget. In the fall 2020 economic statement, the government acknowledged that it hadn't done enough for festivals and events and promised that the specific realities of festivals and events would be taken into account soon.

Finance committee  There needs to be some leadership when it comes to rapid tests, which we just talked about, and vaccine passports. Will the provinces really come up with different independent solutions in terms of the vaccine passports or does the Government of Canada need to assess this issue quickly?

Finance committee  The problem is that we are in a state of uncertainty. On the one hand, Quebec Premier François Legault says all Quebeckers who want the vaccine will be able to receive a first dose by June 24. On the other hand, Trudeau says all Canadians who want the vaccine will receive it by the end of September.

Finance committee  There has not been much progress because there is not a lot of interest from provincial governments and the federal government in using rapid tests in this context. We have been approached by rapid test providers and we are at the outset very supportive of this solution. However, if we don't have discussions with government and public health officials, we won't be allowed to receive more people.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie. I think your question is very much related to the question that your colleague from British Columbia asked earlier. Serious studies that we've done, including with KPMG, prove that every dollar spent by festival-goers gets distributed. Some of it goes to festivals and events, particularly those that have a ticketing system, but it is not the primary expenditure of festival-goers.

Finance committee  We believe that we need to support those businesses that were hardest hit during the pandemic until they no longer need that support. We will again be forced, for a second year in a row, to not perform as we would like to and as we used to. So we need to have compensation. As I was also saying, if the Canada emergency wage subsidy is going to end on June 5, 2021, it certainly won't be in the best interest of the tourism and cultural players, and certainly not in the best interest of the festivals and events, which won't be back to their normal revenue levels until next year.

Finance committee  At this point, it is still a bit too early to determine exactly how much festivals and events have benefited or will benefit. The $181.5 million does indeed seem like a lot of money, but it should benefit all the players in the cultural field, and God knows there are many. It's not just festivals and events.

Finance committee  There is indeed no plan, which I deplore. We are confident that we will be able to host safe events across Canada this summer. Obviously, they won't be events with the same amount of traffic, but we think we can do some things. There are a variety of options, whether it's rapid testing, vaccine passports or physically distancing festival-goers.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. You've given a good description of this drama which affects us and the communities in which we are present. We have also experienced in Calgary what you experienced in your riding. In 2020, the business community was dismayed that the Stampede would not be held.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, members of the Standing Committee on Finance. It's a pleasure to be here again. Festivals and Major Events Canada, or FAME, and the Major International Events Network, or RÉMI, represent more than 500 festivals and events in Canada that are direct and affiliate members in the tourism and cultural industry sector.

Finance committee  First, I must specify that Festivals and Major Events Canada represents events of all sizes, across Canada. It represents both large events and small ones. Second, regarding the potential disappearance of festivals and events, I think it will happen. As I was saying, we are about halfway through; this marathon takes time.

Finance committee  Yes. We have discussed this, as well, and we see two solutions. The first is to change the current program's criteria as of June, so that, de facto, only the most affected businesses would be eligible for it, as a very high level would be required. It would necessarily affect culture and tourism.