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Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I'm very pleased to be here today on behalf of the Conference Board. Basically, I'm here today with the Conference Board to be an objective voice and an impartial adviser, to some extent, even though this is clearly an issue that also affects many of our members from provincial governments, city governments, and businesses in the tourism industry throughout the country.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  In the sense that tourism is an export, absolutely. It is an export that we export throughout the world, and right now we don't have a tax on that export.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  The 6% is a bit of an issue, because it doesn't necessarily apply to everything that people here pay, so the actual amount might be below the 6% rate. But it can certainly approach that depending on how—

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  That's right.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  As I pointed out earlier, it's difficult, because a lot of the administration happens overseas for the visitor rebate program; for instance, for the convention business as well as on the part of some tour operators. So it happens in the U.S. and it happens in, say, Germany or the U.K., and it never really runs through the system.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  I don't know the assumptions that Tony used when he calculated his numbers. We've looked at the issue to try to see what the potential impact could be, and to be perfectly honest, we haven't been able to come up with a conclusive answer. It's our contention, as Judy mentioned earlier, that if you're trying to do a cost-benefit analysis, it sure helps to know what the cost is.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche

Finance committee  To echo some of the comments of my colleagues here, the CBC would certainly appreciate more funding. It would definitely benefit the Canadian tourism industry and the economy as a whole. However, getting rid of the GST rebate program will constitute a definite competitive disadvantage for Canada that will not go away.

November 9th, 2006Committee meeting

Alex Fritsche