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 disadva

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 ear

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

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.

Finance committee  That's right.

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—

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