Finance committee  Absolutely. I think that's exactly what needs to be done. You can't have a one-size-fits-all model. I think you have to take those regions and those particular circumstances into consideration, and they should be exempt, absolutely, yes.

Finance committee  In terms of the U.S. model?

Finance committee  We're not advocating for the U.S. model. We're asking the Government of Canada to fund Destination Canada more adequately, and then, of course, Destination Canada has matching programs with a number of other organizations. We've never advocated for the U.S. model in Canada.

Finance committee  That's absolutely true, but we're experiencing labour shortages in a number of markets across the country, and especially in those resort markets like Banff and Lake Louise where Mr. Richards' riding is. He's more than familiar with those issues. There are very serious labour sho

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now the pressure is on. I have to stay under five minutes. I'll talk fast. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and honourable committee members. On behalf of the tourism industry, thank you for your invitation to participate. By the way, today is the eve of Worl

Finance committee  There's no doubt we've been looking at these proposals and trying to assess what the impact might be on our membership. We are hearing back from our members. A number of them have questions. Some of them are unsure whether they are impacted by the changes. Others are asking quest

Finance committee  Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. On behalf of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about how the government and our industry can work together to enhance the compet

Finance committee  Oh, my goodness. We would have to bring in another 16 million travellers internationally in order to get back into the top 10.

Finance committee  There's also the cost of airfare.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Lots of our members are small businesses, but I don't know how that would grow tourism in Canada. I think the small businesses would be in better financial shape, but—

Finance committee  They might, yes. But definitely, if I had to give off the top of my head one thing we could do to increase the number of tourists, it would be to reduce the price of airfare. Because of the taxes and levies, we're about 40% higher than most places in the world.

Finance committee  We would have hoped that the government wouldn't proceed with this. That was our first choice. However, if the government will proceed with it, then we're asking at least to mitigate the impact during the interim period. Make sure it's delayed enough so that it respects the contr

Finance committee  Yes, my understanding is that many countries have these types of rebates. One of the reasons we're not as competitive is that we have no such rebate.

Finance committee  I guess there are a couple of things. There are contracts signed after the budget is announced. According to the way it's been described in the budget documents, as long as payment has been made in full before January 2018, it would still apply. After that date, it wouldn't. The