Industry committee  Perhaps I can add to that. If we can develop the right kind of environment in the cost structure of getting people to Canada, if we have enough customs and border clearance in enough airports, and if the cost equation makes sense, we think the private sector will step in to build

Industry committee  The marketing in Canada is more left to the Canadian Tourism Commission; TIAC doesn't get too involved in that.

Industry committee  I would echo those sentiments that there has been significant consultation between the Minister of State and us. For example, their office arranged for our meeting with the Prime Minister last June, which lasted about an hour. There was a round table with tourism stakeholders. We

Industry committee  Well, I don't speak for the government, but I get the sense that they're meeting with line departments and trying to line up commitments on different things. The ADS piece was a big piece that solved one part of that issue. I want to add something, though. I don't want to make i

Industry committee  I would suggest that the bigger factor is that, post-9/11, there's been a policy of buying American, staying at home, a little bit of a siege mentality within the United States, and until that lifts I'm not sure. These initiatives will make a difference at the margins, but I'm no

Industry committee  To the extent that we're trying to shape the policies of a foreign government, obviously Canada only has so much control. But in terms of getting more trusted traveller documents in the hands of the Americans, we do acknowledge that their passport ownership rate is lower; but hav

Industry committee  In a more general sense, this touches on the issue of Canada's hosting policy for large events. The members will know that Toronto has just been awarded the Pan-American Games, which is a real feather in our cap. My colleague in the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance is fond of sayi

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Masse. Clearly, there are components of our industry, like the bed-and-breakfast sector in British Columbia, that had hitherto been exempt from the PST but are now going to see a significant rise in their costs. I think, though, that perhaps we should preface this

Industry committee  No. In fairness, though, some of this does, despite your earlier comment, lie at the feet of the governments in B.C. and Ontario, to some extent, in terms of deciding which sectors are going to be grandfathered or exempted.

Industry committee  I know there is a lot of frustration that in the wake of the termination of Tourism BC, you suddenly see a few months later the unilateral imposition of this HST. The industry out there is pretty animated. We're just expressing some of that frustration here.

Industry committee  You're correct about the HST, and I think it's assumed by the industry that the full HST amount will be rebatable for tours, meetings, and conventions. We would at least hope so. That's the fervent desire of the industry. I was talking to some tour operators today, though, and w

Industry committee  Perhaps I could answer. There are three things we would see as being important here. The first would be to increase consular services in those markets for the time being. I know it's a medium-term objective of the government to lift the visa requirement on Mexico, or at least th

Industry committee  I guess I can add to what Michele had to say. TIAC expects to be involved in developing a kind of quality assurance program for the receptive tour operators, the people who will be greeting the Chinese visitors. Considerable work has been done on that in the past. So I would li

Industry committee  As with my colleagues, for me there was no consultation on that particular file, although at one level that was understandable, perhaps, given the potential for a run on our border had there been prior notification given. And we have not done any economic analysis of the Mexican

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I'm pleased to be here today. Tourism is a sector that generates $74 billion and has the potential to develop more, particularly as a result of the stimulus from the agreement whereby China has granted Canada approved-destination s