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Results: 1 - 15 of 172
Corryn Clemence
View Corryn Clemence Profile
Corryn Clemence
2021-05-18 11:32
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Good afternoon to my fellow Islanders, and good morning to those from across the country.
Thank you for the opportunity to present to your committee again, a mere month after my last presentation. As the CEO for the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island, I have spent this past year reaching out to operators and identifying the ongoing challenges that our industry has faced since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the initial shutdown of our industry back in the spring of 2020, tourism on Prince Edward Island faced that challenge with cautious optimism, opening to Atlantic Canada in July. While the season itself was difficult, many operators would not have survived without the full support of the Canada emergency wage subsidy. This program provided the assurance that operators needed to keep staff working and keep the doors open to the limited visitors we did have.
Decisions made last year were done with the optimism and hope that the 2021 season would bring us back to a more normal tourism year with increased capacities, further border restrictions lifted, and the vaccination programs being rolled out across the country. As we are on the brink of kicking off another summer season, operators are now faced with a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, enhanced border restrictions, and a beleaguered mindset.
In the recent announcement of the 2021 federal budget, the proposed wage subsidy decline would set many operators further behind than last year, and the uncertainties of both subsidy programs and restrictions leave many facing the impossible decision of remaining closed again and the harsh reality of not surviving the year. Some of our small owner-operators are balancing financial struggles, staffing issues and COVID protocols all at once, while navigating through the federal and provincial programs, looking for any type of assistance to help them through. The mental health strain is clearly visible, and we will continue to be concerned for these struggling Canadians. In what is a traditionally seasonal destination, these operators have a six-month window of opportunity to drive sales, pay staff, cover debt load, and plan to retain enough revenue to cover 12 months of expenses from the six months of business.
The Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy programs provide a backstop for our businesses to keep those staff employed and keep the doors open during these difficult times of reduced capacity and border restrictions. While numbers for visitation and sales remain low, programs such as these have been a lifeline for tourism and hospitality businesses across the country. It is important to note that as visitation and sales increase, these subsidy programs in their current capacity naturally decline and become obsolete.
Should operators make the decision to shutter their business for the year, I want to highlight the domino effect that these decisions have on communities, other operators and our tourism product overall. For example, as Matthew mentioned earlier, if a main attraction in one of our smaller communities makes the decision to stay closed, this has detrimental implications to local accommodation providers, restaurants and retail businesses. We need to find ways to ensure that these businesses are equipped and able to open to protect the industry in both a rural and urban capacity. Demand-drivers like these are the reason for many to make travel plans, and without them, everyone suffers.
As we move to reopening to the rest of Canada, our industry is faced with the reality of no meaningful tourism on Prince Edward Island until the 2022 year. Even if they survive the 2021 season, without the ability to generate meaningful cash flow, they are looking at a long winter to prepare for what is hopefully an improved 2022. The industry will not see the 2019 levels of visitation and expenditure that we enjoyed only a couple of years ago, but is at the start of a struggle back to the thriving industry we once were. With that, our focus is on ensuring the survival of our operators and recognizing the importance of not only surviving but finding a way to see capital infrastructure investments and upkeep so that these businesses are well-positioned to welcome back visitors to our island.
We are not out of this pandemic yet, and our tourism and hospitality industry faces its biggest challenge to date: surviving a second year of pandemic lockdowns and limited ability to operate. We are asking the Government of Canada to maintain the Canada emergency wage subsidy program and the Canada emergency rent subsidy program at their current rates until the time comes for people to travel and restrictions are eased. Our industry is focused on people interacting, travelling and coming together.
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View James Cumming Profile
CPC (AB)
View James Cumming Profile
2021-05-18 11:37
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It's good to see you again, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all of the witnesses today.
I want to start off with Mr. Jelley.
Mr. Jelley, I have enormous empathy and respect for you as an entrepreneur and the crisis you're working through with those losses through what has been a very active business.
I want to talk to you about a couple of things. Is it not time that we looked at these supports with more of a risk analysis and a targeting...? Obviously, the government can't carry on these levels of support across the board. It's just not sustainable.
Would you not agree that we should now do a better risk analysis and have actual targeted supports?
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Matthew Jelley
View Matthew Jelley Profile
Matthew Jelley
2021-05-18 11:38
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Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Cumming, for your question.
I participated in a chamber of commerce video here five years ago promoting entrepreneurship, where I said that it's not realistic for us all to work for the government. I didn't realize that five years later that might come back to hit me.
I do agree. I highlighted in my comments that I think it is an opportunity to retarget and refocus, but what I am saying is that in tourism and hospitality, if we're looking to retarget, we are there. If we're talking about businesses down by more than 50% or more than 70%, those are the places where I feel we should be.
As far as public companies, private equity funds and very large companies are concerned, I think there are lots of policy considerations for you and your committee members. It is not my place to do that. For us, for small businesses and for those most highly affected by the pandemic through no fault of their own from the double whammy of travel restrictions and capacity limits, our businesses have been so devastatingly hit. Certainly, and all biases declared, I think we're in that category that is well deserving.
For a business that's down 11%...is it time to start weaning those off...? Certainly I think that's a very fair consideration.
I'm more than happy to share my financial situation, how it's impacted us and what that means. It's a water park designed to and does hold 3,000 to 4,000 people a day and is limited to less than 500. Expenses don't change. We still need to have lifeguards. We still need to have the water flowing on the waterslides. We still need to pay the insurance company.
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View Tamara Jansen Profile
CPC (BC)
Absolutely.
Now I'm going to shift over to Ms. Clemence.
When I heard the Prime Minister talk about a one-dose summer, my heart broke because I recognized the tourism industry was absolutely hooped by that sort of talking point. I wonder if you could talk a little more about the challenges. I know the Tourism Industry Association of Canada has been saying over and over again that these supports they've been getting shouldn't stop until the government stops telling people to stay home.
I wonder if you could talk about that.
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Corryn Clemence
View Corryn Clemence Profile
Corryn Clemence
2021-05-18 12:27
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Certainly. Thank you for the opportunity.
I think it's a unique challenge in each of our provinces. Obviously, Atlantic Canada has handled the COVID restrictions differently than other jurisdictions with our Atlantic bubble last summer. We're looking again at an Atlantic bubble. We were really optimistic that the vaccine rollout would provide some benchmarks and a roadmap to return to travel and visitation.
With the vaccine rollouts as they are now, the one dose versus two and the varying restrictions in different jurisdictions, it's very challenging. One of the things we've had conversations on with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and governments is trying to find ways to clarify those restrictions. Even as we start to see some jurisdictions open up, ease those border restrictions and increase capacities, to be able to move freely, have consumer and visitor confidence, and have people understand what the restrictions are in each jurisdiction is really important.
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View Ed Fast Profile
CPC (BC)
View Ed Fast Profile
2021-05-18 12:38
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Yes. I'll direct it to Ms. Clemence because Mr. Jelley has been doing a lot of the answering.
There have been persistent calls for the government to now pivot to targeted, sector-specific support for the most heavily impacted sectors of tourism and hospitality, and Mr. Jelley signalled that in his testimony earlier.
Could you tell this committee what targeted, sector-specific support for your sector should look like? Obviously, the enhanced CEWS program is part of that, but are there other elements that you would welcome?
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Corryn Clemence
View Corryn Clemence Profile
Corryn Clemence
2021-05-18 12:39
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I think Matthew has articulated, certainly, the hardest-hit sectors as being attractions. We see it with our experience providers and accommodation providers. I'm not an expert on what those formulas might look like, but when you start to look at the percentages of the hardest hit, I think that's a true indicator of where we see those deficiencies in the support.
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View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I have a question for Ms. Kennedy. The government is scaling back substantially on COVID support starting in a few weeks, and we're in the midst of a deadly third wave. Do you think the government is acting prematurely in cutting back all of those supports that people desperately need at a time when we are very much in danger?
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Colleen Kennedy
View Colleen Kennedy Profile
Colleen Kennedy
2021-05-18 13:54
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Yes, I do. I think the government responded very well to the needs of Canadians when the pandemic started. Yes, we might have the vaccine and we might be getting closer to the end, but we are far from financially independent or wealthy enough in some of these cases for these companies to move on without assistance. We're still probably months out before we're back to even 50% of our business capacity. A lot of that's not going to happen for about six months out.
Like I said, it's not just a matter of getting the vaccine for us. We've lost 19 flights in Atlantic Canada. We almost have to rebuild our traffic routes and our access routes to fill our businesses and our accommodators again, so I don't think pulling out in the next three or four months is a wise idea for us.
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will leave it to you to introduce the officials later on, but let me say thank you very much to the officials for being with us.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak to you today about Bill C-30, Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1.
After more than 14 months of uncertainty and challenges, Canadians are continuing to fight COVID-19, but we know there is light at the end of the tunnel. As we fight the third wave, more and more Canadians are getting vaccinated.
Bill C-30 is an essential piece of legislation that, once enacted, will allow us to implement our plan to finish the fight against COVID, create jobs and a swift recovery from the COVID recession and lay a foundation for robust, inclusive, green, long-term economic growth.
This budget is about helping middle-class Canadians, helping workers and helping more Canadians to join the middle class. It is about embracing this moment of global transformation to a greener, cleaner economy. It is a plan that will help Canadians and Canadian businesses heal the wounds of COVID and come roaring back.
First, we need to finish the fight against this virus. This bill includes a one-time payment of $4 billion to the provinces and territories to support their health care systems, support that is so essential as we fight the third wave. This is in addition to the $1 billion to support the provinces and territories as they ramp up their vaccine campaigns.
We are making progress in our vaccination efforts, and I know that team Canada can vaccinate even more Canadians even more quickly, and we will. I was vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine at a Toronto pharmacy 15 days ago, and I encourage all Canadians to get vaccinated as soon as it is their turn.
The pandemic has caused a recession, so we need to start by rolling out a comprehensive plan for jobs and growth, to address the disproportionate impact the recession has had on women, young people, racialized Canadians, low-wage workers and small business.
A cornerstone of our plan is a historic investment of $30 billion over five years, reaching $9.2 billion annually, in permanent investments to provide high-quality, affordable and accessible early learning and child care across Canada. Our goal is that within five years, families everywhere in Canada should have access to high-quality child care for an average of $10 a day. Dear colleagues from all political parties, let's make a commitment together today to all Canadians. Let's get this done.
I want to take a moment to recognize Quebec's leadership, especially that of feminist Quebeckers, who have led the way for the rest of Canada.
While we know better days are ahead, many families are still struggling. Around a million Canadians either remain out of work or are working significantly fewer hours than they were pre-pandemic. We must support hard-hit Canadians and businesses across the country so they can recover as soon as possible.
Bill C-30 includes emergency supports for Canadian workers, businesses and families.
The legislation extends the Canada emergency wage subsidy, the Canada emergency rent subsidy, and lockdown support through to September 25, 2021 which will help protect millions of jobs.
With this legislation, we are providing a bridge for people who are unable to work because of COVID by extending income supports, maintaining flexible access to EI benefits, and extending the EI sickness benefit from 15 to 26 weeks.
Bill C-30 also introduces a $15 an hour federal minimum wage. It expands the Canada workers benefit, extending income top-ups to about a million more low wage workers, and lifting nearly 100,000 Canadians out of poverty. These are measurable concrete steps to help Canadians who need help.
We must also help small business, the backbone of our economy and every main street in the country. To do that, we need to improve access to capital and help businesses hire more workers, in particular, through the new Canada recovery hiring program.
Young Canadians have made tremendous sacrifices this past year to protect their elders, and now, they need our collective support.
Through Bill C-30, we will make college and university more accessible and affordable by extending the waiver of interest accrual on federal student loans until March 2023. This will mean savings for more than 1.5 million Canadians repaying student loans. We will not let young Canadians become a lost generation.
Mr. Chair, I have spoken today about just a few of the measures included in Bill C-30, measures which will make a tangible positive difference in the lives of millions of Canadians.
This is a plan for jobs, growth and the middle class. It is a plan built around helping Canadians recover, succeed and thrive.
I recognize the critical role parliamentary committees play in scrutinizing government legislation, and I'm grateful to all of you for your hard work.
Bill C-30 is a historic first step towards recovery and new economic growth for future generations of Canadians.
I would be pleased to answer any questions you have as you study this critically important piece of legislation.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
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View Tamara Jansen Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you.
I didn't get an answer to that one, so regarding the business support loans, Dave would like to know why your programs make no differentiation between those who were seriously impacted and those who were not. He wants to know why small business owners like him who were shut completely down were treated the same as ones that were open.
Why didn't you better target compensation for those who were much more impacted?
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View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
In fact, compensation has been very focused on where the need is the greatest. That is why programs like the wage subsidy and rent support are actually based on level of income loss.
As well, I do want to go back on the CERB and to say that my government's view is that the millions of Canadians who lost their job in COVID through no fault of their own needed to be supported. We're glad to have been able to do that.
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View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
View Pat Kelly Profile
2021-05-11 17:40
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Thank you.
When the minister appeared at committee to discuss the fall economic statement, she admitted there was nothing in the fall economic statement, or the Speech from the Throne, or any of the previous measures to assist small businesses that opened their doors in, say, late 2019 or the early months of 2020 and do not meet the criteria of the existing support measures.
Is there anything in this budget that would address this problem? This was something that has been widely acknowledged now by the government as a shortcoming in the support measures.
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Evelyn Dancey
View Evelyn Dancey Profile
Evelyn Dancey
2021-05-11 17:41
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I was pausing to see if my colleague, Mr. Marsland, wanted to reply as well, but perhaps we can share in our response if we have different things to say.
There are actually new or enhanced program announcements for Budget 2021 that will be available to new businesses or those that have been launched since the beginning of the pandemic.
With respect to my area at Finance of economic development, there is the Canada digital adoption program to support the acquisition of technology to help the digitization of business. There is the expansion of the Canada small business financing program, which includes a number of elements that are included in Bill C-30 for further detail, but both expands the range of assets that can be financed as well as the different types of financing available.
There also has been an expansion of the government's suite of entrepreneurship measures for women entrepreneurs, Black entrepreneurs, and other equity-deserving entrepreneurs.
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View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
View Pat Kelly Profile
2021-05-11 17:42
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For the entrepreneur who has spent all of their life savings in 2019 to build a new restaurant with an opening date of March 15, 2020, there's really....
With all due respect, I think many of the programs you've described, or some of them, will decline those businesses, and for the same reasons they don't qualify for all of the existing programs. Is there really anything for a business such as I've described?
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