B.C.’s tourism and hospitality sector is seeking a $680-million stimulus package from the provincial government to assist the businesses and workforce devastated by the pandemic and its crippling travel restrictions.
The Tourism Industry Association of B.C., which represents more than 19,000 tourism and hospitality businesses, said Tuesday it wants the province to allocate the funds from its $1.5-billion recovery fund as an initial investment to help mitigate the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19.
article continues below
Trending Stories
“The existing suite of packages aimed at the overall economy are appreciated and helpful, but not sufficient to sustain the B.C. tourism and hospitality sector for the foreseeable future from this unexpected pandemic,” Vivek Sharma, chair of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C. said in a statement Tuesday.
“The only way we can prevent generations of lost economic activity, jobs, and tax revenues is by acting decisively now with innovative and creative solutions that recognize the importance of this sector, which is the face and brand of British Columbia to the world and one of the strongest drivers of B.C.’s economy.”
The association noted that in 2018, the latest statistics available, the tourism and hospitality industry had more than 19,300 businesses, generated more than $8.3 billion in provincial GDP and $4.5 billion in direct tax revenues from $20.4 billion in direct visitor spending, and created employment in tourism-related businesses for more than 300,000, half of whom service visitors in every community of the province.
As the only industry almost entirely based on the discretionary movement of people, the tourism and hospitality sector has been the most severely impacted by COVID-19 due to business closure orders and restrictions on personal travel, as well as the closure of international borders, said the tourism association.
It said virtually the entire sector was shut down resulting in extensive layoffs, with many businesses having closed without the cash flow to re-open, and thousands more desperately trying to maintain solvency.
Despite the start of Phase 3 reopening on June 24, most sector businesses have only partially re-opened.
The tourism association has a bleak economic outlook. It said the best-case projections will see a $14.8 billion (69 per cent) decline in tourism revenue from $20.4 billion in 2018 to $6.7 billion in 2020. “This severe loss in revenue, which could be significantly greater, will have reverberating impacts on jobs, government revenues through taxes, and the ability to re-invest in the sector for a more resilient, sustainable future,” the association said.
The recovery stimulus package proposed by the tourism and hospitality sector has three components:
• A Working Capital Recovery Grant ($475 million) to help sustain and maintain solvency for businesses that have prospects to return to profitability in the medium term (i.e. 18 months). This could include the provision of low or no-interest loans with an extended payback period. As the timing and magnitude of out-of-province visitors is uncertain, the immediate priority would be to sustain businesses that normally rely on these visitors and generate significant revenues for the visitor economy, as well as businesses that play central roles in attracting visitors to a community or a region.
• Support for Adaptation Costs ($190 million) that would provide funds to help businesses adapt their operations to the health and safety requirements of COVID-19 and protect their workforce, visitors, residents and local communities; and develop innovative ways of delivering tourism experiences to augment and accelerate recovery.
• Support for Developing Resilient, B.C.-focused Supply Chains ($15 million). The goal would be to support industry subsectors (accommodation, attractions, transportation, food services, and retail) refocus their supply chains and forge new relationships with B.C. suppliers, to create supply chains that will not only promote recovery over the next 18 months, but also contribute to the industry’s resilience going forward.
The proposal also recommends a joint industry-government task force to work alongside existing industry organizations and networks to finalize funding parameters, application processes, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The task force would include participation by the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness, and the Ministry of Finance.
“For decades, tourism has been a strong and consistent economic engine for the province and significant source of employment in every B.C. community,” said Sharma. “What we are asking for is a return on the contributions the tourism and hospitality sector has made to the provincial and national economy over those decades. Essentially, we need an initial investment of $680 million to save an industry that is worth more than $20 billion per year. Without this support, our sector could see upward of 100,000 jobs lost in 2020 and thousands of businesses permanently shuttered.”
To view the proposed tourism and hospitality sector recovery stimulus proposal, see tiabc.ca.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
