NOTO Participates in Tourism Delegation at the 2021 Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference
On Monday and Tuesday this week, Executive Director, Laurie Marcil participated in TIAO’s tourism delegation made up of over 10 representatives from sectoral and regional tourism organizations at the 2021 AMO Conference. This strong group of representatives met with 16 Provincial Ministers and/or their senior staff over the two day delegation meeting schedule.
Here are some of the main issues that were pressed during these meetings an through TIAOs comprehensive briefs that were circulated to appropriate Ministries:
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The massive labour shortage issues within tourism and the need for more support to encourage people to come back to work as well as new interest for tourism as a career.
- Support from the Province for changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and the LMIA exemptions
- An immediate roll-out of the $100M that was set aside in the Provincial budget that has not been dispensed yet.
- Waiving all land tenure and other crown permit fees for 2022.
- Provide financial relief for tourism businesses who have taken on debt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ensuring that Government understands that we are by no means in recovery mode and that non-repayable financial support must continue to be offered.
- Ensuring that Ontario has the transportation infrastructure required to meet future tourism needs.
- Support for Francophone and bilingual tourism partnership initiatives between SÉO and the education and sector tourism network.
- Develop regulatory changes to address high commercial insurance rates
There was much more that this group brought forward. NOTO was very proud to be part of this tremendously knowledgeable and passionate group of tourism representatives. We are also very grateful to Chris Bloore, Jessica Ng, Carol Greenwood and Maxine Morrell-West for their hard work in organizing all of these meetings and countless briefs that allowed us to represent the industry with professionalism and strength.
NOTO would also like to thank all of their colleagues that participated as well. It is always empowering to know that you are not alone in your advocacy efforts and that you have the support of others along your journey.
We are looking forward to working with TIAO and this tourism delegation to follow up with these Ministries and ensure we can obtain success for tourism businesses in our sectors.
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