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Canadian COVID-19 Update | Thursday, April 23

April 23, 2020

TIAC’s Work

  • TIAC’s President and CEO is participating in an industry webinar with Destination Canada and ISED today, to continue TIAC’s cooperative efforts to assist tourism businesses in these difficult times 
  • The President & CEO also held a call with executives from airlines to discuss collaborative advocacy efforts.
  • TIAC participated on a Canadian Chamber of Commerce tourism stakeholder call emphasizing the need for national associations to lead our sector’s COVID-19 policy work. 
  • TIAC outlined our priorities in accessing immediate liquidity for tourism business, broadening wage subsidies, identifying and closing policy gaps for tourism businesses and our recovery planning. TIAC was clear that Canadian Chamber of Commerce participation must align with the policy priorities set by industry stakeholders.  Now is not the time to disperse our energy and priorities.   
  • Next week, TIAC’s President & CEO will once again participate in a Destination Canada COVID-19 public webinar
  • Details on the webinar can be found here: https://www.destinationcanada.com/en/coronavirus-updates/covid-19-webinar  

In case you missed it … 

  • Our partners at Destination Canada have released their preliminary data on the impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian tourism sector: https://www.destinationcanada.com/en/coronavirus-updates/covid-19-research
  • TIAC has recently been informed of the opportunity for tourism businesses to participate in a telephone townhall meeting hosted by the Official Opposition this weekend. Conservative Shadow Ministers for Tourism, Small Business, Rural Economic Development, and Associate Shadow Minister for Finance will be leading the call on Saturday, April 25 at 1pm EST/10am PST. 
    • Please note that TIAC advocacy work remains non-partisan – this townhall is an opportunity for stakeholders to share their messages on what support is required to help our sector recover. 
    • This will be a good opportunity for TIAC members to share the challenges they are facing during this global health pandemic, and what gaps remain in government programs. 
    • To participate in the town hall, please sign-up here: https://www.conservative.ca/cpc/small-business-tele-town-hall/. You will receive a call on Saturday at 1pm EST/10am PST that will automatically connect you to the townhall.    

Government Announcements

  • Today, the Prime Minister announced a $1.1 billion dollar medical and research strategy to fight COVID-19. This strategy has three pillars; research, supports for clinical trials, and expanding national testing and modelling. 
  • Under this plan, the government will be investing close to $115 million for research into vaccines and treatments being developed in hospitals and universities across the country, on top of the vaccine funding already committed. 
    • $662 million will be dedicated to clinical trials led by Canada. A vaccination is the long-term solution to this crisis.
    • $350 million will go towards expanding national testing and modelling of COVID-19, including the creation of a COVID-19 immunity task force operating under the direction of a leadership group of top experts and scientists. 
  • The Prime Minister also acknowledged the terrible tragedies occurring in long term care facilities, and committed to solutions.
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