The appointment of four Northern Ontario reps to a provincial tourism marketing board was viewed favourably by district operators, many of whom have seen a sharp drop in U.S. bookings for the fall hunting season.
Virginia McKenzie, Donna Hanson, Roger Liddle, and Edward Meijer were named to the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. by the provincial government earlier this month.
Liddle has yet to be approved by an all-party legislative committee, but as soon as that is done, the board will begin its work promoting the region’s abundant resources to potential tourists throughout North America.
Tannis Drysdale of Fort Frances, president of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce (NOACC), said the appointments are a good first step in controlling the spin-off damage caused to the tourism industry by the U.S. ban on Canadian meat imports.
“I’m pleased that they’ve [the provincial government] made the appointments and I look forward with a sense of urgency for the government to appoint a committee,” added Drysdale.
That committee will be assigned to promote tourism opportunities in the province and as well as lobby the federal government to address the meat ban, which is threatening the livelihood of hundreds of tourist outfitters across Northern Ontario.
Drysdale said it’s her understanding the committee will be in place within two weeks and in a position to address the looming crisis in the northern tourism industry.
Although the province is extremely limited in its jurisdiction regarding international trade issues, Drysdale felt there still is an important role for it to play—and the committee will be a good vehicle to forward its agenda.
“The province is faster at responding to these kinds of problems,” she observed. “I honestly believe if we had this committee six months ago, this would have been brought to the [federal] government’s attention sooner.”
Drysdale said she’s somewhat disappointed by the federal government’s response to date regarding the damage the U.S. ban on meat imports is doing to the tourism industry.
And after speaking to local MP Bob Nault, the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, during a phone-in program on B-93 here July 17, she was not encouraged by his grasp of the crisis.
“He [Nault] told me there’s a plan in place to exempt wild game from the import ban, but it won’t be announced until the end of September,” she said.
“If there really is such a plan, why can’t they release it now? By the end of September, it will be too late to salvage this season,” she stressed.
Drysdale noted the northern caribou hunting season begins in Quebec on Aug. 1 and there already are reports outfitters there are notifying their American customers that they won’t be able to take their meat home with them.
Here in Ontario, the hunting season opens later—but time is quickly running out.
“I’m glad to see the issue is finally on the radar screen but if the border isn’t open by Labour Day, we’ll be looking at a recovery package,” Drysdale predicted.
Such a package—like the one recently offered to the cattle industry—only would cover losses directly incurred and would do nothing to help repair the long-term damage to the industry and others associated with it.
It also would cost taxpayers millions.
“Obviously, we would prefer a lifting of the ban over a recovery package,” said Drysdale.
Although there is evidence Washington is sympathetic to the plight of Canadian beef farmers, one of the outstanding issues is the threat by Japan to close its borders to American beef if the U.S. ban against Canada is lifted.
That, said Drysdale, should not be an impediment if the government takes the right approach.
“This should be negotiated separately,” she argued. “Since wild game brought into the States is not destined for export, that should appease the Japanese.”
The alternative, she warned, will be expensive—both in the short and long term.
“If we lose this [hunting] season, how will we get back those customers,” Drysdale wondered. “People usually prefer to take their vacations at the same place every year and once they find an alternative destination, they may not come back.”
That message does appear to have gotten through to the federal agriculture department in Ottawa.
Vern Greenshields, communications advisor to Agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief, said Monday that the minister has approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a plan to exempt wild game from the meat ban.
But so far, he’s met with limited success.
“He [Vanclief] has already made that argument to the Americans,” Greenshields said from his office in Ottawa. “But they have been very vague in their responses on all requests to open the border.”
Greenshields added he suspected the stalling by the Americans was not motivated by health and safety concerns but instead has become a trade issue.
“My minister’s counterpart in the United States, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, said publicly last week that Canadian beef is safe,” recalled Greenshields.
“Their concern seems to be disaffecting the Japanese export market.”
Since imported wild game is destined solely for domestic consumption and not export, it would appear the concerns over Japanese sanctions are unwarranted.
Nonetheless, the border remains tightly closed and as long as that is the case, it could be a bleak fall for Northern Ontario’s tourist outfitters.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
