Prime Minister Stephen Harper chats with Mychelle and Philip Houde in Winnipeg.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Winnipeg recently and sat down with several local business owners for the first in a series of pre-budget consultative meetings with Canadians regarding the economy.
Only eight business owners across various sectors were invited to the private one hour round table and among them were Philip and Mychelle Houde, owners of River East Travel & Cruise Centre. “It was slightly different than my usual morning,” quipped Philip Houde, who is also an elected member of the Ensemble Travel Group Canadian Advisory Board. “The Prime Minister spent most of the hour listening and taking notes. The business owners did most of the talking and we had a great chance to put our concerns and advice forward,” he added.
The group’s overall advice was that the government should run as a small business does: living within its means in tough economic times; not raising taxes and finding better ways to control and reprioritize expenditures. The group stressed that the more dollars the government leaves in the hands of Canadians, the more they will have to patronize local businesses, which in turn would strengthen our economy.
As it relates specifically to the travel industry, Houde offered Harper with the following advice:
- Buy local The federal government offices should be able to purchase their travel services locally – in the province, city, or town they are located – in order to support the local businesses and the local economy.
- Hiring and training There is a lack of skilled employees entering the travel industry; provide assistance and look at possibilities such as Employment Insurance (E.I.) credits for hiring and training.
- National Consumer Protection Instead of provincial programs that exist only in Ontario, BC and Quebec, the federal government should consider a national program to give equal protection to Canadian travellers. There are 3 major benefits:
a) For the consumer – protection in case of a bankruptcy, more confidence in their purchases and a higher level of oversight and standards within the travel industry
b) For the travel industry – more professionalism and higher standards, creating stronger Canadian businesses and helping us to compete fairly within Canada so that there is no advantage for one province over the other, and giving us an edge over non-Canadian based travel companies
c) For the federal government – the ability to ensure Canadians are protected across the country by implementing a standard system of procedures and practices for when defaults do occur.
- Inbound tourism Look to other world nations that do a great job of in-bound tourism promotion. Encourage travellers to bring valuable tourism dollars into our economy by streamlining entry procedures at airports, for example, which will reduce major inefficiencies for travellers while saving costs for travel industry companies and the airlines.
