C-19 BULLETIN - March 27, 2020

We commend the federal government for the new measures announced today that will help employees, as well as and small and medium tourism enterprises through the crisis in the near term. At the same, the relief package may not address the needs of many other tourism operators for various reasons.

Therefore, TIABC needs your help to identify any gaps to ensure that all tourism businesses have the opportunity to access funding to remain solvent.

The Province is looking for specific examples and solutions on how to supplement the federal government's measures.

Some examples include:
  • Rent relief for commercial operations and security for landlords. With rents due on April 1st, many operators do not have sufficient cash flow to meet their lease obligations.
  • Provincial match of $40,000, no-interest loan to allow operators to meet fixed costs obligations until the federal loan program becomes available.

Please send your recommendations to [email protected] within the next 24-48 hours or forward your suggestions to your respective sector association.
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Federal Government Announces Additional Business Supports

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  announced  more help for small and medium-sized businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 crisis, including a 75% wage subsidy and guaranteed interest-free loans.

The Prime Minister said the wage subsidies will be backdated to March 15th. Government previously announced a 10% wage subsidy for business. Today, Trudeau acknowledged that was not enough.

The federal government will also guarantee loans of up to $40,000 for small businesses which will be interest-free for the first year. Under certain conditions, up to $10,000 of the loans could be non-repayable.

You can read more about the Federal government COVID-19 economic response plan on the Government of Canada website. More details will be made available next week.

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Message from Minister Lisa Beare

I want to start by thanking everyone who has provided feedback, offered support, and stayed engaged as we gather information about the impacts of COVID-19 to communities, businesses and people. 

I continue to brief my Cabinet colleagues frequently and your feedback has helped me paint a fuller picture of the impacts of COVID-19 on the tourism sector. We are considering the needs of your communities at every stage of the planning process for mitigation, relief and eventually, recovery. 

We are living through both a health crisis and an economic crisis, and I know people are worried about what the future holds. We have been working around the clock to protect people’s health, but we’ve also announced relief measures for businesses and people. 

On March 18, the federal government announced a package for businesses and workers. These measures will offer some relief of the economic stress, but we know more will be needed. On March 23, the provincial government announced the B.C. COVID-19 Action Plan, which builds on the federal government’s strategy and represents our first step to provide relief to people and businesses in British Columbia. 

The B.C. COVID-19 Action Plan has several measures that will offer some immediate relief to the tourism and hospitality sectors. These include delaying several tax filing and payment deadlines for personal income tax, EHT, PST, MRDT, motor fuel tax, and carbon tax. Businesses will also benefit from government’s announced 50% cut in the provincial school property tax rate for commercial properties. 

People who have had their income affected by the outbreak will soon be able to apply for the BC Emergency Benefit for Workers for a tax-free one-time payment of $1,000. That is in addition to the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit. As well, the federal government has introduced a temporary wage subsidy up to 75% and is providing additional business financing support through its Business Credit Availability Program. 


As the tourism, hospitality and culture sectors are amongst the hardest-hit by this pandemic, we are working on sector-specific supports to help you come back strong in the future. I will be sharing more details about this in the coming weeks. 

Tourism is one of the most resilient industries in B.C. I’ve seen you overcome great challenges like wildfires and floods. Your leadership and your swift response to this unprecedented situation is a sign of your strength and it gives me confidence that, together, we will get through this and welcome the world once again to beautiful B.C.

Take care, 
Lisa Beare
Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, responsible for Sport 
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Feel free to send us your ideas on what information would be valuable for TIABC to share through our COVID-19 Bulletin going forward. Drop us a line at [email protected].