- An Update on NOTO's Lobbying Efforts
- Early Bird Prize Winner Announced
- Write to Your Federal MPs - They Are Listening! Grants considered, help us keep the pressure on!
- Clarification on Announcements of Federal Funding for Tourism for Quebec and Atlantic Canada
- Update on Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
- Update on Manitoba Quarantine Requirements
- Fogging & UV - Not Recommended as an Effective Tool Against COVID-19 says CDC, WHO
- NOTO Employment Board
We will continue to strive to bring forward pertinent information to the tourism industry as it becomes available. We will also do our best to find answers to your questions. Do not hesitate to contact us. We are here for you.
NOTO Contact Emails:
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Update on our Lobbying Efforts
Laurie Marcil - Executive Director
As I am sure you have noticed, we are not filling your inbox as often these days. I want to assure you that this does not mean we aren't keeping busy. In fact, we are incredibly busy these days as we continue to lobby hard for financial support for our sector of tourism. We know that without this support our industry will struggle to remain financially viable.
We continue to hold seats on several Ministerial Advisory Councils, we meet regularly to collaborate with our fellow Provincial outfitter association colleagues, we are in regular contact with MPs and MPPs across the North and we are working with media to bring attention to the needs of our sector.
At the Provincial level, I learned yesterday that we are getting very close to hearing news regarding our request to have all crown resource fees waived for this year. We anticipate that we will have a response in the coming days. We are optimistic that the response will be positive and that operators with LUPs, BMAs, and bait harvest licences will be getting some relief.
We will be sending out another brief survey next week. As we continue our lobbying efforts, it is critical that we have current statistics and information directly from all of you to share. Please take the time to respond to our survey and share it with others who may not be receiving our newsletters.
Since March 12th, we have opened up our electronic communications to all outdoor tourism operators across the Province. We have done this because we know how critical it is that these businesses have current and accurate information that relates to their business. We will continue to do this for as long as we can. If you know anyone who would benefit from getting our information, we encourage you to let them know that they can subscribe to our newsletter on the front door of
http://noto.ca
We will continue with our efforts to lobby fiercely for more meaningful support from the Provincial and Federal Governments. We encourage all of you to help us do that by writing your letters and responding to surveys.
Take care,
Laurie
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Early Bird Prize Winner Announced!
Congratulations to Kap River Outfitters!
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The 2020 prize for the Early Bird renewal draw is a DJI Mavic Mini Drone with a 2.7K Camera that can be used to create videos to help promote your business and have a little fun!!
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Any operator who joins or renews their membership with NOTO between December and March 31st of the new year are automatically entered in the Early Bird Prize Draw. The early bird prize is typically announced in the last week of February. This year with the onset of COVID in March we extended the early bird to the end of April.
Thank you to all who participated in the draw by renewing or joining early this year. For those who are considering membership with NOTO, we invite you to reach out to discuss payment options. Memberships with NOTO annually run from June 1st to May 31st.
NOTO is a membership-based organization that works hard to support the outdoor tourism industry through advocacy and information services. As we continue to work through this pandemic together, our primary focus is to help keep the tourism industry informed on the latest developments, available support programs, and to provide you with resources to help you prepare your businesses for brighter days ahead
NOTO is proud to represent such a strong, unified industry! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Laurie, our Executive Director (
laurie@noto.net
) or Kate (
kate@noto.net
). The NOTO staff is always glad to help!
Thank you all for your support!
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Write letters to your Federal MPs - they are listening!
NOTO as well as several tourism stakeholders participated in the Virtual Northern Ontario Tourism Town Hall hosted by Destination Northern Ontario on June 18th. Destination Northern Ontario, Explorer's Edge, NOTO, and TIAO were each able to provide a brief presentation to the Federal Northern Ontario Liberal Caucus members during this town hall.
All presenters pressed them on the importance of receiving additional funding that won't lead to additional debt as a result of the losses felt to date, as well as the future losses expected as a result of the Canada-US border closure extension.
The Federal MPs have stated that they are not opposed to the idea of grant programs for tourism operators.
To help keep the pressure on the Federal MPs, NOTO is encouraging all operators to submit letters to their local Federal MPs. This campaign will be done in a similar fashion to the Provincial letter writing campaign.
In your letters, tell them about:
- the financial losses you've suffered
- the need for more meaningful financial assistance
- the challenges that you have and will continue to face
- the staffing issues
- the concerns for safety of staff and guests
- the lack of respect and acknowledgement for seasonal businesses who are the backbone of the economy
- the inability for businesses to plan with no clear dates or timelines
- and any other points you want to make.
Re-purposing the letters you sent to the Provincial MPPs is an option and can certainly be a time saver.
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Clarification on Federal Funding Given to Quebec and Atlantic Canada
Several operators have contacted us to express frustrations surrounding the recent $16 million investment in Atlantic Canada and $30 million investment in Quebec for Tourism from the Federal Government.
Similarly to Ontario's funding announcements, TIAC notes that this is not new funding, but rather an announcement on the allocation of previously announced funding.
The $16 million for the Atlantic Provinces will be distributed by the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
(their version of FedNor/FedDev). ACOA is investing $9 million to support 69 tourism projects across the four Atlantic provinces. ACOA is also contributing more than $2.4 million to support ten initiatives with nine destination development and marketing organizations in Atlantic Canada to promote, grow and support tourism in their city, region or experience sector. This $16 million also includes the previously announced $4.5 million from Destination Canada which will be distributed to DMOs for domestic marketing initiatives.
As for
Quebec's $30 million
, $6 million comes from Destination Canada which will be distributed to the
Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec
for domestic marketing initiatives and $7 million will be distributed to the Alliance via the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (their version of FedNor/FedDev). Within the $7 million
given to the Alliance
from the CED, a small portion will go towards helping small businesses mainly in the accommodation, attractions and tourism service sectors for acquiring PPE and improving their infrastructure to meet new public health rules. This announcement also includes the $2.8 million that the CED already allocated towards 16 tourism related projects (mostly renovations and modernization projects with funding being given in a mix of loans and grants), the previously announced $4.8 million for 140 projects already granted through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund as well as already granted financial assistance agreements made between businesses and the regional tourism associations and/or sectoral tourism associations for marketing and events totaling $9.5 million per year.
Similarly to the Federal funding announced to date for Ontario, none of the funding is going directly to operators, and these are announcements on the allocation of previously announced funding.
This only confirms that we must continue to keep the pressure up on the Federal Government for meaningful support that puts non-repayable money in the hands of tourism operators.
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Update on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Extension
We have recently sought clarification regarding the state of the extension of the 75% wage subsidy for businesses. We have learned that recent attempts to pass this extension at Parliament have not been successful. T
here are 4 sitting dates over the summer but there are no guarantees that the extension will be passed. At this point it is a risk for businesses to rely on CEWS to cover 75% of employee wages beyond July 4th.
The hold up is clearly political and we are making every effort to press for this extension to be passed as soon as possible. We will keep you posted.
For more details on the CEWS click
here.
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Update About the Manitoba Quarantine
Change: As of June 21st, Residents of Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario do not need to self-isolate for 14 days when entering Manitoba.
Anyone entering Manitoba from designated western Canadian jurisdictions (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut territories) or Northwestern Ontario (defined as west of Terrace Bay) is not required to self-isolate for 14 days if they are asymptomatic and have no known exposure to COVID-19.
Travellers from all other Canadian jurisdictions will need to continue to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in Manitoba. Anyone entering Canada must continue to follow federal requirements for self-isolation at the time of entry.
Consideration will be given to lifting self-isolation requirements in the future for sectors that propose and provide satisfactory plans to address public health requirements for necessary travel.
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Foggers and UV Lights: Not Recommended as an Effective Tool Against COVID-19 says CDC, WHO
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and the World Health Organization
DO NOT
recommend fogging as a method of sanitization against COVID-19.
Fogging does not adequately disinfect surfaces
and may lead to eye, skin and respiratory irritation.
As for UV, a few health care centres have implemented the use of UV technology however the CDC and WHO state that you
would still require to clean all surfaces
to remove any organic matter on the surface prior to use. The efficiency of UV is highly dependent on irradiation dose, wavelength and exposure time; lamp placement; lamp age; and duration of use. Other factors include direct or indirect line of sight from the device; room size and shape; intensity; and reflection.
Due to these variables, it is recommended that operators clean all surfaces using the appropriate cleaners in addition to using foggers and UV lights if you already own these devices.
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NOTO Employment Board
As operators begin to open, many need help with finding employees. NOTO's website features an employment discussion board where those looking for work and those looking to hire can post in hopes of filling vacant positions.
This board is free to use for everyone and will be shared regularly on our social media pages.
NOTO also encourages all operators to take advantage of the CEWS program and the CEWS extension once it becomes available. Accessing CEWS will provide operators with more pay flexibility and could be used as an incentive to encourage individuals who are currently relying on CERB to come back to work for the summer.
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NOTO's COVID-19 Page
This page was created to keep you informed on the latest developments that may impact/help your businesses. This page features links to our COVID-19 newsletters, Government resources, information that may be useful to tourism operators and links to supports for tourism operators as they become available. This page will be updated regularly during this pandemic.There are FAQ's with answers and tips from NOTO. FAQs will be regularly updated as well.
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Federal & Provincial Government Information
The Ontario and Federal Governments are regularly updating COVID-19 information, travel information, Minister statements, Government initiatives and statistics on their websites. For additional information from the Ontario or Federal Government, please click on the buttons below.
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NOTO is a membership based organization that works hard to support the outdoor tourism industry through advocacy and information services. We do not receive Government funding for operating and rely on annual memberships from tourism businesses, organizations, product and service suppliers, and partners. For more information about membership with NOTO visit
noto.ca
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