C-19 BULLETIN - July 8, 2020

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Federal Government Update

Canadian Economic and Fiscal Snapshot
Today, Finance Minister Bill Morneau presented an economic and fiscal snapshot. While the toll of COVID-19 on the broader economy in 2020 is expected to be the largest and most sudden economic contraction since the Great Depression, measures to flatten the pandemic curve in Canada are paying off, and efforts are underway across the country to safely and gradually reopen the Canadian economy.

Importantly, the snapshot provides recognition of tourism’s disproportionate burden of the pandemic’s negative impacts, which indicates the government is listening and understands the gravity of the situation faced by the travel sector.

Further, an additional $50 billion will be allocated to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program (CEWS), and it is expected that an extension of the program will be announced shortly. 

Broader details on the fiscal update can be found below under Government Announcements.  The full Economic and Fiscal Update can be viewed at: www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/services/publications/economic-fiscal-snapshot

Gurpreet Vinning of Prospectus Associates (a government relations firm) has produced a report shared with TIABC outlining the highlights of today's government economic update.

Highlights include:
  • Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled a fiscal snapshot today that shows the federal government's deficit is expected to hit $343 billion this year. 
  • Much of the additional deficit can be attributed to $212 billion in direct support measures the federal government is providing to individuals and businesses. 
  • The debt-to-GDP ratio has increased to 49.1% 
  • Canada’s projected debt will be $1.2 trillion by March 2021, up from $765 billion a year earlier. 

Download the Prospectus Associates document here

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Provincial Government Update

An excerpt from today's official statement by Health Minister Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry reads:

"What each of us can do to support contact tracing activities is to complete our own personal risk assessment when deciding where to go and who to see.

Fewer faces, bigger spaces is the safest approach, because we know crowded, closed spaces where people may be in close contact with each other are higher-risk environments for all of us and need to be avoided at this time.

As we have seen in many other locations around the world, one slip can quickly cause a surge in new cases. We have also seen here in B.C. that our foundational rules for safe social interactions help to protect all of us.

This summer, we can travel within our province, we can enjoy many activities and we can spend time with friends and family. And we can do this safely by all of us doing our part to keep our curve flat."
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Majority of Canadians Want Canada-US Border To Remain Closed for the Foreseeable Future

A strong majority of Canadians think the Canada-US border should stay closed for the foreseeable future (81%), while 14% think it should be opened now only in areas where infection rates are low, and 3% think it should be opened immediately.

Nanos conducted a RDD dual frame (land-and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,049 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between June 28th and July 2nd as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
This study was commissioned by the Globe and Mail.

Download the full report here .
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Pulse Check #4

In these unprecedented times, we are collaborating with business associations across the province to collect and provide the best information we can to government from businesses of all sizes, sectors and regions. Information gathered will inform a holistic approach between government and society in acting on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Your feedback to this survey is essential to inform governments’ understanding of the most pressing impacts you are experiencing and what can be done to ensure government is enacting measures to provide the greatest relief.

The survey will take under ~7 minutes to complete. Survey will close on July 13th.

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Small Business BC Webinars


Know Your Audience as You Reopen
Join Small Business BC’s Market Research Analyst,  Mark Eversfield , and find key tips and best practices for researching and understanding your market during COVID-19. You’ll discover how to conduct useful research in our “new normal,” as well as the latest consumer sentiments on COVID-19 and how to translate them into data points to help your business succeed.
Thursday July 9 @ 1:00pm (PT)

Learn more at:
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Moving Van Webinars

Moving in a Livable Region (MLR) is hosting a new series of community dialogues entitled  Moving Van: Building our Region for a New Normal .  

3-part series of dialogues on the following themes:
 
Tuesday July 21 @ 3:30 pm (PT)
What are the most important decision making factors that will influence whether you physically partake in an activity like work, school, or recreation? How are you looking to move about now? What's safe now and what do we need to change to ensure we're safer in the long run?   These are the questions we will be exploring with you and with experts in the mobility space. 

Monday July 27 @ 3:30 pm (PT)
Is density a bad word after COVID-19? Are we better off in sprawling communities instead? Does COVID-19 shift how we plan our cities? What does this mean for housing prices and cost of living? Is there still hope for reducing our GHG emissions?  These questions look at how the pandemic will affect our community planning in the future and will allow us to separate myths from facts when it comes to safety risks.

Friday July 31 @3:30 pm (PT)
Why was our public transit infrastructure under threat of financial collapse because of COVID-19? Are we funding our priorities sustainably? Has COVID-19 highlighted system vulnerabilities that organizations have been pointing out for years?  This event will explore how we fund our public transit system, where the dollars go, and what other funding methods exist out there that we could learn from.
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Destination BC Webinars

Destination BC hosted a series of webinars to support BC’s tourism industry in areas of response, recovery, and resilience from COVID-19. The Road to Recovery webinar series has reached over 1,700 participants since launching on May 12th.

Watch recordings of previous webinars:
  • May 12: Business After Re-opening: A Look at the Post-closure Traveller | View recording here
  • May 14: Essential Strategies to Innovate your Visitor Experience and Offerings | View recording here
  • May 19: Planning for Doors Open | View recording here
  • May 21: Managing Expectations and Reputation through Effective Communication | View recording here
  • May 26: Using Social Media to Support Re-opening | View recording here
  • May 28: Building a Digital Marketing Strategy for Re-opening | View recording here
  • June 4: ExploreBC… Virtually | View recording here
  • June 9: Restart Safely: Health & Safety Essentials to Support Re-opening | View recording here
  • June 11: Work Refusal & Other HR Challenges Amid the Restart | View recording here
  • June 16: SEO in Uncertain Times: How it can Help Recovery Efforts | View recording here
  • June 18: Adapting Customer Service & Guest Communication in a Pandemic Impacted Business Environment | View recording here
  • June 25: Returning to Work: Protecting Mental Health | View recording here
  • July 7: Revisiting your COVID-19 Safety Plan | View recording here

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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 info@tiabc.ca.