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B.C. deserves CTC, Martin says

Whistler welcomes news that Canadian Tourism Commission will move to Vancouver

Tourism leaders in Whistler and Vancouver believe the federal government’s decision to move the national tourism agency to B.C. will mean greater success for the province.

"We are ecstatic, absolutely ecstatic," said Barrett Fisher, president of Tourism Whistler.

"It is a very exciting move and it is critical from our perspective (in) how we grow tourism for the upcoming Olympics (and) the opening up of China."

Fisher was not alone is her belief that the Canadian Tourism Commission’s re-location to Vancouver from Ottawa will be good for B.C.

"The CTC is such a strong agency that this will link them even more closely with the Olympics, even more closely with the convention centre expansion, and with Asia Pacific," said Rick Antonson, president of Tourism Vancouver.

"We now, in Canada, have a galvanized tourism industry and much can happen in the coming years. Yes, we are going to need more federal and provincial resources across the country. But tourism is about to (produce) a profound impact from our country on the world stage and that hearkens really well for the country."

Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the move in Whistler last Thursday during a brief visit to the resort. It’s the first time a federal agency has been moved to B.C.

"British Columbia deserves to be home to a major federal organization," said Martin.

B.C.’s Small Business and Economic Development Minister John Les also welcomed the announcement.

"With less than five years until our Olympic dream is fulfilled, B.C.’s tourism industry is moving into new golden decades of opportunity," he said in a statement.

"We look forward to working with the CTC in Vancouver to focus our collective energy on opportunities related to the 2010 Winter Games, to develop some solid tourism partnerships and to raise Canada’s profile around the globe."

Federal Industry Minster David Emerson (Vancouver-Kingsway) has been promising the move ever since he was elected in 2004.

"This is a triumph of merit over politics," said B.C.’s senior elected cabinet minister, adding that while the CTC is a small organization the move sends a strong message about the importance of the West to the federal government.

"It is not like this is the rape and pillage of the whole job base in the province of Ontario," said Emerson. "This is relatively small but it is very meaningful. It was part of the B.C. agenda to get it done. It was not in there because we wanted some political pork-barreling.

"We need to have the Canadian Tourism Commission in B.C. to take advantage of what I call a once in a generation opportunity to lever off of the Olympics and the fact that the Asia Pacific market is a huge and growing market for all of Canada. We need to be closer to that market so we can be effective."

But Lyle Hall, chair of Tourism Toronto, in B.C. for the announcement said the opposite is true.

"This is motivated from a political basis and not from a business case," he said. "The CTC is meant to be a marketing organization designed entirely to get visitors outside of Canada coming to Canada and to encourage travel within the country, and moving the office doesn’t necessarily play into that."

Hall is not the only one with concerns. A recent poll by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the union that represents CTC staff, found that only about 60 of 84 staff would be willing to move to B.C. And recently the union published a letter urging the government to keep the CTC in Ottawa.

The move of the $84 million a year Crown corporation is likely to take about eight months. Four British Columbians sit on the CTC’s current 24-member board of directors including: Peter Armstrong of the Great Canadian Railtour Company; Daniel Jarvis of Intrawest; David Podmore of Greystone Properties; and Andrew Wilkinson, deputy minister of small business and economic development.

But both Antonson and Fisher believe that while the CTC performs strongly from Ottawa its move does have a business case.

"One of the elements of a business case for the move is the profile that Canada will gain as a country hosting the Olympics," said Antonson.

"Another part is that Canada is equidistant between Europe and Asia so it is putting our national agency central to two of our biggest market places in the world."

Said Fisher: "Absolutely the CTC no matter where they are located they are going to represent the entire nation. But we are very excited that there will be additional investment and support and focus and resources right here in our hometown of Vancouver and Whistler."

And it wasn’t only tourism officials who welcomed the news. John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics said the move makes sense.

"I think it is good business for the country to have done this," he said.

"We have a very good relationship with them but it is a relationship now that is destined to grow because of the practical reality of having them on the ground in Vancouver."

He said that officials from the CTC understand that the Games could provide the country with a unique opportunity.

And, said Furlong: "Everybody needs to be part of the same collaboration to make sure that we realize the full power of the opportunity. I think having the (CTC) gathered in the city of Vancouver, in the province of B.C., is huge for realizing the potential of the Games."

He hopes that the 2010 Games, through the CTC, can realize the same success Sydney’s 2000 Summer Olympics had.

"Sydney would look back and say the promotional value of their story told through the medium of the Olympic Games was $6 billion," said Furlong. "Now consider our location in the world, where we are in the Pacific Rim with China and everything else, then we should be able to match that.

"I think it is a tremendous advantage to the Games to now have the commission in Vancouver."