Nova Scotia's Liberal government rarely missed a chance to boast that it grew tourism in Nova Scotia to fabulous new heights, but with the industry facing a crisis that will be lethal to many tourism businesses, the Liberals only have help for a select and apparently well-connected few.
Thursday, Opposition and Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston charged that the government's loan support program for large tourism operators came about because one of Premier Stephen McNeil's former staffers successfully lobbied the premier's current political advisers.
“Small and medium-sized tourism operators across our province are fearful that their life's work will slip away through no fault of their own, yet the only people the Liberals can find money for are those aligned with Liberal lobbyists,” Houston said.
The $50-million loan program the province announced last week is available to resort, tour, and scenic and sightseeing transportation operators with at least 100 full-time and/or seasonal employees plus annual revenues of at least $10 million.
That leaves most of the industry, and every small, independent, home-grown tourism operator in Nova Scotia, out in the cold.
The Liberals claim that the large tourism operators “serve as anchors” for the sector, but the hundreds of smaller tourism operations who don't qualify for government support feel like they have an anchor around their necks and are sinking fast.
While Houston's news release didn't name the Liberal insiders involved, his office confirmed that the lobbyist-in-question is McNeil's longtime aide Kristan Hines, now a senior vice-president with National Public Relations.
The Tories claim that a few of the province's biggest tourism operations hired Hines to lobby the government on their behalf and apparently the tactic worked for them, but not for anyone else in the sector.
Not surprisingly, the government puts a different spin on things.
Business Minister Geoff MacLellan seems to advocate trickle-down economics, or in this case, trickle-down government largesse.
“Our large tourism operators are important to the growth of our sector. By helping the larger operators, small and medium operators also benefit. There are direct or indirect benefits for everyone,” MacLellan said.
The Liberals claim that the large tourism operators “serve as anchors” for the sector, but the hundreds of smaller tourism operations who don't qualify for government support feel like they have an anchor around their necks and are sinking fast.
In July, the government promised assistance to help the tourism sector survive the COVID crisis, so operators have been waiting months for the Liberals to cobble together a program. But other than the chosen few, tourism businesspeople are bitterly disappointed in the results.
As Darlene Grant Fiander wrote in The Chronicle Herald this week, as a consequence of COVID-19, the provincial tourism sector faces a 65 per cent revenue loss this year but operators' costs haven't fallen nearly as much, and in some cases — like the price of insurance — costs have actually increased.
The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS) president noted that the province's program provides up to $15-million per applicant. At that rate, the entire $50 million program could be consumed by three or four businesses.
It's a classic case of a government deciding winners and losers and, in this case, the winners can be counted on one hand while the losers are in every city, town and village across Nova Scotia, but how long they'll be there is very much in doubt.
In keeping with its long-established tradition of telling Nova Scotians nothing more than it wants them to know, the Liberals aren't planning to disclose the lucky recipients of the taxpayer-funded relief.
“Nova Scotians are sickened to hear about Liberals helping Liberals while their businesses — and the businesses in their communities — close their doors,” Houston said. “Keeping secrets and creating programs to help their friends seems to be a pillar of the Liberal brand — Nova Scotians deserve better.”
TIANS has been meeting regularly with the province throughout the crisis. It's been advocating a strategic approach to support the entire sector and has suggested program ideas to accomplish just that. But while TIANS was pursuing an industrywide agenda, it seems that the province was engaged in a parallel process that favoured a privileged few.
It's a classic case of a government deciding winners and losers and, in this case, the winners can be counted on one hand while the losers are in every city, town and village across Nova Scotia, but how long they'll be there is very much in doubt.
In 2019, tourism was worth $2.6 billion to the Nova Scotian economy. This year the number is estimated at around $900 million.
“It's inappropriate for the Liberals to allow unregistered Liberal lobbyists to influence the direction of public funds, especially while so many unaffiliated tourism operators are on the brink of closure,” Houston said.
It is, at the very least, inappropriate.
