Neglect of small business, tourism industry killing jobs: Murray

On the heels of her tour of the Kootenay region, Liberal critic for Small Business and Tourism Joyce Murray (MP Vancouver Quadra) last week demanded the government use the fall session of Parliament to stop ignoring small business and the tourism industry and to begin by announcing that Canada will exhibit a pavilion to the upcoming Expo 2012 in South Korea.

 

“I’ve spent the summer meeting with small and medium sized business owners as well as municipal leaders and they are absolutely shocked that Canada will not have a presence in South Korea for Expo 2012,” said Murray in a press release. 

“South Korea is such an important trade partner and source of tourists for Canada, especially in my native British Columbia, that not exhibiting a Canadian pavilion is about as dumb a move as I’ve seen from this government.”

Murray was in many Kootenay communities this summer, including Nelson, Trail and Castlegar.

The 2010 Expo pavilion in Shanghai saw over 6.4 million visitors and facilitated 46 high-level business meetings which generated many agreements and partnerships.

She said Canada will miss out on this opportunity and an absence from South Korea this year will be conspicuous.



Canada’s International travel account’s deficit has ballooned 143 per cent since 2005 rising from roughly $5.8 billion to $14.1 billion last year. 

When inflation is taken into account foreign tourists are actually spending $2 B less in Canada than they were five years ago.

During Murray’s summer meetings she also heard many complaints ranging from a lack of skilled workers to the need for more investments in infrastructure to the increasing burden of navigating government red tape.