“What is this government thinking?” – Miller

(Queen’s Park) In the Ontario Legislature today, Parry Sound – Muskoka MPP Norm Miller today asked, “What is this government thinking,” in connection with its tourism announcement.

Stemming from a tourism report produced by Greg Sorbara, Vaughan MPP, the McGuinty government released its plan on the future of tourism; a massive new initiative aimed at revitalizing the province’s tourism industry.

“The government’s plan proposes to lump Muskoka in with York Region,” said MPP Norm Miller.  “I can’t understand what this government is thinking.  We don’t have anything in common with the city of Vaughan.  It’s time the government took advice other than their own.”

You can view Mr. Miller’s remarks by following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPHnljOooM0

A Hansard Transcript follows:

Tourism

Mr. Norm Miller: I rise to comment on a recent tourism proposal.

The scheme comes out of Mr. Sorbara’s report Discovering Ontario. The province intends to create 11 regional destination marketing and management organizations, or DMMOs. The McGuinty government plans to allocate $40 million each year for the DMMOs and to increase taxes on accommodations by 3% to pay for it.

If this proposal is actually going to work, if this new tax and the spending that goes along with it is going to attract more visitors to Ontario, it needs to be properly executed. And so far, the government has it wrong. Michael Lawley, executive director of Muskoka Tourism, points out: “From our point of view, that is just not going to work. The connection is not really relevant in our particular situation.” And that’s because the ministry proposes to lump Muskoka in with York–Simcoe and Grey–Bruce regions.

Muskoka has been in the tourism industry since the 1860s. The region boasts water-based features, cottage and outdoor experiences, arts and culture, heritage and the rugged granite shorelines of the pre-Cambrian shield. There is already a strong Parry Sound–Muskoka brand based on similar tourism features. It would make much more sense to create a DMMO that puts Parry Sound, Muskoka and Algonquin Park together.

The tourism ministry’s suggestion begs the question: What is this government thinking? Has anyone from the ministry actually gone out on the ground to look at the implications of their proposal? What is the possible rationale for lumping Muskoka with York region and the city of Vaughan?

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