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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
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PROVINCIAL UPDATES
Late last week CAEM received great news regarding our industry’s re-opening in both Alberta and Quebec. After 15 months of CAEM advocating for trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions to be recognized for their commercial nature, both these provinces have now acknowledged this distinction. As a result, in Alberta and Quebec our industry can resume business activity effective immediately under the same capacity guidelines and protocols as retail businesses and shopping malls. CAEM is thrilled the commercial nature of our industry has been recognized in Alberta and Quebec, paving the way for the safe, fair, and viable re-opening of trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions in these provinces.
AB
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Trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions can operate at 1/3 of the fire code capacity in Step 2 of Alberta’s Open for Summer plan. Step 2 came into effect on June 10th and the expectation is that all capacity restrictions will be lifted from trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions once Alberta moves to Step 3 which is anticipated in July. Upon entering Step 3, masks and physical distancing will be recommended rather than mandatory.
QC
- On Friday June 11, CAEM and APEQ received official confirmation that trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions can now resume operations in Quebec, under the same guidance and protocols as other commercial establishments including shopping malls and retail stores, in all yellow and green regions of the province, also referred to as alert levels 1 and 2. As of Monday June 14th, the majority of Quebec, with the exception of the Chaudière-Appalaches region, are now in yellow and green regions.For more details regarding this announcement and capacity limits please click here.
BC
- In BC’s Restart Plan – which moved to Step 2 on June 15th – trade shows, consumer shows and exhibitions are slated for re-opening in Step 3. When the Restart Plan was announced, the BC Government also announced they would be embarking on cross-government industry engagement regarding re-opening. Immediately, CAEM reached out to the Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, the department tasked to engage with sectors regarding re-opening, as well as our colleagues at the BC Meetings and Events Coalition to ensure that the unique issues faced by our industry were brought to the table. We are pleased to report that CAEM’s President has been invited to participate in the consultative meetings with government to ensure the voice of our industry is heard in BC.
ON
- CAEM continues to advocate with the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture to have show producers and show suppliers added to the eligibility criteria for the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant. We are hopeful we will have an update to share with you soon.
- Recently, CAEM met with Prahbeet Sakaria, MPP for Brampton South and Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. We discussed our concerns surrounding our industry's lack of eligibility for both the Ontario Small Business Support Grant and the Ontario Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant. We also spent a significant amount of time explaining the uniqueness of our industry in that we have been without the ability to generate revenue for 15 months and the fact we cannot simply re-open with the flick of a switch. We expressed our gratitude for trade shows being mentioned in the Step 3 re-opening phase, but asked Minister Sakaria for his help in getting clarity on capacity limits and any other possible restrictions so that we are able to properly plan and get our industry back to work. We are pleased to report that Minister Sakaria heard us loud and clear and is speaking with his colleagues in the ministries of Finance and Health on our behalf.
With the exceptional progress made in Alberta and Quebec regarding re-opening, CAEM immediately brought these examples forward to the governments in Ontario as well as British Columbia, with the hope of encouraging these provinces and others, to recognize the commercial nature of our industry and allow us to re-open under the same or similar guidelines as retail business and shopping malls.
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FEDERAL
- As part of CAEM’s updated contract with Crestview Strategy detailed in our June 1st update, our media outreach campaign began late last week with a press release sent to targeted outlets that you can read here. Our public relations campaign will evolve in the coming weeks and as always, we will keep you posted on our progress.
- With the assistance of Crestview Strategy, CAEM continues to socialize our recovery asks with various Federal Ministries to ensure we cover all possible angles. These meetings are extremely productive because the policy makers we meet with not only have the ears of their Ministers but they are also in constant contact with colleagues in other government departments. Last week we met with policy makers in the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development. Since Budget 2021 was announced in April we have had multiple meetings with several high level policy makers in the following federal ministries: Finance; Economic Development; Small Business; Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion; and Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development. The full list of government meetings can be found on our website.
- Last week, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) announced a new campaign advocating for the safe re-opening of the US – Canada border. We encourage you to read more about this campaign here and please consider participating in their letter writing campaign, which is automated and will take less than a minute to complete.
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Reminder that CAEM's Annual General Meeting is taking place Monday, June 28th at 1PM EDT via Zoom. All 2021 CAEM members in good standing are entitled to attend. If you are a CAEM member and have not already done so, please register here.
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