Government of Canada announces support to the tourism sector to create jobs and strengthen the economy

GATINEAU, QC, Dec. 17, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Workers and businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Canada has a plan to support hard-hit sectors, help businesses adapt and thrive, and give Canadians the skills they need to find good jobs as our economy continues to recover.

Today, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, announced up to $67 million in funding to support Canada's tourism and hospitality sector through the Sectoral Initiatives Program (SIP). This funding supports 24 projects that will help employers and industry stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector to attract and retain skilled workers, build capacity through training and resources, and remove barriers for groups – including women, youth, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2 Canadians – that continue to be under-represented in the labour market. Projects will also provide training opportunities to workers who have been displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic and work to stimulate the economy in Indigenous communities.

Budget 2021 committed $1.78 billion over three years through several new initiatives that support the skills development and training of workers, and provide incentives for employers to hire and retain them. These measures will help create almost 500,000 new job and training opportunities for workers over the coming years. The Government of Canada had committed to creating over one million jobs, restoring employment to pre-pandemic levels, and this was achieved last month.      

Quotes

"The Government is working closely with the tourism and hospitality sector to help address challenges they face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding announced today helps businesses get back on their feet and attract and retain the skilled workers the tourism industry needs. Not only are we supporting Canadians who traditionally face barriers to the labour market and providing workers the support they need to find good jobs, we are also helping the tourism sector bounce back."
– Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough

"The Canadian tourism sector has been among the most impacted by COVID-19 and the economy of our country will not fully recover until tourism recovers. The funding announced today will help businesses address labour shortages by bringing in and keeping skilled workers, building capacity and ensuring inclusion and diversity in the tourism labour force. Canada's tourism labour force is key – our welcoming workforce is one of our best assets and we'll continue to work with partners to ensure they are even better positioned to safely welcome back guests when it is possible to do so."

– Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Randy Boissonnault

Quick Facts

• These 24 projects were selected through an open call for proposals process that ran from January 22, 2021 to March 4, 2021.
• The tourism and hospitality sector has been one of the hardest hit sectors by the pandemic. According to the Conference Board of Canada's Briefing: COVID-19 Impact on Tourism Sector Employment and Revenues, it is expected that employment in the sector will remain below 2019 levels until 2023.
• Outbreaks of COVID-19 that resulted in lockdowns caused tourism employment to drop anywhere from 15% to 23%. As of April 2021, tourism employed 520,000 fewer workers than it had in February 2020, the last month before the pandemic reached Canada, an employment drop of over 25%.
• The tourism and hospitality sector is a significant source of employment for young workers and newcomers. In 2019, youth (persons age 15–24) held more jobs in tourism than any other age group, representing 34% of Canada's tourism workforce, and 28% of tourism employees were immigrants or non-permanent residents
• The Sectoral Initiatives Program will be integrated into the new Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (SWSP), which received $960 million through Budget 2021 to support key sectors of the economy to implement industry-driven solutions to address current and emerging workforce needs.
• The SWSP will help employers find skilled workers and connect Canadians with the training they need. It will also provide workers who have been displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic with training opportunities. This program will help businesses and workers prepare for workforce transitions in the rapidly changing green economy, address labour shortages in sectors like healthcare, and help our economy grow. 
• The SWSP will have an expanded scope for large-scale projects that offer a broader range of sector-focused activities, including training and upskilling, and developing solutions for workforce challenges.
• The SWSP is anticipated to launch calls for proposals early in January 2022.   

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Associated Links

Sectoral Initiatives Program
Backgrounder: Budget 2021 Job Creation
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List of successful projects

Organization	Project Title	Location	Funding Amount
Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council	Tourism Workforce Recovery: Helping Restore 100,000s of Jobs and Build Resilience	Ottawa, ON	$3,965,209
Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council	Maintaining a Foundational Labour Market Forecasting and Intelligence  System	Ottawa, ON	$3,326,699
Cape Breton University	Cape Breton Island's Tourism Training Network	Sydney, NS	$2,257,259
Conseil de la Nation huronne- wendat (Centre de développement de la formation et de la main-d'oeuvre)	Tous ensemble pour notre avenir	Wendake, QC	$4,115,530
Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology	UpSkill Tourism Microcredential Program	Barrie, ON	$1,712,508
Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism Inc.	Leadership and Innovation for the Future of Tourism in Atlantic Canada (LIFT Atlantic)	Rocky Harbour, NL	$3,992,800
Groupe artisanal féminin francophone de l'Ontario Inc.	La relance de l'industrie hotelière et touristique comme voie de la relance économique	Toronto, ON	$89,400
Hospitality Training Action Centre Local 75	The Future of Work - Foundational Skills a Pathway to Recovery + Resilience	Toronto, ON	$3,413,005
Hospitality Workers Resource Centre	At the Cross-Paths of Skills: A Model of Intelligent Cross-Sectoral Career Planning and Development	Toronto, ON	$4,905,950
Latincouver Cultural and Business Society	Creating Paths for Employment in Tourism and Hospitality	Vancouver, BC	$766,614
Mount Saint Vincent University	The Ki'nuk Tourism Program at Mount Saint Vincent University	Halifax, NS	$1,964,250
Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association	Grassroots Revitalization of the Ontario Hospitality Journey	Mississauga, ON	$742,775
Outward Bound Canada	Training Academy for Outdoor Professionals	Toronto, ON	$7,313,109
Refiner's House of Prayer	Placement Aid & Skill Development (PASD) Project	Brampton, ON	$1,351,910
Saffron Hub	Women in food entrepreneurship	Whitby, ON	$112,500
The Conference Board of Canada	The Role of Newcomers and Temporary Workers in Tourism Sector Recovery	Ottawa, ON	$803,039
The Firecircle Ltd.	Transition to Tourism Entrepreneurship	Ottawa, ON	$5,302,500
The Further Education Society of Alberta	Pathways: Creating Opportunities for Indigenous Youth Employment in Tourism and Government	Calgary, AB	$4,073,232
The Immigration Services Society of British Columbia	Gateway to Tourism/Hospitality Jobs for Newcomers	Vancouver, BC	$2,277,035
The YMCA of Greater Vancouver	YMCA Café Training Program	New Westminster, BC	$2,644,155
Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association	Hospitality Professional Program	Kelowna, BC	$1,869,888
University of Victoria	Indigenous Community Entrepreneurship Development & Action Recovery (I-CEDAR) program	Victoria, BC	$4,914,190
Wheatland Express Inc.	East-Central Saskatchewan Tourism & Learning Centre	Wakaw, SK	$4,205,908
Yukon Literacy Coalition	Yukon Pathways to Success	Whitehorse, YT	$1,230,926
		TOTAL	$67,350,391

SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

For media enquiries, please contact: Codie Taylor, Interim Director of Communications,Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, [e-mail]; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [e-mail]