NMMA CANADA – FEDERAL BUDGET IMPACT ON BOATING

Apr 3, 2017

The 2017 Federal Budget was announced on March 23. NMMA Canada reported in their recent newsletter, on some highlights of the budget which is relevant to the Boating Industry. NMMA Canada will review each of these initiatives and how they may affect the industry.

• $364 million over two years for Parks Canada for the management of national parks/national marine conservation areas/national historic sites. This also includes the development of a medium and long-term plan

• For tourism, the government will be:

• Repealing the GST/HST rebate payable to non-resident tourists and non-resident tour operators related to the accommodation portion of tour packages. Instead, they will invest in enhanced tourism marketing
• Making the $37.5 million per year in temporary funding previously provided to Destination Canada permanent

• $8.6 million over four years, starting in 2017–18, to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to support the development of the Indigenous tourism industry; includes contributions to the Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada’s five-year Indigenous Tourism Strategy

• $13.6 million over five years, starting in 2017–18, and $2.7 million every year thereafter, to Statistics Canada to broaden tourism data collection

• New coastal protection measures which involve protecting 10% of coastal & marine waters

• $50 million over 11 years to Transport Canada to launch a Trade & Transportation Information System (housed in a new Canadian Centre on Transportation Data). Open-data portal that will provide performance measures and multi-modal data collection/analysis

• An additional $5 million to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for small craft harbours For more information please visit this link: http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/home-accueil-en.html.