Asking for a little help

[Jared A]

Troy, if you don't like me posting this, feel free to pull it down. However, I'm just trying to get people to send it as many times as possible. If anyone has a moment, just highlight copy the below comments, and send them to the email list on the bottom. Should just take you 30 seconds. If you're interested in knowing what has been going on with me the entire year... here's the down and dirty.

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To whom it ACTUALLY concerns, (that’s an intentional dig to any politician that has hit he snooze button on small Canadian tourist resorts)



The past 11 months has been difficult to say the least. Many of you know me personally, and if you don’t, you probably know someone who is in a similar situation to me. I want to tell you our story. I’m not looking for sympathy, and I am not simply ranting. I’m looking to raise awareness and bring attention to the people who can actually make changes to the way things are being done. The people who can actually help our industry, and specifically our family.

My wife and I own and (usually) operate a fishing resort in NorthWest Ontario. Over the past 14 years, we have built a strong and thriving business. Our business is based on tourism. That tourism traffic comes from the United States. During these years of building the business, we have had approximately the same number of guests from Mexico as we have guests from Canada. I don’t blame Canadians for not vacationing with us, I’m simply pointing out how much we rely on Americans for our business. 99% of our guests come from the U.S. When the border was shut down, so was our ability to earn a living. Never fear, we will get this under control, and by late May, we will be ready to go. I specify North WEST Ontario, because many people believe that Northern Ontario was fine this summer. The problem is, anything 4 hours North of Toronto is considered “North”. We are 18 hours away from Toronto. The reason that is important is that the Ontario Government attempted to encourage Ontarians to support tourist resorts. Unfortunately for us, we (and our entire area) received very little/no support from this program. It failed miserably in NorthWest Ontario, but they patted themselves on their backs for being “successful” and just lumped us all in the “North”. If you had a resort near Toronto, you had a very good chance of having a busy summer (or at the very least passable).

Shortly into the pandemic, I realized that opening in May was probably unrealistic, but in early June, we were informed by the Canadian government to come up and get ready. We were deemed essential, and should get the resort ready for guests. Just so everyone understands, getting the resort in “operating” shape is expensive and time consuming. It takes 4-5 people working every day for 2-3 weeks. Repairs, upkeep, and staffing… it costs tens of thousands of dollars. Just for those few weeks. We dove headfirst. We believed that we would have a season. We would also be able to recoup some of the finances with the “business interruption” insurance that we have always purchased. I’m trying to tell this story through my eyes at the time. I know that late May and June are our most profitable months, and that we were probably going to lose them. I believed that the world would get this under control, and that our Governments would work together to help us through the difficult time.

Prime Minister Trudeau decided to do a month by month approach on the boarder being closed. While we had been deemed “essential”, if none of our guests can visit, we are essentially still closed. June came and went, another extension. In July we had a townhall meeting with Minister Lisa MacLeod. In the meeting, she was asked about a financial package for tourist operators in NorthWest Ontario. Many small businesses were being crushed by the border closure. She stated, “We have to see how much of a season you get, before we put a package together.” She is the Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture. She has a lot of power and financial ability to back up her promises. At the time, I felt a glimmer of hope. We could salvage part of a season! Simply offset our losses with a financial package from the government, and that insurance claim, right? By then, there were grumblings that the insurance companies were not going to honor the plan, but that can’t be legal.

July went by, another extension. Maybe just a little in August? Extended. September… we have a ton of wonderful guests that would fill the resort in a heartbeat for a fall trip. Pushed again. We had been strung along all summer. They kept dangling that carrot right in front of our noses. “Keep your staff employed, keep your resorts running.” The reality is, they were telling us to bury ourselves with debt. Minister MacLeod was going to come through with the package she had promised, right? We all know where this story is going.

In the course of the entire summer, we had a dozen or so Canadian guests. 2 groups. We lost 99.2% of our gross revenue (before expenses). By opening in the first place… we had committed to tens of thousands of dollars in costs. Because we were strung along all summer, we were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Our loyal insurance company and the government will help… we all know where this story is headed. I will say that one of our two groups (in a normal year we have 800 hundred guests) was MP Marcus Powlowski. He came to see the area, and we were hopeful that help was coming. We discussed a ton of different ways that the Government could help. MPP Greg Rickford visited our small town. These were two big events for our little slice of heaven. None of us could ever remember either office coming to visit our area, much less both in the same summer. Just so our US friends understand, MP (Minister of Parliament) would be comparable to someone in the US House of Representatives. MPP (Minister of Provincial Parliament) would be a State Representative.

At the end of August, Marcus Powlowski helped us get a meeting with Minister Melanie Joly. This was another step in the right direction. Minister Joly has been the Minister of Economic Development, Minister of Tourism, President of the Liberal Party’s finance Committee and is currently the Minister of Heritage under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She gave us each time to voice our struggles. We felt like she listened, and cared. Help was coming. Someone was going to step up and do what was right. They were going to focus their attention on helping us.

The fall came and went. Financial help didn’t come. Politicians stopped answering emails (if they ever bothered to). They stopped talking about us in caucus or parliament or special council meetings. We were ignored (if not forgotten) and left behind. In the fall, the NOHF behind MPP Rickford came out with a program that if you spent up to $25,000 in improving your resort, they would give you that back in a grant. YES! Finally, the finances are going to start coming in. It is true that you would have to spend the money before they would give it to you. It certainly would never help with any of someone’s personal bills, but it was SOMETHING. Maybe it’s a start of programs designed to help the businesses who had lost everything.

I know that many people struggled with financial hardships this year. I am not belittling anyone, or marginalizing other’s losses. Our business lost 99.2% of it’s annual revenue when compared to 2019. This is a business that over the past 15 years has paid/collected 7 figures worth of tax for the government. We always joke that if we could simply take home the same amount we pay the government, what a great living we would have. I love my job, and I love our island. It is home for me. I was a new born baby (one day old) when I first took the 20 minute boat ride to our island. I can’t remember life before it, and can’t imagine life without it. It is who I am, and I love that place to my soul. Normally, we make a living. We buy our cars used, we don’t travel often. We pay our bills and raise our children. We are careful with how we spend. This entire time, we have not been “unemployed”, we simply have been not making money. That’s the problem with owning your own business. Unemployment can be tricky. Especially if you live in one country, but work in another.

To date, the government has given us loans that we are to start paying back in 20 months. Not “forgivable” loans like they did in the US. Just loans. They just came out and offered us more loans that we will have to pay back with 4% interest. That’s the way the Canadian Government has “helped” us. They essentially make our business illegal, and then strap us with short term loans that will be completely unpayable soon.

In early December, our insurance claim was officially denied. That’s their job, right? Just another heartless business looking out for #1 and doing their best to find loopholes so they don’t have to honor their commitments. There’s a class action lawsuit (of course), but that will take years to be determined, especially with no pressure being put on them by the Government. Plus, we will lose a huge amount in lawyer fees. Minister MacLeod never came through with any type of package, I sat in on a meeting about tourism today… she didn’t even bring up small business operators. She didn’t mention North West Ontario, and she ignored any question relating to her promises from July. Minister Joly completely disappeared, we never heard from her again. Of all the people I have talked to this year, she holds the highest position. She wields the most power. She turned away and completely forgot about us. MPP Rickford came up with the one program for us, that in the middle of losing everything, we had to spend a bunch of money, and then they would refund it (eventually). MP Powlowski has not been able to get any funding headed towards us.. Premiere Ford has done nothing for rural areas, and could care less about small businesses. Prime Minister Trudeau has simply sacrificed anyone who relies on an open border to make a living, he’s simply wanting to appear to be the hero… saving the masses.

All of my interpretations are probably not fair. Many of the people named above (and many more) honestly wanted to help. But… good intentions aren’t results. It has been easy to sacrifice the little guys, because they saved the big ones. As an example… the oil companies in Canada were bailed out almost immediately. I don’t want to be angry because some were saved. We simply want to be saved too. Help!

LAST PARAGRAPH: If you skipped all of the above details, I do not blame you one bit. It is a lot, and if you do one thing for me… please email this entire story to the following emails. If you have multiple email accounts… send it from all of them. If you’re an American, send it. If you’re a Canadian, send it. If you don’t know me, but believe the small family business should be helped first… send it. Send the emails, and the please share this to anyone who might be willing to help. Force them to acknowledge us. There are thousands of small tourist operations that are being ignored. We are now facing the potential of losing another season, or even worse… being strung along. Send the emails, and please share this post! Highlight the below emails and then send the entire letter. They are going to hear us! If you know other people who need to read this email… send it to them too!





Thank you,

#TeamObabikon



greg.rickfordco@pc.ola.org, Minister.MacLeod@ontario.ca, premier@ontario.ca, Marcus.Powlowski@parl.gc.ca, melanie.joly@parl.gc.ca, justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca

[whteshark]

Damn, Jared, I didn't know you were a Canuck.

I thought our brethren to the North liked futbol, not football.

I emailed the entire post to the emails provided from 3 different email accounts I use consistently. I also posted it on Facebook and Zuckerberg has yet to censor it but mind you only my children seem to enjoy my company so my friend circle is small (I know that's hard to believe with my popularity here on FanGM).

I wish you the best as tens of thousands of small businesses have been crushed by Covid.

Your fight should be all our fight.

Have you thought about a a Go Fund me account for legal fee's or anything else that will help keep your head above water?

[Jared A]

Thanks man. I appreciate it. I'm actually a dual citizen. Half the year in Southern IL and half in Ontario. It has certainly been insane.