VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Opposition New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix denies his party is upstaging the Liberal government in connection to a tourism-related announcement.
Dix promised Thursday that if an NDP government were elected next May it would re-establish Tourism BC, the industry-led, government-funded tourism marketing body the Liberal government dumped six months before the 2010 Winter Olympics.
But the Liberals say their own news conference announcing the return of Tourism BC is set for Monday, something Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell highlighted in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade in August.
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“We’ll see what the Liberal Party is announcing,” Dix said. “We’re certainly encouraging them to take some action. This is an issue that indicates our approach to these things, which is pragmatic and forward thinking.”
Bell could not be immediately reached for comment, but a Liberal official confirmed the government, including Premier Christy Clark, has signalled a return to a Tourism BC model was being considered.
Dix said the New Democrats have been calling for a return to an industry-led Tourism BC model, with its formula-based provincial funding since the provincial marketing plan was eliminated in 2009.
He said when the government folded Tourism BC into tourism ministry budgets the industry became tied to the ups and downs of provincial revenues.
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