None of the $100M promised to Ontario tourism businesses has been delivered

Six months after Ontario's tourism industry was promised $100 million to help it recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, not a penny of that money has flowed to businesses. 

The delay leaves hundreds of tourism operators across the province in limbo as they try to prepare for what they hope will be their busiest summer in three years.  

Premier Doug Ford's government announced the creation of the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program last September and gave businesses a mid-November deadline to apply.

Tourism operators were told to expect a response in eight weeks and to be prepared to start spending the money as of April 1. With that date just days away, none of the funding has been disbursed and the government isn't saying when it will be. 

"We are currently working through the applications," said Derek Rowland, a spokesperson for Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, in an email to CBC News.

"This pandemic was particularly difficult for this sector. As a result, the response to the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program was significant," said Rowland.

A senior government official told CBC News that 700 businesses applied, and their combined requests for funding mean the $100-million program is oversubscribed, but would not say by how much. The official said MacLeod is pushing cabinet to agree to boost the funding.

The fund is specifically designed for tourism-focused companies that lost more than 50 per cent of their revenue during the pandemic. Businesses are eligible for a range of funding depending on their size, with the biggest companies potentially getting upwards of $1 million.    

The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario says its members need to know if they'll be getting the funding so they can scale up for summer. 

"We understand there are some bureaucratic delays in this, but we're urging [the government] to do all they can to get this money out as quickly as possible," said Christopher Bloore, the association's president and CEO.

"Every day that is lost is opportunities lost for Ontarians to be hired and for businesses to get the revenue that they've simply not had for the last two years," Bloore said in an interview. 

The uncertainty is causing grief for a range of tourism operators, from the owners of a fishing lodge in northwestern Ontario to the operators of shore excursions off Great Lakes cruise ships.

Bruce O'Hare, the president of Lakeshore Excursions, says his company's revenue virtually disappeared in 2020, dropping 98.6 per cent from the previous year. The losses over the course of the pandemic now run into the millions of dollars. 

"We ran a profitable business, we've never needed any government money or funding," O'Hare said in an interview from his base on Manitoulin Island. "Right now, we could sure use a lifeline."

While he was hopeful about the provincial tourism recovery fund, O'Hare says his repeated inquiries about his application have been met with "radio silence" since submitting it last fall.    

"We don't know what the status is," O'Hare said. "But what we do know is the tourism industry generally is hanging on by a thread these days. We're no different." 

At the time of announcing the program, MacLeod said the funding would protect jobs across Ontario and help tourism businesses prepare to reopen for the 2022 season. 

That's what Kathy Campbell is trying to do now at the Lac Seul Onaway Lodge, the fishing camp she owns and operates about 400 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

The lodge can accommodate 72 guests and attracts almost exclusively American visitors. The pandemic has been devastating to the business, Campbell said in an interview.

"We've gone through all our savings. We've cleaned out our bank account. We're just about at the end of our overdraft protection," she said.

The tourism season begins in five weeks and Campbell said the business has costs to cover in the meantime.  

"I'm not quite sure where we're going to get that money from," she said. 

"We need to get gasoline. We need to get minnows. We need to make sure the boats are all running. We need to check the cabins, some of which haven't been used for over two years." 

Campbell applied to the province last fall and was told the business could be eligible for up to $100,000 in funding. Her application status is listed as "under review" on the provincial website. 

Her message to the government: "Tell us if there is not going to be any money forthcoming. Then I have to make that really hard decision if I'm going to sell my place or go and get loans to make it through another season."