Popular B.C. tourist attractions including Butchart Gardens, PNE promised up to $1M from the province
Dozens of B.C. tourist attractions will receive grants from the province in an effort to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism Minister Melanie Mark announced applicants had been approved Friday, saying more than 80 attractions and tour bus operators will be eligible for the new grant program.
These grants are worth up to $1 million. The program was first announced back in May, and earlier this month, the province said it was in the process of reviewing applications.
Among the recipients announced Friday are:
- Big White Ski Resort;
- Britannia Mine Museum;
- Butchart Gardens;
- HR MacMillan Space Centre;
- Hells Gate Airtram;
- International Dragon Boat Festival;
- Pacific National Exhibition (PNE);
- Richmond Night Market;
- Science World;
- Sea To Sky Gondola; and
- Wilson's Transportation.
According to the tourism ministry, the grants will go to 23 urban "anchor" attractions, 34 rural anchor attractions and 26 tour bus operating companies.
The initiative known as the Major Anchor Attractions Program was first announced in May, and was one of the seven calls to action from a provincial tourism task force.
It will be up to the companies themselves to decide how to spend the cash, with options ranging from rent and utilities to payroll and other restart costs.
While in a statement outlining the announcement, the PNE's president and CEO praised the program, it's a far cry from what the exhibition demanded from the province earlier this month.
At that time, unions representing its workers estimated the 111-year-old fair would be $15 million in debt by fall, and sought $8 million from the Horgan Government.
Mark said at that time the PNE would be eligible for up to $1 million, but would not commit to the much higher amount that unions asked for.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.