By Sean McIndoe
A city council decision that seeks to fund the local arts scene by adding a $2-charge to hotel stays is simply another tax grab, local hoteliers say.
“Why should a businessman from Vancouver have to pay a tax to fund the arts in Ottawa when he’s only here on business,” says Don Blakslee, president of Ottawa Hoteliers Inc.
“It’s an easy tax to put out there, because the people who are paying it don’t vote here,” says Blakslee, who also serves as general manager of the Lord Elgin Hotel on Elgin Street. “But a tax is a tax. We’re already taxed to death in this industry.”
Ottawa city council voted 7-4 in March to seek provincial legislation that would allow it to impose a local arts funding tax of about $2 per night for each hotel room in the city.
Such occupancy taxes are common in the United States, but only three Canadian cities have them — Vancouver, Victoria, and Montreal. All three cities use portions of the tax revenues to help tourism, but none devote the entire amount solely to the arts.
The arts community says the money would provide a much-needed boost to a sector that’s seen funding from governments slashed in recent years.
“It would be huge,” says Peter Honeywell, who is executive director of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa. “We’ve seen so many cutbacks in traditional funding areas that something like this would be a boon. It would be a new approach, a new source of revenue.”
Honeywell says the tax is justified, considering the amount of revenue generated from tourism each year, for both the city and its hotels.
“A lot of people who come to Ottawa take in the arts while they’re here,” he says. “They come to see the museums, the galleries, the festivals, and it puts money back into the community.”
But Blakslee says he isn’t convinced that the local art scene significantly helps the hotel business.
“There’s a preconceived notion out there that these things bring the people in, and I believe that notion is wrong,” he says.
“Winterlude, the Tulip Festival, and a few other (events) do bring tourists in. But for the rest, I can tell you from my experience that there’s not a big impact.”
Blakslee adds that in the past Chateau Laurier has offered free rooms to artists and people involved with the festivals. He says they’ll definitely stop this practice, if a tax is applied.
Leslie Miller, president of the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority, says his organization is divided on the subject.
“We haven’t come to a consensus at all as an organization,” Miller said. “Our membership is so diverse that we’ve had a variety of viewpoints come in.”
Miller says the discussion is divided along predictable lines — the arts community supports the move, while hoteliers are against it.
But he says there is some agreement over how revenue from the tax would best be spent.
“I think if there had to be (a tax), most would want it to be put to better marketing of the city,” he says.
Miller says the organization will try to reach a consensus in coming weeks.
But he says the entire debate may be a moot point if the provincial government ignores the city’s request to levy a hotel. Miller says this is a likely possibility.
“From everything I’ve been told, it’s all still very much in the planning stages now,” he said.
Numerous efforts to reach the provincial government were unsuccessful.