Committee derails plan for Calgary trade center

A proposed Montana trade center in Calgary has been tabled by a House business committee, but the bill’s sponsor said she hasn’t given up trying to pass the measure this session.

The panel voted to table Senate Bill 244 on Tuesday, despite support for the bill in the Senate, where it passed by a 29-21 vote after winning committee approval 7-3.

The bill would take an $306,300 per year from the state’s tourism fund to establish and fund the trade center, which would have at least one full-time staff member work to increase visibility of Montana’s tourism and other business opportunities. The tourism fund is supported by the state bed tax.

The most recent report from the University of Montana's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research found that Canadians contributed $306 million in 2013, or 8 percent of all nonresident expenditures. Gas accounted for 30 percent of that total, with retail and restaurant expenses comprising 28 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

Sen. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse, sponsored the bill and said she was surprised by the opposition during the committee hearing and the panel’s decision, but insisted the proposal isn’t dead.

“I haven’t given up on the bill,” Brown said. “I’m going to be talking to members of [the committee] and encouraging supporters to talk to people over there and tell them their stories about how this could benefit their towns or cities or economic areas.”

The proposal pitted regional business interests against one another during the business committee’s March 6 hearing. Chambers of commerce in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Helena backed the measure as a boost to the state’s economy while business representatives from Billings and other cities opposed it.

Matt Sease, a Bozeman hotel owner and president of the Bozeman-Belgrade Lodging Association, said the trade center would disproportionately benefit northern cities and noted that a joint position paper from chambers of commerce in the state’s seven largest cities opposes such a diversion of money from the bed tax.

“I don’t see the direct assistance that the trade center would bring to areas of Montana that are not closest to the border,” he said.

Steve Wahrlich said the Billings Chamber of Commerce also opposes any attempt to earmark money from the state’s bed tax fund.

“We have one industry that is paying for economic development,” Walrich said. “I don’t see the medical field supporting this bill with dollars. When we look at oil and gas, or ag, they’re not ponying forth dollars. The burden is being put on the lodging facility tax.”

His comments came after supporters noted a number of possible benefits beyond increasing Canadian tourism. 

Testifying in support of the bill, Kalispell Chamber of Commerce representative Aidan Myhre pointed to substantial benefits of Canadian visitation to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

“They have found that Canadians really like to use the hospital’s services, and they have developed a very significant concierge practice, where not only are they providing medical services, but they work with Canadians to bring them down, make hotel reservations and really facilitate a smooth delivery of medical care,” she said. “This will open up a dialogue about not only vacationing and coming down and purchasing property, but investing [and] making business partners.”

In an interview Wednesday, Brown argued that her bill would provide benefits throughout the state, noting that Montana’s one million-person population is dwarfed by the over 4 million Canadians within a day’s drive of the border. Calgary boasts a population higher than the entire Treasure State. She added that Albertans have a median income more than double that of Montanans.

“To say that [the tourism fund] can only be used for tourism is absolutely wrong,” she said. “I think there are all types of people who pay the accommodations tax, and it’s going to increase taxes by having that office in Calgary to funnel some of those high-end consumers and businesses into our state.”

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com