In World Tourism terms, today’s meeting between the Canadian Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Randy Paul Andrew Boissonnault, and the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister can be considered highly significant.
Jamaica‘s outspoken tourism minister has been seen as a global tourism leader for years, and his visit to Ottawa today confirmed this again.
Today’s high-level meeting is not only important for Canada and Jamaica but for the global travel and tourism industry, the resilience of this sector, and also for the future of Commonwealth tourism cooperation.
The two ministers agreed on an MOU to share best practices and build capacity in training and human capital development, marketing, investment, and the expansion of tourism resilience and sustainability programs and projects.
Canada, the second largest country on earth will support the global tourism resilience agenda and participate in the Global Tourism Resilience Day activities in February 2023 at the Jamaica University of the West Indies.
Almost overlooked in many parts of the world, Canada established a ministry of Tourism only on October 26, 2021.
This important post in this North American nation is held by a Canadian politician from Edmonton, who is a member of the Liberal Party, and represents the riding of Edmonton Centre in the House of Commons. He is also an associate minister of finance.
The Hon. Randy Boissonnault, an openly gay member of the House of Commons was elected first in 2015. He was a finisher in the Ironman Canada Triathlon.
In 2016, Minister Boissonnault became Canada’s Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on LGBTQ2 issues, working with organizations across the country to promote equality for the LGBTQ2 community, protect the rights of its members, and address discrimination against them. He continues to fight for a more inclusive society and tackle discrimination as a co-founder of the Global Equality Caucus.
Minister Boissonnault is a successful entrepreneur, community leader, and philanthropist with a strong record of leadership in business, public service, and the not-for-profit sector.
Minister Boissonnault served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage from 2015 to 2017, championing Canadian arts and culture. A strong advocate for Edmonton Centre, he worked to address the needs and priorities of his community, including strengthening transit infrastructure, supporting businesses, and creating jobs.
Minister Boissonnault holds degrees from the University of Alberta’s Campus Saint-Jean and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
He spent 15 years helping small and medium-sized businesses through his consulting company.
After serving as Chair of the Centre for Family Literacy in Edmonton, he founded Literacy Without Borders to help promote literacy for children and adults in Canada and the developing world. Minister Boissonnault has also served as Vice Chair of TEDx Edmonton and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta, the Francophone Sport Federation of Alberta, and the Canadian Francophone Games.
Minister Boissonnault lives in Inglewood, Edmonton with his partner, David.
Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and his counterpart Randy Boissonnnault met in the presence of the Canadian parliamentary secretary of foreign affairs Maninda Sindhu and Jamaica’s High commissioner to Canada HE Sharon Miller on Parliament Hill in Ottawa today.
Jamaica and Canada just celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations. More than 350,000 Jamaican citizens reside in Canada. After the United States, Canada is the second largest tourism source market for Jamaica and many other Caribbean countries.
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