TIABC Voice of Tourism Newsletter – August 7, 2026

Brookfield Corporation earned US$75.1 billion, or roughly $101 billion Canadian, in revenue during its most recent full fiscal year. Its CEO, Bruce Flatt, has led the company since 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, is a Chartered Accountant, and served in several senior leadership roles, including Chief Financial Officer, before being appointed CEO.

When you look at his background, it is easy to understand why Brookfield’s Board selected him. Brookfield is a publicly traded company with a responsibility to deliver results, manage risk, make sound strategic decisions, and answer to its shareholders. Its Board would reasonably be expected to appoint a CEO with significant business experience, financial expertise, a strong understanding of the market in which the company operates, and a demonstrated record of leading a large and complex organization.

Until stepping down in 2025 to become Prime Minister of Canada, Brookfield’s Board Chair was Mark Carney.

So, what does any of this have to do with tourism?

That is a fair question, but before I answer it, let’s consider the size of Canada’s tourism sector in comparison to Brookfield. Tourism generates approximately $130 billion in annual revenue, or roughly $350 million every day. It contributes more than $50 billion to Canada’s GDP, supports over two million jobs, and sustains more than 265,000 businesses in over 5,000 communities across the country.

Tourism is also one of Canada’s leading service export industries, driven significantly by international travel demand. That point is especially important because international visitors have choices. Canada competes with destinations around the world for their attention, their travel plans, and their spending. Our mountains, coastlines, cities, culture, and communities may give us a strong product, but they do not guarantee that visitors will choose Canada. We must compete for them.

That is why Canada created Destination Canada, the national organization responsible for marketing our country internationally and strengthening Canada’s position in the global visitor economy. The federal government provides approximately $125 million annually to support that work, making Destination Canada an important steward of public investment and a critical driver of economic activity across the country.

The CEO of Destination Canada therefore holds a significant strategic leadership role. The person chosen to lead the organization must understand the tourism sector, international markets, marketing strategy, financial management, organizational leadership, and the competitive forces shaping global travel. They must be able to lead a complex national organization, make sound business decisions, deliver measurable results, and account for how public funds are being used.

Most importantly, they must answer to their shareholders. In this case, the shareholders are you, me, and every other Canadian.

That brings me back to Brookfield. If the company were searching for a new CEO, would its Board consider appointing someone with no meaningful corporate or business experience, no history of serving in a senior leadership role, no understanding of the market in which Brookfield operates, and no demonstrated record of successfully managing a large organization? I highly doubt it.

Brookfield’s shareholders would expect a rigorous process. They would expect the Board to select a leader whose experience, judgment, and capabilities matched the scale of the company and the significance of the responsibility being entrusted to them.

Why, then, should our expectations be any different for Destination Canada?

As Destination Canada begins the search for a new CEO following the retirement of the highly respected and experienced Marsha Walden, the same level of care should guide the selection of her successor. The person chosen will inherit responsibility for leading Canada’s international tourism strategy at a time of intense global competition and significant economic opportunity. Their experience, sector knowledge, business acumen, and record of leadership should reflect both the importance of Destination Canada’s mandate and the enormous value of the industry it serves.

Canada’s tourism sector generates more annual revenue than Brookfield. It supports millions of workers, hundreds of thousands of businesses, and communities in every part of the country. Its ability to compete internationally directly affects jobs, investment, exports, tax revenues, and Canada’s broader economic performance.

This is not simply about one appointment or one individual. It is about governance, accountability, and whether tourism is treated with the same seriousness as other major sectors of the Canadian economy.

Private-sector boards understand that experience matters. Industry knowledge matters. Business judgment matters. A demonstrated ability to lead people, manage resources, make difficult decisions, and deliver results matters. Those principles should not disappear simply because an organization is publicly funded.

As Prime Minister, Mark Carney is now accountable to a much larger group of shareholders than he was at Brookfield: the people of Canada. One would hope that the same standards of governance, leadership, and accountability expected of a company generating $101 billion annually would also be expected of an organization responsible for helping a $130 billion Canadian industry compete in the global marketplace.

Tourism has earned the right to be treated as the serious economic sector it is. The question is whether the person entrusted to lead one of its most important national institutions will be selected with the same level of care, scrutiny, and expectation that would be demanded in any other major Canadian enterprise. As shareholders in Canada’s tourism sector, our answer should be a resounding yes.

Amber Papou, B.Ed, MBA, ICD.D

CEO, TIABC