Thank you to everyone taking the time to read this petition regarding the new explorethebruce.com website. We wish to be clear that it focuses on the agreement between Tourist Town and Bruce County specifically as it relates to explorethebruce.com and not the manner in which Tourist Town conducts its private business and "visit" websites.

This partnership between Bruce County and Tourist Town developed after a document from Bruce County Planning and Development formally recommended the move to a 'Public Private Partnership with Tourist Town' dated October 27, 2016. This was not an agreement that was put to tender but rather a direct recommendation from Planning and Development to deal with Tourist Town.

As many of you may have noticed you are only being represented by a grey basic listing comprised of your business name… no phone number, email, or address, unless you pay Tourist Town a monthly fee. This includes for explorethebruce.com. This is not the fair and equal representation that explorethebruce.com was always known for.

On behalf of our member base, all business owners in Bruce County and all concerned residents we request:

1. A re-evaluation of the current reality and transparency of the contract that was signed with Tourist Town

2. That the Explore the Bruce website maintain fair representation and free FULL listings for all of the businesses of Bruce County

3. That all towns are represented by explorethebruce.com through their primary and respective websites which may or may not be hosted by Tourist Town. This is shown by the clear difference between the complete Tobermory Chamber of Commerce website (www.tobermory.com) and the incomplete Tourist Town private website (www.visittobermory.ca). Tourist Town was listed as the primary point of contact instead of local chamber websites that have extensively better support for tourists researching their visit and a direct location and phone number that they can rely on.

It is of utmost importance that we are supplying our visitors with access to the best and most up to date information available. During this time of year, the potential visitors are starting to do their research for the upcoming season. We cannot rely on incomplete websites that are void of a majority of business participation being what our visitors are directed to through the County.

It is taxpayer money that funds the Bruce County website. The initial correspondence with the county assured us that explorethebruce.com would not link to the Tourist Town websites and that we would not have to pay for our business representation. None of this has held true.

The County will be paying Tourist Town in the ballpark of $20,000 for a one year 'pilot'. Not only are the tax payers funding a private company to improve their platform but we now have to pay that private company for representation on a public website.

When Tourist Town entered into this agreement they claimed the full support with agreements from the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula and Tobermory Chamber of Commerce. Neither of these agreements existed. The manner in which this agreement came to fruition and the manner in which it continues to be conducted has resulted in significant concern from many of us in the business and local communities.

We are asking your support in ensuring that Bruce County Council re-evaluates this agreement with Tourist Town immediately so as to ensure that all of their businesses are represented fairly and fully as it appears in this current agreement, that will not be the case.