The Ontario government says it appears the province is being abandoned by Ottawa.

On Friday, Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement suggested Ontario may not qualify for federal emergency funding to cope with the SARS outbreak.

"I'm afraid the federal government is trying to renege on its commitments, personal commitments made by the prime minister to the premier, and by the health minister of Canada to me," Clement said.

Clement says there are indications Ottawa is balking at declaring the SARS outbreak eligible under the federal disaster relief program. He says there are concerns that the crisis is not considered "a finite event" and therefore does not meet federal requirements.

"If the federal government does not see this as an emergency deserving of relief, what possibly could be?" Clement asked at a SARS briefing on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the federal government announced a new $17.5 million tourism package -- $10 million of which would be earmarked for Toronto.

Industry Minister Allan Rock told a gathering on the city's waterfront that the money would be used to support local events and festivals, which have been hit hard by a drop in summer tourists and corporate sponsors.

But Clement says that money falls well short of the $800 million he had requested and thought his province would receive. He's demanding an immediate "down payment" of $150 million to prove Ottawa plans to keep its promise.

"he fact of the matter is, the signals they were sending is that they were looking for an excuse not to be part of the SARS compensation.''

Transport Minister David Collenette denied his government was dragging its heels on providing assistance to Toronto and urged Clement not to "politicize" the issue.

"Not everybody's happy all the time," he said. "Just because a meeting can't be held on a particular day doesn't mean we've closed the door."

Canada has suffered a lack of tourists since an original outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome about eight weeks ago. A single case of mad cow disease discovered in Alberta may also be keeping visitors away.

Rock said tourism, travel and hospitality is a $55-billion industry in Canada, employing hundreds of thousands of people.

"I've been working over these last eight weeks with my provincial counter parts ... to try to find strategies to do three things," Rock said.

"Number one -- to set the record straight on the facts. To tell the world that Toronto is safe. To tell them what SARS is and what it's not. Second -- to get the word out about the tremendous attractions we have in Canada and in the GTA."

"And third -- to work with provincial partners and municipal governments in identifying specific events we can promote and make sure they succeed this summer.

While Ontario health officials report Toronto's SARS outbreak is nearing an end, it will take many more months for tourism to recover.

The Toronto Zoo may be forced to close its doors for seven months of the year. Group attendance has fallen by 65 per cent since the outbreak of SARS. The zoo's board of directors plans to ask the city for $1 million to help create special days including bringing pandas in from China.

And Toronto theatre impresarios David and Ed Mirvish have also announced the long-running stage production Mamma Mia will be taking the summer off, partly because of the city's "collapse of tourism."

With a report from the Canadian Press