Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that it may very well be that this is merely a trial balloon that the Minister is floating up in the air to see how it will pan out. If that is so, I am here to tell the Minister that this statement, and my press release this morning, should serve as the pin that would pop the balloon and make it fall out of the sky.

Mr. Speaker, my concerns for this tax initiative are many. First of all, it will send out a totally wrong message to the tourism industry, penalize tourists and hotel operators, and add a whole new tax regime in the Territory.

At noon today on the news, it was reported that a tourism operator in Toronto will not send tourism buses to Inuvik because the hotel costs are just too high in the Northwest Territories. They have not even heard about the new tax yet.

Let us look at the facts, Mr. Speaker. Two of the largest groups using hotels in the Northwest Territories are government employees and Japanese tourists. The latter group has been steadily increasing and it is expected to grow again this year to about 10,000 visitors from Japan.

In most communities, government employees make up the bulk of the hotel users. In effect, the government would be taxing itself, and at the same time extending a very chilly welcome to tourists. That really does not send out a positive, welcoming message.

Another problem I have with this is that hotel operators will be forced into becoming tax collectors for the government. Mr. Speaker, after years of no action, we have been seeing lately new constructions of hotels and motels around the city, and this government is responding to it by turning them into tax collectors. That is not the proper way to say thank you to those business people who invest in our economy.