Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to speak on almost the very similar lines Mr. Braden did. Maybe I am just going to take it in a different approach, although I may get somewhat of a similar answer. If the Speaker isn't offended, I am just going to go about the same direction, which is it is no surprise to anyone here, that I am very supportive of the Japanese tourism. That has come up on a number of occasions. I am very proud to be very supportive of it. We bring 12,000 visitors through our major tour companies here to the Northwest Territories. There are spin-offs to our communities for aurora tourism. That, to one extent or another, brings $16 million to our local economy. To that, I think that is a significant element to who we are as a territory, from a business sense.
In recognizing that we have several pillars and columns here in this Assembly building and many walls that could be used for something small, I am going to challenge the Speaker, and I am hoping he finds it an interesting challenge that I would like challenge him, to take him up on a suggestion about meeting with some of the people in the tourism industry. We have three major tour operators here locally, and they do bring in a lot of Japanese. It is my understanding that they would provide translation services in order to keep the fees realistic enough for us to come up with a small couple of plaques just to acknowledge what we are and what we do and whatnot. I can't imagine it costing more than a couple hundred dollars to take it to one of the local companies in order to produce what appears to be a fitting wall plaque or whatnot that would be suitable for the Assembly. I only say this in the sense that, from my experience with the Japanese people as well as specifically the tourists, that any acknowledgement of them seems to go miles. In a tourist economy that is extremely shaky at best in the sense that we have strong aurora here and it is acknowledged all throughout Japan that the best aurora is in the Northwest Territories, but the problem is that we have competitors in Alaska and other places that are competing just as hard for these tourists.
The reason I say all of this is because it is just about appreciation, respect and recognition that I am really going about. All I am asking is if we can get ultimately a clear commitment from the Speaker on this matter and that would probably end it for me. Could he find some way to agree today that they will put up some type of plaque in recognizing either explaining what our mace is, or something suitable, that at least Japanese can come here into our building and definitely see some writing on our wall that we recognize that they are an important customer to the Northwest Territories? If I can say this quite simply, happy tourists spend money. New money being brought to our economy is good for everyone. It is my opinion, growing up through the Territories, I don't think we would be offending any culture or other language if we just put up a small plaque to recognize the Japanese people in the sense of translation of one of our things on our wall. It is my belief that it only strengthens who we are. It will only further recognize the diversity of the world and what we do bring. I will say that I do understand what the Speaker means about we are not a tourist attraction, per se. I mean, we don't have carnie rides or handouts or things like that, but being one of the most important buildings, in my mind, in the Northwest Territories it is seen as a draw. I can tell you anytime I'm to any province, the first place I always wonder about going to visit is the Legislature. Maybe it's because I'm an MLA, I don't know, but I certainly think that they're important buildings. So I do understand the Speaker's point. So if I could get a small type of commitment from the Speaker whereas we'll just find some way to accommodate the request of something on our wall so that the Japanese people will see that we truly appreciate and respect them, that would satisfy me for the short term and give us a chance to go forward and see how it works out. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.