Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide information on the new and improved NWT licence plate that will be available to the public starting July 1st of this year.
The Department of Transportation has been working closely with groups across the NWT, and has consulted with the RCMP, Municipal Enforcement and the Royal Canadian Legion, NWT Tourism, commercial carriers, manufacturers and other Canadian jurisdictions to update our licence plate and bring it up to current design standards.
Our shift to a new licence plate began when the discussions with the manufacturer of our current plate indicated they would cease to produce licence plates and that any other option to continue with the old plates would come at a considerable increase in costs. This, Mr. Speaker, combined with the fact that the 25-year-old tools and dies used to manufacture our current licence plate no longer met industry standards. We identified this as an excellent opportunity to examine our new options for our licence plate.
The polar bear design was first used in the Northwest Territories in 1970 and has become recognizable across North America. It is unique in the world and for the last 40 years has created an important branding opportunity to promote the Northwest Territories. The new licence plate will maintain our unique polar bear shape. Also updated on the plate is the tourism slogan, which was previously “Explore Canada’s Arctic,” but has been changed to “Spectacular,” the new NWT Tourism slogan. The slogan on the plate has changed a number of times over the years and aligning it with the current tourism campaign will help in our marketing and our branding efforts.
Mr. Speaker, road safety is our top priority for the department and updating our licence plate is a key way of ensuring the safety of our road users. The new plate features a modern reflective coating, which improves night time vehicle visibility by up to 700 percent. This is valuable for law enforcement as they will be able to identify and read the licence plate in low light conditions. Safety benefits will be seen by every road user as vehicles will become more visible, even if a vehicle is disabled without lights at the side of a road. Other jurisdictions across Canada have benefited from this improved visibility and now it is time for our drivers to receive this enhanced safety feature.
Beginning July 1st, when an individual enters or renews an existing vehicle registration or registers a new vehicle, they will be issued a new plate. New licence plates have a nominal one-time fee of $10 to cover the increased costs of using these new licence plates. By introducing the licence plate fee, we will ensure that funding needed for other important programs is not diverted for the purpose of producing licence plates.
The full rollout of these new plates will take place over 18 months, so every NWT licensed vehicle in the Territory will have a new plate by December 31st, 2011.
In addition to the improved reflectivity, Mr. Speaker, another important improvement is to note that the new licence plate is more environmentally friendly. We eliminated the toxic paint used on the previous plates and reduced the weight, which made shipping more efficient.
In conclusion, the department has developed this exciting new graphical licence plate that will improve road safety very much into the 21st Century and proudly market the Northwest Territories on every registered vehicle. The department has received excellent feedback on the new design from interest groups and stakeholders across the Territory. Mr. Speaker, I’m proud of this new licence plate and it is a plate that all of our residents can be proud of as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
