Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With hearing all this discussion about the new polar bear licence plate, it has me thinking about the polar bear brand and how it has been for so long associated with the Northwest Territories. It took many years to create that brand and that association.
I have an idea I’m going to throw out to the Minister. Ms. Bisaro said she doesn’t like to see waste and what are we going to do with those old licence plates. Since they cost $10 to buy the new ones, I think people should be allowed to trade their old one in for a new one. Then the Government of the Northwest Territories, through their tourism, ITI, should take all of those licence plates and offer them to tourists that are coming to the Northwest Territories, for $20; hey, not $10, $20. Our polar bear licence plates are so popular that people steal them off our cars when we go down south. Here’s a great opportunity.
You can’t just come here and buy a licence plate if you don’t need one, for some reason, except for those little dinky ones they sell to tourists with three zeros on them. I think that we should allow residents of the Northwest Territories to turn in their now obsolete licence plates in exchange for a new one and the government should then sell them at $20 to the tourists. The tourists will go away happy and there’s a whole industry that could generate some revenue for the Department of Transportation or some enterprising person through ITI.
I am a bit of a connoisseur of options and I’ve often been at auction sales where old licence plates come up and they very often go for a very high price. Back in the days when they had the year of them on, particularly some people are collectors and they like to get the sequence of all those years.
On another idea regarding the polar bear, I understand that we’re going to be replacing the polar bear sign at the 60th parallel coming into the Northwest Territories. I would again like to suggest that this not be taken and dropped off at the local landfill. I think you should sell it to the highest bidder. That is a trademark in the Northwest Territories. Those of us who have lived here for many years have a picture every time our kids go by there. The first time we took our children out of the Northwest Territories they had to have the ceremonial picture beside that particular sign. Now, if you’re going to tear it down, take it down and put up a new sign, I suggest that there will be people interested in buying that. Put it on line, auction it off, sell it to the highest bidder. There’s another revenue opportunity for the department.
I think that we have lots of fond memories of our association with the polar bear. The many debates over the trademark, who owned the trademark, whether the bear should be three-legged, four-legged. I’m happy to have a polar bear diamond on my hand here. It’s a great trademark.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
