Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the Minister of Industry along with eight provincial ministers of tourism and 20 senior members of Canada's tourism industry undertook a nine day mission to Japan. The visit included participation in the first World Conference of Tourism Ministers in Osaka and the second Canada-Japan Tourism Conference in Minabe.
At the Canada-Japan conference the minister presented the Canadian response to Japan's tourism challenge, calling for co-operative efforts to triple the number of Japanese visiting Canada annually. With input from a broad cross-section of tourism stakeholders, the response represents the kind of collaborative effort that will be a cornerstone of our tourism success in the years ahead.
We look forward to the successful implementation of this undertaking. It would result in an estimated $1 billion of additional revenue for Canada each year. It would create more than 20,000 new jobs for young people entering the workforce for the first time and for those re-entering the workforce.