Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for that. I mentioned this in my Member's statement, that one of the conditions for eligibility under this grant program policy is that a large emitter, the project is supposed to reduce the annual GHG emissions by 5 percent relative to a project baseline, business-as-usual scenario. I'm actually looking at the document, but it's not clear to me whether that is 5 percent for the entire project or 5 percent for the specific area that an application covers. I'm not sure if the Minister can answer that question. I'd like to ask it, and we'll see where the answer is.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to just ask a couple of more questions, if I may, of the Minister of Finance on the large emitter carbon tax grant program. I think she almost started to make a commitment that she was prepared to review the current program and the policy that is in place, so is the Minister prepared to do that? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that, and I'm kind of not surprised, given the high bar that the current guidelines put on applicants. Can the Minister tell us what the available revenues are projected for the 2020-2021 fiscal year for large emitter carbon tax grant program? Sorry, I did give the Minister a head's up before coming to the House today.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Finance, who is responsible for the NWT carbon tax. Earlier today, I discussed some of the shortcomings of the large emitter carbon tax grant program. Can the Minister confirm whether there was any public engagement and work with standing committee to develop the large carbon emitter carbon tax grant program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that. She's almost there. If I had had a chance to look at the guidelines and the policy, I would have given her that advice back in March, but of course, everything kind of shut down with COVID. One of my concerns is that renewable diesel, and I'm not talking about biofuels, renewable diesel, as I understand, at least one of the diamond mines is very interested in trying to trial it and maybe even use some of the money that is available through the large emitter carbon tax grant program, but it doesn't make any sense to try to apply, the way that it is...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for those figures. Earlier today, I outlined some of the limitations with the large emitter carbon tax grant program and policy. These include the narrow scope of the eligibility criteria that does not encourage innovation or experimentation; the requirement for a third-party engineering assessment; the lack of public reporting of any project submitted or approved; there are no forums for submission of projects; and more. Would the Minister agree that it is already time to review the large emitter carbon tax grant program and policy...

I want to thank the Minister for that. I can assure the Minister there was very little consultation with committee in terms of developing the actual bill that was brought forward, and that was one of the reasons why I voted against it in the last Assembly. The Minister promised that there would be some consultation on the development of these guidelines, and I'm not convinced that really happened. On to my question: can the Minister tell us whether there have been any applications under the large emitter carbon tax grant program or policy, and if so, how many have been successful?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I voted against the carbon tax in the last Assembly because Cabinet would not require any public reporting or transparency. On December 10, 2019, the Minister of Finance said the following about the guidelines being developed for large-emitter carbon tax grants, "I can assure the Member that, indeed, draft guidelines will be shared with the committees for review."

Those guidelines, as specified in Section 6.6(5) of the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Regulations, were shared with committee in March, just as the pandemic hit. MLAs were also given an opportunity to...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Premier, who is responsible for federal relations. In my statement earlier today, I noted the potential for literally billions of dollars of federal investment across the northern territories as part of an accelerated program on contaminated-site remediation and economic recovery. It's not clear that my call for action was taken seriously in May. Does the Premier see this as a major opportunity for federal funding transfers? If so, tell us who is actually in charge of this work and how it's going to be coordinated across several...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I, too, provided my own links and comments back to the Minister in terms of those areas of specialization for the polytechnic university. I guess what I want to speak about now is really that we still have a long way to go as a government to prevent further public environmental liabilities. We, of course, want to make sure that the polluter-pays principle is honoured and that current users do not use an accelerated contaminated sites program to subsidize or replace their own obligations. Can the Premier provide any assurance...