Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if the government would look at subsidies based on the remoteness of the communities, or maybe based on income, or maybe based on the fact that individuals are hunting for elders and so on, if there would be any subsidies at all involved in this whole carbon tax scheme? Thank you.

I would like to ask the Minister if there will be tax rebates. I notice that all of the jurisdictions that didn't do their own carbon tax system, the federal carbon tax system was imposed upon them, but there were tax exemptions. I want to ask the Minister: will there be tax exemptions for the people of the territories, as well?

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [Translation] they are talking about the carbon tax today, so I am going to ask the Minister: the tanks that are getting delivered into the communities, we are talking about it. They are saying that it was not to be taxed the way they are working. I don't understand exactly what is going on. The people who deliver the fuel within a community or the boats that are delivering it, maybe they are the ones who are paying the tax. The heating fuel is not supposed to be taxed for the people that are hunting and living on the land. [Translation ends]

[Microphone not...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have two documents to table. The first is a letter from the Native Women's Association NWT that was written to the Honourable Glen Abernethy, Minister of Health and Social Services, and the second is a petition that does not meet all of the guidelines of a petition to be tabled, so I am presenting this as a letter from the Deninu Kue First Nation to the Honourable Minister Abernethy, Department of Health and Social Services, on the Fort Resolution 'Our Great Elders Facility.' Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister's idea about debundling, I think, is a good idea. I would like to ask the Minister, if he was to debundle a project, for example, of something that's worth $10 million debundled into two or three projects, if the smaller the bundles are the better opportunities there are for northern companies. So I would like to ask the Minister if he could break the bundles down to a point where it gives the best advantage to northern companies?

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. You just caught me a bit off guard. I was trying to send a note to the Minister of Infrastructure. You didn't get it yet?

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to ask a general question. I want to try to provide a little more detail on what I'm trying to get to, but, Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if the Minister has any flexibility on large tenders? What I'm asking is what the flexibility would be; if the two bids were very close and there was this southern bid, would the full application of any BIP or anything that would be in a southern bid was just marginally out, I guess...

I would like to thank the Minister for correcting me. I was calling it tax exemptions, but I meant tax rebates. Thank you. On the fuels that are exempted like heating fuels and aviation fuel, at some point, I think both of those fuels will be produced in the south and hauled. I want to ask the Minister if the individuals who are hauling heating fuels, like a trucking company, or as we buy the fuels off the rack, and then the transportation costs of that, I would like to ask the Minister if carbon tax is imposed upon the people who are actually hauling the fuel to the Northwest Territories?

Mr. Chairman, I move that the chairman rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in favour of this motion. I believe that there have been mistakes made in the delivery of goods to the High Arctic communities. Initially, when NTCL was purchased by this government, I was surprised. I believe it happened around Christmas a couple years ago. I was surprised that NTCL was purchased and then, further on, surprised that MTS was created out of NTCL.

At that point, I thought, well, I guess it would be a positive thing since NTCL may not be able to continue operations, but I also felt that, with our growing debt, I thought it would...