Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is quite a lot that could be potentially said here, and I certainly while I don't want to speak for my colleague too much with respect to housing, I am able to happily say that there is already, as of this last year, the Housing Northwest Territories has its own energy strategy. There's also, of course, a variety of GHG grant programs administered by the GNWT. Arctic Energy Alliance has been a longstanding partner with the GNWT. Almost $3 million goes to them for a variety of programs that include rebate programs for folks to make changes in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the details of this program, which I don't have standing in front of me right now in terms of the specific policy, but the details were communicated back in August when the program was announced. That included the timelines for making applications, the process for making applications. The initial evacuations when the programs that we had for those who were evacuated early in the year, we actually had staff attending at the facilities within the Northwest Territories to help people make their applications and to explain the process to them. And so all of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I suppose if I'm not clear it's because the question is not clear what is being asked about the tracking. Every application that is sent to the department is logged, and every inquiry that is being sent in with respect to say that there's been an issue, that one, they are also being monitored. And to the best of my knowledge in terms of the tracking, most of those that have applied and have been processed are, indeed, paid and have been paid. So there's been some late payments. But, I mean, as far as someone saying that they made an application and haven't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm conscious that you want us to stick to our times. So I'll try to be brief, but this is a source of some frustration for myself and for the department.

Yes, the Department of Finance certainly has engaged with officials from ECC or Environment and Climate Change Canada. We've made the case. We've pled the case. We were told quite frankly that no, we will not get any extension in the amount of time that we can offer an exemption. No, there will not be any blanket exemptions. No, there will essentially be very little that accounts for the realities of costs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly alive, as is everyone else in this territory, about the high costs associated with being in the North, the high cost of fuel, but specific to the carbon tax we are exempting the heating oil cost of carbon tax. It's taken this long for a couple of reasons, Mr. Speaker. First of all, people who are using propane or who are using LNG, other forms of fuel, they are not seeking any other kind of exemption to the carbon tax, so we wanted to make sure that we took that into consideration, and we took into consideration the impacts on revenues before...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: 20222023 Public Accounts, sections I, II, III, and IV. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, people were asked to evacuate in the face of wildfires that were threatening communities. So as far as being ordered to leave, it was not done lightly. It was done in the interests of safety to protect residents but also to protect first responders, to protect firefighters, to protect infrastructure. So just to draw a distinct line, there this is not the same as the situation under CERB. We are also not the federal government and don't have the deep pockets of the federal government and we're doing our best to try to make our programs such that they could...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I say I wasn't expecting the question, I don't necessarily have the policy documents in front of me. I certainly wouldn't want to mislead anyone with respect to what was the specifics of the policy.

As far as the $750, again, firstly, these were efforts being made in response to emergencies and often by staff who themselves had been evacuated and were under somewhat difficult conditions. We were making an effort at the time, I believe with respect to the evacuation payment, to align with the income disruption payment that had been decided upon earlier...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is arguably more convenient for residents to not have to pay the tax at the front end and to simply then to have that exempted from them rather than to have to get the rebate. That was certainly the source of much debate at the last time. And so given that that's now the approach that's being taken by many other jurisdictions due to the federal government's change, we were prepared to offer the same type of approach under our system so that the tax rebate or the tax itself on heating oil is not to be paid, won't have to be paid at the front end, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, firstly, the carbon tax rebates goes to those who are tax filers. So I would encourage everyone, even if they're getting rebates, even if they don't think they have to pay taxes on whatever they're receiving, they should be filing their taxes or at least filing a notice of tax with the government, and then that would give them, first of all, access to these rebates and, I believe, probably others, such as the child care or child rebates. But, Mr. Speaker, what the carbon tax offset payments by the Government of the Northwest Territories does is there's...