Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive rule 100(4) and to have committee report 32-18(3) moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive rule 100(4) to have Committee Report 32-18(3) moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later on today.
---Unanimous consent granted
Committee Report 32-18(3) is now moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration later today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following two documents. The first one is entitled "Stable Livelihood Action Plan 2019-2023." I would also like to table the following document entitled "An E-mail from Marlo Raynolds, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Regarding Carbon Pricing in the NWT." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 751-18(3): Former Northern Frontier Visitors' Centre." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "The Northwest Territories Child and Family Services Quality Improvement Plan, 2019-2021." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I wish to table the following document. It is the webpage from the Department of Health and Social Services, "Applying for the Extended Health Benefits for Specified Disease Conditions Program." Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents.
Members, pursuant to section 21 of the Human Rights Act, I wish to table "The Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2018-2019."
I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Committee wishes to consider Bill 42, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products Tax Act; Bill 43, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act; Committee Report 31-18(3), Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 46, Public Land Act; and Bill 46, Public Land Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will consider the documents, but first, a brief recess.
---SHORT RECESS
I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to continue our consideration of Bill 42: An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products Tax Act. Last time committee considered the bill, we left off agreeing to clause 14. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the Minister of Finance's witnesses into the House; Minister, you may take a seat at the witness table. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, who is the deputy minister of Finance. To my left, I have Cherie Jarock, who is our legislative counsel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Welcome to the witnesses. Committee, we left off on our clause-by-clause review of the bill. The last clause that was called was 14, so I will continue with calling the clauses individually. After I call a clause, please respond accordingly to indicate whether you agree or not with the clause. Clause 15.
--- Clauses 15 through 17 inclusive approved
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 42 be amended by adding the following after subclause 17(2):
(3) Section 23 is renumbered as subsection 23(1) and the following is added after that renumbered subsection:
(2) Subject to subsection (3), a copy of each regulation that the Minister proposes to make under paragraph (1)(d), (e), or (e.1) shall be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Minister in respect of the proposed regulations.
(3) No proposed regulation need be published more than once under subsection (2), whether or not it is altered or amended after such publication as a result of representations made by interested persons as provided in that subsection.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I have a copy of the motion in front of me. Just give me one moment to have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I have to rule this motion out of order. This bill only narrowly, very narrowly, touches on regulations, whereas this motion is very wide-ranging and is beyond the scope of this bill. The motion is ruled out of order.
---Clauses 17 through 21 inclusive approved
Clause 22. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier today the honourable Minister tabled a letter from Mario Renault's chief of staff to the honourable Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. This is Tabled Document, I believe, 497-18(3). This letter concerns the implementation date of this plan, and also a potential implementation date for the federal backstop. Could the Minister confirm whether or not a copy of Tabled Document 497-18(3) was provided to Members prior to its tabling in the House? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had provided that to the chair of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Can the Minister confirm that the time on Tabled Document 497-18(3) is 1:01 p.m.? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
The Minister can confirm that the time on that was 1:01 p.m.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. A letter that was provided to Members is similar in nature to Tabled Document 497-18(3), but is timestamped 12:20 p.m., and there are some differences between this letter and Tabled Document 497-18(3). Can the Minister account for these differences? Thank you.
Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it was committee was asking for more clarification, so I believe we provided that.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the differences between the two seem to be that Tabled Document 497-18(3) indicates that the federal backstop will be in place on September 1st, whereas the letter from 12:20 p.m. does not include a firm date. The other substantive difference is that Tabled Document 497-18(3) includes a line, "our preference remains for NWT to put in place systems so it has full control over the revenue," and this does not appear in the original letter. Can the Minister confirm whether or not he directed his staff to amend the letter sent at 12:20 to include these additional pieces of information contained in Tabled Document 497-18(3)? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did get a letter from them, and we thought that could be sufficient information for committee. Apparently it wasn't, so I asked staff to talk to Canada and see if they could further clarify that with a firm date, and they came back and did it, because committee didn't think our first piece of correspondence was sufficient, nor did they believe it.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand there was correspondence between the chair of the committee, but not the committee proper. So, to set the record straight, the committee did not weigh in on this. That being said, we know that the Alberta backstop will come in place January 1, 2020. Did the Minister inquire as to whether the September 1st date was negotiable? Thank you.
