Members, it is my honour to welcome Mr. Anthony W. J. Whitford to this Chamber today. As many of you know, Mr. Whitford is a former Commissioner, Speaker, Minister, Member, sergeantatarms, and is also an honourary clerk at the table. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Whitford to the House this wonderful afternoon. It is wonderful to have you here with us today.
As well in the gallery, I'd like to recognize Stephen Dunbar, chief electoral officer of the Northwest Territories. Welcome, Mr. Dunbar.
My favorite former MLA from the 19th Assembly, Mr. Rocky Simpson. And we'll miss you having questions but you have my phone number, we can talk later. Welcome.
As well, I would like to recognize Clarence Wood, the mayor of Inuvik. I greatly appreciate you being here and welcome you here.
And finally, I would like to recognize a former mentor of mine, Jackson Lafferty, Member of the 15th and 19th Assembly, a former Minister, Speaker, and now grand chief of the Tlicho. Welcome, Mr. Jackson.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize His Lordship mayor Clarence Wood. Mr. Wood is in his 26th year serving the municipality of Inuvik, which makes him, I think, the longest serving municipal leader in the territory. I had the pleasure of serving with Mr. Wood, and I'd like to recognize him and thank him here today. Thank you.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize my friend and former colleague grand chief Jackson Lafferty. It's nice to see you here today.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a constituent, the chief electoral officer for Elections NWT, Mr. Stephen Dunbar. Thank you for being with us today.
Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. I would like to acknowledge and recognize Tlicho grand chief Jackson Lafferty. And also I would like to recognize Rocky Simpson. I do miss talking to him. I do miss him here, so. But it's good that he is here visiting. Thank you.
Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Sahtu.
Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize Jackson Lafferty, grand chief of the Tlicho. I had the privilege of working with him during the 18th Assembly. Also a working colleague of mine, Mr. Rocky Simpson. Thank you.
Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize the grand chief of the Tlicho region, Mr. Jackson Lafferty. Mahsi and welcome.
And an old friend of mine, Tony Whitford. I seen him at Tim Hortons coffee shop. It's always good to see you.
And former colleague as well, Rocky Simpson Senior. Mahsi.
And the mayor from Inuvik as well, Clarence wood. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too wish to lend my voice to recognize the gentleman who is so well known to us, Mr. Anthony W. J. Whitford. He's many things to many of us, but very importantly to me he's been a friend for a very, very long time.
At the same time, I too wish to recognize Mr. Lafferty, or the grand chief for the Tlicho region. We go back to when we were kids. And he's a wonderful gentleman, and I'm glad to see him in the leadership in the Tlicho communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize a few members of the team that we've recently brought on. Our new principal secretary, Dr. Joe Dragon; the deputy secretary, Kyla Kakfwi Scott; and Fredrick Bergeron, the executive administrative coordinator in the principal secretary's office.
I also want to recognize Mr. Tony Whitford, former Member, former Minister, former Speaker, Commissioner, sergeantatarms. We're always happy to see him in the gallery.
Another former colleague, Mr. Jackson Lafferty, of course the Tlicho grand chief, former Member, former Minister, and former Speaker when I was Deputy Speaker. So I appreciate all of the support he's given me in that role.
Another former Member and former colleague and my father, Mr. Rocky Simpson; I want to recognize him as well. As well he's with Richard Skinner from GRC Camp Services. And, of course, my spouse Chantel Lafferty. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my constituent, His Worship mayor of Inuvik Clarence Wood. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Mr. Rocky Simpson, constituent of mine, and Chantel Lafferty, resident of Hay River. Also Clarence Wood who I sat on the NWTAC board for a number of years with. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize not a Member of Kam Lake but somebody who helps me take care of Kam Lake, and that's Leslie Straker, who is my constituency assistant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my first question today will be focused to the Premier. It's been approximately three months and 20 days, or in other words a way of looking at it it's been about 113 days since the election was called. And the reason I define it that way is the public service hasn't had a direction from its leadership, its mandates, that I'm aware of. Now that said, one of the issues that the Premier does in their role is issue mandate statements. I'd like to ask the Premier has he issued ministerial mandate letters to the departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we have no priorities as an Assembly yet. The choice was made by the 19 Members in this House to extend the priority setting exercise, and so we haven't even set those priorities yet. So I don't think it would be appropriate to task the Ministers with achieving something over the next four years without knowing what the priorities of the Assembly are. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, then there lies the question what direction is being given to the public service for the last three months and 20 days? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So similar to the election period where the public service still continues to exist despite the Cabinet not being active in providing direction, the public service continues to do their work. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if Cabinet's not actively doing their job, what are they doing? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can tell you that when you're a Cabinet Minister, it's a four-year work week. So we're busy. Thank you.
Member for Yellowknife Centre. Last supplemental.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to ask the Premier when he finishes drafting the letters, will he share them with Members, and will he table them before the House? Thank you.
Of course. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on November 8th of last year, the federal government exempted home heating fuel as part of their carbon pricing regime for three years. The NWT has not made those changes yet but has made public statements committing to that. Can the Minister of Finance tell us will home heating fuel be exempt. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, home heating fuel will also be exempt in the Northwest Territories as it is now being allowed by the federal government for us to do so. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you to the Minister. I'm just wondering why it's taken so long to get to this point after the decision was made by the federal government. Can the Minister clarify what has taken us to this time? Thanks.
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 seeing how this whole thing might roll out. We want to maintain as much fairness and equity in the system for residents in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And in the interest of fairness and equity, as this exemption has been enjoyed by Canadians outside of the Northwest Territories since November of last year, will the Minister backdate the exemption to November of last year and pass those savings along to our constituents who are paying a lot during the coldest months of the year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't change the cost of fuel. I can only impact on the costs of the tax and rebates for the tax. And to that extent, our rebate system was taking into account the higher costs of the tax. So the rebate system we design in fact more than paid for the average cost of impact of carbon tax on average residents in the Northwest Territories. Anyone that paid or filed their taxes saw that rebate in October, saw a rebate again in January, and they will see another rebate coming in April adjusted with the heating fuel impacts here.
So, Mr. Speaker, we aren't backdating because people did receive those rebates. That doesn't change the cost of fuel but I can't change the cost of fuel. All I can do is adjust based on the carbon tax impacts and, again, as I've said, they have received those higher rebates to account for that higher amount of tax. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Range Lake, final supplementary.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. So the Premier, the Honourable Premier, has made public statements calling for a blanket exemption for the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister or her department started those negotiations with Ottawa to get an exemption for the carbon tax in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 of living, costs of heat, and costs of fuel in the Northwest Territories. We need to continue to fit ourselves in. Mr. Speaker, the fact that they've changed these goalposts is exactly why I wanted to hang on to the carbon tax administration here in the Northwest Territories so that we can continue to adapt as we need to as much as possible to conform to what the realities are that we see here for residents in the territories. Thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I earlier spoke to strengthening the nonprofit and charitable organization report. My question is for the Minister of EIA. What progress has been made so far, if any, on implementation of the recommendations from the strengthening the nonprofit and charitable sector report? Thank you.
