Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, thrilled again to talk about biomass. This is an opportunity where, you know, communities can come forward. There is there certainly is opportunity, and I would certainly want to extend the opportunity to speak further to communities, whether it's on small scale projects, which there is funding for under the community grants programs, funding under feasibility studies. There may be opportunities through, you know, and I'd certainly like to be able to perhaps resend some information, that I saw go out at the end of the 19th Assembly under the Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, some people are finding that if they've sent incorrect banking information or if the banking information has been sent or has been inputted incorrectly as I've noted, so there may be a time where a payment doesn't get issued or that it's been delayed, so again, yes, in those instances, someone wouldn't receive a payment. They then there is a notification email and phone number that folks can make contact with to confirm whether or not they have been had their payment issued or whether or not their payment has gone through. In those cases, those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure which question to start with. I wasn't expecting them today. I am receiving quite a number of inquiries, and we are working through each one with respect to this program. This was a program that we started up quite at the last minute in the midst of the evacuations. And building on the last exchange that the Premier just spoke to, we were faced with an unprecedented situation and we're doing our best to try to create a program to support individual residents in the midst of our own staff having been evacuated in most cases.

So I am aware that there's quite a...

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...

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.

Mr. Speaker, certainly I can provide those numbers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the income disruption support payment, that was the first one that was provided and that was really meant to be an opportunity, really, just to acknowledge the fact that individuals who had been evacuated at that time may be in situations where they didn't have anything to provide some of their daytoday costs and to sort of mitigate some of those daytoday costs. $750 was we were looking at we certainly did do a jurisdictional scan of what was going offered elsewhere. It was very clear at that time that very few jurisdictions, indeed I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our residents were already receiving a much higher rebate than what many residents in other parts of the country were. What we did in our system was, and what we understood would not have been offered had we come under the federal modeling, was to zone the three types of rebates that were being received. And under the home heating oil tax situation, that meant that those living in zone C who were really in some of the communities that are the most remote, most rural, they would have been receiving a much higher benefit to account for the fact that the...

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. If it's the amount of home heating fuel home heating oil revenue, I can certainly get that number for the Member. For the current year, that's the taxation just to be clear, so I can get the correct information, it's the tax the number I'm going to get is the tax being collected for home heating fuel in the Northwest Territories. We can certainly provide that in due course. Thank you.

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...