Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to apologize in advance if some of these questions are a duplication. I just sadly lost track a little bit of what my colleagues’ questions were being asked. I was focusing on something else, but my questions, however, are for the Minister of Finance. They might be similar in nature. I just wonder: can the Minister of Finance provide us with some degree of update on what is going on between our territorial government and the federal government on -- I won’t call it a negotiation, but discussions on a carbon tax and what regime might be being considered since the federal government’s announcement that we will be seeing a carbon tax sometime in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you. We have been having discussions with the federal government. We have agreed to work together to better understand the impact of their proposed carbon pricing in the Northwest Territories and, in our meetings we had down there, they understand the unique situation of the North and how it is going to have a wider affect up here than, I think, they expected. So we’re continuing to have those discussions and I will update committee as those progressions progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his reply. I wonder if the Minister can share with us at this time, you know, we have shared our concerns with the federal government as it relates to what a carbon tax may or may not do as it relates to our cost of living. Can the Minister maybe provide us any insight as to what that discussion has been like with the federal government, and is there any consideration being given to the impacts that it’s going to have on the cost of living here in the North?
We have been having those discussions as an item. As I mentioned earlier, the federal government, we made them well aware of the actual effects of their carbon pricing and the effects it’s going to have on the Northwest Territories, so we will continue to have those discussions. We will continue to make our case. I have had assurance from the Minister of Environment Canada that they will recognize the unique situation of the North. Whatever that entails remains to be seen and I guess that’s part of the wider discussion that we plan on going with them.
I appreciate the Minister’s reply. I expect that, to some degree, we’re going to have the ability to do some kind of tweaking to whatever this form of carbon tax is going to be. We know that other jurisdictions such as Alberta have done some tweaks with regard to their carbon tax. There are some exemptions, Mr. Speaker. The oil and gas industry has certain kinds of exemptions. The agricultural industry has some certain kinds of exemptions. On our front here, are there any exemptions that we’ll be considering if a carbon tax is to come into play?
We’re very early in the process, and our exemptions could be one approach. We’ll also be looking at rebates or tax credits as approaches to mitigate the impact of cost of living, but we are early in the process. I do realize we had a briefing committee, but I would like to, once we do a bit more of the work. I would like to come forward and have an opportunity to meet with committee, give them some of our early findings, and get some feedback from committee as we continue to move forward. At our earliest opportunity, we will make the offer to committee to have a sit-down with them and have a discussion as we move forward.
Masi. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s well appreciated. We look forward to any information or presentation or briefing that the Minister can provide. That would be fantastic. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I’m wondering what the intention would be with such a tax in terms of: are we going to neutralize this tax? Is this a tax that’s going into general coffers and then just spent as and where the territorial government feels it’s required, or is this something that’s going to go directly back to investing in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and investing in developing and initiating alternative energy sources? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We haven’t determined that yet, but one other thing I could share with Members or share with this House is, in our discussions with Canada, they recognize our high cost of providing services up here and they have a green energy fund, I believe it is, and there are some opportunities for us to apply for money through that fund to help mitigate our emissions. Again, to our advantage is that they know about the high cost of living up here, the 22 or 23 communities on these. We’ve made that case. I believe that we’re working with Canada to try and access some of that green funding. Again, my offer before stands that, once we do a bit more work on this file and after we pass our budget, then we will have a sit-down with committee and have a discussion moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
