Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report tabled in this House on October 11th of this year outlined grave consequences for the future of our planet if immediate action is not taken to mitigate the increasing global temperatures. This 1.5 degree Celsius increase in temperature is predicted within the next 12 years, and if nothing is done, there will be catastrophic consequences. The cost of inaction is estimated in the same report at $54 trillion by 2040, costs to the global economy.
Mr. Speaker, Northerners know all too well the cost of climate change. Our homes are subject to the greatest impacts of warming temperatures, and the Arctic sees more climatic shifts than any other region. Our children and grandchildren deserve safe and secure communities that adapt to climate change and whose residence can continue to practice the traditional way of life that has been handed down throughout generations.
Mr. Speaker, when the Premier signed on to the Pan-Canadian Clean Growth and Climate Change Framework, he agreed to look at ways to reduce carbon emissions in the NWT. Carbon pricing was only one option, and apparently, the only option considered by the GNWT. Little effort and attention was given to establishing a northern carbon market through cap and trade policies that could have joined with existing markets in Quebec, California, and, until only recently, Ontario. Instead, this government went for new taxes, and this developed a proposal that burdens our middle class with paying the costs which are the responsibility of large, industrial emitters.
Mr. Speaker, northern families are responsible for a mere 10 per cent of total carbon emissions, whereas industry and transportation accounts for nearly 82 per cent of emissions. The concerns I have heard from my constituents, hardworking northerners already struggling to pay with ever-increasing costs of living, is that they cannot afford another tax, even one that supports climate security and a sustainable future for the NWT. I cannot support the GNWT's carbon pricing plan as it is currently formed. The shortcomings are too flawed, and it treats 10-per-cent emitters equivalently to 82-per-cent emitters. It does not do enough to reduce the burden to everyday families, and it fails to show clear leadership for the GNWT on building a sustainable clean-growth economy with new investments in energy that make a difference in the lives of northern residents.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has given us a Made in the North plan for carbon pricing, and now it is the time of the honourable Members of this House to make it better to protect the economic and environmental interests of our citizens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements, member for Yellowknife North.
