Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to just ask a couple of more questions, if I may, of the Minister of Finance on the large emitter carbon tax grant program. I think she almost started to make a commitment that she was prepared to review the current program and the policy that is in place, so is the Minister prepared to do that? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hesitating only because I don't want to get mired in reviews on a program that hasn't even really barely rolled out. I agree with some of the comments the Member has made around ensuring that there is enough flexibility in this program to really capture true innovation, and so that we are really encouraging a sea change in terms of how we deal and how we can really use this funding to advance green opportunities and green mining. Whether it's maybe a small-scale, internal review that happens, that much, I think, is probably safe to say. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for that. She's almost there. If I had had a chance to look at the guidelines and the policy, I would have given her that advice back in March, but of course, everything kind of shut down with COVID. One of my concerns is that renewable diesel, and I'm not talking about biofuels, renewable diesel, as I understand, at least one of the diamond mines is very interested in trying to trial it and maybe even use some of the money that is available through the large emitter carbon tax grant program, but it doesn't make any sense to try to apply, the way that it is currently formulated. Has the Minister heard about this proposal to look at renewable diesel at one of the diamond mines?
I don't have the details about some of the different proposals. What I do have is some engagement that has come, frankly, from my other hat, from the diamond mines who are looking for opportunities to be innovative. Whether that is through renewable diesel project or others, I think I take the point that there are some ideas out there that are going to be innovative where, right now, if we're demanding proof of a 5-percent reduction as part of the application process, that may be a difficult target to be able to provide that advance proof of, if what you're trying to do is something innovative. There has to be a way to modify what we're doing to ensure that we're capturing that true innovation. That is something I've spoken about many times, and again, as I say, it may be simply a matter of an internal, small-R-type review that needs to happen so that the eligibility criteria are not excluding otherwise valid, good projects that will advance green energy and green mining.
I want to thank the Minister for that. I mentioned this in my Member's statement, that one of the conditions for eligibility under this grant program policy is that a large emitter, the project is supposed to reduce the annual GHG emissions by 5 percent relative to a project baseline, business-as-usual scenario. I'm actually looking at the document, but it's not clear to me whether that is 5 percent for the entire project or 5 percent for the specific area that an application covers. I'm not sure if the Minister can answer that question. I'd like to ask it, and we'll see where the answer is.
The simple fact is: as I said earlier, having only been really up and running since the accounts were set up at the end of March, there hasn't even been an application yet, but I think, at the very least, as I've said already, whether it's a small-R internal review or whether it's a question of putting out some guidelines to help understand the interpretation of the criteria, which are admittedly short, I also have it in front of me, I think we'll have to do that to make sure that we are actually, again, capturing and targeting good projects, good ideas, so that we can actually demonstrate that this is going to be a program that encourages innovation. I think the Member's point has been clearly made, that there is some work to be done here to make this an even better program.
