Merci, Monsieur le President. I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha, that Bill 91, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 2, be read for a second time.
Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act to establish an annual report with respect to the administration of carbon tax under the act. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to make some remarks at second reading of this bill. It's a short bill and it follows up on a committee recommendation from the last Assembly on the original legislation, and I would just like to read this from the August 13th, 2019, report from Standing Committee on Government Operations, Recommendation 3:
Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Finance table an annual report in the Legislative Assembly on the carbon tax that provides details on:
Total carbon taxes collected;
Carbon taxes collected from large emitters;
Total rebates provided;
Number and nature of grants provided;
Costs of administering the carbon tax;
Reinvestment of carbon tax revenues;
Projected tax revenues for coming year; and,
An annual plan for future year reinvestment of carbon tax revenues.
So, Mr. Speaker, that was the recommendation from 2019, and I believe that this bill is a direct response to that.
I would note that we had further debate about this issue when we considered Bill 60 in this Assembly and, at that point, the Minister did indicate that she was considering bringing forward a bill that would at least address municipal grants and possibly other matters. It would be narrow in scope and, of course, we'll have further discussion on this moving forward.
But so my Private Member's bill, Mr. Speaker, focuses solely on annual public reporting by the finance minister of the money in/the money out on the carbon tax. It would also require an estimate of the cost of all of this, anticipated greenhouse gas reductions, and the effectiveness of the a description of the effectiveness of the carbon tax in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
I acknowledge that there is already a voluntary reporting that does some of this, but I just would like to make sure that it continues as part of the legislation and that future finance Ministers would continue that practice under the legislation itself.
I want the public to know that I did try to work with Cabinet on this Private Member's bill. I provided a draft, sought their input, I did not get a response. There may be a couple of contentious items in the bill around whether there should be an estimate of greenhouse gas reductions and a description of the effectiveness of the carbon tax. But I believe that this is consistent with our open government policy, the government renewal initiative that's led by the Minister of Finance and, of course, the principles of sound program evaluation that have been raised in this House.
And I would like to just quote, Mr. Speaker, Hansard from May the 25th where the Finance Minister did confirm that, of course, the carbon tax is meant to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and this is a quote from Hansard dated May the 25th.
Quote: The annual report that is put out by the Department of Finance on carbon tax, and the message from the Minister, it does quite clearly say from me the carbon tax is intended to encourage carbon conservation and the substitution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
So that's a quote from the Minister of Finance, and I think that's clearly links the issue of a carbon tax with greenhouse gas emissions and an attempt to reduce them. So I look forward to the review of the bill and further consideration of this bill by standing committee. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Government House Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the spirit of consensus government, Cabinet has taken the approach that we are not going to stand in the way of bills presented by Members at second reading. We're not endorsing the bill but we're not standing in the way of it either. So for those reasons, we will be abstaining from this vote. Thank you.
Thank you, Government House Leader. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried. Bill 91 has had second reading.
Carried
Second reading of bills.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive the rules and put Bill 90 directly into Committee of the Whole and not standing committee. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to move her motion to move Bill 90 into Committee of the Whole. Are there any nays? Member for Kam Lake, Bill 90 has been moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.
Carried
