Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 92, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act, No. 3, be read for the second time.
This bill amends the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Act to establish an unconditional carbon tax revenue sharing grant payable to community governments and to establish an annual report with respect to the collection and administration of carbon tax under the act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I rise to speak to the principle and merit of this bill.
I want to sincerely thank the Minister for bringing forward the bill that addresses some of the concerns raised during the review and debate on Bill 60. Specifically, Bill 92 requires unconditional carbon tax revenue sharing grants to communities with a formula to be determined by the Minister. This is a much better solution than dealing with community government payments through the main estimates. I still there are still some issues around when the payments will be made and what other deductions may be made to gross carbon tax revenues. I am confident that these issues can be resolved when in review of the bill.
The other issues, though the other issue covered in the bill, Mr. Speaker, is mandatory annual reporting, which is a good move but there are no details on what is to be reported and when. Reports are to be on the collection and administration of the carbon tax but there's no specific details required, such as financial information, money in or money out, or the cost of administration, predictions on greenhouse gas emissions, and whether the carbon tax is fulfilling its purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions as confirmed in this House on March 23 by the Finance Minister.
There's also no deadline for annual report that's set out in the bill. Of note, the three carbon tax reports issued so far have taken seven, nine, and seven months from fiscal year end to be made public. Bill 91, in contrast, does provide a list of financial items to be reported annually, greenhouse gas predictions and a discussion on the effectiveness of the carbon tax in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There's also a sixmonth period for an annual report to be prepared and made public in Bill 91 providing some clarity over when it will be available. A draft of Bill 91, which only focuses on carbon tax reporting, was provided to Cabinet with a request for feedback but no response was received. It will now be up to the Standing Committee on Government Operations to sort it out, but I will come prepared with ideas.
Lastly, I want to comment on the narrow scope of this bill. Without diving too deeply into the tragedy and trauma of Bill 60 and the debate we had in this House in March, Bill 92 does not resolve the need for separate accounting as well of the carbon tax from the consolidated revenue fund. There's also the outstanding issue of fair treatment for all businesses and NGOs as only the large emitters, the diamond mines, will get an effective 72 percent rebate. There's also issues, Mr. Speaker, around the exclusion of methane emissions from the carbon tax, which I believe should also be revisited. And there should be mandatory public engagement before regulations are made or significantly changed.
Mr. Speaker, those are my remarks on Bill 92, and I look forward to working with people in this House to get this resolved. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? Bill 92 has had second reading and is referred to the committee.
Carried
