Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on November 8th of last year, the federal government exempted home heating fuel as part of their carbon pricing regime for three years. The NWT has not made those changes yet but has made public statements committing to that. Can the Minister of Finance tell us will home heating fuel be exempt. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, home heating fuel will also be exempt in the Northwest Territories as it is now being allowed by the federal government for us to do so. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you to the Minister. I'm just wondering why it's taken so long to get to this point after the decision was made by the federal government. Can the Minister clarify what has taken us to this time? Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly alive, as is everyone else in this territory, about the high costs associated with being in the North, the high cost of fuel, but specific to the carbon tax we are exempting the heating oil cost of carbon tax. It's taken this long for a couple of reasons, Mr. Speaker. First of all, people who are using propane or who are using LNG, other forms of fuel, they are not seeking any other kind of exemption to the carbon tax, so we wanted to make sure that we took that into consideration, and we took into consideration the impacts on revenues before seeing how this whole thing might roll out. We want to maintain as much fairness and equity in the system for residents in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And in the interest of fairness and equity, as this exemption has been enjoyed by Canadians outside of the Northwest Territories since November of last year, will the Minister backdate the exemption to November of last year and pass those savings along to our constituents who are paying a lot during the coldest months of the year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't change the cost of fuel. I can only impact on the costs of the tax and rebates for the tax. And to that extent, our rebate system was taking into account the higher costs of the tax. So the rebate system we design in fact more than paid for the average cost of impact of carbon tax on average residents in the Northwest Territories. Anyone that paid or filed their taxes saw that rebate in October, saw a rebate again in January, and they will see another rebate coming in April adjusted with the heating fuel impacts here.
So, Mr. Speaker, we aren't backdating because people did receive those rebates. That doesn't change the cost of fuel but I can't change the cost of fuel. All I can do is adjust based on the carbon tax impacts and, again, as I've said, they have received those higher rebates to account for that higher amount of tax. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Member for Range Lake, final supplementary.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. So the Premier, the Honourable Premier, has made public statements calling for a blanket exemption for the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister or her department started those negotiations with Ottawa to get an exemption for the carbon tax in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm conscious that you want us to stick to our times. So I'll try to be brief, but this is a source of some frustration for myself and for the department.
Yes, the Department of Finance certainly has engaged with officials from ECC or Environment and Climate Change Canada. We've made the case. We've pled the case. We were told quite frankly that no, we will not get any extension in the amount of time that we can offer an exemption. No, there will not be any blanket exemptions. No, there will essentially be very little that accounts for the realities of costs of living, costs of heat, and costs of fuel in the Northwest Territories. We need to continue to fit ourselves in. Mr. Speaker, the fact that they've changed these goalposts is exactly why I wanted to hang on to the carbon tax administration here in the Northwest Territories so that we can continue to adapt as we need to as much as possible to conform to what the realities are that we see here for residents in the territories. Thank you.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
