Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. I voted against the carbon tax in the last Assembly because Cabinet would not require any public reporting or transparency. On December 10, 2019, the Minister of Finance said the following about the guidelines being developed for large-emitter carbon tax grants, "I can assure the Member that, indeed, draft guidelines will be shared with the committees for review."

Those guidelines, as specified in Section 6.6(5) of the Petroleum Products and Carbon Tax Regulations, were shared with committee in March, just as the pandemic hit. MLAs were also given an opportunity to...

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.

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.

I want to thank the Minister for that, and I'm kind of not surprised, given the high bar that the current guidelines put on applicants. Can the Minister tell us what the available revenues are projected for the 2020-2021 fiscal year for large emitter carbon tax grant program? Sorry, I did give the Minister a head's up before coming to the House today.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My question is for the Minister of Finance, who is responsible for the NWT carbon tax. Earlier today, I discussed some of the shortcomings of the large emitter carbon tax grant program. Can the Minister confirm whether there was any public engagement and work with standing committee to develop the large carbon emitter carbon tax grant program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for those figures. Earlier today, I outlined some of the limitations with the large emitter carbon tax grant program and policy. These include the narrow scope of the eligibility criteria that does not encourage innovation or experimentation; the requirement for a third-party engineering assessment; the lack of public reporting of any project submitted or approved; there are no forums for submission of projects; and more. Would the Minister agree that it is already time to review the large emitter carbon tax grant program and policy...

I want to thank the Minister for that. I can assure the Minister there was very little consultation with committee in terms of developing the actual bill that was brought forward, and that was one of the reasons why I voted against it in the last Assembly. The Minister promised that there would be some consultation on the development of these guidelines, and I'm not convinced that really happened. On to my question: can the Minister tell us whether there have been any applications under the large emitter carbon tax grant program or policy, and if so, how many have been successful?

Merci, Monsieur le President. I give notice that, on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Tabled Document 165-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 1-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT; Tabled Document 166-19(2): Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT; and Tabled Document 167-19(2): Government of the...

I want to thank the Minister for that. It leads very nicely into my next question. In my statement, I referenced that literally billions of dollars are going to be spent on remediation at sites like Giant Mine, Norman Wells, and across the Northwest Territories, and I think that there are some enormous opportunities here to build a remediation economy that includes training, apprenticeships, research, and more. All of that, of course, should be linked to the polytechnic university. Can the Premier tell us whether our government has made that link between federal investment in an accelerated...