Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that because of our consensus government, I'm in a position to be able to share with the MLAs the correspondence we've written. They know I share their frustration. I can't necessarily publish those letters publicly, but they know I share their frustration. I was at a finance ministers meeting just last week. It is an opportunity not necessarily to say a lot, but I spoke about the carbon tax at my finance ministers meeting, Mr. Speaker. I share their frustration. It is unfortunate that when we went through the public process of engagement back last fall that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, keeping control of the revenues in the Northwest Territories allows us to do exactly what the Member is saying and to look at where once the carbon tax come in, are there costs that we have not accounted for? The Yukon system, I don't want to speak to another government's system, but very briefly, it is based on assets. It is not based on fuel usage. It is not a direct offset. It is not an uncomplicated system, Mr. Speaker. What we are anticipating, and having done calculations of fuel usage over the last few years, we can anticipate what the added costs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that with respect to socioeconomic agreement monitoring that does take place, ITI is certainly one of the leads at that table. But this is where you do have ECE and Health and Social Services all involved, all working on this. GNWT does continue to have engagement with the mines to ensure that we understand their employment needs and their timelines to work with them so that there are training availabilities, whether mine training society or through ECE.

I can also say, Mr. Speaker, that because we are involved in that work with respect...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, Mr. Speaker, there's been no request on behalf of the GNWT for them to undertake this. It's not been initiated by us. But, again, in reading in full the section from the land and water board, it does make clear that the regulator is asking that Diavik remain open to that.

Now, Mr. Speaker, there has been the reimagine and closure project initiated by the mines. Looking at ways to better utilize all of the infrastructure that they have, looking at ways to give back in a more long and longer, having a legacy type of approach. We're certainly at that table with...

Mr. Speaker, the human resources and the representation of the population of the North within the public service has been something I've taken very seriously in this role and that the department takes seriously. The Affirmative Action Policy, as it is now, was from 1989. It is woefully out of date. It is not in keeping with best practices. It arguably may not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And it's not showing achievement. We know we're sitting at 30 percent representation of Indigenous people in a territory with 50 percent representation. So we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had two Indigenous governments reach out directly to my office to confirm that they wanted an opportunity to have a direct engagement on this. And I know that officials have also spoken with officials from the Department of Finance with respect to the engagements. And, Mr. Speaker, beyond that, though, with respect to what the reaction of individual members, groups, governments might be, that is not mine to presume or assume. What we have attempted to do, Mr. Speaker, is to design having both an Indigenous Employment Policy that is specific and to the...

Mr. Speaker, last month I attended the annual Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup conference in Vancouver with fellow Cabinet Members and government officials. We were there to advance this Legislative Assembly’s priorities to increase resource exploration and development in our territory; adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development; make strategic infrastructure investments; and, to identify, prioritize, and strengthen key actions to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Achieving meaningful progress on these multiple and complex...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Bill 62, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, No. 2, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, carbon tax is coming. Mr. Speaker, the large emitters right now businesses don't have a special program under the federal system either. The federal government will decide where they want to put the money, how they want to put the money. Right now where we've seen them put their money is in electric vehicles, in heat pumps, which don't work in the Northwest Territories. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure that that's necessarily the direction that we all want to go with. As I've said before, we have figured out what the fuel usages have been in the business sector and the private...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, even if we don't accept the proposal that we're putting forward, the tax rates will not change. The tax rates that are being put in place on April 1st from the federal government for carbon tax are coming. What we're trying to do, and what we've done is, particularly after discussions with Members, we're proposing to have a heating fuel offset that will be based on the average household heating usage in the high use zones, middle use zone, and the smaller use zone, which from our calculations, will cover the costs for residents of the increases to the...