Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to mention that we already do give a pretty good break to all of the residents of the Northwest Territories in terms of their heating costs. The GNWT does not have any tax at all on heating fuel or on propane that is used to heat people's homes. We recognize that heating costs are high and have been high for a long time. We have a long, cold winter.

When it comes to other taxes, we do have tax on motor fuels and non-motor. Those are at 10.6 cents for motor gasoline and 9.1 cents for diesel fuel. These taxes may appear to be high, they are not the highest in the country, I do not believe, but I think they are fairly reasonable taxes. Fuel taxes are one of our very limited sources of revenue. If we were to reduce this, then it reduces our flexibility to provide support in a lot of programs, including programs like our one-time heating rebate we are considering, our support to social programs and so on.

I do not believe that reducing the fuel tax, most of which is paid by large corporations, is a good way of helping people who are most in need. Thank you.