Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a controversial issue facing our government: the issue of carbon pricing. Carbon pricing or carbon taxation is becoming one of those red-flag issues where everyone's opinion is strong. Some think it is an absolute necessity in order to encourage cleaner alternative energy. Conversely, its opponents say it is a tax grab by governments that doesn't help the people who need it most. Regardless of the varying opinions, this is an issue that we are going to have to face and one that we have to come to understand.
Mr. Speaker, we accept that climate change is a reality and that it is caused by human and industrial activity. If we listen to the overwhelming majority of scientists, we know that we have to sharply reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere. Proponents say that some way of putting a dollar value on carbon emission is a necessary mechanism to manage and encourage this reduction. But there are many questions, and no one has all the answers. Mr. Speaker, do we know how bad a carbon polluter the NWT really is? We have a tiny population and a huge land mass. We know that some released carbon is re-absorbed by forests and wetlands. How much? We don't know. We know that we burn significant amounts of diesel which creates greenhouse gas, but we also generate a portion of our electricity needs by hydro. We have solar power projects in Fort Simpson and Colville Lake. We have good corporate citizens like Diavik Mine, which built the NWT's first large-scale wind facility. We have governments and residents doing good things to reduce their own emissions. All of these factors contribute to the position of our territory on the carbon scale. We know that Canada is a small contributor in the world scale of carbon emitters, and the NWT is a small player in Canada. So where do we sit on the scale? Again, we don't really know.
Mr. Speaker, the federal government has indicated that it is willing to consider a carbon tax as a tool to fight climate change. It is incumbent on all governments to do the research and consider the options. We need to recognize that the impacts of a carbon pricing regime will be significant in the long-term. When the time comes, the NWT needs to be ready to engage from a position of strength and knowledge, so we know where we stand. Later today, Mr. Speaker, I will have a couple of questions for the Premier regarding where we stand as a government and territory regarding our carbon position, and can we and could we benefit from any such pricing or tax. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.