Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to speak to an issue that my honourable friends have brought up today, which is the cost of living and helping Northerners make ends meet, but also the coming cost pressures and expectations that Northerners have on their government.

We acknowledge that one part of living in the North that is so spectacular is our pristine environment that is unparalleled across the country and in the world. You know, we need to look at ways to promote a healthy environment and also a healthy economy. Across the world, really, carbon pricing has become a mechanism to do exactly that. However, this government continues to drag its feet on moving forward with a real plan for carbon pricing in the Northwest Territories.

Others have spoken on this comment. Most recently, I have enquired with our Chamber of Commerce, and they have said that they do not have the capacity to reach out and participate in these meaningful consultations, and yet the government will provide, has provided, resources for others to do that. Our business community needs to be consulted in these very important decisions.

In our sister territory, in the Yukon, their Chamber of Commerce has reversed its position and is now in support of a carbon tax. They want to manage it through a third party, Green Energy Trust, and, while I will save that debate for another day, I think that they are proposing solutions, and good ones at that, to start this discussion going.

This government gives $22 million back in cost-of-living tax credits to Northerners each year, and, with this most recent budget, that number is being enhanced. That is a good thing. Why do we not just make that commitment today to implement a carbon tax and give the money back to Northerners directly as a tax return? That is just one idea.

Lowering the cost of living is completely possible while still adopting a carbon tax. The writing is on the wall, Mr. Speaker. Ottawa is going to do it for us if we do not do it for ourselves. We still do not have anything on the table. We do not even have a list of exceptions that this government wants to ask Ottawa for, so I am afraid that, when the federal budget rolls out in 2018, we will have a carbon tax enforced on us because we have not done the hard work necessary to get some ideas on the table and start that process now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.