Merci, Monsieur le President. It is another sitting of this House and time for my third statement on carbon pricing. The federal government released its backstop plan for a national carbon pricing scheme on May the 18th. It shows that a national scheme would see a carbon tax on the most commonly used fuels in the Northwest Territories at no more than about three cents per litre in 2018, going up to no more than about 16 cents per litre in 2022. The federal plan is laid out in a transparent and understandable manner that lets Canada meet its international obligations and make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Some reports in the media quoted an unnamed federal official as stating that this plan will not apply to the northern territories, but there is nothing in the plan itself to indicate this. My reading of it shows that this is indeed a national backstop. The paper says, "The backstop will apply in a province or territory that does not have a pricing system that aligns with the benchmark." As a Regular MLA, I have no idea what our government is doing on the issue of carbon pricing because of the poor communications from Cabinet on this important issue. Little seems to be under way beyond continued resistance and some sort of a deputy ministers committee. The Premier promised on March the 1st to provide a carbon pricing report from a consultant hired by GNWT. Here we are almost three months later and we still do not have that report, let alone any indication of what our government is doing. I will have questions for the Premier, as the Chair of the Ministerial Energy and Climate Change Committee of Cabinet. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.