Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Thanks to the Minister for that. Glad to hear some research is being done. Perhaps that can be rolled into the "what we heard" report. Is there some sort of discussion paper that might accompany it so we can have an informed discussion or debate around that? Lastly, it is my understanding that the initial federal legalization will not deal with edible products or oils. What process will our government use for the regulation of these cannabis products? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, the general legislation will come into effect in July 2018 which will deal with production, distribution, sale, and possession of cannabis. I understand that the regulation of edible cannabis products will follow approximately six months after that date, so we are going to have to see what that legislation looks at before we prepare a response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. We know that the federal government, through the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, is going to ask the country to implement a carbon pricing scheme of some kind. Our government has signed on to that agreement. I would like to ask the Minister, since public consultation has now come to an end, what is the government's vision for the new carbon tax regime? Are we looking at a tax, or are we looking at a cap and trade? Can the Minister give us an explanation to that effect? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

As the Member noted, the consultation period just ended and we are currently reviewing all these results. We are also working with the Government of Canada to better understand the impact of carbon pricing in provinces on cost in the NWT. There is a lot of our material and a lot of our goods come from southern jurisdictions. Once we have all this work done, we will be in a position to make decisions about the approach that the NWT plans on using. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If one was to take a look at the decision paper, the decision paper honestly guides the reader more towards a carbon tax rather than a cap and trade system. It seems like it would be a little more costly to put in cap and trade. We already have infrastructure in terms of administrative support and what have you on other tax systems. It seems like we might be heading towards a tax rather than a cap and trade system.

The Minister mentioned that we have talked to the federal government and we have asked them to pay attention to our special needs as a highly expensive jurisdiction, but to date, as far as I am aware, there has not been any change in the amounts that are being proposed; $10 per tonne in year one, and up to size 50 in year four. I'm wondering: what can the Minister explain to this House as it relates to this resulting in a major increase to the cost of living? What is the government's intention to reduce those effects?

Mr. Speaker, that was one of the core questions, and we have to determine what any carbon pricing revenue we use in the Northwest Territories, whether we use it in green energy programs, and how much will be used to offset the high cost of living and doing business in the North. We all know how expensive it is in the North, so we have to take all that into some serious consideration as we determine a mechanism going forward.

I appreciate what the Minister has shared with us, but is there any indication at this point as to what the government's position will be to direct the revenues raised by this carbon tax? This government is feeling the effects of it. It is having major effects on our budget. It is arguably one of the biggest impacts that we have as a government going forward in terms of building infrastructure and trying to maintain it. Will we be able to help low income earners, even help middle income earners neutralize their income through a tax adjustment? Can we get some of this out to businesses and homeowners to seek alternative energy sources? Mr. Speaker, is there something the Minister can share with us along those lines?

As I noted before, what we do with any revenues from the carbon pricing will still need to be determined, and this was one of the questions that we consulted with Northerners. We had over, I think over 300 responses to our online survey, and that was one of the questions that we had on there. We had some very good feedback. As I said before, we had just closed the consultation period, so we would like to have a look at a lot of the results because the government's vision for the Northwest Territories is really not a government vision for the Northwest Territories. It is actually a Northwest Territories vision for the Northwest Territories. That is why we want to analyze the results of the survey and see how we can incorporate the thoughts into any plans we have moving forward.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we look forward to seeing the results, of course, of the survey and the public consultation that has been going on. That will be important information for this government.

Mr. Speaker, the government's of course next step is going to be that they're going to be bringing forward some proposed legislation to this Assembly sometime in the near future. We expect that the proposal will, of course, include some clear articulation and details on the government's plan, so I'm wondering: can the Minister explain maybe what possible further public engagement opportunities will be provided for Northerners to have their say once they see a little bit more detail? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once an approach is determined, it will be, of course, very critical that we communicate with the public and Members on the reasons for our approach. We all understand that carbon pricing was a federal initiative, where the federal government has actually developed an approach that will be used if a province or territory doesn't implement. That's why it's very important and very critical that we come up with a mechanism that best suits the Northwest Territories, and I believe we're doing the work right now.

We believe in a Northern approach, along with determining where the revenues will be used and how they will be distributed, and again, that goes back to the public engagement survey we just finished and incorporating some of those thoughts into our approach going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm encouraged by the recent consultation on the new legislation for the first ever Mineral Resources Act. This is valuable information that needs to be shared and is within the strategy, the NWT Geological Survey Strategic Plan, released this past March, Mr. Speaker. My question is: what awareness of this strategy has the department done since? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Geological Survey Strategic Plan, which is a five-year plan that was released this year, is a very important asset to this Government of the Northwest Territories. This information is used primarily by industry, but it's used to help inform this government, particularly around environmental land stewardship and climate change issues across this territory for any future development, and to assess the situations that are ongoing right now, such as the Highway No. 3, these types of things, with permafrost degradation and such.

We've just recently opened up the new storage facility out at the airport. We had a grand opening there and had a number of people out there participate and got to show off some of the stuff that this department does. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Part of the consultation questions I heard on the last go-around here on the new Mineral Resources Act consultation was that not everybody could afford to go to the regional centres to participate into the open houses. I'm wondering if we can take the open house sessions to the communities. Will the Minister commit to an open house session on this strategy and how it is inter-linked with other initiatives to the five Sahtu communities? It will be four, now.

Mr. Speaker, we are on the road with our consultation on this. We went to the regional centres, but this initiative that we put forward, we have an extremely important Web portal with interaction where anyone from within the industry or the Northwest Territories can interact with the department and answer a number of questions and put their thoughts forward. They have the mail-in option. They can email us. They can phone the department and we'll have someone discuss these options with them. That's our commitment, and we will continue to do that, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you for the response. Would the Minister, through the regional office, make trips of campaign informational sessions, open houses, to the four surrounding communities in the Sahtu, particular Fort Good Hope, Deline, Tulita, and Colville?

I'm not sure what the question was, but we've committed. We went out to all the regional centres. We just concluded with Behchoko here the other day. Once we develop a "what we heard" document we will be reaching back out to everybody.

It's a six-step process, and we will be also going out to section 35 consultation on this, as this has the potential of affecting Aboriginal rights and we're going to make sure we're not doing that. We will be reaching out to all of them at the same time.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is: I know the department is working on that mineral conference. Would the Minister look at holding that session, if and when it happens, in the community of Tulita? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.