Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Bill 42. This piece of legislation, along with Bill 43, are critical pieces of legislation will allow the Government of the Northwest Territories to meet its carbon pricing commitment under the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change through a carbon tax on all petroleum and natural gas fuels, except aviation fuel.

The purpose of Bill 42 is to amend the Petroleum Products Tax Act to create the carbon tax on petroleum products and natural gas so that the collection and administration of the carbon tax is the same as the current fuel tax.

The legislation being considered today requires us to make a choice. A carbon tax is going to be introduced in the Northwest Territories. Either we will pass this legislation and introduce the related rebates and offsets the GNWT has planned to mitigate the impact of the carbon tax on NWT residents and businesses, or we will allow the federal government to implement the federal carbon tax and Ottawa would make the decisions about how to use the revenues from a carbon tax.

We know, based on how the federal government has implemented the carbon tax in jurisdictions that didn't introduce their own carbon tax, that the GNWT approach is much more favourable to residents, businesses, and communities than the federal backstop approach.

The GNWT approach, when fully implemented, will provide a family of four with over $1,100 annually from the cost of living offset benefit and residents will not have to pay carbon tax on heating fuel as it is being rebated at the point of purchase. This is very significant for Northerners who already pay high costs for heating fuel and face an overall high cost of living.

The rebate of the NWT carbon tax on heating fuel will also mitigate the impact of the NWT carbon tax on small businesses and community governments as they will not face increased heating costs for their facilities. All residents, businesses, and communities will also benefit as we will rebate the carbon tax on fuel used for community electricity production, which will ensure that electricity rates will not have to be increased because of the carbon tax.

Large emitters are facilities that produce more than 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The GNWT approach results in similar overall carbon tax as the federal backstop for these facilities, but the carbon tax is applied in a way that is more appropriate for the NWT context.

Finally, the GNWT approach is expected to provide $8 million annually when fully implemented that the GNWT will be able to use to invest in energy initiatives.

I am not saying that we will be able to mitigate all impacts of carbon pricing. It is a tax and no one likes a new tax. It is clear that the residents and businesses will be better off with the GNWT approach than simply allowing the federal government to impose their approach to a carbon tax and spend the revenues as they see fit.

This concludes my opening remarks, Mr. Chair. Thank you.