Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the time. The Member makes some comments there and some accusations. We have worked with committee. They were aware of the September 1st deadline, and I think the fact that we wanted to get it in writing is because committee had asked us to provide it, and we did.
I'm not going to get into that debate. There are a number of debates that we could get into, but the bottom line is the federal government has informed us, and this had been out there for a while, that September 1st was our deadline. We worked in collaboration with them to go from the original July 1st deadline to September 1st, and they agreed.
The Member talks about the Alberta model. They have been paying carbon tax for a while, and then, when a new government came in, they made some changes. There is no comparison. They are a different kettle, and we are not too concerned about how they go about their business. As long as we go about our business in trying to do what is best for the people of the Northwest Territories. One of those things is taking an approach. This is not the carbon tax bill. The federal government has got the federal carbon tax bill. This is our approach to carbon tax. As one Member pointed out before, our approach is superior to the federal government approach.
If I may, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to use a couple of examples. Mr. and Mrs. Hardworking Constituent, paying a mortgage, paying for their own fuel. Under our backstop, if they bought $1,000 a month worth of fuel, they would be charged carbon tax, but it would be rebated at the point of purchase, so it would only cost them $1,000, as it did before. Under the federal system, the federal approach, they will pay tax on that $1,000 worth of fuel; they may get it back at the end of the year; they may not; they will not know until income tax time. The same with businesses; our heating fuel rebate applies to businesses, who would have to pass that extra cost on to someone. Who will they pass it on to? The consumer in the Northwest Territories.
So our approach, I believe, is the better of the two for the people of the Northwest Territories, and it's something that we need to do. I think Members should take all of that into consideration, and the Member said it himself. Nobody likes a tax, including myself, but we have to try to do what we feel. What we were elected to do is to protect the interests and the well-being of the people of the Northwest Territories. Because a lot of us have lived in small communities, we know the challenges that are there, and sometimes I believe some Members are out of touch with the realities of the high cost of living in many parts of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.