(Yellowknife) June 7, 2019 - The Standing Committee on Government Operations has postponed its planned travel and community consultations on Bill 42 – An Act to Amend the Petroleum Products Tax Act and Bill 43 – An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act. Together, these Bills propose the legislative changes required for the GNWT’s implementation of the NWT Carbon Tax.

The Standing Committee was scheduled to hold meetings in Fort Providence and Hay River (June 11), Yellowknife (June 13) and Inuvik (June 17).

On Wednesday June 5th, the Honourable R.C. McLeod, Minister of Finance announced in the Legislative Assembly that implementation of this tax is being delayed to September 1, 2019.   As the Minister indicated, the GNWT intends to implement a made-in-the-North approach, rather than being subjected to the federal backstop. Committee is disappointed that the Minister did not provide the public with further details about how the GNWT’s approach will work, how it will impact NWT residents and businesses, and how it differs from the federal backstop.

Committee anticipates that there will be a great deal of interest from NWT residents on the upcoming tax,  how it will be applied to residents and businesses, and what impacts it will have on the NWT’s greenhouse gas emissions.  Committee wants to ensure it can respond to the public’s questions, so that it can obtain meaningful input from NWT residents.  Committee has opted to postpone its consultations until additional information has been received from government that can be shared with the public.

Mr. Kieron Testart, Chair of the Standing Committee noted “The unfortunate reality is that the details of the government’s program are not contained in Bills 42 and 43.  These bills simply establish the authority for the government to act. The specifics of the NWT Carbon Tax will be set out in the regulations.  Committee will work with the Minister over the coming weeks to obtain further information that may be shared with the public.”

Committee must report on its review of Bills 42 and 43 when the House resumes sitting on August 12, 2019.  Committee intends to complete its consultation on the NWT Carbon Tax bills prior to that date. Once finalized, revised travel dates will be published on the Legislative Assembly website.

For more information, please contact:

Jennifer Franki-Smith
Committee Clerk
Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly 
P: (867) 767-9130 ext. 12009
E: Jennifer_franki-Smith@gov.nt.ca