N.W.T.'s carbon tax passes review, despite Hail Mary effort to delay it to 2020

A bid to delay the carbon tax in the Northwest Territories failed in the Legislative Assembly, meaning it appears all but certain the tax will be in force Sept. 1.

On Monday, MLAs completed their review of the two bills that, if passed, will give the territory the authority to begin collecting the tax. Those bills are now set for their final reading this week, and a majority of MLAs have indicated they will vote to pass them.

The bills passed through their final review despite a bid from Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart to delay the tax until Jan. 1, 2020, which failed 12-5.

Support for Testart's motion appeared to dissolve after MLAs reviewed an email N.W.T. Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod received from federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's chief of staff earlier in the day.

That email confirmed the federal government would implement the federal backstop in the Northwest Territories on Sept. 1, if the territory was unable to pass its carbon tax bills by then.

"We cannot provide any further extensions. All other jurisdictions have [carbon] pricing in place and it is only fair that N.W.T. follow through on its commitments," the email states.

Testart questioned whether the federal government would follow through on that, since the federal backstop in Alberta kicks in on Jan 1, after it cancelled its carbon tax earlier this year.

"We can negotiate a later implementation date, give northerners four more months of tax relief and ensure the next government is the one [that] decides this, and not this one that is sitting on a last-minute plan," Testart said.

But Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson and Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Tom Beaulieu both said they had switched their votes after reading the email, saying they believed the territory didn't have any more room to negotiate with Ottawa on the tax.

"The federal government made a decision for the whole country that they were going to price pollution," Beaulieu said. "That's going to happen whether we send the bill, or the federal government sends the bill.

"We have to have a carbon tax, and it's better to have ours than theirs," he said.

The federal government has not publicly said what a federal backstop would look like in the N.W.T. McLeod has used the federal backstop that's in place in rural New Brunswick as the nearest example.

The tax in New Brunswick is similar to McLeod's plan, but he said his levy returns more money to consumers and is inherently better than a plan designed by federal officials outside the territory.

One example he cites is that the N.W.T. plan rebates the tax on vehicle fuel to consumers directly at the pump. In New Brunswick, those rebates come in through an annual cheque.

"Our approach, we believe is better for the people of the Northwest Territories," McLeod said.