N.W.T.'s carbon tax exemption on heating fuel good, but not enough, says former MLA

To Jackie Jacobson, the carbon tax is nothing less than the "worst thing that ever happened in our country."

The former Nunakput MLA, who lives in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., was responding to this week's announcement that the territorial government would be exempting home-heating fuel from the tax, for a three-year period starting in April.

To Jacobson, that's good news — but he also says that it barely scratches the surface of the issue.

He wants the tax scrapped altogether, arguing that it's driving up prices for everything in his remote northern community, not just diesel heating fuel.

"It's really impacted everybody on how we're surviving up here," he said. 

"People are having to pick and choose what bills they have to pay every month. You know, you got single mothers that are trying to feed their children, you got single fathers... I mean, I could go on and on."

That echoes a call N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson made shortly after his election last fall, when he began advocating for the N.W.T. to be granted a blanket exemption from the carbon tax, given how high costs already are in the territory.

The diesel heating fuel exemption announced this week in the N.W.T. was no big surprise, even if the timing was unexpected — the territory's finance minister had earlier said that it was in the works but had been delayed by last fall's territorial election, among other things.

Minister Caroline Wawzonek had also attributed the delay to her government's consideration of how a diesel heating fuel exemption would impact all N.W.T. residents. She said she didn't want to create a disadvantage for those heating their homes with propane.

But the plan announced this week does leave out those who heat with things other than diesel. Wawzonek said the territory ultimately didn't have much choice, as it mirrors the federal exemption.

"It isn't really up to us what we're allowed to exempt," she told CBC News on Thursday.

"Despite, I think, asks from many corners of the country, they have not exempted propane or LNG. And so we're in the same situation, we're not able to exempt those types of fuel."

The diesel heating fuel exemption means many N.W.T. residents will see less money coming back to them through the territory's cost of living offset (COLO) payments — even if they heat their homes with propane or natural gas.

These payments, automatically issued to residents four times annually, were introduced in 2019 and are intended to help offset the expense of the carbon tax on all things, not just heating fuel.