Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We're here to speak initially to clause 129 of the bill. This is a proposed provision that is entitled, “Climate Action Support”. The provision would enable the Minister of Finance to specify another federal minister, such as the Minister of Indigenous Services, to be able to requisition payments from the consolidated revenue fund for payments to be made for purposes and in locations to be specified by the Minister of Finance.
The purpose of this provision is to allow for the return of a portion of the fuel charge collected in certain provinces that do not meet the federal standard for carbon pollution pricing. As additional context for the committee, I'd draw your attention to the Governor in Council's decision on March 26 of this year to amend schedule 1, part 1of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, to list four provinces in that schedule: Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. It entered into force on April 1 of this year and applied the fuel charge in those provinces. As of April 1, proceeds of that fuel charge will begin to be collected by the federal government, and the provision that is proposed in the BIA would allow for a portion of those to be returned, as I mentioned, in a manner specified by the Minister of Finance.
I should note that the proposed provision puts a cap on the amount that could be requisitioned, and the cap is.... There's a bit of a complicated formula that's outlined in the bill, but in simple terms, it caps the amount based on the total proceeds collected by the fuel charge less any amounts that are rebated to provinces or individuals, including through the Income Tax Act. The climate action incentive returns to individual residents of those provinces, and that is the principle mechanism for rebating portions of those funds.
Just by way of context, I would also draw the committee's attention to the government's announcement in October in terms of its intent for how payments will be made pursuant to the provision, if approved by Parliament. The intent of the government is to use the payments to support sectors of the economy that can be expected to incur additional expenses related to carbon pricing. Those would be small and medium-sized enterprises, municipalities, universities, hospitals, schools, colleges, not-for-profit organizations and indigenous communities.
The budget plan does not specify particular amounts. Those amounts would be booked at the time when its funds are requisitioned, so that's just to explain further why the budget is silent on that, but it does include an indication of the government's intent to bring forward this legislative amendment in annex 3 of the budget plan.
I guess I'll conclude there, Mr. Chair.