Hon. Pat Duncan: Honourable senators, I respectfully address you from the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council.

I want to thank the Senate staff who support the National Finance Committee, our own parliamentary staff who assist in our efforts and our colleagues working with our able chair, Senator Mockler. I appreciate the wisdom, skills and talents each of you bring to our discussions.

There is a great deal to discuss in these Supplementary Estimates (B) 2021-22. My learned and valued colleague Senator Marshall has spoken to many of them. I would like to join with her particularly in expressing my deep concern that, unlike several provinces and the Yukon, according to their financial administration acts, these entities must table their public accounts by October 31 each year.

We have yet to see the Government of Canada’s public accounts. As Senator Marshall has said, we saw them yesterday. Having previously been the Yukon’s finance minister, I can recall this legislated provision very specifically and this time frame for the requirement to provide this information. We have yet to receive a satisfactory answer as to why the Government of Canada took so long to provide this information.

Honourable senators, Senator Pate addressed the lack of progress, initiative or response to a guaranteed livable income. Opportunity has presented itself more than once over this past year for Canada to work with Prince Edward Island and perhaps the Yukon to implement a basic income guarantee. I and many others are disappointed the government has not seized this opportunity to address poverty in Canada and make real, visionary change in the circumstances of Canadians.

My learned colleagues in the Senate remind us that we are here to represent our regions, minorities and to serve Canada. I noted some of the items in Bill C-6 that my colleagues have addressed that affect my region and Canadians. I noted that there is a great deal that could be discussed.

One of the items that has not been mentioned in speeches on these supplementary estimates includes additional funding for tourism in Canada. This funding is welcomed throughout our vast country, particularly in rural Canada, since every community in our country has a tourism element.

I would like to commend the government on the additional $25 million in the supplementary estimates for tourism in Canada. One of the wisest pieces of advice I’ve heard, and I have passed on to my own children, is to see your own country first. I’m pleased that Canada is supporting one of our hardest-hit sectors and encouraging Canadians to explore this vast, beautiful land.

I could go on at length about tourism funding and the benefits to this industry, however, I would like to leave further details on the value and importance of tourism to other learned colleagues, notably one of our newer colleagues, Senator Sorensen, from Banff. I look forward to hearing from her in the future.

The National Finance Committee has as its guiding principles, transparency, accountability, predictability and reliability. I would like to focus my remaining time in this short address on an accountability of sorts — the line items in the Supplementary Estimates (B) 2021-22 that focus on climate change and the North, the Yukon specifically.

Honourable senators are aware that the North and the Arctic are experiencing the effects of climate change more than anywhere else. The Yukon is not spared. The Yukon government, in its Our Clean Future: A Yukon strategy for climate change, energy, and a green economy, outlines the territory’s climate action plan. Some of the main commitments are to reduce Yukon’s greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, heating, electricity generation and other areas by 45% by 2030; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Yukon’s mines per unit of material produced; to generate 97% of the electricity on the Yukon’s main grid from renewable resources by 2030 on average; to ensure the Yukon is highly resilient to the impacts of climate change by 2030; and to build a sustainable green economy.

I’m pleased to see and welcome the inclusion of $25 million of federal funding toward these initiatives in these supplementary estimates.

In addition, the government is providing $13 million toward hydroelectricity and grid interconnection projects in the North in these supplementary estimates. This is a much-needed step to ensure that northern communities have access to reliable and clean energy supplies. These supplementary estimates also include funds for a line item to transition diesel-reliant Indigenous communities to clean energy.

Canadians and senators might be familiar with the CBC’s “The National” that showcased the solar project in Old Crow, Yukon. This is an initiative of the Vuntut Gwitchin, a self-governing Yukon First Nation, the Government of Yukon and the Yukon Development Corporation. This is just one initiative.

The White River First Nation in Beaver Creek, Canada’s most westerly community, on the border with Alaska, plans to build a solar farm with battery energy storage. Currently, this community is entirely reliant on diesel energy. Other solar-generating systems have been installed by working with Champagne and Aishihik First Nation and the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation near Dawson City. Transitioning to renewable energy sources is particularly important for small communities which are currently reliant on expensive and environmentally not-so-friendly sources of energy, such as diesel. These renewable energy projects are not only good for the environment and help reduce Yukon’s carbon footprint, they provide Yukon communities self-determination when it comes to their energy needs and are a potential source of revenue when they are able to sell excess energy back to the Yukon Energy Corporation.

Yukon’s First Nations — those with self-government agreements and those without — municipalities, the Yukon government and Yukoners, with Canada’s financial assistance, including the money in these supplementary estimates, are taking real, concrete steps to develop local, renewable and clean energy technologies to reduce our carbon footprint and to address climate change.

By sharing this information with colleagues addressing the supplementary estimates, I hope to have provided you with a sense of accountability for these funds. This positive co-operative fiscal relationship is just one small snapshot of the government-to-government working relationships between Canada, the Yukon and Yukon First Nations.

Colleagues, while I briefly addressed only a few elements of the supplementary appropriations bill, Bill C-6, I do recognize there is more to discuss, and I look forward to an opportunity to do so in the future. However, in this very short time, I do want to express my gratitude for having had the opportunity to share these few points with you.

As a former finance minister and a former leader of the official opposition in a legislature, I recognize the importance of the supplementary estimates, and I would particularly like to commend Bill C-6 to my colleagues to ensure we pass this important piece of legislation as soon as possible to ensure the timely release of these funds that are so important to Canadians.

Thank you again for the opportunity to work with my colleagues on the National Finance Committee and to work with all of you in the Senate.

Mahsi’cho. Gùnáłchîsh. Thank you so much for your time today.