The territorial government will be collecting a list of how much heating fuel Yukoners use over the next few months.

NDP Kluane MLA Gary McRobb raised an issue in the legislature earlier this week that the government is ordering heating fuel sellers to complete listings of everybody they sold fuel to and how much.

In an interview Wednesday, McRobb said he had been told by a constituent about the government's request for the information.

In a letter written to at least one home heating fuel distributor, the government made a request for data on all of its customers.

'Please accept this letter as your official notification that effective immediately, the Government of Yukon will be requiring all heating fuel sellers to submit detailed monthly sales listings to our office,' the letter stated.

'These reports are to contain the following information for each heating fuel sale: date of sale, name of purchaser, location of delivery and quantity of heating fuel sold.

McRobb is concerned by a tactic that he calls 'big brother'.

The Yukon's privacy commissioner has been called and indicated there may be reason for an investigation, McRobb added.

He said the government should find a better way to learn the information and not keep lengthy records for each homeowner.

But David Hrycan, the assistant deputy Finance minister, said this is not something new.

He pointed out that all heating fuel is tax-free while there is a gas tax on vehicle gasoline and diesel fuel.

Since heating fuel and diesel are very similar, some people use heating fuel in their vehicles because it is cheaper and tax-free.

Hrycan said the government needs a way to determine if people are using heating fuel in their vehicles and therefore dodging taxes.

Since the distributors collect the taxes for gasoline, they're deemed tax collectors in the government's eyes.

As such, Hrycan said, officials need to collect information on everybody who purchases heating fuel in the territory.

Usually, said Hrycan, the government will go to the distributors and ask for information on specific people if there is a reason to believe they may be using heating fuel in their vehicles.

However, he admitted the government is collecting all of the information over the next few months.

'They want to look at all listings,' he said.

The department wants to ensure the distributors have this information and they want to see if anything jumps out at them.

He said the government will not always collect this data and will not use if for anything else.

Hrycan said the data can only be used for tax purposes.

'That's the law.'