Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, when we took office, projections for the deficit went as high as $80 million. I am pleased to say that this year we never achieved that debt. We went to only $28 million in the last fiscal year. That is an accomplishment, Mr. Speaker, because at the same time that we were cutting back and trying not to spend as much money, we were getting cuts from the federal government.

Mr. Morin was able to absorb a cut of $22 million into his programs and still deliver the same number of houses. He had to change the programs, I admit, Mr. Speaker, but it would have been just as easy for Mr. Morin to come to us and say, "I need $22 million", but he did not do that. It may appear that it is me who is being the bad guy and saying we cannot spend the money. As I say, other Ministers know our financial situation and they are trying their best to help out.

Instead of being in debt by $80 million last year, it was $28 million, Mr. Speaker, I estimate it to be a $25 million deficit for this particular year at the present time. By the end of this fiscal year we will be at $33 million. The reason for that increase in the deficit is the fact that we lost $5 million in the last quarter from the federal government, and I was advised yesterday that we lost another $5 million from the federal government for the third quarter. It is still bouncing all over the place, but we downsized the government. We asked our unions to participate with us and accept a zero increase this year, and I would again like to point out that that was the Minister of Personnel acting responsibly and making the unions understand that we did not have the money.

If we had not done all of those things, we still may have been facing a deficit of $75 million this year. That is one thing that we are not going to experience. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Government Leader and the Cabinet want to get out of this House and get to the communities to do their work, but we still have many questions and concerns which we want clarification on, so I hope they give us the privilege of continuing.

My supplementary question to the Minister of Finance is, can the Minister of Finance advise this House as to what is the cumulative current deficit facing this government at the end of this fiscal year?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, as I said in the previous answer, we are forecasting a $33 million deficit for this fiscal year which will end March 31, 1993. At that time, we will have a cumulated surplus of $3 million, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the same Minister, other than tighter control on government spending, what options have been considered for getting down to business and tackling the deficit?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, all of the departments have participated in suggestions on how we can better use our

money. Plans to bring forward, may be to downsize financially in the departments and how we can spend more of that money in the Northwest Territories. You have heard some of those initiatives announced in the House. Mr. Speaker, my suggestion was to come forward with a payroll tax, which has not met with a lot of warmth, and has not been embraced by this House yet. We have to learn to live within our means, Mr. Speaker. We have to realize that if we want to spend all the money that people want us to spend on them, somebody is going to have to pay. I get the message time and time again from the federal government, that the taxpayer in southern Canada is beginning to look north and say, we are spending $17,000 for every man, woman and child in the Northwest Territories. That seems rather steep for us at 57,000 people.

We have to become more self-reliant. We have to get out there. I know it sounds like small potatoes when we are talking about developing the small fisheries and the arts and craft industry, but every product that we produce in the Northwest Territories and sell on the international market or in southern Canada, is more money back into the Northwest Territories, and that is important to us, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Zoe mentioned today that the Dogrib people are open for business, but they want to be consulted in that mining area. We are saying the same thing. If you want to do business in the Northwest Territories and you do it in the proper manner, the Government of the Northwest Territories will assist you and we are open for business. We are trying to expand our own economy. Unfortunately, we have some problems with our formula funding, which affect us adversely when we put more people to work in the Northwest Territories. That is another issue that has to be worked out to make us better off financially in future years.

Mr. Speaker, the question is, can we bite the bullet next year and balance our budget, get our spending under control and then go forward from there to expand our economy? I think, with the understanding of this House and the hard work from the Cabinet Ministers, we can do that, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to the next session when we will be asking the Members of this House to support our initiatives. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Your final supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to extend question period.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays, question period is extended. Mr. Koe, your final supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government Leader's statement on November 17 suggests that we should be able to see the return of a balanced budget by the end of 1994, and subsequent statements by the Minister of Finance indicated that that was the goal set. I have been on record expressing my scepticism to for the attainability of this goal. For the record, is the Minister of Finance willing to confirm that this indeed is the case and that it will be possible to balance our territorial budget by this time two years from now?

Mr. Pollard.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Mr. Dent.

Ms. Cournoyea.

Mr. Speaker, it is the listening element of what we have in this House. We have tried to prepare the Members for how we are going to structurally change the government, so that we can be more responsive to the people's needs. I think we have addressed a lot of issues in terms of privatization, decentralization, financial control and still are able to deliver as much as possible to projects and programs. We have tried not to cut those. If we did not do anything and only looked at changing faces on this side, I am sure that we would be in a much more difficult position than we are presently.

I can suggest to you that in everything we do, there is a certain planning time that is required, a consultation time. If any individual was able to make the decisions and arbitrarily put those decisions in place, things would go much more quickly. This is a different type of government. People want to be involved and we have tried to take that time. A lot of things have changed. We have a framework on how we are going to do business and the most difficult part is to get a framework that people feel they can operate within. It has been difficult to change even the attitude of people towards the financial difficulties that we are in and to try to have decisions made that will allow other people to have input before those decisions are finally made.

There have been many changes. Fortunately, the external effect of those changes is not felt at this time. There have been significant changes. Certainly over the year, the territorial government could have put obstacles in the way of settling claims, but we did not. We tried to accommodate the claims and support the development of those claims. In the past, when I was involved with a land claim settlement, this government put many obstacles in the way to try to get that claim settled. It cost millions of dollars to answer the questions. We have tried to be fair and tried to put forward constructive solutions to problems that we might have. We have come a long way.

In terms of the face of this government in federal politics, we have come a long way in the last year. It took time, effort, dedication and patience. I think not one of us can say that we did not do a good job. I did not do it alone. Mr. Kakfwi did not do it alone. We all did it together. The face of this government on national politics is one of respect. I think that took some time and effort to do. I believe that many of the Cabinet Ministers have tried to resolve many problems between provincial and federal government. If you want the list of achievements again, we can do that.

What I have tried to say to this government is, do not brag, do not put a face out there, just try to put your head down and do the job. This is what we have tried to do. Perhaps we do not have glossy profiles, but we are trying to do the job. I think there are a lot of things that have been achieved and there is a lot of respect given to the Northwest Territories from outside this territory. Those achievements have not come without a great deal of effort. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Ms. Cournoyea.

Mr. Speaker, yes.