Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the residents of the Northwest Territories have been eagerly awaiting any decisions that we will make regarding budgets and what they will have to look forward to in the upcoming year.
Many people understand the reason why we are doing an interim appropriation and not the main estimates. Due to the timing of the election and getting groups together and getting the process going for the 14th Assembly, we find ourselves having to go through an interim appropriation for four months.
Mr. Chairman, many people would consider this as being just as the term implies, interim, but in fact, I believe we are setting many of the goals through this interim appropriation. Some may say it is up until July, and we will have a budget in place by the end of June, maybe the first week of July.
I believe if there is any serious change in the government's funding situation, it would be very difficult for us as a government to change the direction of the ship once it has been launched and we are halfway through a budget year.
Mr. Chairman, we have seen through the work done on the interim appropriation with the departments. Many departments have gone in the direction that the percentage of the interim budget should be in the range of 33 percent. We have seen a number of departments come in significantly higher than that. That is understandable because the summer season is when contracts are let. For example, the housing area, transportation, municipal and community affairs, a lot of the construction work is done in the summer.
There was concern raised by Members that in fact, by putting so much of the emphasis and so much of the budget through in the interim appropriation, that when we go to put the actual business plans in place, projects will have already been started. We will not see anything new in the business plans, or the main estimates, for 2000-2001. If the project did not make it in an interim appropriation cycle, you may be looking at a delay.
There was a lot of concern mentioned in committees that because of the time crunch we were under, we could not review in full the capital plans for a number of the departments. We requested some follow up material from those departments. We are going to have to go through the departments project by project. The timeliness of this has put a lot of strain on the departments and committees to try and make sure that we have done the best job we can in reviewing the process, the interim appropriation and the expenditures required.
There are a number of new initiatives, as we have heard lately. That is of concern to Members. It is good to have a positive message to let the people of the North know we are continuing to do business. As well, we must be prudent in our work and what we put forward.
If in fact we are finding ourselves getting closer to the debt wall, we must ensure we do not hit that debt wall. No one yet has been able to clearly say what would happen once we hit our borrowing limit. What would the impact be?
We have heard the Minister say in this forum on a number of occasions that they are doing the work that is necessary to ensure they do not hit the so-called debt wall. When you see the growth in a number of areas, whether it is under urgently required new initiatives or the heading of forced growth, which seems to have changed a bit from the understanding we had of forced growth in the 13th Assembly, I think we need to question the areas of new initiatives to make sure we are doing the best for the people of the Northwest Territories.
The majority of this interim budget is based on status quo, the 1999-2000 budget. And there is no significant change. My fear is that if we do not take appropriate actions now and plan for the potential of hitting the debt wall, we will be left with little or no time to plan properly in areas of strategic change, priorities and goals of the Northwest Territories.
Indeed, many people would ask today, as a government who has been in power for four months, where are our goals and priorities? I believe we are setting them, in a sense. The message being sent by this process we will go through in the next ten days is in large part determining our priorities, at least for the first year of the 14th Assembly.
Mr. Chairman, I will take part in this interim appropriation with great interest as we go through department by department, and try to ensure we are doing the best we can for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Also, we will ensure that any new expenditures we put forward as a government are the wisest decisions we can make for those new expenditures.
Somehow in the chaotic atmosphere we find ourselves in by not trying to hit a debt wall and the potential development that is on our doorstep...how do we manage? How do we grow? How do we come up with new dollars?
Many people out there right now say they do not get enough of their existing budgets. I am sure they will be paying a lot of attention to see what we pass. Does it mean more for them, or less? Or is it the same? As I stated earlier, by basing it on the 1999-2000 business plans, with little forced growth attached aside from what we saw in the area of pensions and a few new initiatives, we are not going to do much that is new.
I think that is a concern, but I think that is where we as a government have to reevaluate our priorities to say what is essential to the residents of the Northwest Territories?
From what I see, we have not been able to do that in this process to date. Instead, we have looked at a past cycle, made a few minor adjustments and will try to do the best from within in that sense to ensure we are meeting the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories.
I just hope the future will not come back to us in the sense that we have been too optimistic and built in very serious time constraints on making any serious change to government as we see it today. With that, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to going through each of the departments to ensure that we, as a government for the people of the Northwest Territories, are spending the dollars that are provided for us in the best way possible. Thank you.