Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have heard, as the Finance Minister spoke on this issue of the budget and as it is coming forward, someone made reference to a stand-pat budget, that, in fact, we are holding the tidewater back, I guess. We have heard a couple of comments that initially I think most people can applaud the fact that there are not a lot of reductions during this budget cycle, but I raise the concern, since I have become a member of the 14th Assembly, of the impending debt wall. If things are not improved on the revenue side.
I applaud the work of the Minister and Cabinet in terms of pursuing Ottawa to transfer the royalty revenues to the North. I think that realistically, that is not in the very near future. Settlement of that -- I do not believe that we will see it this year. Although I pray for miracles, it still is a difficulty that I see out there. We know that in government, and my experience with government since being a Member of the 13th Assembly, that every year we see departments come back with forced growth, as they call it. We have got to get that money from somewhere. Even with all the reductions during the 13th Assembly, few of the reductions actually addressed the workload and the red tape, as we call it, of government.
The structure basically exists the same as it did previously. We have done one big amalgamation and that was Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. That still draws a lot of attention and questions. I think that if we are going to make a real difference, the opportunity is early in the government's life. To address some of the potential savings out there for streamlining and for creating a more effective, efficient government, especially when we are dealing with land claims and the settlement of those land claims, because they will be impacting the government, and that is an ongoing battle on its own with Ottawa. As I said earlier, I think we can look at trying to hold the tidewaters back. The reality is the tide will continue to move and we will be left sitting in high tide, stuck in the mud and nowhere to go. I think we need to start addressing some of the issues of the functions of government and procedures. We tell departments that they have to provide for and move forward with, and we impose that onto non-government organizations as well, when we ourselves do not have the ability to monitor and track a lot of what goes on. That is not a good way of doing business. We need to be a little more proactive in dealing with the issues that come to us. I have always said, as government we seem to be going from one fire to the next, and putting those out. That continues to be, as I see it, the way things are going to be done for the first part of this government. I think we need to put more ingenuity into what we can do.
I know I was looking at the procurement and functional review of the government, and was disappointed to know that it has not gone as far as I thought it would have during this timeline that was set out. Things will become more difficult to change afterwards. It is good to be optimistic, but as a government we have to face the reality when it comes to what we can truly provide to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Priority setting is a big exercise for government and nobody likes to hold the bad news, but I feel that if things do not come around; if new money does not become available, we will end up having to do that later, anyway. The pressures will be on us. On the capital side it is a concern. My community has been impacted already. I am concerned that if things do not turn around that could be used against our community one more time. It is not something I look forward to. I will do my best to represent my community in the government today, and as I have done in the past.
The one bright thing, truly bright thing, we have in the future, is the non-renewable resource sector. A recent trip to Calgary for the World Petroleum Congress showed me the great interest in the Northwest Territories now, and the resources we have that are yet to be developed. It is very promising to see the aboriginal groups that are now steering the ship, so to speak. They took the proactive steps to band together to get a motion to proceed with some form of development. I think that is very positive, and something we need to be proactive in, and assist in any way possible as a government with what resources we have. I have seen the government's plans as they presented the non-renewable resource strategy and the intention to reinvest dollars, but if we do not get the federal government on side here, it is a plan. The plan will not be able to be implemented within our existing resources. We have the Department of Health and Social Services that is crying out for dollars. Education needs more. We have the UNW in negotiations now, and has that been built into this. There is so much growing pressure here.
In my community of Inuvik, because of reductions to the government, tax payers have had to pay more. That is my fear, again, as we have been informed. The reduction to tax-based municipalities, does that mean, myself, at the end of day, will be paying more in my community? We can blame tax-based municipalities but the bulk of their funding comes from this government. As my colleague mentioned, it may only happen in Boot Lake, but I think that our community council is very fair and will do things across the board.
The cost of living in the Northwest Territories continues to skyrocket. That is something that is out of our control, but it impacts how we can do things. We have heard of the hotel tax. That will be added on to people coming in from out of the jurisdiction, but it will also impact on the Government of the Northwest Territories. It will impact on education boards, health boards as they travel to their meetings, and the training that we put our employees through. More of a concern is, how do we lower costs, or as a government try to impact decisions made by big corporations? That is next to impossible. Esso in Inuvik is a monopoly, supplying gas. It is a bulk agent there that supplies to a couple of the gas stations. We are paying 98 cents now for a litre of unleaded gas, and there is no choice of gold, silver or bronze. It is unleaded gas, one quality fits all tanks. No choice there, you go to the pumps and you pay for it.
That will impact food prices. Heating oil went up over 50 cents a litre this past winter and with this reduction to municipalities the possibility is that we will see other things. I know that the community I live in is looking at taking over the utilador system. People are wondering if that will be impacted as we hear Municipal and Community Affairs is doing the changes. That impacts water, sewer subsides, so will that impact us even further?
It would be nice if we could all live in locations that are as low cost as some of our southern communities. But the cold, hard facts are if we are going to live in the communities we are as a government going to have to find some way of dealing with the diversities and the costs of living in the Northwest Territories through the harsh climate we do.
I do not envy the task of the Finance Minister trying to put this together. I know that it has been a short time as we have heard so many times. It has been recently since Cabinet got together and tried to put this together. But the fact is if we are going to make significant changes in government and how it looks and how it functions those changes have to come early. Otherwise we only build up the debt and build up the growing concern with how we are going to provide services in the Northwest Territories at existing levels.
The Finance Minister stated that we are holding our own. We can point out examples and as we go through the budgets, I will definitely point out my concerns for my community level. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.