Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance for Canada, the Honourable John Manley, delivered the 2003 federal budget.
Mr. Manley presented Canadians with a balanced budget, the sixth in a row. In fact, before taking into account the Minister's contingency reserves, the federal budget projections show surpluses for the current and next two fiscal years.
The federal government's strong fiscal position also accords Mr. Manley the flexibility to announce a number of expenditure and tax measures -- investments in health care, in families, in research and education, in national security and in the economy. In total, Mr. Manley announced almost $6 billion in initiatives for the current fiscal year, and more than $10 billion over the next two fiscal years.
From a Northwest Territories perspective, however, the budget is a disappointment. Given the healthy federal fiscal position, given the billions of dollars available for investment in new initiatives, and given the fact that Canada receives the lion's share of the fiscal benefits of northern development, it is very disappointing that the federal government still cannot find its way clear to make the critical investments needed in the Northwest Territories. Beyond some resources for the federal government to increase its own capacity in the North, there is nothing that recognizes the unique needs of the Northwest Territories to prepare for and cope with resource development.
We have clearly identified what is needed. Our Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy and our proposal for the Strategic Infrastructure Fund, Corridors of Canada, lay out the requirements for infrastructure, for training, for economic development funding, and for other necessary investments. We continue to be disappointed by the lack of federal response to opportunities in the Northwest Territories that would benefit all of Canada.
The federal budget does include a number of initiatives that will benefit all Canadians, including Northwest Territories residents. Increases in the National Child Benefit, including a new child disability credit, will benefit NWT families. New investments in housing, money for the environment and support for aboriginal languages are all steps in the right direction, and we hope that the needs of the NWT are included in these budget measures. The budget confirmed the additional dollars or health care that the Prime Minister committed to earlier this month. It did not address the special needs of the Territories. We are hopeful that the Prime Minister will address this shortfall in his meeting with Premiers Kakfwi, Okalik and Fentie later this week.
The budget did also include some measures of special interest to Northerners:
- • Two new 10-year infrastructure funds will be created --one a strategic fund, the other for municipal infrastructure. However, the funding available in the early years is small, and we do not yet know how the money will be allocated across jurisdictions;
- • The air travellers security charge will be reduced from $24 to $14 for a round trip ticket -- a measure that will directly benefit northern air travelers;
- • Federal corporate income tax rates for mining and oil and gas companies will be reduced over the next five years, to match reductions announced for other corporations three years ago. This measure will benefit the resource sector that is driving our economic growth;
- • The extension of the mineral exploration tax credit for an additional year will benefit the mining sector;
- • Additional funding will be made available for aboriginal business development;
- • And finally, $32 million will be allocated over the current and next two fiscal years to increase federal capacity to conduct environmental and regulatory assessment prior to the construction of a northern gas pipeline.
Unfortunately, there is nothing to address the needs of the other NWT governments to respond to northern development. We must continue to reinforce the message in Ottawa that investment in the Northwest Territories is a good investment and that our government, aboriginal governments and municipal governments need financial support to enhance their capacity to meet the demands of economic growth. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause