One of the roles I think the department can play is certainly in heightening profile, especially around drug addiction. It's something that we, Mr. Speaker, tend not to talk a lot about. We know that until we started speaking about family violence, we were making no inroads and I think the same is true with drug abuse. When we finally start to acknowledge and recognize what is going on in our communities, I think we will certainly be some measure closer to dealing with it. Would the Minister not agree that the department has a critical role to play in addressing this issue by leading a dialogue and engaging community partners in the discussion of how we might meet these challenges. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Minister would agree.

Thank you. Item 7, oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Opening Address. Item 11, replies to Budget Address. Mr. Roland.

Mr. Roland's Reply

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members of the Assembly, I want to start with a previous response I made to a previous Budget Address. We, once again, have the opportunity to look at the big picture. Let's lookat the fiscal situation that we first had opportunity to look at as Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly. We were told that 74 percent of our revenues come from the formula financing agreement, another seven percent in transfer payments comes from Ottawa as well. We are told if we try to raise our own revenues through taxes and such, there is little impact on our budget. An example is that an increase in taxes would net us 1.5 percent. Without new revenues, the next few years would be characterized by cuts and deficits.

What has changed so drastically that we are now in a position of surplus? Once again, when we first came in as Members of the 14th Assembly, the fiscal project stated that revenues of 2001-2002 would be $726 million in expenditures and expenditures would be $814 million. By year end, we would have a $160 million deficit. We were also told that we would hit our borrowing limit by year end. I recall being told that only source revenues are a small portion of total revenues and increases have virtually no impact on our fiscal situation. Mr. Speaker, in the 2001-2002 Budget Address, Minister Handley states that our short-term fiscal position is significantly improved over last year's forecast from a $313 million deficit to a $23 million surplus and that 2001-2002 he is predicting a surplus of a couple of million dollars. He states from page 5 of his 2001-2002 address: "This turnaround is directly attributable to our successful efforts to constrain spending, coupled with a much more positive revenue picture."

Mr. Speaker, in the detail provided in the Budget Address document, this government spent $47.62 million more than was spent by year end March 2000, $47 million more and predicting $16 million from April 1st to March 2002. This, Mr. Speaker, is considered constraint spending?

Mr. Speaker, this one item I see as a contributing factor of our remarkable turnaround is the fact that we see corporate taxes as never seen before in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, corporate taxes jumped from $7.6 million in 1999-2000 to $102 million in this fiscal year. The Minister goes on to predict another banner year of 2001-2002, $116 million in corporate taxes. If this is the case, why do we need fee increases?

I do recall a statement when we first became aware of an increase in corporate tax revenues, the Minister stating that this was a one-time anomaly. Now we are budgeting it to grow and we are basing our expenditures on it. Mr. Speaker, just over a year ago we were presented with a gloomy picture. We were told that trying to raise revenues from our own sources through fees was not a good idea. Now we are making a high strategy on it. Why such a change in direction? Mr. Speaker, it is obvious to me that our need for a resource revenue sharing agreement will become critical as we set sail for another year in the Good Ship NWT.

Mr. Speaker, I refer to the 2001-2002 budget as a star gazer's budget. I had hoped that Minister Handley's stars were not just someone hanging Christmas lights in the distance. With the information now provided in this Budget Address, it appears that the stars were just late New Year's fireworks going off, as the Minister of Finance has now revised those earlier expectations, expectations that Members of this Assembly bought into. Things were indeed looking rather good by the end of the year 2001-2002. As we were told, we were in a surplus situation. A surplus of $120 million, to be exact. We were told that we needed to keep up with the plan to spend our way through the months to come. The 2002-2003 update shows how much we spent trying to keep up with the ever growing economy as we were now looking at a $106 million deficit Mr. Speaker, that's a whopping $226 million turnaround.

The finance Minister goes on to state that the 2003-2004 outlook will have the next government looking at total debt of $214 million. Mr. Speaker, it appears that the Minister has gone to the well once too often as there seems to be no more water in the well.

---Interjection

He hopes. In our thirst to show how much we can do as a government, we have almost bankrupt the government. Mr. Speaker, I went back to our first official budget as a 14th Legislative Assembly. In that Budget Address, on Page 32, the summary of net debt and an estimated borrowing capacity is given. It shows revised estimates for 1999-2000, an accumulated cash deficit position of $70.328 million. In this year's budget, the numbers show and state, by the end of the fiscal year 2003-04, the next government will be looking at a cash deficit of $85.264 million. Mr. Speaker, in comparing what we've done as a government when we look at the documents, and I look at the 2000-2001 Budget Address, page 25, summary of operations expense by department, total operations expense shows for 2000-2001, planned expenditures worth $756.835 million. Mr. Speaker, in this Budget Address for 2003-04, in appendix B-15, we have a summary of operation expenditures by department, total operational expenditures for 2003 is scheduled to be $923.991 million. Mr. Speaker, that is a growth of over $167 million dollars in O and M increase alone. With that kind of money, we should have been able to pave a few streets with gold.

Mr. Speaker, we have tried to keep pace with the growing economy. We have done it with taxpayers' dollars but, Mr. Speaker, we have left ourselves little room to be able to grow. In fact, as we are leaving this government, the Finance Minister stated we are leaving it better than we found it. How much better than we found it, I'm not sure, as the numbers are awfully close. In fact, because we have increased spending on O and M by over $160 million in those years, we have built an expectation by our residents that they are going to have a certain level of dollars and programs and services. That will quickly eat away at any dollars that we might receive, even the $20 million dollars that has been announced today that we might get in special funding. Hopefully, as the details are worked out, we will find out that we'll get many millions more than that because that is what we are going to need, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, all these expenditures, increased expenditures, that we have approved in this House, and that is why I say Members of this Assembly should have been brought into the picture that was being presented because it looked like it was going to be good for a long time to come but in one year, in the short time, we found ourselves going to a turnaround of $226 million from a surplus of $120 million to a deficit of $106 million, and the year is not over yet. Wait till we see the next supplementary appropriation, Mr. Speaker. How much more will we add to that? All this, Mr. Speaker, in the name of For A Better Tomorrow. I think we should have called it For a Better Today Because Tomorrow Never Comes. I can only hope the assumptions used in the forecast of what this fiscal year will bring turn out to be as good as they are predicting.

Mr. Speaker, we know that budgets are built on assumptions and the finance Minister said he would base his on fairly conservative figures but there are still a number of things that have to come our way that can directly impact on how things will proceed from here. How the government will look in its last days, what we can give to the people of the Northwest Territories and what will be our real lasting legacy. Will it be that the next government that comes into place will be able to do nothing but look at reductions in services and wages again?

I hope not. I hope that we get more banner years of corporate taxes. I hope that the federal government will come to the table but I can recall in the earliest days of our Assembly when we were told that royalty revenue sharing was going to be had and we will get money from the federal government. That was three years ago, Mr. Speaker. We are still negotiating and nowhere close to seeing any cheques being written on the basis of royalty revenues.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to end on a totally negative note, there have been many positives that have been accomplished. We have finally closed the issue of pay equity. We have had signoff on that. I wonder how much that cost us over the many years that we fought with the union on that. If we had settled much earlier, how many millions of dollars we might have been able to save, but that was brought to a close at least during this government. Mr. Speaker, there are again other programs and services that we have enhanced as a government. I say enhanced because we've never really changed our government programs and services. We've altered them from time to time. We've changed criteria from time to time but it has been a long time since any department has had to go back and ask itself why it runs a certain program and doesn't need the dollars it has in its budget to run that program. All we do is add on top of it.

I think it is time to go back to the drawing board as a government. Look into the future and say what is this government going to look like, especially when we tie on self-government and the tables that are happening right now. What is this government's role going to be if we are going to negotiate out the responsibilities and authorities to regional self-governments. Then I think we won't be much more than what the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs is to the Government of the Northwest Territories right now. We will have to look at those roles and we will have to ensure that we set up the right monitoring processes to ensure that the dollars being spent on behalf of residents are going to meet the requirements intended.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, hopefully, the well will start to fill once again so that when the finance Minister goes to dump his bucket in, he will find some water there, or in our case, money that he can continue on with expenditures and programs. But I've seen from one hand a very difficult situation that we have come in, go to the very high and look at a very good budget when we have had surpluses. In a matter of a three-year cycle, we are now once again looking at a debt wall that is very close and again, I say, we are not done with our term as Members of the 14th Legislative Assembly. I guess one thing I can say in closing is maybe we better start praying again for those one-time anomalies because we need them and the Lord knows it. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 11, replies to the Budget Address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 14, tabling of documents, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 14, tabling of documents, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 4, tabling of documents, honourable Member for Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the report of the Standing Committee on Governance andEconomic Development on a Review of the 2003-2006 Business Plans. Mr. Speaker, this report contains the committee's views at the time of review of the business held September 16th to the 27th, 2002. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Tabling of documents, the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the report of the Standing Committee on Social Programs on a Review of the 2003-2006 Business Plans. Mr. Speaker, this report contains the committee's views for the time of review of the business held September 16th to the 27th, 2002. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 24th, 2003, I will move the following motion, seconded by the honourable Member for North Slave, that the special joint committee shall continue as a special committee of the Legislative Assembly until it presents its final report to the House in June, 2003 and further, that it shall continue under all other terms or provisions as established by Motion 6-14(5). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Notices of motion, the honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 24th, 2003, I will move the following motion:

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motions for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 3, Bill 6, Bill 7, Bill 8, committee reports 3-14(6), 4-14(6) and 5-14(6), with Mr. Lafferty in the chair.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to recommend the committee continue consideration of Bill 3 and Committee Reports 3-14(6), 4-14(6) and 5-14(6) concurrently, specifically to deal, first of all, with the budget of the Department of MACA.