Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight is pleased to provide its pre-budget consultation report, and commends it to the House.
---Applause
Introduction
The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight is pleased to present its first report on pre-budget consultations.
The committee held hearings in Fort Good Hope, Fort Simpson, Hay River, Inuvik, Lutselk'e, Paulatuk, Trout Lake, Whati and Yellowknife, between August 25 and September 2, 2005. Following the Yellowknife hearings, the committee members split into northern NWT and southern NWT groups in order to visit as many communities as possible within the short time we had available.
These were our first pre-budget consultations, and we were not sure what to expect, or if people would even be interested in talking to us. As it turned out, the response was very positive. Meetings were well attended, and many people expressed support for what we were doing. In every community, we heard from representatives of local governments, frontline workers, NGOs, business and individuals speaking on their own behalf. We were especially impressed with the number of youth who attended our meetings, and the few who spoke to us very convincingly about their priorities and ideas. We hope to have even more participation by youth in future meetings. It was very encouraging for us to see the numbers of people who did come to meet us. Our only regret is that we could not accommodate all the requests for additional meetings and longer stays in some of the communities we did visit.
To get the discussion started, we asked people the following questions:
- • What government programs are most important for you?
- • What are the biggest concerns in your community today?
- • What kind of government spending would help your community the most?
- • Are there things government is spending money on in your community that are not doing any good?
Keeping the discussion going was never a problem, and, as a result, some of our meetings went very late into the evening, with many people patiently waiting hours to have a turn at the microphone.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to make presentations to us or to send us written comments. A list of their names and organizations is attached to this report. We especially want to thank the people who traveled from other communities, such as Wrigley and Tsiigehtchic, to be at our meetings in regional centres.
These consultations would not have been a success without local people who provided us with meeting places, catering, accommodations, interpretation, transportation and sound services. Often these people who set up chairs and tables, feed us, drive us around, give us a place to sleep, and make sure we can hear and understand each other go unrecognized, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them.
In the course of these consultations, most of us visited at least one community we had never been to before. Although we are elected to represent our constituents, we are also expected to be involved in decisions that have a territory-wide impact, having the chance to see other communities and meet each other's constituents helps us to do a better job. We would, therefore, like to thank all the communities we visited for making us feel welcome, and for letting us get to know you better.
Why Pre-Budget Consultations?
From the beginning of the 15th Assembly, our committee has struggled to find a way to give members of the public a meaningful opportunity to influence the government's business plans and budget. In the past, we do not think enough people and organizations have had a chance to tell MLAs about their priorities and views of how government should spend its money.
The government's budgets are not made public until February. By this time, it is too late to make major changes, and even minor adjustments can be difficult to fit in. However, the work on the budget begins several months earlier. Standing committees get their first opportunity to see and to question potential cuts, new spending, and other budget changes when they review the government's draft three-year business plans. This takes place over a two-week period in September, when there is still room for changes. Committees use this time to discuss government-wide issues with the Premier and Minister of Finance, and then meet with the Minister and senior staff of each Department to go over the draft plans in detail.
This September, the timing of the pre-budget consultations allowed Members to ask the questions and raise the issues we heard as we reviewed individual Departmental business plans with the Ministers and senior staff. Although we have an obligation to keep the details of our discussions on the draft business plans confidential, we would like to assure the public that we did use the opportunity to try to influence the government to align its plans more closely with what you told us, and to encourage the government to keep going where it is already heading in the right direction. You will also be hearing your comments reflected in statements and questions by individual Members during upcoming sessions of the Legislative Assembly, in future reports by standing committees, and in the debate on the budget that will happen next February and March.
We would like to caution, however, that patience will be required as many of the issues you raised demand long-term solutions, and are far beyond what can be addressed in one year's budget and business plans. We look forward to working with the government over the remainder of our mandate on longer-term approaches and strategic investments toward reversing the negative trends you have identified and achieving the goals you have set for us.
General Comments
The committee found a number of common themes throughout our consultations.
By far the majority of issues people brought to our attention were in the social programs area. In every community, we heard requests for more adequate, affordable housing, better prevention and treatment of addictions, and help to deal with the high cost of living. Concerns for particular groups, such as elders, women, persons with disabilities and youth, crossed a number of different areas, particularly education, health and
employment. As reflected in many sections of this report, throughout our consultations, the committee heard a great deal of concern for youth especially and the need for them to have safe activities and places to go. More than one person pointed out that it is disappointing, to say the least, that although we are spending roughly half of our billion dollar budget on Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment, we are still a long way from achieving our goals in a number of key areas and we have stalled on implementing the Social Agenda.
Outside of the social programs area, two of the more common priorities were dealing with rising energy costs and supporting economic development, particularly in renewable resource sectors.
One message that came up in one form or another everywhere we went was that there is a lot the government could do differently to better support frontline organizations and workers. This is a key issue that affects many different program areas as will be discussed in the next section of this report.
The committee is well aware that until we can establish new revenue sources, the government's ability to respond to requests for new money without taking away from other programs will be very limited. As stated earlier, we also realize that some issues will require many years of investments. However, we want to emphasize that we did not only hear about problems and funding shortfalls. We also heard several examples of programs that are already working well and ideas for new revenue sources, saving money or better ways to spend the money we do have.