Mr. Chairman, before I move any responses, I’d like to quote a proverb. “When the prudent man sees danger, he takes refuge; the
simple man carries on and suffers for it.” This is something I was reminded of not too long ago. These are wise words to live by.
I’ve heard from Members of the Assembly speaking about what we may have holding for us in the future. It is something that the Sessional Statement was built on: trying to come up with the balance between the needs of the people of the Territory, the vision of the Members of the 16th Legislative
Assembly, and what we have for resources. We try to implement as many of those as we can and come up with a balance that touches on some of the more critical areas that we heard Members talk about during the planning stages, the early days in the life of this government. How would we do that?
I will quickly go through what we have heard from Members about some of their concerns. As well, I’d like to thank Members for their comments on the plan, putting this together and the need for some change in the way we see business being done in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Chairman, comments on maximizing opportunities and placing our eggs in one basket is a concern to us. We have seen that too many times in the past. We need to diversify. That is why, in the Sessional Statement, I spoke to the fact that we need to encourage a meeting of the minds, in a sense, of the small entrepreneurs’ spirit in our smaller communities with those who can make it happen in the Northwest Territories, either through our traditional banking systems or what we offer through our government programs.
Definitely we will have changes as we go forward. The discussion of full costing has come up in this Assembly. Also a carbon neutral stance. It is different language for sure, which we haven’t heard in this Assembly too often. It is starting to be heard. It is being said by more and more people in the Territories: we need to take care of the land we live in. We hear some of our elders say, “The land has nurtured us to where we are, and we must now nurture it back to health.” We must look at the way we do business and how we do business. I think that is important for us as we proceed and look at all opportunities that come before us.
Mr. Chairman, we heard a number of Members talking about devolution and resource revenue sharing. I think that is a good point. As I’ve heard from one of the Members, as a result of my meeting with the Prime Minister, my stance had changed. It became known that I was prepared to part with devolution and resource revenue sharing. I need to set the record straight. In my meeting with the Prime Minister, he was supportive of continuing to see devolution and resource revenue sharing proceed.
But shortly after the election, I met with the regional aboriginal leadership here in the Northwest Territories. I met with them to see if there was growing or continued support from the stance of the last government about devolution and resource revenue sharing. I also shared with them the future as it would be if we did not change the way we did business and continued to spend as we had in the past without increasing our revenue sources, and said that would not be affordable. With limited resources, should we continue to put as much effort as we have in the past into this basket and not see results produced?
I think there is still a lot of opportunity there, and we can come up with a solution, a deal, for the Northwest Territories. We have to get a deal that is best for us and that will leave a lasting legacy and benefit for the people of the Territories.
I heard a Member earlier talk about a heritage fund. Mr. Chairman, if we continue at the pace we are and we manage to get a deal and the money started flowing tomorrow, that money would be swallowed up by the existing system. We wouldn’t have a penny to put into a heritage fund. That is how fast we are spending money in the Government of the Northwest Territories. We have to have a serious look at that. I think there is opportunity to do that when we look at over a billion dollars that we spend on O&M dollars. And then another over a hundred-million dollars on our capital infrastructure; $1.2 billion dollars for just under 42,000 people in the Northwest Territories.
We have to ask ourselves: are we getting the best value for those investments? Where we’re not, we have to try to re-focus and re-prioritize where we get the best results. A lot of good ideas have come through this, whether it’s investing in our seniors’ programs, investing in our volunteer organizations. We’ve heard about investing in our alcohol and drug-treatment programs, aftercare for addictions. These are all important and things we should really invest in. But at the pace we’re spending, we won’t be able to invest another dime in making it better.
We’ve heard about the increased growth in the social envelope. At the present pace, we would continue to do that. I think that goes to another form of devolution. When you look at the transfers of the past, Health and Social Services, right now, draws down a large amount of resources. That would go back to the days it was signed.
For example, right now, the department of DIAND caps spending on aboriginal health care at 2 per cent. Right now we’re carrying over five years’ worth of unpaid bills in that area. We’re getting close to $100 million.
We cannot afford another deal like that in the Northwest Territories. At that pace we might as well
hand it back to the department of DIAND and say, “Run the Northwest Territories,” because they would try to do it now. I don’t think that’s what the people of the Northwest Territories want.
We’re going to have to make the decisions. When this statement talks about the future and what we can do for the future of the Northwest Territories, I really believe we can get back control, we can get the necessary resources, and we can make a difference in the lives of our children in the Northwest Territories. But that won’t be done unless we get our existing situation under control.
If we hand this over to the future generation now, and spending is at the rate we are without making the changes, it’s like mortgaging our children’s future on a sub-prime mortgage. We know what that means. That means collapse. That is something I don’t think any of us, when we ran, were looking forward to doing.
As for a comment earlier, I heard Mr. Ramsay talk about a plan. We put a plan together in the early days of this government, but the $135 million is a mandatory target. At some point, Mr. Chairman, as we sat down in the Assembly, we talked about the vision and goals of the Assembly. We put some priorities down on the table. I believe you’ve tasked the cabinet, myself — the Premier and Finance minister — my cabinet colleagues, with coming back with a plan that would start to fit those priorities. We have to realize that to invest in those priorities; we’ve got to come up with some dollars. When we talk about devolution, I believe there’s that opportunity there, but it has to be at the right place at the right time and make a difference for us as we proceed.
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. You can tell I get a little excited about some of this when I talk about the future of what we have in the Northwest Territories.
We also have to recognize the past work of many people across the North. Look at the difference of land claims and self-governance that are in place. At one time all those decisions were made in Ottawa. As a result of land claims, we have co-management boards; we have joint boards with federal and Territorial government and aboriginal people; we have the Mackenzie Environmental Impact Review Board. Decision-making has been brought to the North. That can make a difference that brings people from the Territories to those tables.
At one time I recall making a Member’s statement in this House — many years ago, probably close to the 13th Assembly. At one time, Mr. Chairman, we
were the haulers of water and the cutters of wood. Now, if you look across the Territories, aboriginal businesses are parked front and centre, in front of what can happen in the Northwest Territories. We
stand to benefit from any development we have. We must be looking toward how we can continue to strengthen our position.
I must remind Members that when we do…. Going back to the devolution resource revenue sharing, according to the federal public accounts, in 2006-2007, the total amount of resource revenue that went into the federal pocket — outside of Norman Wells, because they’ve always said that’s not resource revenues…. We always counted them in, but they said they were outside. If you actually go down the public accounts, the total amount for the Northwest Territories is about $34 million.
Take 50 per cent of that, because that’s what they base equalization on — 50 per cent in, 50 per cent out. We lose 50 per cent through transfer payments; we get $17 million. Is that the deal we want to sign off on?
I don’t think that’s a good deal, Mr. Chairman. We have to put our business case in front of them. We have to work on projects of nationalist interest. The Mackenzie Valley Highway, I believe, can meet the targets of Arctic sovereignty in the North. So I think there are opportunities. We can put forward a business case that can make real partnerships happen with the federal government, ourselves and our aboriginal partners, as well as industry in the Northwest Territories.
We need to continue building on the solid foundation this process will provide. That’s what I would say, Mr. Chairman: through this process we are talking about the future. Not the future four years from now when an election will come. We’re talking about a future ten, 20, 30 years down the road. That’s what our future should be. We shouldn’t be talking about a future tied to an election date. We should be talking about a future that our children will have in the Northwest Territories, that our grandchildren will have in the Northwest Territories. That’s what this exercise is about. I hope, Members, as we work together to continue to build this foundation, that’s the vision we would have: down the path where we will end up, and of the opportunities that are before us.
No doubt there will be challenges, but those challenges can work. I would agree with Members about the opportunities that are before us, but it will come to a balance. The right balance is what we’re going to need. That’s what I would come back to Members with, Mr. Chairman: if we do this right and come up with the right balance, we will be able to look back and say, “We’ve made a positive difference in the lives of those people we represent.” Thank you.
Applause.