Mr. Speaker, I want to applaud my colleagues for standing up here today and discussing the principles of this appropriation bill that’s before us. At second reading, I think it’s important that we do that. It’s important that we let
the government once again know what our feelings are on the proposed appropriation bill.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say a few things here again today that Members have heard me say: this is not our plan. It’s not our budget.
If I can, we’ll go back to just after the election in October when 19 Members recently elected got together to develop a plan for the future. Northerners Working Together was the title of the strategic vision document that was developed at the Baker Centre those two days that we spent there. It wasn’t much after that that the government came back to Regular Members and said, “We’re going to look at reducing spending by $135 million; we’re going to reinvest $75 million.” Some of us bought into that; some of us questioned it. But it led us down a path, Mr. Speaker, again where it just wasn’t our plan. Nobody — not one Member — at the Baker Centre had any inkling that major reductions were on the horizon. And we had returning Members that were Cabinet Ministers. There was nothing there.
That’s what’s missing, Mr. Speaker. The public needs to know how we could have surpluses running for four years, we get elected, and all of a sudden the sky is falling, we need to reduce spending by $135 million, and by the way, we’re going to reinvest $75 million into strategic initiatives that are those of Cabinet. Regular Members on this side of the House have not had input into where that money’s being spent or directed. Even though we’ve asked, we’ve yet to get a seat at that table. And that causes me a great deal of concern.
Mr. Speaker, I know the Premier likes to say that I’ve stood up in this House — and I have stood up in this House — and questioned the size and the growth of the public service here in the Northwest Territories. That was two and a half years ago, and two and a half years ago when I stood up and I questioned why the government didn’t have a comprehensive human resource strategy and didn’t have any clue as to what it was doing in terms of hiring, we were hiring in positions where I felt we didn’t need to hire. We needed a plan; we needed a vision for human resources. Yes, I questioned the size and the growth of the public service. Yes, I wanted to go out and have a zero-based review, look at programs.
I said this before and I’ll say it again today: I make decisions for a living, as do the rest of us. That’s what we do; we make decisions. When we make decisions, not only for ourselves but for the constituents we represent, we better make sure that those decisions are based on something sound and concrete, Mr. Speaker. Some of the decisions that have been arrived at by Cabinet, contained in this budget, just do not have that level — that
foundation — of analysis, of proof, of justification: call it what you will. That hasn’t been done.
Other Members have said it. We’ve made recommendations to Cabinet. They come back and they say, “Well, your recommendations sound really good. We’re going to have to go out and study them further and have a look at them before we can implement any of them.” Those are our recommendations. But when the government goes back to the departments and says, “Departments, you cut $6 million here, $7 million there, $10 million there,” and they get the answers back from the departments, there’s no analysis there. That’s the thing I struggle with most, Mr. Speaker: where is that analysis? Where is our comprehensive human resource strategy going forward?
Mr. Speaker, we have to be financially prudent, and being financially prudent means taking a look at your operations from time to time — getting that analysis done so that you can make some decisions. Because we’re here making decisions on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, and we owe it to them, at the very least, to at least do a review and get some analysis done before we make decisions, especially decisions that are going to affect the lives, livelihoods and families of our residents. Many of these folks who have received notification letters are already leaving the Northwest Territories, and that’s a shame.
We should be doing everything in our power to maintain the workforce that we have. If we’re going to look at reductions, there are other ways to go about those reductions. But none of those were palatable to Cabinet. They didn’t come over to us and suggest alternatives. This was it; that was the way it was going to be, Mr. Speaker. I think the residents here in the Northwest Territories are owed more than that.
As I mentioned, they just have not included Regular Members in the strategic initiatives. The day-to-day operations of this government is what Cabinet was elected to their posts to do. The oversight, the day-to-day operations: that’s why they’re there, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to setting the direction, the strategic vision of the people of this territory, in a consensus government that is to include all 19 Members.
Mr. Speaker, I want to put the government on notice that there are 19 Members in this Legislature, and we are going to get to work on developing a strategy and getting a budget for the people that all 19 of us can buy into. Today, the budget that’s before us — the appropriation bill — just is not something that I can put my stamp of approval on, because it doesn’t have my input into it. By extension, by not having my input into the budget, it doesn’t have my constituents’ input. If you could protract that around this table, that’s 11
constituencies that really have had no say in the development of this budget.
Yes, we do have to wear some of it. We forced the government. We asked the government to come forward in May or June to have a budget session with us so we could debate the budget. Yes, we asked that. We could have waited until October; that would have been a full calendar year after the election for the people of the Northwest Territories to have a budget to look at. To some that was unacceptable. To be honest with you, Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what would change this document — we all know there’s a hiatus during the summer months — between now and October. We may have a business planning process to go through, but that would be about it.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve been left out. We’ve been left out of the eco-trust dollars that have been divvied up. We’ve been left out of the Building Canada Fund monies that have gone to various projects across the territory. We’re let in the door after the fact, after the decisions have been arrived at, and that’s just not good enough.
I don’t believe there’s any utility in making a bad budget worse. I do respect my colleagues, those that want to debate the budget for the next three and a half weeks. They’re to be respected. I want them to know and I want my colleagues to know and the public to know that I will be in here day in and day out fighting the budget — fighting the good fight.
At the end of the day I’m not sure what we can arrive at. I’ve been here long enough to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s going to be a difficult task. It will be monumental — let’s put it that way — if things change.
We’ll have a vote here today at second reading, and again I just want the government to know and to be on notice that we are over here trying to do our job, trying to put our stamp of approval and our mark on this budget. Hopefully, Cabinet will let us in the door and will listen to our concerns and make some changes to this document. They owe it to the people of the Northwest Territories and, thus, the Regular Members of this House. Mahsi.