Mr.
Speaker, I, too, will be
supporting the budget. I supported the budget on second reading, and I support the budget here. I felt it was a budget that, because of the way the budget process went, gave us an opportunity to see all
aspects of the government, all aspects of every department. We had an opportunity to have an impact and some influence on all aspects of this budget in all the departments.
Initially, when we had voted on the budget to go to second reading, I voted for the budget then. I was confident that the Members of this House could work together to come up with a product that would be something that would be acceptable to this House and something that would positively impact the people of the Northwest Territories and, definitely, positively impact the people of my riding of Tu Nedhe.
I feel like this is a budget that was put out to the MLAs on this side of the House. I felt like the MLAs on this side of the House worked on trying to build a foundation for this budget. As with anything else you build, a good foundation is a good place to start. I feel like this is a foundation budget that could go on for the next four years with good additions, changes and evolution of the budget and so on. I look forward to the business-planning process, because it will basically be the first time we’re going through a business-planning process, going from the very beginning of the process to the end.
There are still a lot of things that I think this government could do that will positively impact smaller communities. I still feel like I stand up in the House and I talk about the smaller communities versus the bigger communities. I’m not doing that because I want things taken away from big communities; I do that because I think there has to be some form of equalization.
This government is supposed to make sure that all people in the Northwest Territories are afforded the same opportunities and the same chances to live their lives the way that they want to live them — opportunities for people in small communities to have all the same services and all the same programs that are available to everybody else in the North, everybody else in the bigger communities. I’ve always believed that it’s like anything in life: the unfortunate ones should get the attention so that it kind of equalizes things. If you have to put less in areas where there is a lot already and you have to put more in areas where there isn’t quite as much, then that’s what has to be done. I feel like that’s what this budget’s done.
I feel like there are issues that I talked about from day one. Probably the first thing I talked about after campaigning in Tu Nedhe was that I felt like the youth were our future. A lot of people feel that way. Everybody talks that way too, but I feel like, for the first time, this government and people on both sides of the House said, “Hey, that is true; that is the way.” The way to cure the ills of the Northwest
Territories is to make sure that the youth become people that are responsible, quality people that can go on in life and not rely so much on the support of government to be able to become good, functioning citizens of this territory. I feel the youth are in the forefront of this Assembly.
The issue that everyone only talks about and nothing really substantial happens is the area of the cost of living: the high cost of living in some communities, where people can’t afford basic essentials to operate a house or basic essentials to feed their kids and so on. I feel like now the government here, the people in this room, understand. Maybe they always did. I’m not saying this is something people are just beginning to realize but actively, proactively, trying to address the issue of the cost of living.
The housing conditions across the Territories, balancing out the housing conditions, making sure that…. Thinking and knowing that individuals who operate their own households are able to maintain their households, are able to live and support themselves in their own home ownership units, and giving them the supports to be able to do that. At the end of the day, it’s going to save millions of dollars for this government ,instead of putting people in institutions or putting people in subsidized housing.
Those are the things that I feel this budget is going to allow us to do. There are a lot of issues that I felt were brought out in this process, where we said, “No, we’re not happy with this budget.” I wanted us to work on this budget. I couldn’t really fathom the thought of going back to square one and starting all over, so I voted in favour of the budget to try to move forward and put the handprint of the ordinary MLAs into the budget.
I feel the process was excellent. Nineteen people came together and created a lot of synergy to be able to pass a budget that positively impacts all constituents, all the way from the very north of the territory to the south of the territory and east and west. I feel like this is truly a consensus budget that everybody here can live with for this year.
And then we’ll do it again next year. Thank you.