Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Minister several questions. However, first I would like to make my comments to the bill right now.
This bill here, as the Minister indicated, hasn’t been increased for awhile. The Minister has said that this bill here, looking at an increase of $100 million from $175 to $275 million, it is increased to a short-term borrowing authority and that this money is needed to pay a $65 million bill that we need to honour to the federal government. The repayment is within a couple of months from now, March 31, 2012. I really don’t know what the financial impact will be on the federal government transfers. This money will be taken off the transfers. I am wondering, we have a $65 million bill and we are borrowing $100 million to bring it up to $275 million.
I am not too sure how this arrangement or the details or the numbers come out to state why we need to have this huge increase. We have always recognized growth in the government. Every budget that comes before us, we always account for forced growth, growth in the operations, growth in human resources. Somehow we seem to make it okay. Maybe I need a little more explanation on that.
Our revenues have been fluctuating up and down. The Minister states that we have only 13 percent of revenues. Our needs are great. It makes it, as the Minister states, easier for government to manage cash for new infrastructure programs. That will be announced by the federal government in the next three or four years.
Mr. Chairman, I want to raise these concerns with the government and how do we start recouping these cash resources in the next couple of years. Is that assumption on the fact that we have a couple of months to come to a devolution final agreement and then implement the final agreement? We are on a timetable with the devolution. We are going to receive a huge amount of cash if this government or Cabinet here says we are going to sign the final agreement. We already know there are a number of positions going to be coming to the territorial government. We don’t know where those positions will be located yet. We haven’t had those serious discussions. I wonder where the Minister is getting this magic pot that we are going to have some of this cash recouped. We haven’t been told yet or I haven’t been told yet. I may have missed some meetings.
So these are some of my comments here, Mr. Chair. The assumption is we’re going to spend. I know any time you borrow money, sometimes it’s good debt, sometimes it’s bad debt. There is such a phrase as bad debt. Sometimes there is good debt. But we’re borrowing on some type of promises that may not come to fruition. Is it on some assumption that we’re going to get money? I know the federal government has promised some infrastructure money on transportation for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. It’s stated in their budget. I read their budget. There was some transfer money being looked at. I’m not too sure how much in total to the Government of the Northwest Territories, health and some other programs. I don’t have it at my fingertips right now.
So this borrowing idea, this act, means that we have...and the government probably responded to our needs. We said we can’t do this, we have to borrow it. We have to pay a bill here, $65 million. We have to pay that or we’ll be penalized by the federal government. Besides, we’re growing. We’ve been growing since 1995. Why all of a sudden now do we need to bring in this act? We could have brought it in four years ago or eight years ago. Is it programs and pressure that we need to consider?
These are the types of things that make me think about some of the infrastructure in our communities. I hope we get some infrastructure in our communities if we are borrowing this short-term cash. That’s what it is. I’m not too sure what the government is banking this on. I’m just making the assumption, Mr. Chair, that when I read this, start to recoup cash resources over the next few years, I want to know what. How do you start recouping?
Right now the biggest thing on our ticket right now is devolution. We know how much money is coming to the North. Maybe there are some bigger things at play here that I’m not aware of or people of the Northwest Territories aren’t aware of. I’m going on the assumption that the government has a lot to respond to and this is what they’re trying to figure out. They’re saying hey, we’ve got to increase our borrowing limit. We’ve got to do this. Is there a hiring freeze on our people within the government? Why do they sometimes come to our communities and say we’ve got no money, we’ve got no money?
So tell me and tell my people. If you can’t put an RCMP detachment in Colville Lake, tell me. But you’ve got lots of money here you want us to borrow. What the heck is going on? If that is there, then certainly you can put a detachment in Colville Lake.
I’m confused. Thank you.