Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here to present for the committee’s consideration the 2015-16 Capital Estimates of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The estimates represent $249 million in appropriations for government and $28 million for community infrastructure investments in the 2015-16 fiscal year.
These estimates do not include appropriations for housing infrastructure proposed by the NWT Housing Corporation in 2015-16, totaling $36 million. The appropriation for these investments will be sought during the committee’s review of the 2015-16 Main Estimates. The NWT Housing Corporation’s proposed 2015-16 Capital Plan, however, has been included in the estimates document as an information item for review and comment.
Including the proposed housing investment, the total planned infrastructure investment in 2015-16 will be $314 million.
These estimates represent the second year of a two-year increase to the capital plan of $50 million per year. Although this short-term increase will help address some critical infrastructure priorities, the GNWT will continue to have a significant infrastructure deficit going forward.
The GNWT is facing the difficult challenge of maintaining existing assets, improving housing stock and meeting legislative requirements with limited fiscal resources. Our ability to meet these needs is further constrained by a borrowing limit whose definition was broadened while the limit remains restrictive and does not reflect the debt-carrying capacity of the government. The GNWT will continue to improve our territory’s essential infrastructure base to deliver programs and services, to respond to slowdowns in the NWT’s economy or to make investments in strategic infrastructure that will better position the territory and all of Canada to maximize economic opportunities of the North.
Major highlights of these estimates include: • $108 million for highways and winter roads
across the NWT. This includes funding for the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk highway, which will largely be funded by the federal government;
• $84 million for health facility replacements,
renovations and information system upgrades, including funding required for the renovation of the Stanton Territorial Hospital project;
• $28 million to continue to contribute to
community infrastructure needs;
• $15 million for small capital projects across all
departments;
• $7 million to begin replacing the current air
tanker fleet that support forest fire operations;
• $6 million for information technology projects; • $3 million to continue the Capital Asset Retrofit
Program for energy efficiency upgrades to existing GNWT buildings, including the installation of biomass heating systems; and
• $2.5 million for improvements to NWT parks.
In addition to the significant capital investment for 2015-16 I just articulated, the government also expects to successfully conclude an agreement with Canada that will implement the new Building Canada agreement that will see $258 million over 10 years invested in infrastructure for the GNWT and municipal governments. The government intends to bring forth a supplementary appropriation in the February-March 2015 session to include the first bundle of new Building Canada Plan projects in the 2015-16 Infrastructure Acquisition Plan.
I’m prepared to review the details of the 2015-16 Capital Estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.