Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start today by praising the Finance Minister for the initiative he has shown for holding budget dialogue events for the last three years, allowing NWT residents to comment on NWT budgets.

Over the three years the meetings have produced considerable feedback, but due to the timing of the forums, I’m not sure that feedback has actually been used. I have to wonder about the value for money of this initiative. Having said that, though, I’ve previously said that we can’t put a price on democracy. Consultation is a necessary evil of government.

This year there were 97 attendees at seven meetings held all over the NWT. Other years have had about the same number of participants, but what has this exercise cost us? Has it been worth the expense?

As I said, I’m unsure how the feedback has been used. In the report from the 2014 Budget Dialogue, the section called Next Steps states “The results of this process will be used to inform Legislative Assembly discussions in its February budget session and beyond.” The budget dialogues have been held in late fall, generally in November. Given that this year the 2015-16 budget was all but finalized by early December, I don’t know how the Minister used the results of the November 2014 dialogue to influence this year’s budget.

The same can be said of the report’s statement that “Other feedback pertaining to the government’s fiscal priorities and programs and services will be used in the 2015-16 budget.” I have to ask, what info was used and how did the budget change from November 2014 to today?

On another note, there’s significant mention in the Budget Dialogue report of the government’s strategy announced last year at this time, a strategy to grow our population. The report mentions a number of obstacles to achieving this goal and one of the most mentioned is government recruitment.

I want to thank the Minister for his commitment earlier this session to provide Members with concrete evidence of the government’s plan to get us 2,000 new residents, and I look forward to reviewing that plan.

In closing, although I question the value of this budget dialogue exercise and I hope the Minister will do a value for money audit on it, I compliment the Minister and department for holding these forums and giving residents a chance to express their views in person.

I’m hopeful the 18th Assembly will continue to seek

out residents’ views on NWT budgets. Thank you.