Mr. Speaker, I believe this budget should provide cautious optimism that we have turned the corner towards a more sustainable financial footing as a government.

The decisions we have made to reduce our spending on programs and services and implement initiatives to increase our revenues are a solid start. This stronger footing is reflected in the small forecast cash surplus for 2017-18, reversing the pattern of the last several years where we spent more in the year than we brought in as revenue.

But we are not there yet. Just one unpleasant shock to our revenues or another disastrous forest fire season, and we will be back to adding to the debt that future residents will have to pay. We also know that our revenue outlook shows modest growth for the immediate future which means we will need to continue to manage spending growth in the coming years.

However, we must not also lose sight of what we have achieved while coping with our fiscal environment.

We are protecting our core programs and services for our residents and in many cases have managed to enhance them.

We are advancing this Assembly’s mandate through investments in our priorities.

We are investing in infrastructure to provide programs and services to our residents and support our economy now and in the future.

We are doing all this without adding to the debt our grandchildren will have to pay.

With the support of this Assembly and residents we will continue this responsible fiscal path to invest in individuals, families and communities to ensure the Northwest Territories is a place our people can thrive and be healthy, where a well-managed environment contributes to our economic wellbeing and quality of life, and where a strong economy provides jobs and opportunities for our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause