Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning, I sat in front of my computer and compared our proposed budget with our priorities in this government's mandate. No matter which angle I looked at it from, the reality is that we are cash-poor and have limited chances of fulfilling our priorities in the mandates set by Cabinet.
Our reliance on the mining sector and the federal governmental revenue is all that is sustaining our territory. The federal government fails to provide adequate funding to the North. The mining sector is becoming questionable as a source of sustainable revenue. We are basically giving our resources away. Our population is too small to really make a difference when it comes to generating revenue for the GNWT. We have squeezed all the money we can out of northern residents and businesses.
Mr. Speaker, we continue to increase our borrowing limit with the federal government as our debt keeps climbing. We need to do something bold. Canada has to do something bold to ensure that we, as a territory, survive financially. We need to do the unexpected, and that unexpected does not require making our residents pay, nor does it mean reducing services or staff. What this government has to do requires the support and buy-in from legitimate landowners of this territory, the Indigenous people. In collaboration with Indigenous peoples, we must make the federal government understand the importance and potential of this territory in terms of sovereignty, in terms of national security, in terms of the economy, and in terms of the resource that it yields.
Mr. Speaker, the NWT is one of the last frontiers. We cannot give away our resources while we get very little or nothing in return. We need projects that provide maximum benefits such as jobs and contracts for the people and businesses of the North. If we are looking at major projects, then such projects must be fully paid by the Government of Canada and industry. It is Canada and industry that has reaped the benefit of resource development.
Mr. Speaker, the bold solution we need is for this government, with support from the northern Indigenous governments, to demand that Canada forgive the outstanding debt we have with them. Let's not fool ourselves or our residents in thinking we can dig ourselves out of the financial hole we find ourselves in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.