We have to. I'm inclined to sit down. I suspect that that, in response, won't be satisfactory to my colleague across the floor. We have to get this right, and we make tough decisions all the time.
Today, we tabled a $2 billion budget. In order to make tough decisions, it is better, in my view, to do that based on evidence and to do that based on evidence that is gathered methodically and to do that in a way that is based on evidence that looks at programs and services across the Northwest Territories with a vision of value. We want to have value and not just -- it needs to be methodical and evaluative. That, Mr. Speaker, is really at the core of what the Government Renewal Initiative will be.
The first two departments that go through, Finance and ECE, should have those processes complete in time to see impacts on the business planning that goes through for the next budget cycle. That, then, will allow everyone to see that we can, in fact, be making tough decisions. It will, in fact, demonstrate where those decision points may lie. The tough decisions happen all the way through. I mean, budgeting is a process that I've said many times is cyclical. It takes all year. In fact, I suspect the folks over in Finance are going to be starting on the 2022-2023 budget very soon.
Tough decisions have to happen continually. We can't wait until the future, but we also can't put all the eggs in the basket and say that it's all because of the infrastructure plan and the infrastructure projects. If we don't have infrastructure, we don't have health or education or corridors for communications or trans-border energy. It is not one thing that is driving the challenges that we have financially or fiscally; it is all the things. On budget day, this is my chance to give one more mini budget address, I suppose. We have to do all the things, and we have to make those choices. We're going to do it with evidence, and we're going to do it with evaluation. That's our way forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.