Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I will be voting against this year's budget for a variety of reasons which I will outline now.
As I said in the March 9th, 2022, Member's statement, the Government of the Northwest Territories budget allocations are not evenly spread across all communities and regions of the Northwest Territories. We see time and time again that the capital region gets most of the funds and everyone else is left to fight over the crumbs. Small communities and regional centres are routinely undercut and forced to fight to get funding at every turn whereas funding for just about everything within the capital region is almost automatically granted.
There is something seriously wrong with that scenario. The current structure of allocated funds within our territorial budget is flawed and needs to be evaluated.
Moreover, Mr. Speaker, one of my top priorities for this year's budget did not get any funding commitments which was to allocate $500,000 to the Salt River First Nation for a tiny home pilot project initiative for homelessness. This would have been a potential solution to address homelessness in a regional centre.
On March 4th, 2022, the Member for Frame Lake, on my behalf, tabled into this Assembly the letter from Salt River First Nation outlining the project proposal. That letter was sent to the Minister of Homelessness and to the Premier on January 21st, 2022, so that Cabinet over two months to consider that project and find at least some funds to support it. All that was offered was to work with Salt River to submit funding applications to the federal government to access certain funding streams.
Well, Mr. Speaker, that is not good enough. Going that route would take too long and this project would not get underway for at least another year or two, if that.
I understand there may have been some concern from our government to fund this project because it was an on-reserve project. Well, our government could have easily reached out to the Indigenous Services Canada to determine a cost sharing arrangement to fund this shovel-ready project this year. But for reasons beyond me, that did not happen.
In contrast, Mr. Speaker, our government received a letter on January 31st, 2022, from the Yellowknife Women's Society requesting funding for the Spruce Bough organization which provides wellness and housing programs to vulnerable people in the capital region.
While I do wholeheartedly support funding for homelessness and wellness programs for the people of the NWT, I strongly urge our government to spread this same support evenly across the board to all communities and regions of the NWT.
In the end, Spruce Bough received a funding commitment almost immediately after their letter was submitted. Although Spruce Bough did not receive the funds they requested, they did receive a substantial amount that was nearly exactly what they asked for.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, while it is good to see our government provide the relief funding to many struggling airlines across the NWT, in the latest phase of air aid delivery our government failed to include all airlines for additional financial support.
I spoke about this issue on Monday when I voted against the Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2021-2022. I said this to the Minister of Finance, and I still feel this way now, which is that the evaluation process for airline aid delivery is flawed. To only look at a financial snapshot during a very narrow timeframe during a global pandemic is not okay.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, I take issue with the fact that the Department of Finance increased its budget by 13.9 percent for 2022-2023. The Minister of Finance says these extra funds were needed for additional manager-level staff in the department. Well, I just don't understand why we need these additional staff to oversee a budget deficit that continues to accumulate additional debt for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Our government is hiring more staff to help fix a broken system. That just doesn't make sense to me.
Mr. Speaker, another reason I do not support this budget is the Fort Smith Airport runway. While I do appreciate that funding was given to overlay the existing air side surfaces at the Fort Smith Airport, I'm still upset that the width of our airport runway was arbitrarily narrowed by the Department of Infrastructure.
I understand that Transport Canada changed their runway specifications which affects all airports across the country. However, to destroy a perfectly good and effective airport runway that was serving the needs of our community, our airline and our flight school, just doesn't make any sense. I've asked every which way to the Minister of Infrastructure and Finance to change the Fort Smith Airport runway back to its original specifications, but they will not budge from their position. That is extremely disappointing to me and the constituents of Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, this government has to realize that regional centres and small communities do not have the same level of physical and social infrastructure as the capital region. More attention needs to be paid to the regional centres and small communities to bring them up to par with the level and programs and services as the capital region.
If this is truly a consensus style of government, then the MLAs from outside the capital region need to have a better say in which goes on into the budget. If we as ordinary MLAs feel that we cannot enter the front door, how is a regular person off the street going to enter that door to advocate the issues they need to be addressed to our Cabinet.
In all my time as an ordinary Member of this Assembly, I have not once seen an MLA from the capital have to advocate for funding on the floor of the House.
Mr. Speaker, another thing I am disappointed in is the lack of support given to my constituent who endured a tornado that destroyed his home. I know that the NWT Housing and MACA did reach out to that constituent and worked with him to some extent but I still maintain that he was shortchanged and did not receive adequate support that could have been provided.
Also, one other issue I feel the NWT is lacking in is policing in the smaller communities and regional centres.
The Minister of Justice once told me that the NWT has the highest per capita ratio of RCMP officers for our population than anywhere else in the country. Well, despite that fact I still feel that the level of policing is not sufficient and is not addressing all the crime taking place within our communities, particularly when it comes to drug issues that all the people of the NWT are dealing with.
Mr. Speaker, to vote against this budget is not a decision that I have made lightly. I have put a lot of thought into this decision and for these reasons, I will be voting against this budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.