Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did have the opportunity to speak yesterday in Committee of the Whole and made a number of comments at that point about consensus government and about the process by which the budget is built. I don't want to repeat all of that, Mr. Speaker, but I do have a few additional comments I want to make today.
Mr. Speaker, I'm very frequently asked what am I going to do about the debt ceiling, what am I going to do about rising costs of debt, what are we going to do about the rising costs of fuel, what are we going to do about the rising costs of living, what will we do about the rising costs of inflation, how will we manage our rising expenditures when there's stagnant revenues.
Mr. Speaker, the solution isn't necessarily to spend more. And in the case of being right now in the midst of a crisis where we've been coming out of two years of a pandemic where we had to respond to floods in small communities, and did, indeed, respond to those floods in small communities, Mr. Speaker, we are constantly having to adjust how we deal with priorities across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the budget doesn't get divided up by 13 -- 33 communities. It would be unfair because the small communities, if we did that, wouldn't get a fair share. It would go to the community that has 50 percent of the population and not to the small communities. Would there being money left over to be rebuilding the flood ravished communities that we had? Perhaps not, Mr. Speaker. But that is simply, again, not how we budget in the Government of the Northwest Territories. We budget at our -- best we can based on need, and that's done across departments.
Mr. Speaker, I can paint two alternatives. I spoke yesterday quite a lot about consensus. I believe in consensus government. I believe in the process of negotiations. I do believe in the process of hearing from MLAs. I believe every other Minister feels the same. The Premier's given us very clear instructions that we're always to do that, that we're here to build consensus and that dialog.
And yes, Mr. Speaker, we are not all agreeing today. That is more than apparent. And I want to say right now before I go any further, I will still be available to speak to every MLA tomorrow. I consider the relationship one that is always to be rebuilt, built, grow, change. And we're always going to learn something from one another, Mr. Speaker.
But there's an alternative to the way this process was, and that would be that three MLAs come forward to me, tell me three projects, we build them into the budget, and that that's the end of the discussion, that there are no negotiations, that we don't try to collectively say which topic area, which subject area should we add something more to, which area can we all agree we could probably trim something from without impacting ongoing programs and services.
That's the kind of difficult discussions that we've been having. They are hard. And they're not perfect. And we're still operating within a situation where we have limited funds where we have to still ensure that we're providing every program and service in every community across 33 communities and across a huge geographic region.
It's actually a very complicated thing. It's actually much more complicated, I'd suggest, than perhaps being one of the provinces where there's a much larger opportunity to raise revenues where economies of scale operate differently. We don't have those benefits here. But we have 33 communities that we're serving, many of whom don't have access to roads and all-weather roads.
So Mr. Speaker, the budget process that we have is not one where we pick three projects and then moved forward and assume that it's all sewn up.
Every time we start the budget process, Mr. Speaker, capital budget and operating budget, I know that we will be facing a potential vote. I know that I will face criticism or that we as a government will face criticism of the budget from Members from -- for a variety of different reasons. That's a very real risk we take every time. And -- but it's a much harder road to take to sort of sit down and try to find what areas we can do some changes in, what programs we can make changes to, what services we can make changes to at this stage that will actually reflect some of the needs and discussions.
And in this particular case, those discussions did land largely on housing and housing changes and housing supports. And the changes we're making are significant. I'm grateful for the discussions we've had because it's changes that we're going to be making to the Housing Corporation's permanent budget are going to be the kinds of programming changes where those dollars are the kinds of dollars that go out to individuals in the communities and to the communities so that they are spending on the seniors program, on the fuels program, on programs that -- again, that are -- that are spent in the communities and by those communities. I think that was an exceptional outcome that I was proud about.
And I think there's a couple of MLAs, too, who've landed on the value -- and we don't know yet the cost of this, but landed on the fact that nonprofit sector, those that provide government programs and services directly, are now not -- are going to be looking at a very different way of approach from the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is quite huge, and it is potentially a significant cost. But it's the right thing to do. And I was, again, very pleased that that's one of the outcomes of our discussions.
There's a few quick comments, Mr. Speaker, just specifically about things that have been raised here today that I want to speak to. And I'm speaking to them because I'm, you know, again at this point, some of the conversations are now being had here on the floor, and so just as I would in question period want to give information fulsomely, I want to take this opportunity here.
Community funding. Mr. Speaker, every -- what Yellowknife MLA hears about underfunding of community. Every Yellowknife MLA hears about it because Yellowknife is one of those communities where the community government stands up regularly and leads the charge for underfunding of municipal and community governments.
The mayor of Yellowknife is very vocal, and she certainly makes sure that every Yellowknife MLA is well aware of the impacts of being an underfunded community, particularly being a community that winds up actually providing services to residents who come here from across the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, as it is, the 2014 calculation that's been used, as I understand it, actually is some of the smaller communities are overfunded on that calculation, not underfunded. My understanding is they will not see any of their funds drawn back or clawed back. But it's just worth remembering that it's some of the larger communities that are actually the most underfunded on that basis.
Homelessness, Mr. Speaker, again, we all agreed this was a critical area. And that was, again, there was an option here where the Yellowknife projects could simply have been funded internally for a year, and that could have just been done from the existing appropriations, and that would be the end of that. Instead, by adding to those budgets, by adding to the opportunity so that homelessness can see an increase in funds, means that more projects get funded. It won't just be Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker. More projects get funded.
In fact, I'll just note that this budget, if it passes, includes $752,000 earmarked for Hay River and Fort Simpson, Mr. Speaker.
And with respect to the tiny homes project, Mr. Speaker, I do want to be very clear. This Cabinet, certainly myself, I know my colleague the Minister of Housing, are thrilled to have new ideas, are thrilled to have new opportunities. But Mr. Speaker, that project's not shovel ready. And I know the MLA and I might disagree about this -- we often agree about a great many things but this is one that we don't agree on. In my view, it's not shovel ready, Mr. Speaker. But my hope is that with the commitments that we've made to get the right folks in there and to have these conversations, that it will be shovel ready and that it will be ready for funding. I think that would be an outstanding outcome of the discussions that we've had.
Mr. Speaker, I'd be remiss, since the Department of Finance was put on the block here, not to explain it perhaps again that the increase in the Department of Finance is largely -- well, there's three big lings, Mr. Speaker. The Tlicho All-Season Road gets funded by the Department of Finance. Those funds, that payment now as a P3, is coming out of the Department of Finance. And so there was a significant increase in our budget to pay for the Tlicho All-Season Road out to the community of Whati in Monfwi.
Similarly, the asset retirement obligation changes in public sector accounting standards is in there. Insurance premiums for the entire set of buildings and assets that we have across the GNWT in all 33 communities is funded by the Department of Finance. That's where you're seeing the increase, Mr. Speaker. That, and one new position being funded out of all of that. And Mr. Speaker, there's -- beyond that, this budget -- in my budget speech, I talked about the things that are -- you know, it's not just about flashy new things. It's about getting done what needs to get done.
I know that -- I believe the Minister of Justice already spoke to this but just -- it has to be highlighted, Mr. Speaker, that there's two positions -- two additional RCMP positions and associated vehicles going to Behchoko. There's an additional RCMP position going up to Tuktoyaktuk. There's $809,000 to pay for RCMP housing across the Northwest Territories right now.
ENR sees money going in for over a hundred -- over a million for the conservation and recovery of caribou. That's something that benefits a number of small communities and regional centres in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, it's the concern around that this budget doesn't pay for or doesn't help small communities and it's not divided that way. It's not, and it can't be. The headquarters functions of a large organization of any government perform functions and perform roles that benefit the entire territory, that benefit every department that go into every community. I just want to give you four or five examples briefly, Mr. Speaker, before I conclude.
Indigenous -- or the Executive and Indigenous Affairs, it's a department that doesn't always get as much attention. This is the department that's -- that's the Premier's to manage. But Mr. Speaker, this is where the negotiators reside. This is where the negotiations of land claims and self-government agreements take place. That's a critical department to see that it continues to function.
Similarly, Mr. Speaker, this is responsible for the Council of Leaders. They're responsible for the GNWT's participation at the intergovernmental council. These are critical things that are -- that are flagship things that I think this government and this entire Assembly has something to be proud of. They're involved in seeing the advancement of UNDRIP, of the United Nations Declaration. These are tremendous opportunities where the Government of the Northwest Territories or the whole of the Northwest Territories shows a real place of leadership. And while we have lots of work to do, we have an opportunity to be leaders in Canada. But this is where that -- this is where that's happening, is in the headquarters function where that budget goes.
Also, there is the gender-equity unit. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, the work on the national inquiry action plan response is so important. There's engagement happening right now across the Northwest Territories. And it is being led by someone who resides in a headquarters department. That's quite true, and that department goes community by community to be engaged and to develop this action plan. I'm deeply proud that work is happening. It's not a budget that gets divided by community. It's work that has to happen in all communities.
Education, Health, I mean the Department of Health and Social Services is almost one-third of the entire budget of the Government of the Northwest Territories. And they've led a response to the pandemic in the last two years that has seen, overall, very positive outcomes for us. And also pays for things like medical travel. You know, it has quite a number of things where -- again these aren't the exciting parts of the budget but these are the things that help people day to day in small communities, in regional centres, and in Yellowknife. They help -- the budget there doesn't get parsed out because medical travel doesn't get parsed out. We don't say that only a handful of folks from one community have been flown out, that there's no more money for that community. That's not how this works. There's always going to be more money that when -- when somebody is going to have to travel out of a small community, we're going to keep funding it. That's how this works.
And so, Mr. Speaker, I do hope and I look forward to the opportunity to vote on this budget. I mean, there's certainly no surprise that I'll be voting in favour of the budget.
I do want to assure Members I'm hearing their frustrations. That's why I'm offering to go myself to meet, to discuss the functioning and the preparing of the budget, to better understand how the money is spent, where it's spent, how it's divided, how those decisions are made. I also want to have the opportunity to make sure that there aren't programs or services that can't be further tweaked and aligned to better service communities. That is, to me, always been the point of budget discussions. Not to pick three things or pick three projects or three ridings but to look as a whole of territory, what areas, what topics, what services do we need to enhance.
If there's policy matters that aren't funding related, then take those back to the relevant Ministers and have them look at it. There's been all sorts of reviews happening in the last two years. That takes time. But a lot of that work is happening. It's underway. It's being funded by the budget that's before the House right now.
I've already said my thanks, Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on the other side. Again, it's difficult sometimes to hear the comments that are negative about the budget but they're always beneficial in the long term. Officials are listening. We are all listening. And I'm grateful for this opportunity. I'm grateful for the dialogues that we've had.
Mr. Speaker, I remain committed to consensus government, and I remain committed to not picking projects or picking -- picking one thing at a time. It's continuing this dialogue as we have been for the remainder of the 19th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.