Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I had the privilege of tabling a report, entitled “Measuring GNWT Fiscal Performance and Accountability.” So, today I wish to spend some time referencing my findings and talking about our operational capital spending over the past 15 years.
When one looks at spending, one must look at our spending growth rate from year to year as well as our forecasting ability to stay on budget. So, my testing in this area begins in the year 2000 and includes this fiscal year. Obviously, we have the ability to evaluate four Legislative Assemblies, starting with the 14th Assembly under Premier Kakfwi, the 15th under Premier Handley, the 16th under Premier Roland and, finally, the 17th under Premier McLeod. So, what did we discover? We found out that the total increase of year-over-year operational spending from 2000 to today was 115 percent. The Bank of Canada calculation of the inflation rate for the same period was 33.23 percent. Therefore, the GNWT operational spending during this 15-year period is much more than triple the official inflation rate.
Further to our findings, it was interesting to note, of the four Assemblies during this review period, the McLeod government did win with the highest honours in overall operational spending dollars, but did come in second place for least overall growth during its term. So, to be fair, the McLeod government did have some measure of restraint to deal with growth following the devolution implementation, otherwise its ordinates in the operation spending growth would have propelled its placement much lower.
However, the second measurable operational performance comes down to how we manage the accuracy in spending forecasts. In other words, how do you minimize supplementary appropriations?
We all know sometimes there is unavoidable spending, such as droughts or firefighting issues; however, large or repeated supplementary appropriations may also signal a need for better budget controls and forecasting.
The C.D. Howe Institute recently ranked the GNWT eighth of the 14 Canadian governments in terms of its accuracy and spending forecasts for the years 2004 to 2015. Yet, it is important to note supplementary appropriations fell dramatically in the final year of the 16th Assembly and the first year of the 17th Assembly but, unfortunately, have risen every year since then.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
In the end, the final report card for the McLeod government on operations spending growth and forecasting is a B minus. Increased inaccuracy in budget forecasting during the life of the 17th greatly affected this grade. Yet, luckily, this grade could have been much worse if not for the controls in place during the new NWT responsibilities following its devolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
