Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has long prided itself on its fiscal discipline through instruments like the fiscal responsibility policy, robust capacity, and the financial management board secretariat. And a keen ability to leverage federal funding into 75 or 100 percent dollars, our government has proven it has what it takes to manage complex fiscal challenges. That is why it's so alarming that the GNWT's largest ever projected operating surplus has evaporated now to such a severe deficit that the Finance Minister is asking the Prime Minister to raise the debt ceiling, essentially our credit card limit.
Mr. Speaker, the things driving these costs were known unknowns at the time the estimates were tabled, debated, and ultimately passed. How have we missed the mark so drastically with such a strong track record of fiscal prudence? Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that we cannot simply hand wave our own responsibilities towards fiscal stewardship by blaming it all on external factors while painting a rosy picture that we're actually headed in the right direction.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at some of the costs that are driving up it comes down to, what it would appear, project management and project management that has been challenged for quite some time, perhaps on a systemic level. The Inuvik wind project has now cost more than double what was originally budgeted. 54 million additional dollars on a $40 million budget. In 2019, replacement diesel generators should have been a simple task at the Jackfish Lake. Well, that took a year to get them here and costs $500,000 of additional monies. And, of course, we have the Taltson project which is delayed by two years and costing an extra $31 million in the overall package of increases of $75 million for the power corporation.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister talks about the stabilizing influence of the public sector on the one hand but on the other hand, how unstainable our public sector expenditures are on the other hand. We can't have it both ways. We either must insist on prioritizing our economy and getting these projects so we don't keep adding short-term debt we can't afford. We are at a tipping point, and we are soon to tip over, and especially if Ottawa says no. So I'll have questions for the Minister about how we can better manage these projects, return to the tradition of fiscal stewardship that we've been so good at in the past, and start to turn the corner on our problems. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
