Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of Finance as a follow-up to my Member’s statement. Back in December 2011 our Minister of Finance along with his colleagues were dealt with the federal announcement, I guess, drastic announcement of the changes in the Health Canada transfers that were going to be occurring over the next five years. This has been a subject of great debate amongst provinces and territories, so much so that even the Premiers themselves are leveraging in in terms of their confusion as to what exactly the outlook is going to happen over the next couple of years. Now our Minister of Finance has addressed the House here and has addressed some of the Members in terms of the short order the territory’s going to be in an okay position. I guess we’re a bit concerned here, because of the nature, because of the concerns we’re seeing on a national level. My first question to the Minister is: Can the Minister reassure us on the short order that the federal transfers that we see before us are going to suit the needs of Northwest Territories residents for health?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure if it’s short order or short-term, but really in the short term we’re guaranteed the 6 percent increase and then subsequent to that it will be tied to the nominal GDP to a minimum of 3 percent. We will have to govern ourselves accordingly. It depends. I laid out some demographics, for example, about the doubling of our population over 60 by 2015 or so. We’re going to have to manage ourselves accordingly.
I would also point out that under the arrangements that have been proposed there were two jurisdictions that were positively impacted. One of them, in a fairly significant way, was Alberta to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. The other one, of course, was the Northwest Territories to a much more modest degree but to the amount of about $6 million. We’re paying very close attention to this.
As well, the Member referenced the Premiers. The Premiers and the Council of the Federation have put the Finance Ministers from the provinces and territories to work to look at the impact going forward of all the announcements that were made last December in Victoria. My final comment would be that at that meeting it was very clear that the federal government was announcing its intention. It was not asking for feedback. It was not asking for debate about what we thought about what was being proposed. It was almost by a type of fiat where it was very clear they have a majority government and a plan that they have decided to implement. That’s what this one is.
I appreciate the Minister’s thorough response to that. Again reassuring the House that on the short term or short order, so to speak, that we are okay and probably one of the better recipients of the so-called short-term order.
As I said in my Member’s statement here, changes in the health care transfers are going to shift dramatically in 2014-2015 on a per capita cash basis. Can the Minister indicate to me how that’s going to change the funding formula for that year moving forward?
The Member made reference in his statement to what sounded like what is referred to a base-plus approach to blended funding where you have a fixed amount, everybody receives a fixed amount and after that the calculations move to a per capita basis. That is an approach that is in use at every opportunity by every ministry of the government, and the territorial government as a whole supports that kind of approach. It has been put to use in some cases.
In regard to the health transfer, there’s a floor of no less than 3 percent. No province or territory is supposed to be disadvantaged using the 2013-2014 as a base year. As I indicated, as well, by removing the tax transfer condition we in fact are one of two jurisdictions that have in fact benefited.
Again, I do thank the Minister for clarifying that. Changes that are going to occur in funding are definitely going to affect this territory. It would be prudent to know what exactly the mechanics are behind that in terms of the financial mechanics that we’re going to be looking at. So much so that my next question has to deal with as we move forward in terms of the future. A lot of these processes are a five-year outlook and they say after 2017-2018 that the changes could be even further drastically affected. Does the Minister or the department have a strategy in place? As he indicated in his budget, we’re looking at an aging population, obviously more expenses on our budget line. Does this department have some thoughts moving forward with that type of budgeting?
As I indicated just in the previous response, the Premiers and the Council of the Federation have put the Finance Ministers from the provinces and territories to work under the chairmanship of Premier Selinger from Manitoba, who has many, many years – he’s one of the longest serving Finance Ministers in Canada – to work, to review those issues raised by the Members and others, as well, so as a collective we can come up with the best understanding possible and agree hopefully on a way forward and be able to have a sound basis to engage the federal government in any discussion that may be required.
Again, I do appreciate the Minister being forthright with the House here in terms of a very serious topic, one in which I know wasn’t part of the budget address but one in which I think should affect everyone here in this room in terms of large funding dollars.
My last question for the Minister is one in which I brought in my Member’s statement. There seems to be a push or a movement to look at a two-tiered system with respect to funding and being pushed by the provinces. I want to know if the Minister is indeed on board with that certain thinking. Which is meaning are we including an Aboriginal component? Are we including a proportionate of aging population base? Are we including the geographic hurdles we have in this territory in serving the needs of health care? Is the Minister in agreement in potentially using some of those elements as we negotiate our fair share of health transfer dollars?
We’ve been negotiating these agreements now for literally decades. There’s a very complex criteria in some cases with the formula funding agreement. As well, there’s a lot of specific criteria used. The health transfer numbers were laid out pretty clearly and bluntly by the federal Finance Minister. As I indicated, we have a working group through the Council of the Federation at work. That work that they’re doing is supposed to be ready for June when the Premiers meet at their next meeting. When that work is completed, we will have an idea collectively of what the landscape looks like or could look like. When we have that information, we’ll be very interested in sharing it and discussing it with all Members of this Legislature.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
