Debates of March 31, 2004 (day 12)

Topics
Statements

Member’s Statement On Improving The Legislature’s Budget Approval Process

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about the GNWT budgeting process. Mr. Speaker, since I was elected MLA, I have not seen regular Members have direct input into the government budgeting process. I was thinking to myself last night about the process and possible ways to better improve the system so that regular Members have their direct input. As a regular Member, I can see that we are the ones who have to answer to the people of our ridings. As things are now, to do that, I have to ask questions relating to the budget process and how the government plans to allocate the monies and in which direction it will flow and for what length of time. I believe that regular Members should have a say in the departmental budget reviews throughout the year or prior to the budget’s session when concrete budget plans are announced.

Mr. Speaker, as the MLA for Nahendeh, and since the budget speech at the beginning of this session, I have been questioned by a number of my constituents as to why this was done and why that was not done and why was this taken out and why wasn’t this taken into consideration; questions that I am sure will be followed up with letters which I will then be passing on to the appropriate departments that I will be questioning myself.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that if the MLAs were involved in the budget-making process before and, of course, during the business planning stage, a lot of unnecessary constituency complaints could be avoided. I believe that regular Members are as much part of the government decision-making process and are just as accountable to their constituents as the government is to the people of the NWT. Mr. Speaker, regular Members should be consulted more regularly throughout the year on how the government plans to budget their monies and what areas will be affected or not affected. Mahsi Cho.

---Applause