Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance, given the Budget Dialogue 2014 Taking Stock. In the report the Minister gives a good fiscal performance record. Moody’s has given us good rating and we have good fiscal policy.
In his report the Minister talks about the priorities, given the feedback from the people on the priorities, given the sombre realities of slow revenue growth.
Can the Minister tell the House what causes the slow revenue growth? What are the factors, knowing that we have some priorities in our communities? What does the revenue situation look like in the coming years?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not wanting to get ahead of my budget address, I will make the observation that projections are for flat revenue growth between now and 2019, 2020. Anticipated growth of about less than half a percent, which means that the challenge for us is going to be to make sure that our expenditure growth does not exceed our revenue growth so that we can in fact maintain our Aa1 credit rating and all the other good financial indicators that we do have, like our debt to GDP ratio.
The other comments I heard in the discussions in the Sahtu are that we need to do more for our economy. In the Sahtu we have world-class oil and gas there, and they have the technology now in today’s world on the hydraulic fracking and there’s potential there, but we don’t have the infrastructure to get to our oil and gas revenue.
I want to ask the Minister, what are some of the things that he’s doing to see how we can improve our revenue? We need to have the economy to do things like health and social services, hospitals, roads and schools. We need the money.
Can the Minister inform the House as to what he has in the plans in regard to improving the economy?
Specifically in relation to the Sahtu, there are a number of things that are underway and being contemplated. The Member was at the budget dialogues, and the discussion was very clear the focus was on the next section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Norman Wells to Wrigley section, and the need for roads.
The government has submitted, through the Minister of Transportation, an application for a special pot of money that exists at the federal level for initiatives and projects of national significance. We are making the case that this particular stretch of highway should meet that test. That’s one piece.
The other piece, as the Premier mentioned in his sessional statement, of course, is that we need the ability to make critical economic investments for infrastructure that is going to help promote and create the conditions for economic development. That’s the borrowing limit, and we’re waiting to see what happens in April because a lot of the initiatives and vision we have to implement are predicated on our ability as a mature government to be able to make those kinds of critical investments.
I heard the Premier and the Minister also at some point, and probably some of the Ministers also at some forum and the Assembly, say that we need to keep the dollars in our communities to keep the economy going. Right now, because of the low oil prices, in the Sahtu there is really no racking up of the Husky’s or the Conoco’s, so right now most of the economy is driven by the government infrastructure. However, because of the prices that we are challenged with, is there a policy within the government that says northern contractors will be first priority so the dollars would stay in the Sahtu rather than having contractors come out to the Sahtu, like the South, that are coming into the region because they can appreciate a lower price to do the work? Is there a policy to strengthen the economy in the Sahtu that they will have northern contractors given special consideration?
There are two tools that are available that are in existence and have been for some time. Of course, the first one being the Business Incentive Policy which provides northern preference, in some cases local preference. Then, of course, there’s the opportunity from time to time, if all the right conditions are met, where negotiated contracts will be considered.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the other comments that the Minister talked about with the people and what I understood from the report is that we were going to have to do some tightening of our belts and taking some responsibility of our lifestyle and the way we live.
Is there any type of initiative from this government going forward to inform our people that there are some things we have to do now, such as stopping drinking, stopping smoking, in order to save money for the government so they can do other things because our health costs are going sky high and those things that people are doing are costing our government and that’s where a lot of our money is going, dealing with some of the illnesses that are associated with these behaviours?
Very clearly the Member has identified a very important issue, the issue of personal choice, personal choice as it relates to a number of things. As the Member indicated, there are four basic choices that are driving a lot of our costs that are easily changed. That’s not abusing alcohol, don’t smoke, proper diet and exercise. Those four things, if they were managed properly through proper personal choice, would have an immediate impact on our bottom line.
Simple things like babies being born healthy without being affected by FASD, for example. So, the departments of Health and Social Services, Education and MACA are focused on prevention, active living, all these good things. But as the Member so clearly indicated, at the end of the day it’s a personal choice that’s going to make people do the right things, eat the right food, get off the couch, put that beer down and grab a glass of water before you go jogging. Only individual choice is going to get us there, but we can’t give up. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Colleagues, before we go on today, I’d like to welcome Ms. Cindy Dolynny in the House, Member Dolynny’s wife. Welcome, Cindy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
