Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement today. When you do a search result on our GNWT website under Fiscal Responsibility Policy, you’re whisked away to a two-page pamphlet with the good looking Mr. Floyd Roland’s picture on it. Now, I like simplicity in design as it makes the complex more palatable to work with; however, with our current debt wall and with this guiding policy consistently being used to prop up our financial future, I must ask, where is the meat on this bone? My questions today are for the Minister of Finance.
It appears that the fate of our financial future lies in a two-page document which appears to be a bit dated. Can the Minister indicate to the House here what recognized authority or professional body approved the parameters of the Fiscal Responsibility Policy?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The very experienced and capable staff in the Department of Finance, vetted through the appropriate processes and signed off by FMB.
I guess we’re hearing from the Minister that this was an internal policy, possibly vetted with some people with criterion in financial management, but we’re not quite certain.
So, I guess, when was the last time this policy was thoroughly reviewed to address the growing debt load that we’re about to incur and with such negative revenue growth?
The issue of the debt to revenue number, for example, 5 percent, a maximum 5 percent can go to interest payments out of revenue. It’s not 1 percent; it’s 5 percent, so the Member’s statement earlier in the day was wrong, just for a point of clarification. But that number, we looked across the fiscal landscape across the country and it’s something that is manageable, and at the 5 percent of revenue, yes, we could manage the additional cost should we get a borrowing limit of a billion dollar bump-up and should we decide to invest that money, and yes, that money would be targeted to economic infrastructure and we’d have to look at the full financial impact.
It’s clear that this policy has not been reviewed because the Minister failed to answer the question. In my Member’s statement today I had indicated 1 percent, and that is what is being quoted right from the Minister’s own words here.
Communication of government policies is a vital step in transparency, and if I pulled the information off this pamphlet, it says for a full text of the new Fiscal Responsibility Policy, go to www.gov.nt.ca/fmbs/documents/famweb. Well, when you go to this website it says, “Page cannot be found.” Can the Minister explain this? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the number is 5 percent not 1 percent, so the Member is incorrect. I will personally ensure that a copy of that policy is on the Member’s desk before the end of the day. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m hoping that maybe we can have this policy for everyone to see.
Accountability is the cornerstone of transparency, and according to what this little pamphlet says on the Fiscal Responsibility Policy, government accountability for this policy is to be presented annually by the Minister of Finance in a report on the debt management results and performance criteria when the public accounts are presented.
Can the Minister indicate why we did not receive this report for the public accounts ending March 31, 2013? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we are constantly held to that account, and to my understanding, it is embedded in part of that documented process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
