Thank you, Mr. Speaker. NWT residents have long heard about the potential of their territory. Of a future filled with opportunities and choices that could be realized thanks to the rich and varied wealth of resources that lie within our geographic boundaries.
We are a region that continues to be in the spotlight of the international stage and at the forefront of many discussions and debates.
I have just returned from ministerial meetings of the Arctic Council in Nuuk, Greenland. The meetings were attended by Foreign Affairs and other senior Ministers from each of the eight circumpolar nations.
The world is realizing what we have always known to be true: that the Arctic holds a special and strategic place in the world, economically, environmentally and politically. And our own country is more aware of Canada’s Arctic energy resources and the potential and significance they hold.
But potential is all we will have until we take action and realize it.
When we took office as a 16th Assembly, almost four years ago, Members talked about taking that action, about establishing the foundation on which future Assemblies and governments could build a unified, prosperous and self-reliant territory. A territory that is the master of its own destiny; a territory that represents our nation’s global potential, leadership and strategic position in the Arctic region and on the Arctic Council; and a
territory recognized across Canada as a unique and contributing member of the federation.
We captured a picture of that future in our vision statement: Strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally-sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.
We needed to first complete the difficult tasks of putting our fiscal house in order, to address immediate and escalating costs, and to help ensure the sustainability of our core programs.
We established tighter control on our costs. We improved our budget process to make it more controlled, planned and accountable. We organized our work and resources into five initiatives designed to meet the collective goals and priorities of Members of the 16th Assembly.
We backed up our strategic initiatives with solid investments. We took steps to align our budget with our priorities so appropriate resources were directed to achieving our vision.
Mr. Speaker, these early efforts proved fortuitous at the midway point of our term when the NWT, like the rest of the world, was forced to reckon with the most serious economic downturn in a generation.
Thanks to our initial fiscal diligence, we found ourselves well positioned to make the investments we needed to protect our residents and businesses, and even to leverage an unprecedented amount of federal economic stimulus investment from the Government of Canada.
In fact, we put in place a record three-year $1.1 billion capital program for roads, bridges, schools, health centres, houses and other critical projects across the NWT.
Our investments helped to stabilize the territorial economy and build much needed public infrastructure. At a time when Canada’s economy has slowed due to the international recession, our plan provided significant investment in the NWT and substantial employment and contract opportunities for our residents and contractors.
As important as this investment, however, was the manner in which it was undertaken from the ground up.
Operations and maintenance funding to community governments has increased 20 percent over the past four years. Water and sewer funding over the same time period has increased 30 percent.
Gas tax funding has increased to a stable funding level of $15 million a year. Community public infrastructure funding has been maintained.
Community governments are now playing an increased role in targeting the priorities and investments in their communities. The certainty we have built into their funding is allowing them to invest and plan for their future.
In fact, community governments have used their funding from the GNWT to leverage and cost share $45.5 million in Building Canada Plan funding and $2.7 million in Infrastructure Stimulus funding for community public infrastructure projects.
Now we are returning to more conservative spending, taking steps to ensure that the bottom line that we will leave for the 17th Assembly will be fiscally sound and financially stable.
Mr. Speaker, we’re approaching the end of our term as a 16th Assembly. For four years we have focused on ensuring that the work we are doing and the initiatives we are putting in place will serve and benefit our territory and its residents long past the term of this government.
We have identified and implemented over 140 initiatives and investments dedicated to advancing the goals and priorities of the 16th Assembly.
These initiatives and investments, above and beyond our day-to-day work as government, recognize and reflect the importance of looking beyond the immediate and short-term needs of our territory and people, towards our vision and our future.
Our work towards a strong and independent North has positioned our government and territory as leaders in Canada in terms of recognizing Aboriginal rights and aspirations.
We have worked with our territory’s regional leaders to identify and lay the groundwork for a political forum that will eventually allow NWT leaders to speak together on matters that concern our territory.
We have moved forward with pivotal initiatives, such as the Water Strategy, the NWT Species at Risk Act and the Wildlife Act. We have done so collaboratively with our Aboriginal partners, ensuring traditional knowledge, land claim agreements, and Aboriginal and treaty rights were properly addressed in the development of our legislation.
We have undertaken an ambitious four-year $60 million investment program focused on reducing our dependence on imported oil, mitigating the impacts of our energy use on the environment, and reducing our cost of living in the NWT.
In keeping with the NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy introduced in 2007, the GNWT is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations to 10 percent below 2001 levels by the end of this year.
By the end of this Assembly we will have invested more than $155 million in upgrades, construction, and retrofitting for public housing and homeownership units.
The implementation of our Healthy Choices Framework is promoting active living and healthy foods through the promotion of healthy choices. It is supported in part by increased investment in sport, recreation and youth funding and has expanded from promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and living tobacco free to include important work around injury prevention, mental illness, and healthy children and families.
Key investments have been made in school infrastructure, specifically in Inuvik, Fort Good Hope, Yellowknife, and N’dilo.
We have provided funding to schools to increase teacher resources and allow high schools to enhance their trade programs. In particular, the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative is working to improve education outcomes specifically for Aboriginal students.
We have made substantial progress in our eHealth initiatives to promote, protect, and provide for the health and well-being of our residents.
We have opened new territorial facilities to support our residents suffering from dementia and adults with special needs and disabilities.
We have made substantial investments in support of the business sector: almost $10 million to promote the NWT as a tourism destination; over $7 million for business development through our SEED program; almost $14 million targeted for skills development and training; and $1.4 million for a national marketing campaign to encourage Canadians to live and work in the NWT.
We have maintained a competitive tax regime for NWT businesses, including corporate and personal tax rates at or below the national average and no territorial sales tax.
We have completed the electricity rate review and adjusted electricity rates in the interest of lowering the cost of living and enabling businesses in many of our highest cost communities to be more competitive.
We have also made substantial infrastructure investments on highways, winter roads and airports that are improving connections between communities and helping address our high cost of living.
In recent months we have advanced a project considering the feasibility of a fibre optic data and satellite link down the Mackenzie Valley which could eventually lead to improved services to the residents in those communities.
We have made considerable investments to support policing in smaller communities, implementing the new backup policy and instituting programs aimed at reducing alcohol and drug-related crimes.
Changes to the capital planning process have increased efficiencies in the planning, designing, contracting and building of public infrastructure.
We have replaced the GNWT’s 30-year-old financial information system with a new system for accountability and management, a key component of the government’s efforts to implement modern management across the GNWT, as well as tools that will support the GNWT’s information, analytical, reporting and business needs.
We are piloting single window service centres and government service officers as a means to make government services more accessible to residents, primarily in remote communities.
We have introduced legislation to create an NWT Heritage Fund that can serve as a source of long-term benefits for NWT residents.
And we are implementing the 20/20: A Brilliant North strategy to strengthen and support our public service and make it even more reflective of the population it serves.
In all of this, Mr. Speaker, we have also pursued an aggressive agenda at the federal level.
Never before has the Northwest Territories enjoyed the level of engagement from Canada or a Prime Minister that we have today.
We have successfully sold our message that northern development needs to be more than a political statement; that northern sovereignty is best realized by empowering the communities and the people that live here; that investment in our territory will result in opportunities for all Canadians; and most importantly, that NWT residents must have the capacity and authority to protect and manage public lands in the Northwest Territories to ensure that our territory’s abundant resources are developed in a sustainable and responsible manner and that the financial and economic benefits from development in our territory stay in our territory.
For the first time in many years we have seen real progress on large files that we, as NWT residents, have been talking about for a long time.
In March the Government of Canada, through the National Energy Board, endorsed the construction of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The lengthy regulatory process is now complete.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated that the federal government will make a package available to deal with infrastructure issues and other challenges that arise with the project. We have discussed the possibility of a pipeline down the valley for decades, and it seems we are now only a few steps away.
We know also that the next federal budget should include the investment in the first stage of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik. From the beginning we have been committed to moving this project forward. All-weather transportation is essential to our future prosperity; roads and bridges that can be used year round by our residents, tourists, business and industry.
We have been working closely with Ottawa and our Aboriginal partners to prepare the way through necessary project description reports and to add to our inventory of over 33 bridges that are now in place along the route of the future highway.
Mr. Speaker, any real foundation for the future will need to move beyond the reliance that we have on the federal government so that we can govern, guide and advance development in our territory ourselves. That is why we have worked towards and are now taking the next steps to negotiate a final Devolution Agreement with Canada.
Negotiations to devolve administrative responsibility for public lands and resources are about giving the future of the Northwest Territories a chance. They are about giving our young people opportunities to grow their territory and to achieve success.
Our term as a 16th Assembly has been focused on building and putting in place a foundation that will allow us to advance our territory to the next level.
Once completed, devolution will unlock the tools and instruments with which NWT residents and their governments can shape, build and sustain their future. Northern decision-making will serve to provide clarity to our regulatory regime, our taxation infrastructure, our land and water agreements and countless other areas in which our investment and business partners are asking us to provide some level of certainty.
Decisions about the North should be made in the North by northern people. It’s easy to say, but at the same time it’s incumbent on us to take an active role in shaping our destiny for ourselves. We can’t simply wait for others to hand us the ball. At some point we have to seize it and run with it. Mr. Speaker, this government has done that.
Four years ago we set out to provide a foundation for our future. In everything that we have done -- the initiatives, the investment, and the manner in which we have chosen to implement and advance our work -- I believe that we are accomplishing what we set out to do.
We have invested in programs and services to strengthen our people, our businesses and our communities.
We have advanced the business case for national investment in our territory, its resources and development.
We have established tools to protect our environment and ensure that our development is sustainable for the long term.
We have worked with our territory’s regional leaders to identify a governance structure that will allow us to work together.
And we have begun the all important final negotiations process to ensure that decision-making and resource revenues are turned over to the people of the NWT.
I believe we have a foundation in place from which we can honestly and realistically address our future. The task of realizing this future rests with those chosen to lead us forward.
When the 16th Assembly adopted our vision titled “Northerners Working Together,” we didn’t just mean MLAs working together, we meant businesses working together, communities working together and governments working together.
Last year, collectively, with the NWT’s Northern Leaders’ Forum, I began the process of asking NWT residents to describe the future that they envisioned for themselves and their territory; to identify areas of importance and concern; and to articulate the direction of growth that they wanted for their territory over the next 20 to 30 years.
This Thursday I will table the results of our discussions in a document titled “Forging the Future – Anchored in our Past, Building on our Present.” It reflects a vision of our future developed with the input of residents, young and old, industry, businesses, non-government and not-for-profit organizations.
It is my hope that this document and the priorities that it identifies will become part of the conversation that NWT residents must have in the next few months -- in our boardrooms, community meetings and summer assemblies -- and this fall here in the Legislative Assembly as we elect the next Government of the Northwest Territories.
We will need to continue to work together if we are to fully tap into the possibilities that we know exist in our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
