Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today get back to my Member’s statement and that is the financial well-being of our Territory going forward. Mr. Speaker, the numbers are out there. They don’t lie and all you have to do is look around. You know, investment in our Territory was down 24 percent last year and a net job loss of 900 jobs last year. At one point in time we actually lost 7 percent of all jobs in the Territory during 2009, a net loss of 500 people from the Territory, and a decline in our gross domestic product, which would lead me to believe that, Mr. Speaker, our revenues going forward are in tremendous peril. I’d like to ask the Finance Minister what do our future projections for revenue look like. Thank you.
The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that we, along with every other jurisdiction in the world, have been managing our way through the most turbulent economic times, by many estimations, since the Great Depression, and we’ve done it in a way that’s allowed us to maintain service levels to provide us a role of stability in our economy as the private sector suffered and struggled through the downturn. We are continuing to do that. We’ve just come through the two biggest capital years in our history. And, yes, there are challenges out there and there always will be challenges out there.
Our projections are that there is some modest growth on the horizon both nationally and in the Northwest Territories. Mining exploration is looking like it’s going to start inching back up. The price of diamonds is holding. The price of gold is at an all time high. We have some good prospects with Avalon and Nechalacho and rare metals. But, yes, we still have cost pressures, we have expenditure issues, and we have the issue of beefing up our revenues. But we are managing this. We’ve laid out a fiscal plan that’s been successful to date. What we’re projecting and proposing for the coming year is going to see us being able to continue to manage that. We have to be careful. We have to be wise. We have to be frugal. But we can do it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with the Minister. I think one of the best things this government has done is the capital planning process, revamping that, getting money out the door in an effort to stimulate the economy when it needed it the most. I think that’s a good thing during an economic downturn, to be doing that type of thing.
What I’m getting at, and I think the Finance Minister knows what I’m getting at, is if the numbers aren’t there, how are we going to plan future budgets on declining numbers in people that are living here for the grant to Canada, CIT, PIT and the payroll tax? If the numbers are trending downward, to me, the revenues would start to turn downward as well, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Finance Minister how we’re going to address that. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as we do our fiscal planning and the overviews we provide regularly to Members, we factor in anticipated costs. We recognize, like we did last year and the year before, that there has been a downturn, to a certain extent, in our corporate income tax. We believe, and the numbers showed us, that there has been a stabilizing and a flattening out and in some cases an actual upturn in some of the different areas.
We, of course, have to watch very closely our expenditures. We have to look, at this late date, as I pointed out, it’s a time to consolidate. I think the Member said the same thing, as well, that this is a time to consolidate, to secure what we’ve done and not be looking at new initiatives that haven’t been budgeted or planned for. We’re going to do that as well. We’re going to look, as a government, at how we are spending our money to make sure that we are doing it as wisely as possible so that we maintain as much of a fiscal cushion as we possibly can for the coming year, and most of all we want to make sure that our last budget is strong enough and forward looking enough that the incoming 17th Assembly will, in fact, have some flexibility. Thank you.
I thank the Finance Minister for that. Being that the Government of the Northwest Territories has recently gotten this $75 million reprieve, an extension on our debt limit to $75 million, and we’re getting precariously close to that limit in the future, Mr. Speaker, I’m wondering what extraordinary measures the government may be looking to employ to make sure that we aren’t setting ourselves up for failure should a catastrophe happen. Like I mentioned in my Member’s statement, a really bad forest fire season or, you know, hopefully not a great deal of further expense on a project like the Deh Cho Bridge. Thank you.
I’d like to point out that even including the Deh Cho Bridge into our financial considerations, Moody’s came up and they reviewed our finances and they came back with an Aa1 rating, one of the best in the country. They recognize that, yes, we have taken on this challenge, but we have shown, over the number of years preceding, that we have been prepared to make the right decisions, sometimes often tough decisions, to make sure that we maintain control of our expenditures, that we recognize that we’re in an economic downturn, and that we have to manage our money very carefully. We’re going to be looking at measures to make sure that we are spending the money wisely. We want to look at trying to, as I indicated, have as much of a cushion as possible for this year and the coming year. As we’ve shown to the Member through our fiscal update, this year and next year are going to be the most problematic, but after that, all trends and indications are that we will be able to get back to historical spending patterns and minimize our short-term debt. And I point out again, at this point we’ve avoided taking on any long-term debt. Thank you.
I’d like to recognize the clock and time for oral questions has concluded; however, I will allow Mr. Ramsay to ask his final question. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I’ll keep this brief. I’m just wondering if, you know, given the projections that the Department of Finance comes up with, given the fact that we are so close to the debt wall, we’re in a precarious position. I’m just wondering, would it be wise or prudent to send the projections the Department of Finance has to a third party or let somebody else have a look at these projections to make sure that we are, in fact, on a solid track with our financial situation going forward? Thank you.
We do have significant third-party involvement in our finances. We present our consolidated accounts. We have our books audited by the Auditor General. We are going to have the bridge audited. We have the Members here that are vigilant and keen in terms of monitoring our expenditures, our budgets. They are fully involved in our budgeting process.
We’ve been up to date and on the mark for three years. We’ve managed our way through the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. We’ve done that collectively because we’ve applied ourselves, we’ve paid close attention and we’ve made the right decisions; in some cases, hard decisions. We are going to have to continue to do that. We’ve passed three budgets unanimously in this House and we’ve managed, even with whatever curve ball we may have been tossed, to be able to manage our way through this and protect the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
