Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Finance. I spoke earlier today in my Member's statement sharing some concerns about the cost of living and, Mr. Speaker, some reports are actually suggesting that the NWT's best years are in fact behind us, and that is concerning. Real GDP will fall by 2.9 per cent this year and is projected to fall by a rate of 1.1 per cent for the next 20 years. The Minister of Finance certainly has to be aware of these figures. I would like to ask the Minister: what does the Department of Finance make of these projections, and what kind of plan, if there is a plan, does the Minister and the department have to reverse these trends, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our best years are behind us, not the NWT's.
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I would have to disagree with any report that suggests that the best years are behind us. We are aware of these projections and other scenarios. That is why we were working hard to manage our fiscal resources. As Members of this Assembly may recall, right at the beginning of the 18th Assembly, we were challenged with a $34 million decrease in our territorial-formula financing, and then, just last year with our corporate taxes, there was a further decrease, so I think we have done well in trying to manage our fiscal resources to ensure that we meet some of these challenges that are coming before us. We are working on developing a number of opportunities, like commercial fishing and agriculture and the manufacturing sectors, to continue to support economic diversification in the Northwest Territories.
I am happy to hear that the Minister has a degree of optimism and a degree of confidence. That is good to hear. We want to hear that from the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, the number of seniors in the NWT is set to triple by the year 2040. This aging population will lead to rapidly increased healthcare costs. I would like to ask the Minister: if our economy is not on the upward trend and continues to show signs of being flat and we cannot seem to find ways to increase our own-sourced revenues through royalties or otherwise, how will the Minister expect to cover these increased costs as a government?
We were elected by the people of the Northwest Territories to make decisions, and sometimes hard decisions have to be made. We have to remain optimistic in all that we do, even with challenges before us, because, if they see 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly going around saying, "Oh, woe is me," and head for the border, then that does not send a very good message. Our opportunity here is to send a message that, as the Member said before, or one of the Members said, "let residents of the Northwest Territories know that we have their backs." I am trying to send that message, and we will do anything we can, with the support of this Assembly, to ensure that we are in a position to continue to invest.
We know we are being challenged with an aging population. A lot of our money comes from the territorial formula financing, and so we have to ensure we continue to work with the federal government to make sure our needs are met. At the same time, I have said before, we want to diversify our economy because we do not want to become a welfare state. We want to be able to generate our own revenue.
Thank you to the Minister once again. I appreciate that he is sending a positive message. He knows that, on occasion, I try to do that, but I do not put lipstick on the message. I happen to be a realist and, when people write me , constituents write me to tell me that they are leaving the territory because the cost are increasing, are going up and up, and we the government happen to be one of the major impactors of the costs of living in the territory, that is troubling, so I am just trying to get a better understanding of where our future is.
Mr. Speaker, the government set a goal of attracting a couple of thousand people to the NWT in the last Assembly. New reports are indicating that, with the decline in the GDP, out-migration will cause the labour force to shrink. I would like to ask the Minister: is the original plan for population growth still valid and feasible, or do we require a new strategy?
Some of the early numbers show that our population has actually increased a bit the last couple of years; very small, but it has increased. Yes, there are going to be people who leave. If there are no economic opportunities for them, people will leave and go to where the jobs are, as they should.
Our challenge here is to promote the NWT as a positive place to invest and spend your money, and the rest of it will take care of itself. I do not think we need a strategy to tell us what we already know. I think we just have to ensure that we continue to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest and live and prosper. Our ITI Minister and our Premier have been out promoting the Northwest Territories for a number of years, and will continue to do that.
I think, as far as the out-migration goes, if people are going to start making investments in the territories, if it's feasible, then they will come back to the Northwest Territories. So we continue to work on that, and we promote the Northwest Territories as a place to invest. We have world-class resources here, and we have people trying to mine those resources or take advantage of the resources, and we will continue to promote that and have people move back to the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to remain confident that the Minister's words are actually something that we can take as being put to action and be hopeful about, because a number of committee members or a number of Members from this side have spent the last few weeks travelling to a number of communities up and down the Northwest Territories, and there is still a lot of concern about out-migration. I am not just talking about the NWT. I am also talking about small communities that lose people to bigger regions and bigger centres in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has stated that we need to use the first two years of this Assembly to get our fiscal house in order, and I appreciate that, and that we could make investments in the latter two years of this Assembly. We only have 16 months left in this term. Is the Minister confident that this government is in a position to make meaningful investments in the remainder of the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It was made clear in the budget we have experienced some unanticipated revenue decline. To the Member's point, though, I am confident. I have to be. If your Finance Minister is not confident in the fiscal future of the Northwest Territories, he may as well fold up his iPad and go home, so I remain confident.
We are challenged. We are in a position, as the Member has said, as I pointed out our declining revenues over the last couple of years, because of the decisions we made in the Legislative Assembly, I think we were able to manage our way through that. Going forward, it was just recently announced a $570 million investment in infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. That is just the federal government's investment. We have put ourselves in a position where we were able to come up with our 25 cents on the dollar of an initial $142 million, so that gives us $712.5 million just in infrastructure investment, not counting all of the other programs that the federal government has invested in in the Northwest Territories.
Again, government should not be the industry. Government should be promoting industry to invest in the North, not just industry, everyone to invest in the Northwest Territories as a place to work and live, and the rest will take care of itself. I am confident. I have to be, and I think the decisions we have made, as tough as some of them were, I think we will manage to work our way through the challenges that come before us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
