Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, expectations for the 20th Assembly are high. After long years of successive and unprecedented crises, Northerners are ready to turn the page on the past and step boldly into the future. Yes, expectations are high, Mr. Speaker, and crucial to these aspirations is the question any government must ask itself: How the heck are we going to pay for them?
Mr. Speaker, last week, my honourable friend mentioned this, just moments ago, the romantically titled Restoring Balance of Fiscal Sustainability Strategy for the 20th Legislative Assembly was released publicly committing to finding $150 million in new revenues or cost savings by 2028, by the end of this term, through this next upcoming budget and ongoing budgets as well. There are other measures in that, but what it amounts to is a severe contraction of government spending in favour of managing deficits and debt. Of course, Mr. Speaker, it's incumbent on us as responsible stewards to ensure our fiscal house is in order but not at the expense of our own ambition.
Mr. Speaker, I can't help but question the timing of the release of this strategy ahead of this Assembly setting its own priorities let alone not even discussing those priorities, which we did last week, a week after the strategy was put in place. Is this a dampening of expectations? Is it lowering the bar, so the public comes to understand that maybe you need to slow your roll; you're not going to be able to get everything you want?
I think we should meet these challenges because we can meet these challenges with ambition and optimism, Mr. Speaker. We started this Assembly on an optimistic tone, and I don't think that optimistic tone has left us. But we've already lowered expectations, and that needs to be restored. We need to get back to the place where Northerners are looking to us to lead us into the future, to solve the challenges they put us here to solve, and to do that responsibly but not at the expense of delivering real results for Northerners. Surely, we're capable of meeting these challenges through prudent budgeting emphasizing value for money. And let us not forget, Mr. Speaker, we are here to serve the public and the enterprise of governments must ensure that their needs are met first and the government's debt is serviced next. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
