Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NGOs have been advocating to me to not support the current budget as presented. They feel that, in their words, that they're getting lip service on their issues, their multi-year agreements are largely ignored, and inflationary cost issues continue to be a challenge and are not recognized for the merits that they're trying to explain.
So, Mr. Speaker, NGOs are worried. Ultimately the question for the finance Minister is is what is she demonstrating in this budget that we're meeting those particular needs and challenges that NGOs are facing and what message of hope is she expecting me to sell them? Thank you.
Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, going to bat to ensure that multi-year funding agreements are available is certainly something that I've already fought for and that is now quite widely available, and we'll certainly be dulling that down, that message, as I know my deputy minister already has with his colleagues at my request, that multi-year funding agreements are available. They've been available for the government for a long time. They come with the caveat that we only approve budgets here once a year. That applies to every department and everything we do, including the contribution agreements we have with NGOs. But certainly, to the extent that we can have programs, you know, that are funded -- or performed by an NGO, there's some that it's very simply obvious that they're very likely that they're going to continue to get support. There are those multi-year agreements. If it's federally funded, I have no control over that. Federally funded agreements, we can't have multi-year agreements because of the federal rules on that.
As far as, again, allowing NGOs to go and to speak to the department that provides them a contribution agreement, there too, there has been a change in the last government allowing there to be forced growth submissions on behalf of those providing these essential services. Individual departments will provide each of those agreements with their individual NGOs who are providing services on their behalf. So I'd like to know if there's one that hasn't seen that kind of an opportunity, then I can get to speak to them on a one-on-one basis or the relevant department can. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll provide that specific to the Minister. She's asked me who, I'll let her know. Mr. Speaker, she is in charge of FMB policies which are the overarching financial policies. Would the Minister open up a discussion with NGOs to ensure that our financial management policies do actually reflect their needs? So in other words, things like multi-year agreements are the standard unless, and that type of discussion with them? So in other words, would the Minister be willing to open up that type of discussion to the NGO groups? Because we met with them right after getting elected, and they're feeling largely ignored. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I may be responsible for financial management board management, the Premier's office is responsible for the relationship with NGOs. And right now, in EIA's business plans for the next four years, there's a significant amount of work planned out to happen in this space to ensure that there's the advisory group that is formed to provide exactly the kind of feedback that the Member is asking and that the recommendations from the report of, I believe 2023, can be looked at towards implementation. Thank you.
Thank you, and I appreciate that. And the Minister didn't say away as in, hey, I'm trying to school you. The Premier -- I appreciate you pointing it out that, yes, it does involve the Minister. So I'm saying I recognize and appreciate her tone on the response. That said, though, she is in charge of FMB which is the overarching financial policies. That's why I directed the question directly to her.
Mr. Speaker, again, perhaps maybe I can approach it this way: NGOs don't feel they're being recognized in this budget, and they feel that they're being overlooked. And I guess my question comes down to is when do we ask ourselves the tough question, through Finance that is, is why are we using them if they don't feel appreciated? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a great many struggles across this Northwest Territories right now, whether it's the public service that's struggling, whether it's NGOs delivering services that are struggling, whether it's residents who are struggling, residents in the Sahtu right now are struggling. So it is difficult to have a line item or an announceable in a budget that addresses every single one of the struggles that we are having in the territory right now coming off of four years of struggle. There's a lot of struggle. No, there is not a line item that says, this NGO. There's not a line item for individual NGOs. Individual departments must go and work with those providing essential services on their behalf. It is recognized in the sense that it's recognized in the business planning process. Significant attention is put to this regard because it now sits at EIA, which is the coordinating body that essentially coordinates every single other department so that when departments are out there working with NGOs, working in that space, it's front and center for the government right now. It really is -- again, it's really in the purview of the Premier's office, which is the highest office that it could possibly be in for this attention.
So there's not a line item, but I've spent a lot of time trying to say that in a budget of $2.2 billion, 95 percent of that work will not get an announceable in the budget speech. 95 percent of that work won't have a line item. It's done by the departments. It's what we do every day. I'm happy to have the chance to speak about NGOs. I have a lot of residents in my riding that are very involved in NGOs. Not getting specific callout in the budget doesn't mean they're not valued. It doesn't mean departments won't work with them. And that's why the Premier's office is leading it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just quickly back to the policy issue about revisiting our having a discussion, can we get a sense of when maybe the finance Minister could have that type of open dialogue so we can -- again, I'm trying to send a message of hope here and I'm looking for a little inspiration, so if she could kind of help me guide them and say, you're going to have valuable input on core funding inflationary issues and multi-year agreements that we'll carve into stone so we can move forward as the format, and I'm hoping she can give me that hope and inspiration. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, something that I started doing last government, and then very much looking forward to getting back into when we're not in post-election budget cycle, is to do budget dialogues. The budget dialogues was an opportunity to sit down with NGOs, for example, and it was actually out of that that was first the notion of getting to a place where we could have forced growth submissions for NGOs came from, and then it was then supported and driven by MLAs. So it is was an example, firstly, of success from the budget dialogues and frankly success from the consensus approach to budgeting. So looking forward to getting back to that process this spring in advance of the 2025-2026 year. Thank you.
