N.W.T. finance minister introduces operations budget today

Members of the N.W.T.'s Legislative Assembly will get a first look Tuesday at what the government plans to spend on operations inthe coming fiscal year.

This time last year, when the last operational budget was presented, senior officials in the finance department warned N.W.T. was facing an "unsustainable" fiscal plan. It was facing plummeting tax revenues, an economy shrunk by COVID-19 and the prospect of reduced resource revenues.

The territory's debt load also continues to move closer to its $1.8-billion federally-mandated borrowing cap.

In an interview with CBC North earlier this month, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek saidthese are not new challenges to the territory, because expenses continue to grow.

"Do I think the economy is super strong and things are rosy? I mean, we're still in the midst of a pandemic and another wave, right?" she said.

Evaluating programming

Wawzonek said the government has been "working quietly away" at something promised last year: a department-by -department review of government programs and the value they're offering.

"We've got reviews happening in income assistance. [We've] got reviews happening with liquor pricing," she said.

However, Wawzonek said the territorial government hasn't got the "level of data yet" to detail how that's going to help the territory's fiscal situation going forward.

Inventories of two or three departments have been done, but they haven't been vetted or evaluated, she said.

"So that's really the point at which we'd be able to say, you know, should we shift some funding and resources from one program to another? Should we put more into a program that's providing great value? Or should we walk away from something?"

Wawzonek said she doesn't want to see programs trimmed.

"Ideally, we want to see the programs that are doing really well, you know, continue to see increased funding available to them," she said.

She said on the operations side, the government is running surpluses, and noted the economic recovery from the pandemic is stronger than expected.

Wawzonek wouldn't say whether N.W.T. residents could expect tax increases that will have to wait for the budget announcement itself.