Stalemate broken as N.W.T. legislature passes budget

After a month of budget deliberations, the Northwest Territories legislative assembly has passed a budget for 2017.

The vote passed with only two MLAs voting against:Nahendeh's Shane Thompson and Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly.

• N.W.T. Budget Wars: Episode I The Cabinet Minister Strikes Back
• N.W.T Budget Wars: Episode II Revenge of the Regular MLAs
• N.W.T Budget Wars: Episode III A New Hope for consensus as cabinet offers $4.8M top-up

This year's budget process was contentious, with a coalition of regular MLAs stalling proceedings and releasing a list of alternative items and spending increases they wanted to see included.

After four weeks of debate, Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod promised $4.8 million to the budget in the following areas where regular MLAs had asked for adjustments:

• Increasing the budget for home care by $2.5 million;

• Providing $500,000 for a Youth in Crisis program;

• Increasing funding available through the Anti-Poverty Fund by $500,000;

• Increase in support for freight costs associated with the fishing industry by $225,000; and

• Increase in funding for the Community Access Road Program by $500,000.

McLeod also announced an additional $600,000 for the Mining Incentive Program, raising the program's total budget to $1 million.

But cutbacks to several departments initially proposed will remain in place. That includes shrinking the number of government departments to 11 from 14.

The departments of Public Works and Services and Transportation will be combined into a single department as well as the departments of Finance and Human Resources plus the departments of the Executive and Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.

Read the department-by-department breakdown on the cuts here. On mobile? Follow this link.