NNSL (Jan 12/98) - A social action group is urging the territorial government to be "more caring" in its next budget.

Alternatives North, a Yellowknife-based social justice coalition, met with Finance Minister John Todd last week to ask him to help the poor by increasing welfare payments and stimulating the economy with the budget, a draft version of which will be released later this month.

The group, made up of labor, church, environmental and women's movement representatives, is calling for increased spending on welfare, a community investment fund that would focus on environmentally sensitive job creation, a high-income surtax on the North's diamond mines -- with the money used for job creation -- and a public debate on the efficiency of existing government housing programs.

If the government moves on the recommendations, group chair Suzette Montreuil said it would help those collecting social assistance in the North, and could stimulate job creation.

Todd contacted Alternatives North because he wanted to gather a variety of views on what the upcoming budget should contain, she said, and the group's proposals were received with interest.

"We're pleased that Mr. Todd has started to collect the views of ordinary Northerners," Montreuil said. "And we're especially glad he looked to Alternatives North for input."

Montreuil said cuts in past budgets have hurt the poor the hardest and called for a wholesale revamping of the budget to it work for ordinary Northeners.

"The past few territorial budgets have done terrible harm to the economy, punishing Northeners for problems they didn't cause," she said.

Montreuil admitted, however, that a diamond-mine surtax is unlikely, and the community investment fund is more of a long-term goal.