'The details' are what matters - Charles Dent
Kevin Wilson and Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 16/01) - MLAs expressed satisfaction about the overall thrust of Joe Handley's budget, but expressed concerns about how it will be implemented.
"He's announced a lot of important issues," said Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, but he added that "God is in the details."
Yellowknife South MLA Brendan Bell felt that the budget was, "good for Northerners. There are some critical areas of investment."
Bell praised the budget's focus on investment in highways and roads.
Pointing to Handley's proposed highway truck tolls, Dent noted that means, "the cost of my groceries is going to go up, the cost of my vehicle is going to go up."
John Johansen of Grimshaw Trucking Ltd. said he wouldn't mind paying a road toll -- as long as the government plans to build a bridge over the Mackenzie River.
"If it's without a bridge I would pay ($25 to $35 per truck), but if they're talking about upgrading the paving and doing a bridge then even $75 wouldn't be bad."
Dent also expressed skepticism to Handley's statement that any rosy financial picture was "directly attributable to our successful efforts to constrain spending."
Pointing to a copy of the budget, he noted that operations expenses were expected to rise $788,925 million in the 2001-2002 fiscal year from 1999-2000, an increase of almost $64 million.
"This is called keeping a handle on your expenditures? Excuse me."
