Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 12/99) - GNWT Finance Minister Charles Dent handled some tough questions from social agency reps last week.

Dent was invited to speak on the budget by Alternatives North, which is a coalition of various non-governmental organizations.

Alternatives North co-chair, Suzette Montreuil, organized the event. While thankful for the opportunity to have Dent present the budget first-hand, she has grave concerns about the direction the GNWT is taking.

"The NWT has a suicide rate double the rest of Canada. The spousal homicide rate was more than nine times the national rate between 1974 and 1992. Less than 25 per cent of students who enter school graduate from Grade 12," Montreuil said.

"The facts go on. It's against this background of a social crisis that our new government must make its decisions."

She said at the federal level, there is a conscious choice to adopt a corporate agenda -- pointing out corporate taxes have consistently dropped, and personal taxes have risen.

"We also know in a smaller way, the GNWT is following the same strategy. They haven't done anything about corporate taxes, they've slashed social programs and they're saying we have to rely on the market to stimulate the economy," Montreuil said.

That, she added, is a recipe for disaster here in the North.

"The thing is, what market is going to stimulate the economy in the community of Wha Ti or Fort Good Hope? In the more isolated communities, the playing field is not equal and that is why our territorial government has to play a part."

Dent said there are several factors causing government spending to rise, including government employee wage increases, new government and management structures due to division, and inflation.

At the same time he said revenues, 81 per cent of which come from the federal government, are not rising.

"I think people have to better understand how we get our money, how we spend it and what the future holds," Dent said after his presentation. "If Northerners decide to come together and work co-operatively with each other, there's a better chance that we will have enough money to better deal with the important social problems we have."

NWT Council for Disabled Persons' executive director, Aggie Brockman, points out that while the cost of living and the number of people who rely on income support is rising, funding doesn't reflect that change.

"For people who are struggling on income support, he didn't offer hope that the government would be able to increase their living allowance in the near future," Brockman said.

"In fact, he didn't offer a whole lot of immediate hope that there will be any money to improve programs and services."