Jason Unrau
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - With more money bound for the North, less clawbacks on future revenue generated by the territories and a $200 million increase to the NWT borrowing limit, Finance Minister Floyd Roland is pleased with Monday's federal budget.

"When the new federal government took office I wrote to (Finance) Minister Jim Flaherty outlining the GNWT's top financial priorities," said Roland.

Floyd Roland is pleased with Monday's federal budget.

"Two of those were fixing the territorial formula financing agreement to make it more equitable and raising the $300 million borrowing limit and both of these have been addressed in this budget."

On top of a 10 per cent increase in NWT-generated revenue the territorial government can keep before federal clawbacks, the budget promises $25 million in additional funds for infrastructure. When pressed on where this money would be spent, Roland would make no commitments and hinted a portion could be banked for future use.

"If you look at all the infrastructure we leave on the cutting room floor with this funding we can reevaluate some of these," added Roland. "Every department had initiatives so we'd have to go back and look at those."

Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington said while the $25 million was a start, it would not come close to addressing the need for an all-weather road through the Mackenzie Valley or a bridge across the Mackenzie River.

"It didn't hurt us but we have big plans for the North and we're going to require a dedicated plan to make those happen," Bevington told

Yellowknifer Monday afternoon. "I spoke about that in parliament and I asked the minister, with the three-year delay in the pipeline, would he consider developing a sustainable industrial strategy."

While Rod Bruinooge, parliamentary secretary to Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Jim Prentice, did not commit to such a strategy in the House of Commons, Prentice told Yellowknifer Tuesday these large-scale transportation projects remain on the department's radar.

"Obviously this budget does not fund the construction of either the Deh Cho bridge and the road to Inuvik (but) the northern road is something we'll continue to talk about and look at," said Prentice, pleased his Conservative government's budget was getting good reviews from all three territorial premiers.

"Northern premiers have been very supportive in their comments, and it's a very good budget for NWT that has restored some fiscal balance by bringing federal support."

And this federal support translates into more cash in GNWT coffers. For 2006/2007 the territories can expect an additional $24 million, increasing the total federal transfer payment to $788 million and for 2007/2008, the GNWT can expect $854 million.

"This money gives us some flexibility that we were quickly running out of," said Roland.

"With some of these moves, including the increase to our borrowing limit, the federal government has given us some of the tools to come up with some of our own fixes."

But the ultimate fix is the resource revenue sharing and devolution deal that would transfer federal jurisdiction and a larger share of resource royalties to the GNWT, something Premier Joe Handley's government has been trying to achieve.

"We don't have an agreement in place yet, we know the parameters are there now so it's a matter of sitting down and trying to get this done," Roland said, citing the budget's plan to include 50 per cent of provincial resource revenue in the equalization formula.

Prentice would not commit to a timeline on a deal calling it a "complex process" but agreed with Roland that the budget sets a standard for dealing with the matter.

"I think the budget provides a bit of guide post and it's clear we're moving towards devolution, revenue sharing," Prentice said.

"Obviously the government and minister of finance in the territories are more confident because we've continued to do what we say we're going to do."