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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In September and October, people had a chance to have their say on the upcoming territorial budget, and those opinions have now been put into written form.

Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger summarizes what he heard at a public consultation in Fort Smith on Sept. 24. - NNSL file photo

As he promised he would do, Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger released a final written report on Budget Dialogue 2012 on Dec. 5.

The 31-page report summarizes NWT residents' priorities for government program spending and ideas for ways it can spend more efficiently and effectively.

The minister noted three major themes emerged from the consultations.

"Namely that we need to pay more attention to duplication of programs and services; that there are many opportunities to make better use of resources within programs; and that prevention should be a key priority for investment," he said.

Miltenberger said the single biggest theme was need for government and Northerners to do a better job focusing on prevention - things like proactive initiatives to help children be born healthy and other initiatives against social issues like alcohol abuse.

More than 130 people in total participated in public meetings in seven regional centres, ranging from a high of about 40 in Inuvik to six in Norman Wells. Other meetings were held in Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith, Behchoko and Fort Simpson.

The consultation process cost upwards of $100,000.

"I think it was worth that and more. In fact, it will probably be somewhat less than that because we didn't manage to get in, in some cases, all the representatives from the small communities in time," Miltenberger said.

"The actual dollar figure is not the issue, but was it worth an investment, and I would say yes. "In addition, nine individuals or organizations submitted written comments.

Their input will be used in planning processes for the 2013-14 fiscal year and beyond.

"I am pleased by the engagement of Northerners and thank everyone who took the time to participate in this important process," said Miltenberger.

"Participants provided valuable ideas for improvements and confirmed that the GNWT is on the right track in its budget priorities and planning."

Miltenberger said he was pleased with the consultations, and rejected any suggestion the turnout at the public meetings may have been disappointing by noting similar consultations in Alberta only attracted about 30 people in Edmonton, a city of a million people.

Now, he said the territorial government will be held to account based on what's in the budget.

"We'll have their feedback from this year," he said. "And I'm going to be standing up in February in the house with a budget address. I indicated that we will try to reflect to the extent possible in this upcoming budget the feedback, the response to the feedback, the suggestions we've heard across the land. Some of it may take longer than this initial budget."

All MLAs have received information on the budget consultations.

"As we work on finalizing the main estimates in the budget and crafting the budget address, this initiative, which is a fairly significant one, will have a major role to play as we do all that work," Miltenberger said.

He believes the consultations were an affirmation to the legislative assembly that its priorities are very consistent with what people are saying.

"The question is how can we implement those more fully, and that's going to be our challenge," he said. "You just stay tuned and the budget address will clearly capture this process."

The consultations were the first time the GNWT had gone to regional centres for budget consultations, as opposed to holding meetings just in Yellowknife and bringing people to the capital.

"One of the questions we asked as we did this process was, 'Was this worthwhile?' or 'Would you just prefer we stay away and we'll just do it from the centre like we've always done it?'" Miltenberger said. "Without exception, everywhere we went the people said, 'We're glad you're here.'"

The minister said such consultations will carry on for the life of the 17th assembly, and the process is already being looked at with an eye to adjustments and improvements for next time, such as getting more representatives from smaller communities.

What the people said

Here are some of the comments from the public during GNWT budget consultations in September and October, and included in a report released on Dec. 5.

"Every dollar spent on early childhood education saves seven dollars in other areas down the road."

Source: GNWT Finance Department

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