5 things to watch for in today's N.W.T. budget

Northwest Territories Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger is expected to deliver the fourth and final budget of the 17th assembly this afternoon. It’s the first one to include post-devolution resource royalties.

His address will start around 1:30 p.m. MT.

Premier Bob McLeod opened the winter session of the legislature Tuesday saying the budget will be a chance for this government to take stock of what this government has accomplished and consider future priorities and commitments.

As there’s very little money to go around, it will be interesting what priorities this government chooses for its final year.

1. Will the borrowing limit be raised?

This week’s budget comes fresh on the heels of N.W.T. Days in Ottawa when Premier Bob McLeod got face time with the prime minister. The current debt cap is $800 million, and McLeod asked Stephen Harper for more borrowing power — increasing the limit to $1.8 billion — to help fund big infrastructure projects such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Yesterday McLeod said his government expects to get an answer from the federal government by April. 

The Finance Minister says that money could also go toward paying for power-generation projects that hopefully could reduce the reliance on diesel and ultimately, lower the cost of living.

But MLAs have already approved money for new roads and capital projects. This budget focuses on programs and services, so it’s unlikely the territory would take on more debt to pay for them.

2. Devolution money?

Less economic activity means that resource revenues expected post-devolution won’t be as high as hoped. 

"The projections are for flat revenue growth between now and 2019-2020," said Miltenberger yesterday. 

"Fiscal responsibility" has been the oft-repeated term of this assembly. So it is unlikely Miltenberger will be sporting any flashy footwear, even with the addition of resource money coming in post-devolution.

And what of the elusive projected surplus that's been promised more than once? Given added expenses such as a pricey fire season and medical travel costs that required supplementary budgets, the territory is not likely to have held on to that extra $113 million. 

3. Legacy projects in an election year

Don’t forget it’s an election year and the members who are hitting the campaign trail in the fall like to go back to their ridings with examples of improvements the government has made.

More midwives? What about junior kindergarten or early childhood education? Will there be money for on-the-land programs?

4. Bracing for another fire season

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is now holding open houses across the territory to discuss how communities want to see this year’s wildfires handled.

After last year's record-breaking summer, it's possible there will more investment in fire-fighting personnel and services.

5. The 2,000-person question

Last year the government announced big plans — it wanted to attract 2,000 more people to the territory over the next five years.

The idea is simple: building the tax base increases the number of transfer payments from the federal government and raises the the amount of resource royalties the territory gets to keep post-devolution. And don't forget, more people living here spend more money locally.

The plan was to focus on bringing local students home to work, boosting immigration and cutting down on the number of fly-in, fly-out mine workers.

But so far, the ambitious plan is not working. This budget could be the government's chance to put money behind the idea.