Roland wants to redirect $135M in N.W.T. spending

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland wants to cut $135 million from his government's coffers in order to meet the priorities of the new assembly.

Roland, who is also the territory's finance minister, announced Tuesday that he wants his ministers to find money from their departments' operating expenses that can be reallocated into capital projects such as new schools.

The cuts will be made over the next two budgets, he said, adding that MLAs are working on the plan right now. Details of the cuts will come in the next budget, expected to come in May or June.

"We do know that in order to meet the assembly's goals, we cannot continue to do business as we have in the past," he told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

"If we continue to allow our expenditures to grow faster than our revenues, we'll experience serious financial difficulties by the end of this assembly."

Roland's $135-million target represents about 12 per cent of the territory's budget, which this year exceeds $1.2 billion.

Roland could not say how many, if any, government jobs would be lost as a result of the cuts, but he did note that the territory's civil service is larger than it was before 1999, when the territory was divided into the N.W.T. and Nunavut.

"I don't know what impact this is going to have on our members," said Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers, which represents territorial civil servants.

"I don't want to raise an alarm and cause a great deal of concern at this point in time, until some of the decisions are definitive, until the government has a plan in place."

But Kam Lake MLA David Ramsay said he doubts there will be job cuts coming from Roland's budget-cutting exercise, adding that he supports measures to ensure the government's money is being spent wisely.

"If you're spending it in an area where it's not making any difference to the people who live here ... you better find an area in your operation where it can make a difference," he said.

"And I would be surprised if there's reductions in staffing levels."

Roland and the other 18 MLAs in the current N.W.T. legislative assembly were elected in the Oct. 1 territorial election.