Press Release - May 22nd, 2008

R(16)220508061

2008-09 Budget Targets Investments in the Future of the Northwest Territories

YELLOWKNIFE (22 May 2008) - The Honourable Floyd K. Roland, Minister of Finance, presented the 2008-09 Budget Address for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) in the Legislative Assembly today.

"The Budget begins to make the substantial investments needed to advance our priorities. It builds on key existing programs and services, and moves the Northwest Territories forward, toward our vision and goals", said Minister Roland. The Budget takes a balanced approach that involves reallocation of some spending to permit new investments; that starts to align expenditure growth with revenue growth; and that makes a significant investment in badly needed infrastructure. The 2008-09 Budget projects a small operating surplus of $13 million, based on proposed 2008 09 operating expenditures of $1.217 billion. This represents an operating expenditure increase of $64 million, or about 5.5 per cent, over the previous year's Budget. The Budget supports five strategic initiatives, based on the vision and priorities of the Legislative Assembly, that form the focus of government actions and investment in the years ahead:

Building our Future - taking actions that focus on children and youth, on promoting healthy choices, and on supporting families and seniors.
Reducing the Cost of Living - taking actions to address the high costs that stand in the way of achieving a better quality of life and affect our ability to grow and diversify the NWT economy.
Managing this Land - taking action toward finding the right balance between development and protection of the NWT's land and resources, and making these decisions in the NWT.
Maximizing Opportunities in the NWT - opening the door to new developments that contribute to the North and improving the quality of education and training so that Northerners can take advantage of the jobs that are created here in the NWT.
Refocusing Government - achieving greater effectiveness and efficiency in how the government operates and in how programs and services are delivered to the people of the NWT.

The Budget includes $72 million to support investments in these priorities. These investments will be funded by offsets in other spending areas $32 million in sunsetted programs and $35 million in expenditure reductions in 2008-09. The Budget also invests $180 million in public infrastructure in 2008-09, including contributions to community infrastructure projects. "This Budget builds a stronger Northwest Territories by making a substantial commitment to invest in our people and the infrastructure that supports communities, economic activity and the programs our residents rely on." Highlights of specific initiatives of the 2008-09 Budget are included in the attached Budget Highlights document. The Budget Address can be found on the Department of Finance website at http://www.fin.gov.nt.ca/. The Main Estimates can be found at http://www.fin.gov.nt.ca/budget-documents/estimates/index.htm.

For further information, contact:

Julia Mott
Coordinator, Cabinet Communications
Government of the Northwest Territories
Tel: (867) 669-2304
Julia_mott@gov.nt.ca