Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 2026-2027 Budget Address points to a shifting and uncertain landscape in geopolitics, one of which we are all acutely aware. Anyone paying attention to world events knows that chaos is not a way to govern, not a way to build relationships and partnerships, and not a way to seize opportunities headed our way. And contrary to the fictional philosophy, chaos is not a ladder.
Difficult challenges require an analytic, coherent, and integrated approach. I proudly put NWT residents, their good ideas, and data-driven decision-making first, and that foundation also steers my decision-making on the 2026-2027 Budget before us.
I think it is sometimes easy to forget that the population of the Northwest Territories would not fill the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton for an Elks game. It's worth noting that the GNWT does not have the magnitude of fiscal and human resources as compared to a larger provincial jurisdiction.This is demonstrated, in part, by the fact that our per capita public spending is astronomical compared to similar services south of 60; health care, sadly, being the quintessential example.
Plainly, it costs more to provide public services for NWT residents. This is not a novel concept to any of us. At the same time, this chasm of disparity between an NWT resident and a provincial resident in available services and supports is wide, deep, and fundamentally wrong as many of my colleagues have pointed out over the last two years. Residents of all 33 NWT communities should have equal opportunities to good health, education, economic opportunity, community and personal wellness, and a safe and warm place to lay their heads at night. I do not believe that any of us dispute that.
But here we sit, in a territory facing down decades of compounding social problems, all of which need generational investment, and a government with a proposed path of just under $2.4 billion to fund and maintain programs and services that many residents expect and depend on. When local and global circumstances pile on, as they have done so with a weary and unending frequency over the last six years in constant climate-related issues like flooding, low water, highway clearing, wildfire and evacuations, to say nothing of a global pandemic, we continue to have cost overruns.
I specifically waited to give my reply to this budget until we reviewed the most recent supplementary estimates for 2025-2026, to know the totality of unexpected dollars spent above and beyond the main estimates and capital estimates of that year. If I am doing my math right, the supplementaries total an additional $450 million not previously authorized on top of the original main estimates total of $2.375 billion and capital estimates, a total of just under $328 billion.
Mr. Speaker, I think that puts our total spend, if we approve the last set of supps, at just over $3.152 billion. And we'll see what the actuals come out in the wash later on, Mr. Speaker.
All 19 of us hear from our constituents about what they and our communities require. The list is long, and all of our constituents' needs are important to each of us. As I've noted, especially in small communities the disparity of access to basic services is stark. In this regard, I do my best to carefully listen and learn from my colleagues with different lived realities than my own.
The chair of AOC is not wrong when he says that we are resource rich and cash poor. I also echo the commentary that we need to take quick action on capacity, transparency, and demonstrable progress to meet the moment of opportunity we find ourselves in with incoming federal investment and the attention of the major projects office and critical minerals partners.
Project management alone is going to be a herculean task for all partners. I wish to balance my colleagues' comments, however, with my concern that we, as leaders, demand that the public service always do increasingly more with fewer resources. This is why I continue to press the finance Minister for more staff training and investment in monitoring and evaluation across all departments and agencies. Government needs to prioritize understanding which of our programs are not working and why, how we can improve what programs are successful, or shutter services that are no longer meeting the mark. Cuts for the sake of cuts will never be my MO. Accurately positioning staff in areas of greatest need and priority, based on data, should be a key ongoing focus of Cabinet.
The best way forward for nearly 46,000 people who call this territory home is to pull together. I see the work of consensus and relationship building of this Cabinet, both in public and in conversation. I am impressed with my colleague's comments after he attended Roundup on behalf of standing committee, where he noted that our Ministers command attention and respect with their provincial counterparts. I also see executive council communicating effectively at every possible opportunity on a national stage, and that is precisely what we must do.
That said, I disagree with Cabinet consistently and regularly. I choose to execute my roles and responsibility as a Member respectfully, even in disagreement. For me, that means when I come to Cabinet with problems, I also try to do my best to come with possible solutions that are pragmatic and cost effective wherever possible.
As an example, I have successfully advocated for a change to income assistance regulations based on a constituent problem. In this budget, the shift to 24/7 laboratory and diagnostic imaging services is based on both the data collected by the health system and from patient experience reiterated by many Members in this House.
Constructive feedback can and does create impactful change. When we make bold choices together, like AOC's previous successful $150 million housing ask, we are at our best as an Assembly. The nature of decision-making in our territory is such that getting all key players pulling in the same direction in this House, with Indigenous nations, is both crucial and time consuming. As one of my colleagues pointed out last week, it can be an exceedingly difficult path to find consensus to agree on what is exactly the right path forward. Bold paths are even harder to pin down.
Mr. Speaker, as 19 MLAs, we do sit together and set priorities to work to govern ourselves, and it can be challenging to say the least. If you extrapolate that reality to our Cabinet colleagues' responsibilities to work collaboratively with over 50 Indigenous governments and organizations in the territory, as well as with their federal, provincial, and territorial counterparts, all with differing perspectives and priorities, one can clearly understand why taking action can take some time. But this doesn't mean that they and we can't always do better and work tirelessly towards bold, shared, respectful decisions made as expediently as possible.
Throughout this Assembly, I have said that I believe we need to look seriously at shifting our governance and so that capacity and responsibilities also shift. This means that the GNWT and federal governments must make more meaningful investment into capacity building for Indigenous governments. I am happy to see a small investment on that front in this proposed budget, and I will always continue to press for more capacity in this area.
I am not naive. Sweeping governance change will be generational and an iterative process, and it must be at a timeline based on Indigenous government desires. But it does go hand-in-glove with settling land claims and envisioning a brighter future for all people of the NWT.
As a non-Indigenous MLA, it's not my place to unilaterally decide or dictate what that future looks like, but seeking a good path towards true Indigenous government sovereignty is a North Star for how I approach my work. A chaotic approach of drastically swinging priorities and radical budgets that overhaul the public government to only re-overhaul it a few years later when it doesn't work is not how I see us reaching that North Star. Chaos is not the ladder to get us there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Replies to the budge address, day 7 of 7. Member from Frame Lake.
