Nunavut holds the line in “stable” 2010-11 budget

Keith Peterson, the Nunavut finance minister, describes his 2010-11 budget as “stable and steady,” but promises future policy work on big items like poverty reduction, child welfare and the creation of a social advocacy office. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

The Government of Nunavut will spend $1.3 billion over the next 12 months within a balanced budget for 2010-11 that contains no major shifts from the previous year, Finance Minister Keith Peterson said March 8 in a budget speech.

“I would say it’s a stable, steady budget, no expectations. It will maintain the status quo,” Peterson told reporters.

Between April 1 this year and March 31, 2011, the GN expects to take in nearly $1.3 billion in revenues and spend nearly $1.3 billion on day-to-day operations and capital projects.

And, Peterson said, the territorial government projects a balanced budget, and will absorb an estimated deficit of about $44 million they expect to produce by the end of 2009-10.

He said the GN will accomplished this by holding spending only 2 per cent more than last year.

“Why are we doing that? Prudence, Mr. Speaker, Prudence. The global recession may be ending, but the global economy is not yet growing with confidence,” Peterson said in his speech.

The budget does provide for one new measure that will please people in small communities outside the capital: $2 million to re-instate government liason officers, or “GLOs.”

Peterson said this in response to widespread complaints recorded in the Qanukanniq report card about the GN’s uncommunicative habits.

“Even a simple phone call does not get through,” Peterson said.

Under the Government of the Northwest Territories, each community was assigned a liason officer to help people communicate with the territorial government.

But after the program was turned over to hamlets, municipal governments apparently took the money assigned to the positions and used it for other purposes, a senior GN finance official said at a budget briefing for reporters.

Peterson said the GN will hire GLOs for 14 communities this year, and fill the rest of the jobs in succeeding years.

“Mr. Speaker, our government is all about providing service to Nunavummiut. Anyone who wants information about our services must be able to get it,” Peterson said.

The GN will use these liason workers to get feedback also, Peterson said.

“The government needs this feedback, Mr. Speaker, and we will make use of what we hear,” Peterson said.

And Peterson told MLAs the GN is now creating a better website, which should be ready this year, and will set up a phone centre in 2012.

Another big piece of policy work for the GN this year will be the creation of a poverty reduction strategy that would likely reform the social assistance system, Peterson said.

“Our social assistance rules often get in the way of a job. Too often these rules claw back the full value of a pay cheque,” Peterson said.

Other small new spending measures include:

• $1.5 million to review child protection services and legislation, including public consultations and engagement with communities;

• $1 million to train and develop Inuit educators;

• $3 million more to develop curriculum and improve school services;

• $2.5 million more for district education authorities;

• $1 million more for trades training;

• a doubling of the homelessness budget to $400,000, most of which will be spent within the Iqaluit men’s shelter;

Peterson said Nunavut residents will eventually see the change that the new government promised them after the 2008 territorial election, but he said the GN wants to take time to get the job done right.

“It takes time to do it properly, do it carefully, and get your planning done and then you roll it out. That’s why governments are elected for four or five years. You’re not expected to change the world overnight. You have to do in pieces at a time,” Peterson told reporters.

Another problem that continues to dog the GN is short-staffing.

Peterson said nearly 900 jobs lie vacant within the territorial public service, right now, a number that’s roughly equal to one-third of all GN jobs.

“We have vacancies in every category of employment. While we are interested in filling all of those vacancies, we need to pay special attention to positions that require technical skills,” Peterson told MLAs.

Saying that “a government runs on its knowledge,” Peterson said the GN has stepped up its hunt for hard-to-find technical specialists, including accountants, engineers, computer technicians and trades experts.

As for his finance department, he said they have developed an action plan in response to criticisms made by the Auditor General of Canada.

And the Department of Community and Government Services will examine all GN buildings to figure out how many need repairs and improvements.