How NWT residents would change government spending

Where should the Northwest Territories government prioritize spending? Where could it save?

Those questions have taken on increased importance in recent years.

The territory has faced significant financial challenges due to rising costs, floods, wildfires and low water levels, while its gross domestic product has declined and diamond mines are nearing the end of production.

Earlier this year, the federal government increased the NWT’s borrowing limit to $3.1 billion as it neared the previous debt ceiling of $1.8 billion.

As NWT finance officials consider how to make the best use of budget dollars on priorities amid those pressures, they are asking residents for their thoughts.

Every year, the territorial government holds what it calls “budget dialogues,” involving an online survey and meetings that allow the public to provide input on the next annual budget.

Finance minister Caroline Wawzonek said she finds the consultation “extremely helpful” as it gives people an opportunity to ask questions and learn how government fiscal policy works as well as provide feedback.

“I find it a really important tool,” she said.

“You do get different insights from the different groups.”

The 2025 survey, which is now open, asks residents how concerned they are about the NWT government taking on debt, areas where they want the territory to increase or reduce spending, and suggestions they have to cut expenditures.

Wawzonek will host in-person town hall sessions in Inuvik on June 20 and in Yellowknife on June 16. She will also hold engagement sessions with Indigenous and community governments, industry and non-governmental organizations.

The finance minister said those consultations influence the budget every year by giving the government a sense of how residents feel and helping to set the tone of conversations at the financial management board.

She said groups can also highlight their needs, adding that feedback from the non-governmental sector led to recent changes.

So how would residents spend and save if they were in charge of the budget?

Healthcare, education and housing

The territorial government released a report outlining some broad themes from the 2024 budget dialogues’ survey and engagement sessions.

Through an access to information request, Cabin Radio obtained more detailed responses from that survey – which was completed by 112 people – as well as separate comments from some NWT government staff on their recommendations.

The number one area where most survey respondents said they want the territory to prioritize spending was healthcare.

Health and social services often makes up the biggest portion of the NWT’s budget, accounting for about a third of government spending every year.

Education and housing also top the list of areas in which residents want the NWT to focus funding.

Other spending areas a few survey respondents highlighted include infrastructure, reducing the municipal funding gap, core funding for non-governmental organizations, support for veterinary services and a residential treatment centre.

“Build a treatment centre in the NWT already,” one person wrote. “The fact that this does not exist is absolutely shameful. “

Another respondent stressed the need to provide more support for people with disabilities.

“As families, we are continually disheartened and left in disbelief about how each government would rather spend dollars to other provinces, remove territorial residents from their home, community and territory,” they wrote.

There were some areas where survey respondents disagreed over whether the NWT government should spend.

While some residents said they want the territory to allocate more resources to address climate change and natural disasters, others questioned if climate change programs are leading to better outcomes. One person simply said the NWT government should not work on climate change at all.

‘Trim the fat’

The 2024 survey also asked residents where they would cut spending.

The most popular idea was reducing the public service, particularly top-heavy bureaucracy.

“Trim the fat,” one person wrote.

“Top level staffing is out of proportion and must be dealt with by cutbacks to senior staff,” another said.

“Impossible to say with a straight face we don’t have too many GNWT employees,” a third response read.

“Cut the public sector. Hasn’t been done since Miltenberger. Long overdue,” a fourth stated, referring to former finance minister Michael Miltenberger.

Another popular suggestion was focusing on developing northern skilled professionals and supporting local staff rather than hiring contract workers and external consultants, particularly in healthcare.

Other ideas included having government departments work more collaboratively, finding cost savings in the private sector and evaluating the effectiveness of programs and services.

Some residents suggested cuts to public servants’ travel spending, leave provisions and per diems.

“Hire someone to go into each department and find where money needs to be cut. This includes top management,” one person wrote.

Other respondents said the territory should shift some programs from Yellowknife to regional centres.

“Decentralize, decentralize, decentralize,” one person said.

A few people said they believe the territory should abandon its plan to transform Aurora College into a polytechnic university.

Natural resources and taxes

Some survey respondents gave ideas for how the territory could increase revenues.

One of the most-mentioned recommendations was streamlining the process for and supporting natural resource development, which the NWT government has promised to do.

Some respondents, however, called for the territory to increase taxes on mines and royalties from resource extraction.

“These companies come in, strip our resources and leave the land much worse off,” one person wrote.

Many people said the NWT should try to get more money from the federal government, with ideas ranging from having staff dedicated to applying for government grants to using national media to highlight major northern issues that require funding.

Premier RJ Simpson has made appearances on podcasts and national news programs and written opinion columns for newspapers in an effort to increase the North’s national profile. Simpson also created a senior envoy’s role with the aim of “leveraging the renewed interest in Canada’s North,” a position that could cost up to $440,000 a year.

Other ideas given by multiple survey respondents included introducing fees for services – particularly some health services – and increasing the territory’s population.

Several people suggested implementing new taxes including a territorial tax, a tax on sugary products and a tourist tax. The City of Yellowknife implemented a four-percent tourist accommodation tax earlier this year.

One person said the territory should review existing taxes on alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes.

Further suggestions included:

• investing in industries that bring revenue to local businesses such as tourism and film;
• selling leases to leaseholders;
• charging for parking at the Yellowknife hospital; and
• increasing rental rates for public housing.

NWT Housing recently increased its market rental rates, resulting in criticism from some tenants.

GNWT employees

In a separate survey of NWT government employees, respondents did not advocate for cuts to the public service.

They did, however, share some of the other spending reduction ideas mentioned in the public survey. Those included:

• moving away from paper records to digitization;
• maximizing services in northern hubs;
• reducing travel costs by using video conferencing;
• accountability for programs and services;
• training and mentoring northern staff rather than looking to the south;
• reviewing per diems; and
• putting limits on deferred leave.

Several people called for more streamlined internal processes, reduced administrative burden, and minimized bureaucratic top-down processes within government.

“There is so much red tape and process that it takes away from the ability of staff to deliver programs and services to the residents they are serving,” one person wrote.

Two people praised the NWT government’s integrated service delivery model and said the territory should look at other ways it could offer a single window for services. Simpson recently said integrated service delivery will soon expand beyond Yellowknife.

One NWT government employee said there’s a need for a greater focus on a whole-of-government approach.

“There needs to be a culture shift for the NWT. As public servants we are here to (obviously) serve the public, especially the most vulnerable of our populations,” they said.

Some public servants called for investments in record-keeping and documentation to reduce duplication and time spent searching for information.

“Given the turnover, more time is spent figuring out how and why the last person in decision-making roles landed the way it did,” one person wrote.

Other suggestions included decreasing medical travel, creating an upper tier of NWT payroll tax for people earning above a certain amount, and replacing income assistance with basic income – which the territorial government has said it has no plans to pursue.

Where has the NWT made changes?

The NWT government has taken some fiscal sustainability measures in recent years, including a government renewal initiative that evaluates the cost and benefit of programs and services to spend more efficiently.

Wawzonek said changes to child and youth counselling as well as supported living programs are expected over the coming months.

Cost-cutting measures the NWT government has implemented over the past two budgets include closing the men’s unit of the Fort Smith Correctional Centre, cutting training for community governments that was undersubscribed, reducing a midwifery expansion in Yellowknife, and cutting the education department’s printing costs.

Many of those changes have faced pushback from residents, the union and regular MLAs.

Overall, territorial officials estimate they have found a total of $106 million across the two budgets from spending reductions and revenue increases.

While that’s well below the annual fiscal sustainability strategy target of $150 million, Wawzonek said it’s “certainly not a small amount,” particularly as the territory has been faced with climate change challenges and other uncertainties.

Despite the pressures the NWT is facing, Wawzonek said there are also lots of opportunities.

She said the recent federal election focused on nation-building projects and pointed to several proposed projects that could benefit the North such as the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Slave Geological Province Corridor and Taltson hydro expansion. She also highlighted the NWT’s co-management of land and resources with Indigenous governments.

“I think this is an extremely exciting time where everywhere else may finally see the Northwest Territories uniting to unlock opportunities that we’ve talked about but that we haven’t necessarily been able to act on,” she said.

“We’re going to remove those barriers collectively and hopefully bear the benefits of that collectively.”