Does the NWT’s latest budget ‘meet the moment’?

Denny Rodgers says the NWT’s latest budget “points in the right direction but does not yet meet the moment.”

The MLA for Inuvik Boot Lake made the remarks in the Legislative Assembly as chair of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, which comprises all 11 regular MLAs.

Referencing finance minister Caroline Wawzonek’s budget address, which focused on the national spotlight on the North, Rodgers called for the territory to “stop describing the moment and start delivering on it.”

He questioned whether the measures outlined in the budget will shift the territory “from restraint to action at a time of economic pressure and global uncertainty” through “concrete investments, realistic timelines and outcomes people can see.”

“Execution is what will decide whether this moment becomes prosperity,” he said.

“The eyes of the country are on the North, and that matters. But alignment in words must now be matched by alignment in spending, timelines and delivery.”

Rodgers said regular MLAs are looking for land and permitting timelines to be sped up, increased capacity of communities to advance projects, reliable access to primary healthcare, training tied to guaranteed placements, and housing where work exists.

Wawzonek tabled the NWT government’s 2026-27 operating budget last Thursday. It proposes $2.39 billion in spending and a surplus of $20.1 million, which is expected to go toward infrastructure projects planned in a separate $436-million capital budget.

Contrary to Rodgers, the finance minister said the territory is aiming to “meet the moment” with the proposed budget by developing the capacity and partnerships needed to accelerate major projects.

“The momentum is in swing. The partnerships are forming. The opportunities are knocking,” she said.

Regular MLAs are entitled to deliver responses to each budget in the Legislative Assembly and are simultaneously going over spending proposals wth ministers line by line.

MLAs are expected to vote on the budget in the coming weeks.

Continuing with the status quo

Kieron Testart, the MLA for Range Lake, echoed Rodgers in calling on the NWT to meet a “moment of unprecedented change in the world that we once knew.”

He pointed to the territory’s shrinking economy, the decline of diamond mining, high power rates and the shutdown of Imperial Oil’s operation in Norman Wells among challenges the NWT is facing.

“What we have been doing for a generation has not worked and continuing down the same path is not an option,” he said.

“And yet we see a budget that is more or less status quo, with a few new initiatives bolted to the hood.

“This is either reckless optimism that something is going to come along and save us, or calculated denial to avoid accountability for being the key decision maker on economic matters.”

Testart said the territory should not rely on the federal government and needs to diversify its economy away from NWT government jobs, saying “underachievement is the standard of results” within the territory’s public service.

“Ottawa won’t let us starve. That’s true,” he said. “But planning on what amounts to a federal bailout of territorial, economic and social management is not my definition of peace, order and good government.”

Testart criticized the territory’s budget process, saying cabinet presents a draft budget and MLAs and ministers then play a game of tug-of-war on how best to use limited resources, allowing the status quo to continue. Instead, he said, politicians should collectively propose big ideas and then find ways to implement them.

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins also criticized the budget negotiation process, asserting the title of the latest budget should have been “keep people dependent.”

“This budget is short on vision and high on maintenance, and status quo seems the way to go,” he said.

Hawkins said he would have liked to see the budget eliminate the senior envoy position and reinvigorate excitement in the NWT’s economy by selling big projects and rolling out the red carpet to industry.

“We are so lucky the federal defence department is looking at spending money here. If it wasn’t for that luck, I don’t know what this budget would be telling us,” he said.

Tough conversations needed to reach consensus

Shauna Morgan, the MLA for Yellowknife North, said she agreed that the North faces both great challenges and opportunities, and the territory “must take more decisive action quickly and build momentum by strengthening our economic and social foundations.”

Morgan disagreed, however, with Testart’s assertion that the public service is holding the territory back.

She said she believes the most significant reason why government moves slowly is “because decision-makers tend to be really bad at reaching agreement amongst ourselves on the right path forward.”

“If leaders cannot agree on what to do, the safest option appears to be don’t rock the boat, don’t do anything too different that you could get blamed for,” she said.

Morgan said while there is consensus that the territory should move from fiscal restraint to reallocating resources behind priorities and preparing for an influx of federal spending, MLAs have struggled to come up with common ideas on the changes they want to see.

She called for MLAs to have tough conversations that “could actually lead to consensus on a bold path forward rather than focusing on the divisions.”

George Nerysoo, the MLA for Mackenzie Delta, said with the 20th Legislative Assembly more than halfway done, MLAs are still trying to make good on their stated priorities.

“Let us not be a status quo government but a government that will make good on the decisions that will bring prosperity to every person that calls Northwest Territories home,” he said.

“Let us to continue to invest in our resources that will make Northwest Territories a place where investors will come and help build our economy.”

Nerysoo said the terrritory’s greatest resource is its people and Indigenous companies should be given an opportunity to help build the NWT’s economy.

He called on the GNWT to invest in local treatment and aftercare, stick-built homes, education, healthcare and support for people to stay in communities.