Beyond major projects, what’s in the federal budget for the NWT?

The federal budget released on Thursday proposes a big boost to the Nutrition North program but fails to deliver an education funding solution for the NWT.

Federal finance minister François-Philippe Champagne’s budget, dubbed “Masters of our Destiny,” was broken into three pillars: economic growth, sovereignty and affordability.

The budget includes a so-called mega-deduction, a business tax incentive that the Liberal government had previously announced. David Macdonald, a senior economist at the CCPA research institute, called the budget “a gift to big business,” particularly oil, gas and mining.

Macdonald said the budget’s affordability measures were “relatively minor” by comparison.

Among the biggest impacts on northerners, Budget 2026 “expands and stabilises” Nutrition North Canada’s funding.

Nutrition North gets baseline funding worth about $135 million a year but is heavily reliant on extra federal cash to meet the real cost of making food more affordable in the North.

This year, Nutrition North received federal top-ups worth $75.3 million. Budget 2026 commits $610.3 million over four years, equating to a $152.6-million annual top-up, with annual top-ups of just under $120 million after that.

The program aims to lower food costs and increase food supply in isolated northern communities through measures like a subsidy for groceries and essential items, alongside programs like a harvester support grant. 

Separately, if the budget is passed, the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit would get a one-time, 50-percent boost in early 2027. 

No sign of Jordan’s Principle movement

Budget 2026 proposes $6 billion over six years, starting in 2026-27, for Jordan’s Principle and $575 million over five years to renew the Inuit Child First Initiative. (Indigenous Services Canada’s internal case management records show Jordan’s Principle cost $1.64 billion in 2024-25 alone, as reported by APTN.)

Those funding renewals did not come with stated policy changes that would allow NWT schools to more easily access Jordan’s Principle funding.

NWT education bodies have faced a significant funding shortfall since the federal government changed Jordan’s Principle’s parameters in early 2025 to largely exclude off-reserve schools. 

The GNWT has called for either changes to Jordan’s Principle, an increase to the annual no-strings-attached federal cash transfer to the NWT, or another method to inject funding into the territory’s struggling education system. Budget 2026 did not propose any such change.

Ottawa did, though, say its cash is making a difference for students on reserve.

“All Indigenous children in Canada should have access to high-quality education that respects and embraces their culture,” reads a section of the budget on student success in First Nations communities. 

“Federal investments in First Nations-led kindergarten to Grade 12 education on reserve are producing strong results.” 

The NWT has one school on a reserve. In the territory, most communities are majority-Indigenous and are not based on reserves. The GNWT has previously suggested Ottawa does not adequately grasp how different this is to arrangements in southern Canada.

No northern mineral exploration tax credit

The territories’ request for a North of 60 mineral exploration tax credit was missing from the federal budget, as was their request to extend the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to include zinc, which is central to several proposals for new NWT mines.

The federal government is, however, extending the Canada-wide Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for an additional five years. 

The budget made no reference to a northern healthcare review to which the federal government committed in last year’s budget. That review is understood to be delayed. Its new timeline is not known.

Ottawa did propose about $20 million to support feasibility assessments for up to three new National Marine Conservation Areas in the North. Where those would be was not immediately clear.

Budget 2026 proposes up to $2.5 billion in financing for De Havilland Canada to increase its water bomber production capacity and expand aerial firefighting capacity. The NWT has been hit hard by wildfires in recent years – 2026 was the third-worst year this century in terms of hectares burned, behind 2023 and 2014.

The budget would renew funding for the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, which provides First Nations and Inuit people with coverage for health benefits including mental health services, medical travel, and medications.

In recent years, NIHB funding had been rolling over on a year-to-year basis without a concrete longer-term commitment. The federal government says the $2.9 billion proposed in Budget 2026 spans three years, starting in 2027-28, and offers more long-term stability.

Defence, housing pledges

The biggest NWT news in the budget, by a distance, is the federal commitment to fully funding the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which Ottawa says will unlock the economic and security potential of the North. 

Elsewhere, the budget reiterated Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to spend four percent of GDP on defence by 2030, reaching five percent by 2035. 

The federal government previously announced a 15-year plan to expand the Canadian Armed Forces’ presence in Yellowknife. The Department of National Defence anticipates spending between $5 billion and $8 billion on a major expansion at Yellowknife Airport alongside a series of related projects that Ottawa says will benefit both military and civilian objectives, like water and power upgrades.

Build Canada Homes, a Carney-created agency responsible for delivering affordable housing at speed, would receive new funding to “supercharge non-market housing across this country.” Unlike the south, the North has a lot of non-market housing, particularly outside centres like Yellowknife. 

Under this budget, Build Canada Homes would receive funding – $1.8 billion over the next four years and $3.2 billion in future years – to create an Integrated Supports Fund for projects that offer housing alongside supports that address the likes of addictions or help end homelessness.

An additional $3.6 billion over the next four years – and $6.4 billion in future years – would go toward new non-market, supportive and transitional housing across Canada. 

That federal funding will support capital costs. Provinces and territories will be expected to fund ongoing operations and wraparound services like job, training, income and health support.