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2 Wednesday February 24 2016 POLITICS FINANCE NEWS BRIEFS Premier tables 130 commitments in 18th Assembly mandate Tabled in the legislature Feb. 18 the new mandate for the NWTs 19 MLAs aims to improve transparency lower the cost of living invest in education and community wellness andrespondtoclimatechangewith130commitments.They includeimplementinguniversalaordablechildcare help- ingseniorsageinplacetakingactiononthecrisisoffam- ilyandcommunityviolenceandfocusingonmentalhealth and addictions by ensuring that services are delivered lo- cally with culturally-appropriate methods. Separate res in Yellowknife TworesinYellowknifecausedmorethan100000dam- age last weekend. According to the citys re department the rst blaze gutted a mobile home about 14 kilometres from the city limits on Highway 3 Feb. 19. No one was in- jured. The second re at Coyotes Bar and Grill was re- ported at 447 a.m. Feb. 21. The cause of the re which was contained to the back of the structure by reghters is unknown. Damage is estimated to probably exceed 100000. The scene has been turned over to the NWT Fire Marshalls Oce. Canadian Rangers hold live ring range in Yellowknife Thursday Morethan200membersoftheCanadianRangersdescended on the NWT capital for Exercise DENE RANGER Feb. 22- Mar.1.Theeventincludesasmanyas50Rangersconducting a live ring range at John Bay about 12 kilometres south of Dettah from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 25. It will also feature Rangers patrolling more than 1400 km from nine com- munities around Great Slave Lake and home again facing harsh winter conditions as they navigate northern terrain whileassertingCanadassovereigntyenroutetoYellowknife. Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 E-mail infowescleannwt.com web www.wescleannwt.com Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. Ph 867 875-5100 Fax 867 875-5155 E-mail infowescleannwt.com web www.wescleannwt.com Avalon Cat Hair - long Size - medium Gender - female Avalon is a very loving and beautiful cat. She is spayed and is up-to-date with all her shots.If you think you have a home for a Avalon please call the shelter at 872-5543. SpayedNeutered Up-to-datewithroutineshots House trained MinnieFemaleAdult Grey and white Looking for a new home Minnie was a very scared shy cat when she first came in. She had been kept in a bedroom and was not socialized. She has come a long way but will require some patience to gain her trust. She is a great cat just not good with other animals. Contact us to talk about the back-up communications and IT solutions that are right for you. CasCom is proud to support the staff and students of AURORA COLLEGE as they work to build a better future for the Northwest Territories. By CRAIG GILBERT The GNWTs dire nancial picture came into focus Feb. 19 as Finance Minister Rob- ert C. McLeod announced he needs to nd 150 million to avoid budget decits. McLeod said in the legis- lature the governments - nances would go into the red if that cash is not found over the next ve years. Unlesswebringourspend- ingintolinewiththemoneywe arebringinginwewillhaveto startborrowingjusttofundex- istingprogramsandservices hesaid.Thatsbadscalpolicy and cant be sustained. He blamed the weak NWT economy and low commod- ity prices for starving pub- lic coers. Weneedtosupportgrowth anddiversicationintheNWT economy with investments now he said. Promoting economicgrowthandincreas- ing the tax base is important for the long-term health in own-source revenue. How- everunlesswemakechanges in expenditure management we will not have the fiscal resources to make strategic economic investments let alone sustain current pro- grams and services. He said the salaries for se- nior managers and excluded GNWTemployeeswillbefro- zen for the next two years. Northern transfers partially restored Welcome news came out of Question Period in Ottawa last week as federal Finance Minister Bill Moreau said most of the funding bound for Northern Territories lost in an accounting shue will be forthcoming after all. still faces a situation where its expendituresaregrowingfaster thanitsrevenuesaccordingto the nance minister. Not good enough Tory MP Conservative Fort McMur- ray-ColdLakeMPDavidYurd- inga issued a statement ex- pressing his concern the par- tial replacement would cause unduehardshiptoNorthern communities. He called on all Northerners to send their concerns to Morneaus oce. In the North everything costs more because goods government is going to have a hardtimeplanningifthingsof this nature can happen. The reductioninTFFfund- ing was not caused by an ac- counting mistake but rather by a routine review built into the agreement between the territorial governments and Canada. Federal transfers form the bulk of revenues for all three territorialgovernmentsabout 70 per cent of the budget in Yukon and NWT and 80 per centinNunavut.Therearesev- eral factors in the calculation that can aect the amount is- suedinagivenyearincluding population growth or decline GDP changes tax rates reve- nue collection from the North compared to the rest of Can- adaandgovernmentspending. The numbers used reached as far back as 1981 McLeod said theTFFsystemshouldbeable toreachbackacoupleofscal years but no farther. Inthiscasetheimpactwas made as a result of the new calculations in government spending which really is out- side of our ability control he said. Its not a population decline or growth that caused it its the sum of all spending byallgovernmentsinCanada which was pegged at a certain number historically but with the new technology and abil- ity to electronically calculate moreaccuratelythatestimate haschangedtoalowernumber which impacted us. McLeodsaidthesolutionwas arrived at relatively quickly in large part because of the syn- ergy of having the NWT pre- miernanceministerandhim- self as MP working together. It really brings the sense of urgency or importance to the forefront and makes it a priorityforthefederalgovern- ment he said. I was really happywewereallabletofocus in on this issue and make the case that this was something we needed to resolve. Finance minister unveils 150-million budget gap Morneau said 67 million will be distributed to the governments of Yukon the Northwest Territories and Nunavut with 24.1 million of it destined for the NWT. Northwest Territories Fi- nance Minister McLeod rst identified the issue which wouldhavereducedthe2015- 16transfertotheNWTby34 million in a meeting with Morneau last December. McLeodtoldtheJournalon Feb. 16 that the GNWT wel- comed Morneaus commit- ment to introduce legislative amendments to improve the stability and predictability of federal Territorial Formula Financing TFF payments to thethreenorthernterritories. Were appreciative of the factthattheyrestoredsomeof theTFFnancingsothatwas good news he said. While youdlikethe34million24 million is still pretty good. The GNWT had already in- cludedpartialrestorationofthe TFF in its scal planning and often have to be own in or delivered by ice roads he said. The distance between communities also drastically increasesthecostofproviding adequategovernmentservices. While continuing to shun the resource sector in the North alongwithallotherregionsof CanadatheLiberalsarepull- ingthecarpetoutfromunder the territorial governments. LiberalNorthwestTerritories MPMichaelMcLeodsaidinan interview hours after the an- nouncementthattheTFFissue has loomed large for North- erners and that he has been workingoncreatingawareness about it since learning about the unpredicted outcome of a review by Statistics Canada. So when the minister re- sponded today and indicated they had come up with a way moving forward on a bet- ter system that really made me feel good he said. We alsoneedtorecognizeweneed an agreement that allows for predictability. The territorial Unless we bring our spending into line we will have to start borrowing. Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod