Some MLAs doubt N.W.T. gov'ts plan to find savings from within

Some MLAs are casting doubt on the N.W.T. government's ambitious plan for evaluating programs, and whether itwill meaningfullyimprove the territory's finances.

"I just can't see it resulting in the kinds of significant and fundamental fiscal changes that are needed to put the [Northwest Territories government] on a more sustainable path," said Frame Lake MLA Kevin O'Reilly of the so-called Government Renewal Initiative.

Under the initiative, officials are taking an inventory ofprograms and servicesand evaluating themfor a better understanding of their costs and benefits.

In theory, the data collected will inform future budgets by helping the government determine where its money can make the greatest impact.

But in practice, the exercise is taking longer than expected. Plus, with no reported target other than to "measure the success," as a Finance spokesperson put it, of programs and services, the project has some MLAs skeptical it will result in significant savings.

In the legislature last month, Yellowknife North MLA Rylund Johnson said looking for savings that don't involve cuts to programs and services was a "noble" yet unrealistic goal.

"We need to be talking about tens of millions of dollars, and I'm not convinced there are easy, magical efficiencies or pots of money to be found by scrutinizing government budgets," he said.

"If there were, I think we would have found them already."

Meanwhile, Canada's inflation rate is spiking and the N.W.T.'s debt is ballooning.

The territory is projected to exceed its borrowing limit of $1.8 billion in four to five years, and it's not a sure thing that the federal government will increase it.

Gov't looking to build better budgets

In October of 2020, while reeling from the initial economic shocks of COVID-19, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek pitched the Government Renewal Initiative as an effort to help course-correct the territory's finances.

The government would take stock of everything it's doing, and then rethink how it allocates its cash.

Instead of incrementally increasing or decreasing departments' budgets each year, money should be handed out based on "how effectively programs and services give value to residents," she said at the time.

This week, Wawzonek elaborated on that plan.

She said the Management Board Secretariat, which is responsible for budget planning and reporting, is overseeing the initiative and will work with departments on their program evaluations.

She said the effort has been "largely funded internally."

The Finance Department spokesperson wrote in an email that the department added two full-time positions to help with the project, at a total cost of about $326,000 per year.

They said external consultants may be required at some point, but haven't been used yet.

Plan light on details, says MLA

A more practical explanation of the project isn't publiclyavailable on the government's website, and MLAs couldn't offer many more details.

"It's only been described to us at a very high level," said O'Reilly.

He said a bit more information has been released to elected officials and government employees, but little has been reported publicly.

O'Reilly said he wants to know more about the evaluation criteria, specifically.

"What determines [whether] something is successful or not?" he said. "I've seen very little detail of any of that."

Wawzonek has described the initiative as a "whole-of-government" review a bureaucraticway of saying departments will work toward the shared goal of spending more wisely.

This approach could have gained favour with Great Slave MLA Katrina Nokleby, who's been critical of the government's tendency to work in silos.

It hasn't.

"[Going] to all the departments to ask them what they want to see change, and what they think is important it's striking me that we're doing this in a silo, again," she said.

"I think the departments will double down on what they think is important for their department,not maybe looking at the bigger picture as a whole."

Evaluations won't be done before next election

Nokleby also pointed out that if the evaluations aren't finished before the end of this assembly, there's no obligation for the next assembly to carry on with this work.

According to a timeline tabled in the Legislative Assembly, assessments won't be complete until March of 2025.

The next territorial election is set for Oct. 3, 2023.

"It's taking longer than people would like for sure, but that's because the magnitude of the task is so big," said Wawzonek, adding she's hopeful the next assembly will finish the job.

Regardless, Wawzonek insisted, the effort is worth it. She said the plan right now is to integrate data gathered into business plans, as that information comes in.

She also reinforced the point that making decisions based on evidence is a "core value" of the Legislative Assembly.

"It's just that doing that evidence-based decision making means gathering the evidence, and that's hard," she said.

"That takes time."