Nunavut budget: Finance minister wants Ottawa to fund infrastructure projects

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Nunavut’s finance minister used his budget speech Wednesday to ask the federal government for more money to fund infrastructure projects that will help the territory pay more of its own bills.

“We know that the federal government is open to projects that make a difference in people’s lives,” said the text of Keith Peterson’s speech, his ninth budget address.

Peterson said the territory will post a minuscule surplus in 2017-18 of $2 million on revenues of $1.98 billion — essentially a balanced budget.

But he warned that’s due to federal transfers, which are responsible for all but $200 million of the Nunavut government’s income. Those revenues are expected to grow more slowly in the future, he said.

Increases in the territorial financing formula are to shrink to three per cent annually from five per cent. Health transfer money is to fall to three per cent from six per cent.

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“In the future, we should expect federal funding increases to be very modest.”‘

Peterson said that despite low commodity prices, Nunavut’s mining industry is showing signs of healthy growth. Two gold mines and an iron mine are now producing and several others are moving forward.

The Conference Board of Canada predicts 4.9 per cent growth for Nunavut this year, outpacing the Canadian average.

Well-chosen transportation projects could unlock even more Arctic mineral wealth along with jobs and royalties, Petersen suggested.

“We will find our own way, but we are not there today.”

Long-awaited ports are under construction in Iqaluit and Pond Inlet.

Other projects include a proposed port at Grays Bay on the Nunavut mainland along the Northwest Passage together with a road into the mineral-rich tundra — a $500-million investment.

The speech said a much-discussed all-weather road from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to the Nunavut coast would cost $2 billion but lead to $40 billion in development.

A road from Manitoba to communities along the coast of Hudson Bay is also under discussion.  

The speech pointed out that 10,000 Nunavummiut are in school and will need jobs.

“We need a great deal more economic growth, steadily and over time … That compels us to plan wisely and to invest carefully so that our children will find, and create, opportunity.”

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow @row1960 on Twitter

The Canadian Press