‘This budget shifts us from restraint to readiness,’ says Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek

“For too long, the north has been a fairytale for Canadian identity about snow and cold, dogsleds and aurora. Fairytales are not real. The true story of the North lies with its people. The people who live here and know the vastness of Canada’s northern landscape.”

— Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek’s 2026-2027 budget address

The economy of the Northwest Territories is in transition.

That’s the underlying message in Budget 2026‑27, which proposes total spending of $2.724 billion, including $2.397 billion in departmental spending and $326 million in other adjustments.

Expenditure growth is limited to less than one-per-cent compared to the previous year.

The budget increases the supplementary reserve to $210 million, to accommodate further cost pressures, and emergency‑related needs.

Budget 2026‑27 does not introduce new taxes, but several fees and some property mill rates will be indexed to inflation.

Total territorial debt is projected to reach $2.21 billion by March 31, 2027, remaining within the $3.1‑billion federal borrowing limit.

But the NWT’s credit profile is strong, with solid ratings, say senior officials.

The budget provides resources to support the priorities of the 20th Legislative Assembly, including investments in housing, health services, community safety, reconciliation initiatives, and economic development.

These include support for emergency shelters, health service capacity, wildfire response, regulatory transitions under the Mineral Resources Act, and key labour force, language, and wellness programs.

However, diamond mining is falling off the table, so the focus for the future is on three major ‘nation-building’ infrastructure projects that require federal cash. A whole lot of federal cash.

Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek is counting on good news coming from Ottawa concerning the Mackenzie Valley Highway, Taltson Hydro expansion, or the Arctic Economic Security Corridor.

“I’m expecting a lot — I do think 2026, is going to be a big year. And frankly, it has to be a big year,” Wawzonek told regional media in a pre-budget address briefing. “The federal government is saying all the right things, and have been now since the new the Carney government has taken a pretty strong position on rebuilding this nation, building the nation, (and) Arctic sovereignty.

“We’re getting a lot more questions. It’s not just us going to them, trying to get attention. I would say that there’s been a lot more questions flowing this way, which does mean there’s an obligation on this government to be answering those questions and to doing so with some urgency.”

But what if 2026 comes and goes and the feds have hummed and hawed and not come through?

Said Wawzonek: “We control the things that we can control, right? Every indication right now does seem positive. I’m prepared to go on limb and say that.

“Can I predict exactly which thing in ’26 is the big one? Certainly not, but all indications are positive, and we’ll, as I said, control things we can and then hopefully see positive results accordingly.”

Some key budget highlights of interest to the CKLB audience:

• Through Housing NWT, to more than triple the budgets for emergency shelters in Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik and Fort Simpson and more resources for a new division within the agency to address homelessness: $8.3 million.
• Transitional and supportive housing and family violence prevention: $4.1 million.
• Revitalize Indigenous languages through recruitment and retention of Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 Indigenous Language Instructors: $519,000.
• Enhance support for Indigenous governments and organizations to enable meaningful participation in GNWT-led intergovernmental meetings and processes and to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act Action Plan: $666,000.
• Enhance support for the Official Languages Board to meet its responsibilities under the Official Languages Act: $68,000.
• Increasing the budget for the Yellowknife Day Shelter and Sobering Centre by a net $460,000.
• A two-year pilot project for medical travel case management. This project will establish three Nurse Case Manager positions to provide dedicated case management with the goal to reduce avoidable medical travel costs and improve the patient experience: $486,000.
• Following the guidance of the We Always Remember Circle, a public monument honouring Residential Schools Survivors and those who were lost to their families and communities: $675,000.
• Advance negotiations for land and self-government agreements within the Northwest Territories: $200,000.
• Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act Action Plan: $350,000.

The freshwater fish industry has vast untapped potential. To continue growth in the commercial fishery sector, the budget is proposing $2.9 million to support the Hay River Fish Plant.

The plant is generating revenue, but today’s market prices for certain species of fish are low and inconnu sales to Russia were halted.

Tourism also continues to see growth and holds the potential for so much more. The budget is  proposing an additional $335,000 to support the GNWT’s Tourism 2030: Sustainable Journeys Ahead strategic plan to make the territory a premier destination for visitors from around the world.

Also proposed is $474,000 to address increased costs in park contracts and utilities, ensuring the NWT’s parks remain accessible and well-maintained.

The budget states that tourism is a prime example of where success will depend on the private sector stepping up with innovative products to showcase the territory’s abundance of spectacular nature and rich culture.

And the budget proposes $345,000 to support the film industry with permanent funding for the Film Officer at the Northwest Territories Film Commission and to restore the Producers Incentive Program.

These investments will help attract and leverage more dollars into the territory than what they cost, states a budget document.

In 2017, then Premier Bob McLeod issued his famous “red alert” as relations with the federal government over the North had chilled.

Stated McLeod at the time: “The promise of the North is fading and the dreams of Northerners are dying as we see a re-emergence of colonialism. For too long now policies have been imposed on us from Ottawa and southern Canada that, despite good intentions sometimes, and ignorance other times, are threatening our economic potential and the decades long work that we as a government have taken on Indigenous reconciliation.”

A reporter asked Wawzonek if this reference in her budget speech — “We must ensure that as the eyes of our nation look north, they do not see a fairytale, but a living, thriving homeland where people already tell their own story with strength, honesty and pride — is her own ‘red alert.’

She replied: “No, I mean, I think we’re in a very different place in terms of our relationship (with Ottawa), and I wasn’t in the government (in 2017), so perhaps I should just preface it with that it’s, it’s not a ‘red alert’ and I don’t think the federal government are looking at us as a park right now.”