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.