Launching a comprehensive review

Consultations on Territorial Formula Financing

From the outset, the Panel made a commitment to actively engage a wide variety of people and organizations in the review process. One member of the Panel, Dr. Michael Percy, was explicitly charged with responsibility for taking the lead on identifying and addressing territorial issues.

As part of the consultations, the Panel:

• Held initial consultations with representatives of the three territorial governments in April 2005

• Held a roundtable discussion with 47 participants in Yellowknife on August 25, 2005

By painting a picture of the uniqueness of the territories, our hope is that readers of this report will gain not only a better appreciation of the North today but also will understand the context for the Panel’s recommendations on restructuring the TFF program.

• Met with the Premier and Minister of Finance of Yukon and Ministers of Finance from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

• Met with officials from the Government of Nunavut in Iqaluit to get a clearer understanding of their unique needs and challenges

• Met with officials from the federal Department of Finance

• Gathered extensive information from the territories through their joint submission, follow-up discussions, and review of detailed information and analyses

• Reviewed submissions from academics, other groups, and interested individuals

A list of participants in the consultation process is included in Annex 1.

Throughout this extensive process, members of the Panel learned about TFF, about its importance to the territories and the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach. But perhaps just as important, the Panel gained a deeper understanding of the unique challenges of the North, the territories’ aspirations to achieve self-reliance and financial self-sufficiency, the complexity of the issues involved, and their strong desire to create a better future for all people in the territories.

So that’s where this report begins. By painting a picture of the uniqueness of the territories, our hope is that readers of this report will gain not only a better appreciation of the North today but also will understand the context for the Panel’s recommendations on restructuring the TFF program.

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