Nunavut Finance Minister Keith Peterson unveiled what he called a "transition budget" Thursday with no tax increases or job cuts from the territorial civil service despite the global recession.

Peterson's budget is his first as finance minister and a first for Premier Eva Aariak's government. It was presented to the legislative assembly Thursday in Iqaluit.

"We're going to provide a lot of stability with this budget," Peterson told reporters on Thursday.

The budget sets out $1.25 billion in spending this budget year and a projected deficit of $29.1 million. Peterson said the deficit is to be expected because of the recession and a drop-off in the territory's mining sector.

Budget spending highlights include $8.6 million toward implementing some key legislation that was passed recently: a new Education Act, a new Official Languages Act and legislation aimed at protecting the Inuit languages of Inuktitut and Inuinaqtun.

Another $8.5 million will be spent on health care, and $2 million will go towards promoting Nunavut at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.

$300M for infrastructure

The territorial government plans to invest in itself, spending $2 million on training civil servants in technical fields such as accounting and information systems.

The budget also sets aside $300 million for capital projects, the most in Nunavut's 10 years as a territory.

"We're probably going to have $300 million worth of infrastructure development this year, so that'll create a lot of jobs," Peterson said.

"We're sending the message out that Nunavut is a stable environment to invest in."

The budget also includes the promise of a territory-wide recycling program.

Peterson said while doom and gloom dominate economic news in the south, his budget shows that Nunavut is on solid ground this fiscal year.