Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another question regarding staff housing. We expected revenue from staff housing around $20 to $24 million. How much money have we collected to this date? Thank you.

I do not have that number here, Mr. Chairman. I could provide that to my honourable colleague if he asks me the question in question period, tomorrow. Thank you.

Yes, I would be able to answer all these questions under FMBS because they are responsible for the sale of staff housing. We would have no problem answering those very detailed questions at that time. Thank you.

It will be done by the Department of Finance.

It will be done by the Department of Finance, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I mean nobody is more aware of where our money is being spent than I am, Mr. Chairman. The last two years we have gone through a great deal of anguish trying to protect, if you want, the social envelope to the best of our ability, based on the revenues that we both generate and get from the federal government.

I think the federal government is very much aware of the dilemma and the difficulties we are currently in. In our formula financing discussions right now for two new territories, one of the big arguments that all parties are making to the table is the adequacy argument. That is to talk about where we spend our money, the kind of factors that determine where these expenditures are coming from and the impact they will have if we do not keep up a certain level so we can address this. We are talking about addressing the essential needs of people, housing, education, health care, et cetera.

For me, from a very personal level, I think the most difficult task we have had over the years and certainly the last two or three and one that consistently, in my opinion has not been addressed as well as it should, is on the revenue side. You cannot continually go to the federal government, cap in hand, and continue to ask for more and more money in a time when all other jurisdictions are being cut. We have to take our lumps, if you want, the same as everybody else did across the country.

I would suggest, Mr. Chairman, that what I have been trying to do the last little while is to look at areas where we can increase our revenue base and the nonrenewable resource sector is certainly one that we must become, in my opinion, more aggressive in, not only in this legislature but in future legislatures.

I think at the same time, parallel with that, you have to demonstrate to Ottawa, who as others have said, give us 74 percent or 75 percent of our revenues, that you can prudently manage your dollars. I think that is what we have done. You cannot continue to pour money into the social envelope at the rate we are doing without trying to address the root causes of why we are in this situation we are in. That is not without a great deal of risk. My colleagues, particularly my colleague Mr. Ng, and Mr. Dent and others, have the unenviable task of trying to live within their means and meet the new demands that have been placed upon them because of the population explosion. So, it is not an easy task. It is a combination between trying to convince the federal government that we have an arguable case, and that is what we are doing right now as we speak particularly on the adequacy side, and looking at how we spend government dollars as we are currently spending them and can we spend them better. We have to constantly take a hard look at that. The third part, to me, anyway, looking on the revenue side, where can we increase our ability to be less dependent on transfer of payments? I am certainly working very aggressively on that side. It is a combination of all three, Mr. Chairman, I think. At the end of the day, you never get everything that you ask for, but I am confident that we will get reasonable and adequate levels of funding to sustain the level of services we have become accustomed to from the federal government in our negotiations. I feel, certainly, from a western perspective, if you look at the development that is going on, there is certainly an inordinate opportunity there in the tax window, particularly as it relates to the nonrenewable resource base. I think, in the future with Nunavut, similar things could happen, particularly with some of the exploration that is going on in gold and other minerals across the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think I would respond in two ways. One I would say that this legislature, myself included, really was left with a challenge of trying to balance the books and bring some fiscal order to the day, and, I believe, despite some of the criticism and some of the concerns, that we have done that. If we put as much energy into looking at new revenues in certain areas as we did into doing the difficult task of cutting, I think we could be reasonably successful. Mr. Ootes is correct. The one area that does bring promise is on the nonrenewable side. As early as last week, I was in discussion with Mr. Martin on the tax window and I have spoken to this House about this before. Mr. Morin is aggressively pursuing the devolution and the transfer of federal employees in the oil, gas and minerals industry. So, there is a fairly aggressive strategy on our part to move expeditiously and aggressively in trying to get the federal government to move some of these responsibilities, to give us the tax window that we require to generate more revenues to be less self-sufficient. I do not know, I am an optimist. Maybe it is because we are moving into, hopefully, optimistic times. I think, with a good solid argument, we will be able to demonstrate to the federal government that this is both good for them and good for us. I would hope that, particularly, if you look on the diamond side, these are what we call incremental revenues. These are revenues that were not expected, revenues that the federal government is projecting. I think somewhere, if my memory serves me right, there is $4 billion in one mine alone in terms of tax revenues. We just want in that tax window, and if we get there, and that certainly would be my hope, if nothing else, set the stage. If we do not achieve it in the next twelve months, something to set the stage for the new legislatures to get there. I think it bodes well for new revenues, the size and magnitude that it would require to continue to deliver services to the people. But at the same time, again talking personally, when you look at the social envelope, we have to address the root causes. You just cannot keep pouring money in there. You have to address the root causes, and that is what, I believe, my colleagues, the Ministers who are charged with this task are trying to do.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on page four of the Budget Address, the Minister states that our staff represents our most valuable resource. With these new source revenues that the Minister talked about earlier, I wonder, is there anything that we are going to be able to do, as I said earlier in my reply to the Budget Address, to help our employees fiscally? As the Minister says in his Budget Address, our staff represent our most valuable resource. I think a valuable resource should be helped out fiscally, and when I say fiscally, I guess I mean in the wallet, and right now it is a great time to address this because, indeed, we are under negotiations. So, I am wondering if Mr. Todd has looked at any way of these new source revenues mentioned earlier to Mr. Ootes about helping our much valuable resources, as he says. Thank you.

My point I was trying to make with respect to the staff was the difficult task that they all had to endure over the last two years, and I applaud them for the support they gave us, and also, of course, some of the difficulties and some of the hard work they are going to have to put in, in the next twelve months as we move towards division. Mr. Picco knows full well that we are in current sensitive negotiations with the union with respect to the collective bargaining agreement, so it really would be inappropriate for me to make any comment as to the degree of compensation, if you want, that will unfold as we move forward through these negotiations. What I will say is, I have given direction to the staff to negotiate a reasonable agreement that is affordable with respect to the collective agreement and an affordable, sustainable agreement on the pay equity side. Thank you.