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.