Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department does review tax options and other revenue initiatives on an annual basis and bring forward items for discussion with the Minister.

General comments. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we hear the Minister of Finance refer to the shortage of revenues and the limited revenue generating opportunities for this government and we do hear reference to increasing the tax

window and we never hear numbers attached to that. We just hear it referred to in rather vague generalities. I was wondering if the Minister could elaborate for us a little bit as to what kind of significance in terms of dollars does he think such negotiations could produce? It is just something we hear about in very general terms. I wonder if you could be more specific.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is difficult to say what the magnitude of the numbers would be. If we were to take ownership of $100 million in new revenues, we would currently benefit to the tune of $20 million. We would certainly like to see that tax window increase to $40 million, $50 million or, even $60 million. However, I am not sure if, we will ever be able to convince the federal government that it should be at those levels. If we achieve that through resource royalties or something tied to resources, we will have to discuss with aboriginal governments how it is shared. The number is very, very difficult to project at this point. Right now, the bottom line is $20 million for every $100 million in new revenues. I would certainly like to see that increased and that would be our goal, but it is tough to say what we might see without having had an opportunity to pitch the case to the federal government along with our partners.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Is the Minister indicating that this increase in the tax window has never been pitched to the federal Minister of Finance in the past.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I have no doubt that Mr. Todd tried to convince Mr. Martin we should have a tax window of 40 percent, but he received no agreement from Mr. Martin. The initiative still has to be followed up in much more detail with us demonstrating to the federal government how, by increasing the tax window and by having owners share control and ownership of the resources, that we will find a way to increase the size of the whole fiscal pie enough that both Canada and the Northwest Territories can benefit.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mrs. Groenewegen.

So 40 percent going from 20 percent to 40 percent was what was previously bandied about. I suppose with preliminary or exploratory discussions with the federal finance Minister, so would that still be a reasonable goal?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman I venture to say that after Ottawa reads Hansard and my comments today, we may be lucky to get 30 percent. I hate to try to negotiate publicly, as it would weaken our chance to move this along.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, hopefully they will not read Hansard for today, but I just did not have a clear picture in my mind when we talk about this tax window, I did not have a clear mind of the kinds of dollars that could be anticipated if we were successful in arriving at some kind of arrangement and agreement here in the north and with Canada at some time in the future. So that is helpful and I appreciate the Minister's information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Minister.

I take that as a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. What is the wish of the committee? Detail. We are on page 3-9 the directorate to be summary operations and maintenance $1.049 million. Page 3-9, we are dealing with the Department of Finance, activity summary directorate, operations and maintenance, $1.049 million. Agreed?

Page 3-11, treasurer, operations and maintenance, $4.801 million. Agreed.

Page 3-15, fiscal policy, operations and maintenance, $697,000. Agreed?

Bureau of Statistics, operations and maintenance, $566,000. Agreed?