Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we put in a lot of safeguards in different areas, including affirmative action, including protecting the rights of our Aboriginal people. We have obligations through Aboriginal rights through treaty obligations and treaty commitments, yet we don't know what dollars are identified. We don't know what's rolled into our budget and we can't protect if we don't know what dollars are for what. I think it's time we clarified that. Would the Finance Minister commit to a procedure to break out what dollars are for Aboriginal people in the North?

Minister responsible for the FMBS, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I can undertake to provide a list of programs that are specifically for Aboriginal people and, in most cases, give you a dollar amount for those programs. There is other funding that we get through the formulas, as I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, that is provided to us through the formula. It's up to our discretion in this House to decide how it's being spent. So it's very difficult to break out a Transportation budget and say this much of the highway is for Aboriginal people and this much is for somebody else. The best I can do, Mr. Speaker, is break out some of the programs that are specifically for Aboriginal people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can recognize that it's a very difficult exercise to go through. I think it's time that this government, including the Finance Minister, sits down with the Government of Canada and spells out what is our jurisdiction and our responsibility for our Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, otherwise we will have Ministers walk away and we won't know and we can't enforce it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for the FMBS, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, as a government, clearly we have responsibility for all people in the Northwest Territories. In addition to that, there are some specific programs that are earmarked for Aboriginal people and we have a responsibility to ensure that money is spent for the purposes that the federal government provided it to us for. The other money is for everyone. How we spend it in smaller communities, for example, where the majority of people are Aboriginal versus large centres is something that we, in this House have to decide. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. .Speaker, my understanding is that all of the communities face the shortfall rider. It goes right across the Territories. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is that shortfall based on the whole territory or is that based on the rate zones that exist today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, that shortfall is based on the cost of operating the NWT Power Corporation as a whole. The amount of the shortfall rider is based on the rate application that was put forward originally in 2001. My understanding is that applies everywhere, whether it's hydro communities or diesel communities. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the rate rider after the power subsidy applied or is it taken in before the power subsidy is applied? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, in the diesel communities, including Inuvik, power rates are adjusted back to the Yellowknife rate. The Yellowknife rate is based on the actual costs here. So the shortfall rider wouldn't be applied in the Yellowknife case; it would have increased the costs in Yellowknife, therefore the indirect effect would be to increase the costs in all of the communities across the Northwest Territories, in the diesel communities. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister in his earlier answer said this rate rider is from the whole Power Corporation funding situation and is applied to all communities. All communities, not just the diesel and gas, but all communities?

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Handley.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, the shortfall rider, in my understanding, going back to the original rate application, applies to all communities, to everyone. There is a bit of a difference in the calculation because all the diesel and gas communities are adjusted back to the Yellowknife rate for the first 700 or 1,000 kilowatts. That doesn't apply to the hydro communities which are on a lower rate. Thank you.