Thank you, Ms. Melhorn. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, but the questions that have been brought to me have to do with businesses that have been in existence for quite a few years, and that had been submitting taxes and payroll taxes. Now, two or three years later -- in one case, it is still a very rapidly growing business -- they might have been employing 10 people three years ago and are now employing 300 people. They

are advertising; they have a strong presence in the city as well as in the surrounding communities. They have been called twice within a span of two months asking if they were going to be remitting taxes. They said, of course, we are going to be paying payroll taxes or, of course we...It was done in a way that raised a question in their mind, of how the government is keeping track of people that are paying taxes. Why would there be any reason to believe that they would not be submitting any taxes and how does the government keep track? Maybe I should ask how do you know when the business goes out of business, or how do you know when the business is supposed to pay taxes?

Ms. Melhorn indicated that the department keeps track of new companies registering. I wouldn't think that every fiscal year you would be calling everybody to ask if they were going to be paying taxes. In general terms, what sort of mechanisms are there for checks and balances, to make sure that you are keeping track of businesses that are ongoing, as well as making sure that a new business is registered? I would certainly think or hope that you are not calling everybody and asking are you going to be filing taxes.

Are there inspectors out there? Is there a computer program that helps this section to do this job? I would like to have some more solid information about how, from a layperson's point of view, this work is done. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we do have programs and staff who track, as Ms. Melhorn stated, new businesses as well as older businesses in a number of ways. Without knowing the specifics of what the Member is raising, it is difficult to respond in a very specific fashion. There are times when an older company in the Northwest Territories changes ownership or registers a different portion of a company and receives a new GSN number, as we call it; a government services number, I believe is the term. That could get some calls happening. Again, initially to inform people that they need to register and hopefully they will follow through that process.

As well, if we find companies that are avoiding that, there are avenues that we use to ensure that they do end up registering. It is something that everybody has to follow in the Northwest Territories; it's not a voluntary choice. We try to use the kinder approach initially; based on that, we get into the side of enforcement, making sure that companies do register. We do have people on staff who review the files, and that is what they are doing now, is going through some of the files and ensuring that the companies are still registered and, again, there may have been change in ownership or directorship that may have changed some of the relationship and trying to make sure that we are staying on top of it. There are avenues that we do use, and we are continuing to try to improve on our methods about that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Could I just ask a question on how many people are employed by the government who actually look at making sure that people pay taxes? I don't know what they are called; inspectors. How many people are actually employed full time to make sure that employers pay the taxes that they are supposed to?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe within treasury is the area that we work on the taxation side. Total for the taxation side, I believe that we have 6 people who would work in that area. Two specifically to do with the payroll tax. Seven -- I'm actually corrected on that -- seven people work in that treasury branch that work on the taxation side; two specific to payroll tax. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I have Mr. Braden next on the list. Thank you. We will go to Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a couple of questions for the Minister. In his opening remarks, he talks about the significant efforts in 2005-2006 on the Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing. My question to the Minister is how far are you with this panel? When can we find out exactly how the negotiations are going with regard to the formula financing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the work is very dependant on the federal government and when they make final appointments to the panel. We are expecting that that would happen in the very near future. Once that is done, we expect to receive a copy of the terms of reference that would apply to that. There is a draft terms of reference right now, but we are also aware that they are beginning to work on setting up a schedule of where they would go and appear, but it is still early and we are waiting for, I believe, final appointments to that panel. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does your department work along with the drafted terms of reference right now or is that taken care of by the government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing is a federal initiative and they're working on the terms of reference. There's also another panel that's being worked on by the Council of the Federation, that being the Premiers of all provinces and territories. They're looking at another aspect of the fiscal imbalance, both vertical and horizontal. It's somewhat different than the work that's being undertaken by the federal equalization panel as it gets up and going. There are a couple of initiatives that are happening and are beginning to be moved on. We're expecting that within the year we'll have some recommendations to work with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm just wondering, I want to talk a little bit about my next question, which is with regard to the $290 million repayment on the corporate income tax. What plans are in place in order for us to repay that amount of money back? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the initial plan is one of the federal government's. They have a structured repayment plan that every jurisdiction would operate under in the area of taxes collected on behalf of jurisdictions. This one's specifically the repayment plan from the Canadian Revenue Agency. It is a three-year repayment plan base that uses population figures. The first two years, because of our population the amount is very low, but the third year is full payment. We have yet to finalize that with federal Finance. We're aware again of the conditions that do apply. That's why we've recognized it and are also recognizing it in our fiscal framework going forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Next I have Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Further to our discussion about the liquor review which is about to really get started, by my understanding. The Minister had responded and given some of the areas that the review or act covers now and, of course, that would be contained in the review. Where I'd like to go with this question as well as in terms of the scope and how inclusive and how broad this investigation is going to go. One hundred sixty thousand dollars over two years is not a lot of money from my point of view, Madam Chair, related to the overall size of the impact of the Liquor Act. I'm wondering if the kind of consultation and involvement that the Minister envisions is potentially not going to be as broad as it might be. Are we potentially choking this review back by not giving it some more funding? This is where my original question was prompted, Madam Chair, is when the Minister said we heeded cautions that this should not be a large, expensive process. I'm just trying to find out, are we going to be potentially closing off some areas of public involvement for the sake of cost and maybe even time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.