As we've discussed already, the Government of the Northwest Territories doesn't control the royalty regime in the Northwest Territories right now; it's under federal control. Obviously, we want to transfer that responsibility through devolution. Ultimately we would be looking to have control of the royalty regime in the Northwest Territories.
We need to recognize that the north is a frontier area. To make direct comparisons with other jurisdictions in Canada or other parts of the world, you'd have to take into account the fact that we're a frontier area and have no infrastructure. Right now, in the absence of the Mackenzie gas project, there's no way to get the natural gas from the Beaufort Delta to markets. So companies that are exploring are doing so without having a way to actually get it to market right now. All of that has to be taken into account. There's also the lack of transportation infrastructure, the lack of energy infrastructure. It all makes this a different environment for resource companies than the south. These differences would have to be taken into account.
With respect to a heritage fund, our government is looking at options. Our minister of finance announced in his last budget that a heritage fund is something our government wants to look at. Within the Department of Finance, we have been looking at how it might work.
