Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm pleased to have the opportunity to question you on this bill. It's something I have put forward in good faith to give our territory a chance to assert itself in terms of its fiscal capacity, its responsible nature, and its plans for the future. Of course, all of those come together for any government in this country, and I certainly believe that our government is a government.
Over the years we have needed to rely on federal financing through a process similar to equalization to ensure our government can protect the interests of our citizens over 1.4 million square kilometres of a vast land that has very expensive infrastructure requirements and very expensive requirements for its citizens as well. You know that.
When we talk about the 76%, that includes all of what Mrs. Melhorn has spoken to. Is that not correct? In terms of the royalties you accrued on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, the federal government collects all those. On the Normal Wells field, you collect between $100 million and $150 million a year. On the diamond fields, which you are totally responsible for, you set the royalty rate. You collect the money. That's a $2 billion industry.
You talked about the relative rates of royalties and taxation. In terms of the 76%, does that also include the dollars you collect in taxation?