Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the presenters here, because they do represent the future of the Northwest Territories in many ways. Mining will be a very strong industry in the north, and we all hope that we can solve many of the issues you're facing here. There's no question about that.
You know, I have to say that I served on the original regulatory board for approvals in 2000, when it was first promulgated. In those days we did manage to get through a number of environmental assessments in a very orderly fashion. It has devolved from that point to the situation that we have today. Some of it is capacity, and I think everybody in the Northwest Territories says that. In fact, the federal government this year is reducing the resources available to the board, so we may find that the capacity will actually be even further hindered.
We do need many things attached to that, and I don't want to take the time up with that right now. I wanted to question you a little bit more about some other issues, because you've talked about these quite well.
Ms. Jones, why is the federal government such a large partner with us in the Northwest Territories? Is it because the federal government still collects the royalties and retains the royalties from most of the activities that go on in the Northwest Territories?