Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I will hold people to account for passing on the subsidy. For the ones who overcharge on delisted products, the market will have to bear it out, and through personal orders people will be able to shop in other areas.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The eligible communities were selected based on the 2009-10 data from Canada Post, which we received in September. There was an initial list put out in May, but it was basically reconfirmed. The communities that received 15,000 kilograms of shipments through the food mail program

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We'll do it through the data collection, yes, but--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  --they weren't really excluded: they weren't in the program initially. So they didn't lose anything in this.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What was more likely to have been happening was that a retailer found cheaper ways of shipping goods into that community than Canada Post, or more efficient ways.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Right--because if shipping was higher in those other communities, our subsidies would bring those down towards competitive, but if there are major changes, then we'll reassess it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Talk to me and my staff.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  And the agreements will be between.... The retailers will have data, and we'll be collecting it through them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It was the major weakness under the food mail program. We had no data on what was actually happening and we couldn't measure the success of the program—or its failure, for that matter.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The plan is to release the rates by September 1. We issued fact sheets to all the retailers in the first week of June on how the program was going to work, and we've been engaging them all summer.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The rates will be comparable to the existing ones. I can't really tell one company the rate and not the other, because of competitive advantage. But the three or four larger companies have seen how we're doing this and they're comfortable at this point where we're at.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  By December 1, along with the rates, we'll be publishing criteria for the recipients for the selection of those so that they'll know what they're signing on to as we negotiate the new contribution agreements. Your question was about eligible retailers...and that criteria will d

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The weaknesses of the former program were things related to accountability: being able to track what was being shipped and being able to report on some of the health indicators and whatnot. The current program will start addressing that. Old Crow will still be subject to the sa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As you know, the Government of Canada does not set the price. We're in a free market world, so we do not set the price on anything much in our society. However, in the claims processing, the companies we sign up in the program will have a contribution agreement that will give us

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Correct. In our contribution agreements, the Government of Canada has the right to audit all recipients under the Federal Accountability Act and other terms and conditions set out by Treasury Board that apply. All that aside, from our dealings with the major companies in this ma