Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That would be the Treasury Board Secretariat that you'd need to talk to about that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To be honest with you, I don't know. You'd have to talk to someone from the compensation group at Treasury Board Secretariat about that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The health and social transfer is on a per capita basis and is available to the provinces and the territories. The territorial formula for financing is a separate one that goes to just the three territories, as I said. It totals about $2.5 billion. That one is calculated differently.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It is on the spending side, yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I appreciate what you're taking on. Again, I think the frame is still there, and I think you can go to some of the things we've done and say, clearly, housing is an issue in the north, perhaps more than in the south. We recognized that in the last budget by providing a specific fund for housing in the north—$100 million for Nunavut, and $50 million for the Yukon and the Northwest Territories—recognizing that the housing needs of the north are greater than they are in the south.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I wouldn't have thought that it was double. I don't have any numbers in front of me on what the consumer price is, on average. It's going to vary, obviously, from community to community as well. The price levels in Yellowknife versus Baker Lake are going to be quite different. Certainly Statistics Canada would have information on price levels across all communities, but not on all that many.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think you'll find—and again, I can speak about Yellowknife—that Yellowknife has one of the highest, if not the highest, per capita incomes for a city in this country. There's a push-pull thing there. You know, how much of that is reflecting the costs? But it does have one of the higher, if not the highest, per capita income.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can't comment on the specifics of the negotiations other than to say that Indian and Northern Affairs is in negotiations with the Government of the Northwest Territories on devolution right now--well, not right now, but the department is in ongoing negotiations, and as part of those, we would have discussions on the net fiscal benefit side of the equation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that's akin to the earlier question. I think there are a lot of issues. It's a hard question to answer; there's no one piece of information or one single obstacle. You have to look at the whole picture of what makes an economy strong: it's education, it's infrastructure, but there are also social issues around there that need to be looked at.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We've certainly put out a few economic documents over the years on that. I think the framing questions, quite frankly, are the same questions you ask throughout the country. What are the preconditions for a strong economy? What do you need? Well, you need a skilled workforce, you need infrastructure, you need a competitive tax system, and all of those things.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, the purpose of the formula is largely to help provide services. So we're not looking for, if you will, a direct return on that. But certainly we could provide you with information about estimates. I'll have to check if Statistics Canada breaks down revenues from each provincial jurisdiction.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not actually familiar with the corporate tax system. I'd have to get back to you on that aspect.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We'll have to come back to you on that question also. It's a bit technical.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The negotiations between the government and the Northwest Territories on devolution more broadly are ongoing. Those are led by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on behalf of the Government of Canada. On our approach on resource revenue sharing, the principles and the net fiscal benefit were actually laid out in the budget 2007.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The way the formula works is that we're measuring their gross expenditure needs. We have a measure of their expenditure needs that starts with their 2006-07 base, and we grow that forward. Then we deduct from that what we call their revenue-raising capacity. The extent to which the economy expands or contracts in the north is what affects their revenue measure under the formula.