Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Any source of revenue whatsoever that they have, any secure source of revenue, it's possible for them to leverage.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The taxation is any type of taxation that a first nation is able to raise. For instance, in my own community, the taxation is on the businesses, the residential. Any type of tax that is normally collected by a local government is able to be leveraged. It's a certain percentage of that, of course, that would be available for leveraging.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It will be by choice. It will be for the ones that want to do this.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The figure that we've given you with this pie chart is actually a percentage of the total. We did it as an example of what we would be able to do with say 20% of that budget. But it's more than what you could do with the budget, because now it's being spent on shovel-ready projects and in cash on a yearly basis.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, not unless we have the regulations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, all sources of revenue.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. We are ready to do the property taxation now, but what we're now doing is expanding on our other mandates, which is the other revenues, and also for other people with arrangements other than property tax--for self-governing, treaty, and other groups to be able to take their regulation and fit it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are two things we need. We need to be able to complete that regulation as quickly as possible, because we do have first nations right now across the country, as we've said, who are willing to use this now and leverage their own source revenues. The second thing we need is the stimulus fund.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's just to secure the time of the bureaucrats to be able to finalize the regulations. It's already drafted; the final strokes just have to be put on it and then it goes through the system, of course, through the Department of Justice, etc., to be finalized. The draft is with the Department of Indian Affairs at this time.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It has been. A gentleman by the name of Paul Salembier has been working on the file with us. He is under contract to the Department of Indian Affairs to do that, from the justice section. But now it would still have to be formalized through the regulation process.