Charles Dent

Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I think it’s important to remember that the $6.6 million is over 10 years. So it’s about $660,000 a year. I don’t believe the Minister has a final plan yet for how that money would be raised, whether it’s from landing fees or an airport improvement fee. Mr. Braden suggested we have a small number of users. In fact, a couple of years ago there were 300,000 plus passengers through that air terminal building. So even if it was a couple dollars a head, you would pretty much raise that amount in an airport improvement fee. But perhaps we can ask Mr. McLeod what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of that position, I guess I should be cautious. I’m not absolutely certain, but I believe that there is one support position directly for the judge that is tied to that. I suspect that the position is already in Hay River, but I would have to confirm that for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, if I look at Friday’s, what I was talking about was the amount per square metre, which I believe is proprietary information in a lease and that is not normally released. Earlier today Ms. Lee quoted a number. I was careful not to use that number, I believe, myself, but did say that the amount that we had signed for was within a few dollars of what the estimate had been per square metre that it would cost. When I look at Friday’s Hansard, it appears to me that Ms. Lee is the one again that used the number. Mr. Roland didn’t appear to. All I can say, Mr...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this amount of money was approved by special warrant before Public Works and Services went out with the RFP. It would not be appropriate for Public Works and Services to advertise for somebody to supply space if we didn’t have the money to actually take it. So this estimate was done this summer, well before there was any knowledge of who or what space would be used. That is the normal process for making sure that we have a budget before the government advertises for somebody to provide us with a service or a space. We have to have the budget in place...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In terms of when this was initially started, the Minister already said today that we were advised, and he believes in December of 2003, of the necessity to add the equipment. I suspect that the department, over a period of months, developed a more detailed plan when they came to understand just how much space that equipment was going to take up in the existing building. The deadline to have it in operation, or else all airplanes leaving Yellowknife may not land at another national airport, is the beginning of January 2006. So we have just over a year before flights...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since I have heard nothing to indicate, I would expect that Justice Schmaltz is expecting to take up residence in Hay River no later than April 1, 2005, which was the stipulation when she was offered the position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when that submission initially came forward in May, the FMBS was inclined to reject it because they said it wasn’t complete enough particularly on the capital side. So I was able to convince my colleagues that at the very least we should be able to approve the money for the operations, and that I would come back and I sought their approval to be able to come back with a separate submission on the cost of tenant improvements because I explained to them the timelines. If it wasn’t approved at that meeting, it wouldn’t make it into the supplementaries in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The $115,000 is an estimate provided by Public Works and Services for the cost of tenant improvements for the space.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’m not aware of the terms and conditions in the contract for the restaurant space, nor am I aware of what the plans are for that space through this. So perhaps I could refer the question to Minister McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I am not prepared to address that kind of question in this House. I would submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that this issue has been addressed in this House where a person is named in this House who has no possibility of representing themselves here, and I believe that in the past the Speaker has ruled that that is not admissible. I believe that this is the same situation, because we have now identified two individuals very clearly and they have no way of addressing that in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.