Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the space occupied by the GNWT users is relatively the same, approximately 320 square metres less would be what we would look at for our current requirement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 1, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 2005-2006, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised a significant point. In operations, the Tlicho Government, as he stated, has difficulty from time to time dealing with the daily changing plans of individuals and our elders in trying to accommodate those.

On a larger scale, the Government of the Northwest Territories and our system has even greater difficulty making those small changes. That is why we need to try to arrange a plan that would work for both parties and is a little more difficult than initially stated. One of the other areas we could look at is possibly our contract...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the building as it exists now is the total size of 4,488 square metres. The GNWT portion of that is: the district education council section is 1,469 square metres; Education, Culture and Employment is 344 square metres; Aurora College is 429 square metres; Department of Justice is 105 square metres.

For the non-government users: the John Tetso Memorial Library is 233 square metres; Open Door Society is 365 square metres; Multi Media Centre Society is 27 square metres; and, cultural centre is 187 square metres. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, ultimately we need to find space. Spaces where we’re occupied at this time we would lose the opportunity to use that space. Going out for a tender at this time we still wouldn’t have a building in place for more than a year to complete what’s required. I suggest we’d be lucky to get it completed and people moved in in two years if we were to pull something off the shelf and just say we need so much square footage office space. There is some office space, there’s a learning centre. So there’s different types of spaces here that are required, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the detail as to who we actually were in discussions with. I know we monitored the situation and other CRTC hearings for those types of decisions that would have impact on the service providers in the Northwest Territories. I can get that information for the Member and provide it later. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As to the numbers, the paper that’s been handed out to Members now, the total space used now is 4,488 square metres. That includes government and non-government. The portion of the government usage is split out and, as I read out earlier, the amount of square footage that are occupied by GNWT users and then the square footage by non-GNWT users. There are sections of the building that was involved in a fire in the past and sections of that building have been not used since then, and it’s not our intent to renovate that portion of the building or to do the repairs to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that fact is that NorthwesTel is the only largest service provider in the Northwest Territories for our phone systems, aside from cell phones and so on. We are of the opinion that the Northwest Territories is a high cost service area, and that needs to be recognized and continue to be recognized. If it happens to be NorthwesTel operating here, they'll be the company that would benefit. If we have other companies who want to get involved in the North, we would look at that as well. Our position is that the Northwest Territories is a high cost area and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a result of the Member’s work and questions earlier in this House, I have already contacted the Department of Human Resources that deals with pay and benefits section. They are trying to make contact with the Tlicho Community Services Agency and their CEO and we will begin that process as soon as we can set up an appropriate time to get together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.