Mr. Speaker, there was no question that the Department of Finance realized that Iqaluit could not meet its financial obligations. This was the issue we were dealing with, but we were also aware that it was not all of the issue. We were faced with the task of having to write off some $4 million in interest payments that the town of Iqaluit could not pay us.
We were also aware that there were some other problems at that time. We were talking about up to another $1 million that this municipality may not be able to cover. As late as yesterday, I was told by somebody from Iqaluit -- and not a government employee, I might add -- that amount may go as high as another $2.4 million. The Department of Finance was gravely concerned about the state of the finances of the town of Iqaluit.
To answer the specific question that Mr. Lewis has put to me through you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Allooloo's options were to come back to the Financial Management Board with more information. The board did not turn down the issue, simply because we knew that, sooner or later, we were going to have to make an arrangement with this particular municipality for at least $4 million.
There was just no way they could actually pay us. We knew that. So, what we were requesting from Mr. Allooloo at that time was for the consideration and further information. We felt we did have some more time to enable him to go away and to come back with that particular submission. His options at that time were to go away and come back to us and fulfil the information that we requested. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.