Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the Lahm Ridge Tower lease, I would like to go back to a little bit of background, so everybody understands. This lease was established in 1985, for a period of 10 years. It was a 10-year lease. In the fall of 1995, the lease was up. It was during the time when we were downsizing and consolidating and so forth. There was a lot of departmental restructuring going on and the North Slave regional office of Public Works and Services, who is responsible and the superintendent in charge, had then decided not to exercise the extension provision of the ten-year lease, but to continue on a month-to-month basis, which is a routine lease provision.

In late July, 1997 the owners of Lahm Ridge Investment Limited asked the regional superintendent for a ten-year lease extension, which is consistent again with the lease terms. The landlord proposed quite significant reduction in the O and M costs and replaced some of the mechanical and ventilation system which was quite favourable to the department. The regional superintendent then considered if we are going to be moving our tenants out of that office space to another one, we would lose in that regard, in the tenant improvements that were put in there and would have disrupted the tenants. Since two years had already lapsed after the ten years were over, the extension was limited to eight years. Since the extension provisions were part of the existing lease, there was no request for proposal, though it is necessary. So, the regional superintendent reached a verbal agreement with the tenant, Lahm Ridge Investment Limited in the beginning of August. A letter of understanding was signed in August as well and the eight-year extension was signed by the deputy minister and the owners of Lahm Ridge Investment Limited at the end of September. Thank you.