The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do not have an up-to-date office plan now since we have decided not to go with the sale of the Laing building. The department is still developing a revised office plan at this point in time. We do not have a plan at this time yet. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this decision which was made recently, I have shared this information with the honourable Members during the committee hearing last week. At that time I did indicate with my staff, that since the changes, we are revising the plan and as a result of the two bids that came in that were unsatisfactory, we had to relook at the plan and readjust our plan of action and we are working on a new revised plan at the time. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you. It was difficult to anticipate the result of the request for a proposal at the time that it was issued, Mr. Speaker, because the appraised value was substantially higher than the two bids that came in. At that point in time with the appraised value, we thought that if we

could get something close to that it would be satisfactory. As a result of the request for proposal that did not happen. As a result we had to relook at the situation after the request for proposal process was complete and evaluation done by the department and it was recommended that we have to relook at the plan of action.

Looking at the numbers over the next ten years, it was deemed that the best value for money was to retain the Arthur Laing building and utilize it. After all, Mr. Speaker, we are still in the stage where we are very strapped for cash and it would have been more expensive to sell the Laing building for the price that it would have come in at the same time as trying to get more office spaces in the private sector market. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member mentioned a number of $3.8 million, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this figure has not been approved by the FMB yet. It is an estimated value of what the department had come up with and it is still in part of the revised office plan. It has not come for a decision before the FMB yet. This is not approved yet, so it is still in the planning stages. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to Mr. Arlooktoo, the Acting Premier of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, we have just concluded a conflict of interest commission. It has been noted in the press that there is probably a figure of legal costs of under $1 million. My question to the Premier is, is there an update on that figure at the present time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, this is not under your responsibility, but perhaps you might want to respond? Mr. Arlooktoo.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You are completely right, the cost for the conflict inquiry, because it was done under the auspices of the Legislative Assembly, is a responsibility of the Management Services Board. I can generally pass on, from just my knowledge, that the actual invoices, I believe, will be for the conflict of interest hearing a little over $1 million. We are, at this point in time, trying to tally up the costs to government for the work that the government did on behalf of the Conflict of Interest Commission, in terms of requests for information, et cetera, and we do not yet have a complete total. As an estimate and as a round figure, those we expect to be an additional $1 million or close to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Acting Premier for that information. I certainly do understand, Mr. Speaker, it is not part of his responsibility, but as there is no one else within the government that we can ask these questions of, I choose to ask them of the Deputy Premier.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of the public who are outraged at the costs we have spent to date on this particular action. I would like the Acting Premier to give assurances to this House and to the Members of the public of the Northwest Territories that, indeed, the costs of this inquiry are finished, that the clocks of the lawyers have been turned off, other than the lawyers who are defending an action that may be brought to the courts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I have to remind the Member that the Member cannot make an assurance on behalf of the Assembly. He can only make assurance on behalf of the government. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, you are correct. On the government side what we are trying to do is, review the process and review the areas that were referred to in the conflict of interest report and see where immediately that the government can make changes or improvements on. That is work that is going on, but we are doing it in a way that will try to ensure that we do not influence in any way the proceedings that will be coming up here in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.