Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, during question period, I had asked Minister Antoine for some
clarification on the office space plan in Yellowknife and I made reference to a memo dated February 24th. It provides an overview of where the departments are located within the inventory of the office space in Yellowknife. Also attached to it was information on where the pockets of space are, the surplus, in other words. It also had a statement in that particular letter that the Yellowknife office space plan is intended to bring the departments together so that all staff occupies space in one particular building. When I sought clarification on this, I got some heckling from the other side that said well, read the letter, read the letter. I had the letter in front of me, Mr. Speaker, and I reread it and reread it. Now, I used to be in the editing business and I spent many years in that. I thought, well, perhaps there is something wrong here, maybe I am missing something. Let me read it to you, Mr. Speaker.
There is a 10,000 square foot surplus of space in Lahm Ridge Tower, a building currently occupied by Education, Culture and Employment and the Department of Transportation. However, the Department of Transportation is staffed in a variety of buildings around Yellowknife and the intention within this office space plan is to bring them together in the Lahm Ridge Tower, so they can all work together. Similarly, Education, Culture and Employment have staff in a variety of locations around the community. Those will all be consolidated within the Lahm Ridge Tower.
Then, I went to the allocations of where the departments are located, and I find that the Department of Transportation has a total of 20,879 square feet in other buildings and Education has 13,414 located in different buildings. My point is, Mr. Speaker, there is a total of 34,293 square feet located in other buildings that they are going to squeeze into 10,000 square feet in the one building, in the Lahm Ridge Tower. That is the reason I was seeking clarification. I cannot figure out, I must have some difficulty reading because I cannot figure out where I am going wrong when the Members tell me to read the letter. I just do not understand that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.