Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mrs. Groenewegen on April 23, 1999.

Report of the Minister of Public Works and Services on Issues Raises by the Conflict of Interest Commissioner

1. The decision to proceed with an independent third party review of the issues raised in the Report of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner was taken by the deputy minister of the Department of Public Works and Services in consultation with the former Minister of Public Works and Services, the Honourable Floyd Roland.

2. The legal consultant was recommended by the Financial Management Board Secretariat and chosen by the Department of Public Works and Services after consultation with the Department of Justice. Cabinet approved award of the negotiated contract on February 12, 1999.

3. The review was conducted by Mr. Graham McLennan, a partner in McLennan Ross, a well respected Edmonton law firm with expertise in labour law. Mr. McLennan is a Member of the Law Societies of Alberta and the Northwest Territories and has extensive experience at all levels of the court system, as well as boards of inquiry. He was appointed as an Inquiry Officer under the Expropriations Act of Alberta in 1993, acted as co-counsel for a major participant at the public inquiry into the collapse of the Principal Group of Companies and is co-counsel for the RCMP Public Inquiries Commission.

4. The cost of the review was approximately $47,000.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.