Thank you, Minister Handley. The Chair will recognize Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I assume that the Commissioner is aware of this plan. So, if she is aware of it, nobody has given her notice that she will be evicted from that space or anything like that, but she is aware that we are looking at this.

In terms of the cost of the renovated space, what will be the lease cost, I think the going price in Yellowknife is about $30 a square foot per year. The space that we are looking at for the Commissioner is around 1,600 or 1,700 square feet times $30 a square foot. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Minister Handley.

I would estimate that it is probably taking six months to build a new quarters for the Commissioner, so that is how long we would have. I am estimating. I am not a builder, I do not know, but by the time you tender it and have someone build it I expect we are looking at somewhere in the neighbourhood of six months.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is that this supplementary is for this fiscal year, which means that the money has to be spent in the next two weeks. So, are we actually going to spend the money on these renovations in the next two weeks? Does that mean that we have started already?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no, I do not believe all the money is going to be spent, but we need to have approval in order to be able to let a contract. So I do not expect it all will be spent, it will be carried over. I do not know if the Minister of Justice has any more detail on the time frame for this.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Mr. Dent.

Okay, thank you. I just wanted to confirm, Mr. Chairman, that we have not actually let the contract, so we do still have time to take a look at re-profiling these funds and approaching it perhaps in a different way.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Minister Handley.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have not let a contract yet.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a few comments. Perhaps, I think it would be worthwhile for the government to consider the options being suggested by Mrs. Groenewegen. I think that the numbers should be looked at to see whether, because there are good suggestions being made there. The house that the Commissioner resides in right now is in a prime real estate location in town. It is probably worth at least $300,000 to $400,000 and if we already have a lot, I guess my point here is that when I first became aware of this, I had a problem with the Commissioner's office being moved into Northwest Tower. I mean, nothing against Northwest Tower, but in town Northwest Tower is just an office building. For the Commissioner, whose office is the head of this government I thought an office on the sixth floor of the Courthouse seemed to be more acceptable for some reason. I do not know.

I just want to put it on record that I have a problem with the Commissioner's office being located in the Northwest Tower and spending $200,000 on top of that, that is just problematic for me. I realize that the Department of Justice needs extra space, but if this is a space for workers and just staff, they could be moved into other office space either in the Panda Mall or any of the other office spaces that are available. I would say that one option we could look at is just to keep the Commissioner where she is right now. It is designed for a Commissioner and it has space there. There is the option of building a whole new building as long as the net effect is working with the dollars that we have. So building a whole new building is one option. Keeping the Commissioner where she is is another. It is just that I have a problem with the Commissioner's office being located in just any old government office. I think that office deserves more recognition in a place. I just wanted to put that for the record.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I did not hear any questions in there, but Minister Handley, did you want to comment? Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I do not have any comment, but the Minister of Justice has been waving at me. Perhaps he has a comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Minister Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do hear a good argument from the other side and I think it is important that we do substantiate our reason. The Department of Justice requires additional office space, as I indicated. There is a chronology of events that indicate or substantiates a need for more office space. Certainly my contacts will want to ensure that we do have some consideration here that we do require that space. Again, we have been working with the Commissioner's office to agree to certain terms on her relocation and, from my understanding she has, so I do not think there is a problem with the Commissioner herself. Again, as the department grows, we are going to require more space as we take on more responsibilities. We do say that the current Courthouse has an acute need that has been growing over the past seven years. That is my statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. Mr. Lafferty.