Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I understand that this expenditure is for renovations to new office space. The Department of Justice is in need of the office space currently occupied by the Commissioner's office on the sixth floor of the Courthouse building. So the plan would be to rework what is currently the Commissioner's office into additional offices for Justice and that the Commissioner's office would be relocated to a different location and that the $200,000 would be required for the renovations.

Mr. Chairman, in our discussions about this particular expenditure we were wondering about the advisability of spending that kind of money on an office renovation where you would also be required to pay rent probably for a long time, you would be investing a significant amount of money and then paying rent on the space as well for a long period of time. It is not uncommon in other jurisdictions to have a Lieutenant-Governor's or Commissioner's residence with working space contained within the residence. The residence which is currently used for the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories on Matonabee drive is not a very large home and it is not a home very conducive to entertaining dignitaries, officials, ambassadors, those types of people who come to visit in the Northwest Territories.

So, I was wondering if it would be more advantageous to look at what could be realized from the sale of the existing Commissioner's residence. The land immediately adjacent to the current Commissioner's residence is a large piece of residential property which is owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories and was intended to be used for the Commissioner's residence at some point in time but was never developed. So, this government already owns the land. There is the equity in the existing residence and the market right now is quite good. And there is also the $200,000 for renovations, plus whatever the on-going operations and maintenance is for the rent for that office. As I said, it is not an uncommon practice to have the working space of a position like this contained within the residence. So, I would like to see the option explored of combining these sums of money and looking at a better Commissioner's residence, one that is more conducive to the type of official functions that would fall within the responsibilities of a Commissioner.

So, if that were the case then it would be necessary to re-profile this $200,000 for renovations and look at new construction, a new development, instead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.