Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Any further questions? Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Aumond mentioned that they were approved for $500,000 in the previous budget. Could you tell me exactly what the $500,000 was spent on, and has it been expended?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Aumond.

Could Mr. Aumond elaborate on exactly what the $500,000 is going to be used for?

That answer was really helpful. I would like to ask Mr. Aumond to elaborate a little more on exactly what the $500,000 is going to be spent for.

In regard to the $17 million that is going to be expended or had to be approved for this year, what is the construction timeframe you’re looking at here? Are you going to construct it over a year, three years, five years? What type of a timeframe are you looking at in regard to constructing such a facility?

In regard to the urgency of this project and the timelines that we’re looking at, I’d just like to ask the Minister: where does the priority of capital projects fit by way of urgency in regard to other types of capital projects? I’ll use as an example water treatment facilities for communities. For me that’s an urgent capital project. Most of these projects will not see the light of day until 2010, yet they were approved in previous years. I find it kind of interesting that this project happened to be fast tracked, moved to the front of the line, and is going to be constructed prior to essential infrastructure for communities by way of water treatment facilities.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance what due diligence was done here in regard to ensuring that we establish the priorities that this government needs to implement infrastructure across the Territories, to see where the real emergencies are so that we can deal with those pressures that are out there. Again, how does this project come by way of emergency, overriding other projects such as water treatment facilities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This project didn’t override other projects. It was brought forward because of the pressing nature of the requirement. The bundled water treatment plants have a schedule. They are going to be completed probably before this records storage building, and they are proceeding with all speed possible.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to Diamond Jenness I saw the report on that facility, and it is amazing that people allow students to go to that facility. That to me is an essential project. But in regard to this project I think it basically does not really meet the standard of essential by way of real infrastructure.

This government can spend its capital dollars as a result of a private sector that is already in the market that provides space in Inuvik. I want departments to have their own office — something that the Inuvik region has been fighting for, for years — but they would not support the private sector and private market in Inuvik. Nowadays they are competing against them. I think that shows us exactly where the priority of this government is going. I would like to ask: where does the Diamond Jenness School stand in line with an office building for department staff versus children in a community such as Hay River?

The one issue that is now before the Diamond Jenness project is the

completion of educational programming by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that will allow this project to move forward.

At the appropriate time, Mr. Chair, I would like to move a motion to defer this project.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Miltenberger? To the next person on the list. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Just some quick calculations here, Mr. Chairman. This project looks like it is coming in at about $425 per…. All right, let me take that back. Different types of uses of buildings come in at different…. Hospital costs differ per square foot from a warehouse, for example, for records storage. So I would like to ask the Minister how the government’s estimate of this particular project was determined.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Aumond.

So at the risk of repeating myself

—

I may have already asked this question

—

please tell me if Mr. Aumond said he could get this information for me. Let me just ask again. The records storage and data centre will go in there for about 8,500 square feet. A medical clinic I think he said was going in there. I would just like to get a breakdown again of the clients or tenants proposed for this base. Is it already all spoken for? Is there going to be extra space, and are they going to be leasing out space to other people?

I’d like to get more detail on how this has come to a 47,000 square foot building, the same size as the Wal-Mart. It’s hard to believe that all these people are tucked away in other places, that all these client departments are all tucked away in other places in Inuvik. It’s a bit hard to imagine this particular consolidation of people that are just kind of out there given the fact that Mr. Aumond said there would be no tenants displaced from current leases.