In regard to ourselves and the individuals who have made investments in the retail market and also to the amount of vacant space, with the economic situation we find ourselves in today dealing with banks, we must also realize that someone has to pay for the roughly 10 per cent vacant office space. Somebody’s got to cover the O&M costs of those facilities that are vacant. I think the cost is going to be a burden to those businesses that have made that investment. It’s crucial to realize that for any facility this government has a policy in regard to market disruption. In order to do justice to that market, we should ensure that we do a thorough assessment and review to ensure that the impacts on those businesses are minimal.

We had a similar situation that I mentioned happen here in Yellowknife with the federal government putting a federal building in Yellowknife. They went out of their way to do a basically independent assessment of the market in Yellowknife by way of the retail market, to give some comfort to the industry. I think that in regard to this proposal that we’re looking at for Inuvik, we shouldn’t do anything less than what’s been done by the federal government, and we should also realize that we do have a policy in place for that particular item.

I’d like to ask the Minister: is there a possibility that we take the time, do the study and ensure that we note that there will be no effect on the market, like I stated? Right now there’s about 7 per cent vacancy in Inuvik. Also, the three floors in the Perry Building have not been brought into this calculation. I think there is an argument to be made that we have to do justice to the individuals, the companies that have made this investment. Of course, someone’s got to pick up that extra cost of overhead and maintain that vacant space, because we’ve still got to heat it. We’ve still got to provide the overhead to sustain those businesses. So can the Minister commit to that?