Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m listening to both sides of the discussion here today. I think that I’m surprised that there was no analysis done on what this could do to the market. If all of the office space currently in the communities is being utilized and this does not quit utilizing any of that office space, then I could see why this could be overlooked by government to not consider doing a market disruption analysis. However, I still feel that there is some sort of market analysis that has to be done, whether we script it as a market disruption analysis or not, some form of an analysis that indicates that this has got long term implications to the potential for other private enterprise to provide office space.
I recognize that some of the MLAs indicated earlier that, yes, owned office space is the best, most economical way to go here. I think that is a possibility when you compare and you know what you’re renting and what you own. We’re high in Inuvik on the rent/lease side of things, I know. That’s another compelling argument for the government to build this office space. I guess it would be such a simple process to be able to do some sort of a market analysis on exactly what the impact of this office space would be, and I’m regretful that that wasn’t done.
In other areas, as I thought about this, I would support a motion that reduced the amount of money going into this building, because I do feel that some of the school projects are a priority. I’ve never seen Mangilaluk School in Mr. Jacobson’s riding. However, I have seen Diamond Jenness many, many times. I’m aware that that building is not a safety issue and that the building is not going to come crashing down on the kids. I recognize that, but it was kind of an interesting tour that we took of that school.
At one point the principal was talking about the difficulty in managing the school because of the configuration. Considering that it was the last government, when I was in a different role, when I had an opportunity to tour the school with some MLAs and some Ministers, I thought that in view of that school and everything there, it was a lot further ahead than they are. I see that there has been a technical evaluation done on the school, which I
believe technically would put that ahead of this office, as far as moving forward into the capital plan goes. At the same time, I feel that the Ministers have made a really strong case for having some of the GNWT employees, I guess….
You know, our business is based on how well our staff can perform, and the performance of the staff in Inuvik, considering it is a regional centre, is probably pretty important to the whole region. People who are working there need to have good morale, good office space, a good place to work, and to feel like going to work in the morning and sitting in a nice comfortable office. I guess GNWT employees in Inuvik deserve that as well. So I can’t support the deletion of all of the money out of this space.
However, I would like to caution the government that in the future, if this type of project appears in front of us for debate again, they should have some plans; there should be some good planning. You know, when something’s this important and we are trying to move this much money — when in my own riding of Tu Nedhe I should be one person who would stand up and want to not support any of this — at the same time, you know, as I indicated earlier, I feel the government has made a good argument.
I think the planning was lax, so I would suggest that there is still opportunity here to do a market analysis. There are still opportunities to do a little planning about what is going to happen, how this is going to affect the office rental sector in Inuvik for the long term. So I hope the government would still do that evaluation, and maybe they may have to.
As far as the other school projects that were important under the EC&E section of the budget, I think some of those projects should proceed, and if the government is not going to spend this money…. We have in the past, as the GNWT, as the government as a whole, had a lot of carry-over. We have carried over a substantial chunk of money. I think everybody here knows how much money was carried over. They changed the system a little bit to reduce the carry-over, but there’s still a substantial carry-over. So I would suggest that it’s going to be difficult to spend all this money, and I hope they take a second look at the schools at the end of day when the capital plan is approved by the House.