Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to actually moving ahead with the construction of the new hospital, there was a technical evaluation and investment analysis done on the old hospital which clearly demonstrated that the renovation and upgrading of the old hospital would have been far more costly than building the new hospital. There are a number of issues there: age, condition, and costs associated with renovating that building and bringing it up to a standard acceptable for the GNWT.
Having said that, we did move forward with the construction of the new hospital. When the building is empty and the new hospital opens, that building will likely be declared surplus by the Department of Health and Social Services. Once that is done, then it becomes the responsibility of Public Works and Services, who would go through the normal
disposal process on that property. At that time, we will absolutely be looking at the building to see if there is any way we can repurpose that building without investing a huge amount of money, given, as I have said previously, the age, condition and operating costs of that. We will look in house to see if there are any operations or use in the government. If not, and there’s deemed to be no useful purpose for that building, we will look outside. If not, if it proves that the building is in rougher shape than we anticipate by looking at it from the outside, we would move forward with demolition. We will certainly absolutely look at other options for that building before we take that step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.